Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
(Note that 3.6 is the minimum, and since we can't cast partial spells, we need to
round up.) That only amounts to eight spell casts. However, there is no more effi-
cient way of doing it that would save our precious wand charges. If we were to only
use three blizzards, we would do 180 points. The remaining time allows for nine
spell casts and, at five points each, we could only do another 45 points of damage—
bringing the total to only 225. Therefore, the four and four distribution is best.
Getting the Cold Shoulder
Just before we begin the combat, however, our foe pulls out a ring of cold resistance.
With our vast mental repository of magical lore, we know that the ring will provide
a 20% resistance to our blizzard wand. Therefore, each usage of the wand will only
do 48 points of damage rather than 60. How do we proceed?
Originally, the blizzard wand dealt 12 times the damage that our pathetic fire-
ball did. Now, the ratio is less than 10 to 1. In a relative sense, our fireball is more
powerful than it was before our enemy donned the ring of cold resistance. Likewise,
the blizzard wand is now
less
effective. At first glance, at 48 points of damage, we are
getting less bang for our buck (or gore for our gold, I suppose) than we were when
we were doing 60 points of damage. If we were to base our decision
only
on how
powerful our two attacks were
relative to each other
, we would be less inclined to use
the blizzard wand charges and lean more on the usage of the fireball.
The lesson of Giffen goods taught us differently, however. As with the rats and
their root beer, when the cost of an undesirable selection goes up—in this case,
using the precious wand charges—it sometimes is necessary to use it
more
often. To
confirm this, we place the new numbers into our formula. The only one that has
changed is the first number in the denominator—from 60 to 48.
With the amount of blizzard damage per cast reduced to 48, we now have to
use it
five
times instead of four. (The remainder of the damage can still be dealt by
two fireballs.)
Continuing down that trend (Figure 9.4), if the damage from the blizzard was
reduced to 40, we would have to use it six times. At 30, we would need to cast it
eight times. If the effectiveness was reduced to 25—only five times greater than our
piddly little fireball spell—we would have to use it
ten times!
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