[shit_game]

Also for comparison, the Runescapes (both RS3 and Oldschool Runescape) have a 0.6 tick/second system (100 ticks/minute). It works rather well for these games, which I guess highlights that some games either a) can get away with high latencies depending on their gameplay mechanics, or b) will evolve gameplay mechanics based on the inherent limitations of their engines/these latencies. RS3 initially leaned into the 0.6s tick system (which is a remnant of its transitions from DeviousMUD to Runescape Classic to RS2) and eventually developed an ability-based combat system on top of what was previously a purely point-and-click combat system, whereas OSRS has evolved new mechanics that play into this 0.6s tick system and integrate seamlessly into the point-and-click combat system.

Having played both of these games for years (literally, years of logged-in in-game time), most FPS games with faster tick systems generally feel pretty fluid to me, to the point where I don't think I've ever noticed the tick system acting strange in an FPS beyond extreme network issues. The technical challenges that go into making this so are incredible, as outlined in TFA.

[joenot443]

OSRS exists in a pretty fascinating place, mechanically.

High level PVP play is basically a turn-based-tactics game, with some moves (attacks or spells) taking more "ticks" than others, meaning there's a lot of bluffing and mind games in anticipating what your opponent will do next.

[arcfour]

If you're really fast, you can even equip tank gear for your opponent's attack, then swap back to mage gear for your own. Very strong if you can pull it off consistently due to how paper thin mage robes are. Not sure how many other games are that...slow?

And yeah, a lot of people are quite predictable and easy to read. In fairness there are only a handful of things you could possibly do in a fight :-)

[tmathmeyer]

100ticks/minute is 1.666... ticks per second, not 0.6.

[rtkwe]

They're right, when they said 0.6s tick they mean there's a tick every 0.6 seconds.

It's important to some players because you can get some odd behaviour out of the game by starting multiple actions on the same tick or on the tick after you started a different action. It's ridiculous click intensive but you can get weird benefits like cutting the time to take an action short or get xp in 2 skills at once.

[shit_game]

For those unfamiliar, the act of absuing the tick system to "stack" actions like this is called "tick manipulation". It's a relatively common practice among high-efficiency players and PKers (player killers, players who engage in PvP). Many players eventually come to use this mechanic in PvE regarding "hard food", "soft food", and potions. Typically, your character is limited to one action per tick, but due to engine limitations and quirks, multiple actions can be performed in the same tick that would, out of "correct" order, take multiple ticks. A great example of this is eating a piece of hard food, eating a piece of soft food, and drinking a dose of a potion in the same tick. Out of order, this isn't possible and your character is limited to healing once per tick. Done in the correct order, your character may heal three times in a single tick.

RS3 has almost seemingly leaned into this quirk of the engine, causing many high level activities to top out around 250-300 actions per minute (2.5-3x the tick rate of the game itself, as measured by keypresses in some streamers' software setup; this doesnt include mouse interactions). These extra actions include swapping weapons, casting spells, swapping gear, using items, eating food and consuming potions, changing prayers (character effects/buffs), and movement. Gameplay becomes incredibly complex due to the nuances of the engines interpretation of actions, despite the limited temporal fidelity of actions. These actions become so rhythmic in fact, that many players will play 100 or 200 BPM music as they play to subconsciously sync their actions to the game engine.

[shit_game]

Whoops, bit of a slip there. It is 100 ticks per minute, or 1 tick every 0.6 seconds. I was wrong in the first description there.