Empirical Evaluation of Fences
Aim: To answer once and for all the age-old question: which fence type to build?
Wooden fences and stone walls are easy to build. Palisades, while hard to obtain material for, are not noticably more difficult to build. Tall stone walls take an immediate penalty because even with 20 masonry the success rate for attaching bricks is less than 20%. Past experience shows that they are similarly hard to repair. Bricks aren't exactly easy to make either.
All 4 fences were created on Golden Valley at 20:00 09/06/2010 (UTC+1), using 20QL components and 20 carpentry/masonry skill, resulting in 21QL fences. Multiple characters were used for simultaneous construction. Due to the extreme difficulty the tall stone wall was completed last, but still within 10 minutes of the other fences.
Note: Golden Valley decays 3x faster than the premium server.
If you have any questions, please feel free to PM [systemparadox] on GV or on forums.
Results
We have learned that:
- The difference in decay between fence types is negligible.
- Wurm has nonlinear decay. The more damaged an item is, the faster it decays, so repair often.
All times are UTC+1. See below for a graph.
| Date | Fence | Stone Wall | Tall Stone Wall | Palisade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010_06_09 20:00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2010_06_10 20:20 | 0.47619048 | 0.47619048 | 0.0 | 0.47619048 |
| 2010_06_10 23:50 | 0.47619048 | 0.47619048 | 0.47619048 | 0.47619048 |
| 2010_06_11 02:32 | 0.47619048 | 0.95465934 | 0.47619048 | 0.47619048 |
| 2010_06_12 00:15 | 1.4354396 | 0.95465934 | 0.47619048 | 0.95465934 |
| 2010_06_12 14:23 | 1.4354396 | 1.4354396 | 0.95465934 | 1.4354396 |
| 2010_06_13 14:08 | 2.4040701 | 1.918565 | 1.4354396 | 1.918565 |
| 2010_06_13 21:45 | 2.4040701 | 2.4040701 | 1.918565 | 1.918565 |
| 2010_06_14 23:40 | 2.8919907 | 2.8919907 | 2.4040701 | 2.8919907 |
| 2010_06_15 15:00 | 2.8919907 | 2.8919907 | 2.8919907 | 3.3823626 |
| 2010_06_16 13:55 | 3.3823626 | 3.8752234 | 3.3823626 | 3.8752234 |
| 2010_06_17 17:15 | 3.8752234 | 4.370611 | 4.370611 | 4.370611 |
| 2010_06_18 00:01 | 3.8752234 | 4.868565 | 4.370611 | 4.370611 |
| 2010_06_19 00:50 | 4.370611 | 5.369126 | 4.868565 | 5.369126 |
| 2010_06_19 18:04 | 4.868565 | 5.872334 | 5.369126 | 5.872334 |
| 2010_06_20 21:25 | 5.369126 | 6.8868647 | 5.872334 | 6.3782325 |
| 2010_06_21 21:10 | 5.872334 | 6.8868647 | 6.3782325 | 6.8868647 |
| 2010_06_22 20:15 | 6.3782325 | 7.9125104 | 6.8868647 | 7.3982754 |
| 2010_06_23 15:40 | 6.8868647 | 8.429617 | 7.3982754 | 7.9125104 |
| 2010_06_24 02:36 | 6.8868647 | 8.949644 | 7.9125104 | 7.9125104 |
| 2010_06_25 01:05 | 7.9125104 | 9.472641 | 8.429617 | 8.429617 |
| 2010_06_26 00:50 | 7.9125104 | 9.472641 | 8.949644 | 8.949644 |
| 2010_06_26 18:10 | 8.429617 | 9.998659 | 9.472641 | 9.472641 |
| 2010_06_27 13:40 | 8.429617 | 10.527752 | 9.998659 | 9.472641 |
| 2010_07_07 18:00 | 14.322269 | 16.567505 | 15.437484 | 16.000607 |
| 2010_07_09 17:10 | 15.437484 | 17.712934 | 16.567505 | 17.138254 |
| 2010_07_16 01:43 | 18.87442 | 22.462414 | 19.4614 | 21.248388 |
| 2010_07_19 02:30 | 21.248388 | 24.319668 | 21.248388 | 23.6956 |
| 2010_07_21 03:45 | 22.462414 | 24.948881 | 23.076555 | 24.948881 |
| 2010_07_22 00:10 | 23.076555 | 26.223269 | 24.319668 | 25.58337 |
| 2010_07_23 17:24 | 24.319668 | 27.519861 | 24.948881 | 26.868717 |
| 2010_07_26 03:00 | 25.58337 | 28.839859 | 26.868717 | 28.839859 |
| 2010_07_30 01:20 | 28.176855 | 32.251175 | 29.50904 | 31.555445 |
| 2010_07_31 01:30 | 28.839859 | 32.954052 | 30.184574 | 32.251175 |
| 2010_08_02 00:25 | 31.555445 | 35.10785 | 32.954052 | 35.10785 |
| 2010_08_08 14:10 | 36.583878 | 39.642796 | 38.09467 | 39.642796 |
| 2010_08_10 16:00 | 38.09467 | 41.23115 | 39.642796 | 42.041428 |
| 2010_08_20 14:40 | 47.159336 | 49.910625 | 50.861305 | 50.861305 |
| 2010_08_26 03:10 | 52.81895 | 56.99464 | 55.91449 | 58.10192 |
| 2010_09_02 17:50 | 64.131584 | 65.45919 | 65.45919 | 71.350174 |
| 2010_09_05 16:00 | 69.774704 | 71.350174 | 68.273766 | 76.66466 |
| 2010_09_08 14:30 | 74.77676 | 78.7053 | 73.01228 | 86.31562 |
A second experiment
About 3 years after this first experiment, a second experiment was set up on Deliverance. 6 different fences of 20ql were built: Woven Fence, Crude Wooden Fence, Wooden Fence, Low Stone Wall, Tall Stone Wall and Iron Fence. The damage was noted each day for 6 months, and here are the results, collected between February and July 2013 by [1]:
The previous results could be confirmed: within statistical limits all fence types show the same rate of decay. (The minor spread at higher damages was mainly due to slight ql differences.)
