Speed Factor

Speed Factor is the point in the (6 / APR) seconds period in a round (6 seconds) the character will strike, 0 means instantaneously, 10 means at the end of the period.

To elaborate, take the basic Two-handed Sword as an example, which has a speed factor of 10. When you issue a character with 1 APR (attack per round) wielding it to attack, the point should be set to the end of 6th (6 / 1) second in the round, however as the attack animation itself takes 1 second, in order for the attack to finish within one round, the game will allow the character to start attacking at roughly the end of the 5th second (or the beginning of the 6th second) and finish the attack animation just at the end of the round.

Now let’s take a look at a level 13 fighter with 2 APR wielding the same weapon, who will initiate the attack at the end of 3rd (6 / 2) second, the animation takes up 1 second, the fighter pauses 1 second, then starts the second attack at end of the 5th second to finish the round.

Still following?

So what happens to have more APRs? There’re weapons like Belm that give +1 APR, an Improved Haste doubles APR, and there’re Greater Whirlwind High-level class abilities (HLA) that set APR to 10, the maximum amount the game allows. Well, you’ll never exceed 5 APRs no matter which weapon combinations you choose or how you wield them, as for IH or GW, the game actually splits one round into two and doubles the attack animation speed (0.5 second each now) under their effects. Image a fighter wielding the same weapon activates GW, for the first 3 seconds, s/he has 5 attacks to complete, all animations will take up to 2.5 (0.5x5) seconds or so, assuming no pauses between them, so the speed factor only has 0.5 second period to factor in, which is almost neglectable. Speaking of GW, the noticeable delay after the HLA activation will surely make its effect go off before the 10th attack finishes, a slight oversight...

To sum up, Speed Factor is notable for characters with low APRs, but matters less for characters with high APRs.

Things that affect Speed Factor: Note: The game also rolls a random initiative factor each round so that even with a worse speed factor, attack can come first.
 * Weapon type
 * Weapon enhancement level, usually is equal to the SF bonus
 * Weapon proficiency, High Master -1, Grand Master -3, Two-Handed Weapon Style -2 and -4
 * Class kits, Kensai reduces SF by 1 every 4 levels