Does Adjustable velocity in a weapon, such as a bow, create more lag?

[Solstice Caudron]

I'm working with a creator using an existing meter system. We've thought to try and use an adjustable velocity setting (for realism) but were told that the idea would be veto'd due to the fact that it would cause more lag...Now I'm not a script genius, but it doesn't sound right to me, can someone give me some more information on this?

[Innula Zenovka]

It depends on how you were planning to vary the velocity, but I don't see it, myself.

SL projectile weapons usually work by rezzing a physics-enabled object with llRezAtRoot()

 

llRezAtRoot( string inventory, vector position, vector velocity, rotation rot, integer param );

 I don't see why a well-scripted mechanism for changing the value of the velocity parameter (e.g. a llDialog menu that listens on a rarely-used channel and closes the listener in a timely fashion) would cause any noticable issues.

[Rolig Loon]

I can imagine one situation in which it might make a difference, but I'd be very surprised if it was big enough to be detectable.  As Innula says, projectile weapons usually rez the projectile with an initial velocity that is defined in the llRezAtRoot function.  If you plan to make the arrow slow down as it flies (simulating atmospheric drag), you'll need to apply a continual negative force to it. That does require a small amount of attention from the physics engine which, I suppose, could add a tiny bit of lag.  Unless you are planning to shoot thousands of arrows at once, though, I can't believe that it's enough lag to worry about.