That makes more sense, to me ... - Edit 1
Before modification by Shishka at 01/10/2009 06:48:29 PM
They way I understand it, the reduction in strength only affects the members of the circle and not the leader. The leader can access all of his/her strength, but the other members cannot because there is a metaphysical narrowing of all the other conduits as they enter the leader.
Yeah, that makes sense. I don't see why the link should affect the leader's ability to draw his/her full strength.
Thus if 10 women of 10 strength link, their combined strength will be (1x10) + (9x9) = 91.
If we say a 2 women of 10 strength link results in 19, then it's either 10+9 or 9.5+9.5. Therefore, if 10 women of 10 strength lin, the result is either 91 (as you said), or 95 (10*9.5). Your way results in a lower number, but (as I said) I think it makes more sense.
I also therefore don't agree that a male will actually be weaker if he only channels saidin in a mixed link. Only he can lead, and he can access all of his strength, therefore his strength will be the same.
Right, that was the point I was trying to make previously. If you're right about where the link-loss occurs (i.e. only in the non-leading members), then the male leader in your example should not experience a loss in saidin strength.
I sort of see it like this... say if Sandomere and Ayako link to make a fireball, and he has to lead. He must decide on how much saidin to use, and how much saidar. The effective strength of the fireball will be something like this IMO...
Saidin Saidar Strength of Weave
100 0 100
75 25 150
50 50 300
25 75 150
0 100 100
Saidin Saidar Strength of Weave
100 0 100
75 25 150
50 50 300
25 75 150
0 100 100
Yeah,something like that. The bottom line is, for a given "Z" amount of OP used in a weave, comprising "X" amount of saidin and "Y" amount of saidar, where X+Y=Z, the closer the balance between X & Y, the more potent the result.
However, I don't think your numbers above are quite right. Consider, if 50/50 results in 300, then 100/50 should result in >300. If the weave starts out as 50/50, and Sandomere starts pumping in more saidin from 50->100 (leaving saidar as 50), the strength of the weave should increase, right? But, your 75/25 only results in 150. Meaning (using the same math), 100/50 would result in 300 - same as 50/50.
So, it probably needs to be more like this:
100 0 100
75 25 200 (25/25 would = 150, then add 50 for the extra 50 saidin)
50 50 300
25 75 200 (25/25 would = 150, then add 50 for the extra 50 saidar)
0 100 100
For "m" units of one half of the OP and "n" units of the other half, where m<=n (i.e. m is the smaller number in an unbalanced weave), the potency formula would be:
6*m + (n-m) = 5m + n
So, for example, a 150/30 weave would be the same strength as a 50/50 weave.
There are many other factors though. The two powers may be exponential when added, but it also depends on how strong he is compared to her. If Rand linked with Moiraine, I doubt he'd allocate equal portions to a fireball. Likewise, a woman might be stressed to weave Fire whereas a male might find it easy. We already can see that if a male and female link they can make a bigger gateway than Rand can, which means that the benefit is enormous.
Yeah, if Rand is strength 100 and Mo is 40, then a 100/40 fireball should be stronger than a 40/40 fireball, as I explained above. So the leader should always draw the max he can from himself + each member, to create the strongest possible weave from that paticular circle, even if that results in a big imbalance between the amount of saidin and saidar used.
And there are other factors, too. Like if the leader has a Talent for a particular weave.