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I've been looking at some of the new wings added to Terraria in 1.3, and the wiki clearly shows the height that can be reached with each set. However the stats show that they have different "hover times" and "flight speeds".
My question is: Do the highest flying wings (Solar Wings) actually travel the furthest horizontally? If not, which wings (or equivalent flying equipment) do?
(I'm including travelling in the direction while ascending as well as gliding)
Looking at the wing types chart on the wiki, the Solar Wings should provide the greatest horizontal travel distance.
Horizontal Travel Distance can be represented by the following equation:
Horizontal Travel Distance = (Flight Time + Glide Time) * Horizontal Movement speed
Where Glide Time = Height / Glide Fall-Speed
and
Horizontal Movement Speed = Base Horizontal Movement Speed + Horizontal Movement Speed Bonus (we'll call this HFSB).
Glide Fall speed is constant (I tested this below and found it to be ~12 blocks/sec) as is Base Horizontal Movement Speed (11.36 blocks/sec)
The Solar Wings have the greatest values for both Height and HFSB, and are only 2nd to the Stardust Wings in Flight Time (3.33sec). The Stardust Wings only have a Height of 110 and a HFSB of 83%, so the extra distance gained by their 11% increase in Flight Time is lost by their dramatically lower Height (thus Glide Time) and their low HFSB.
I'll provide an illustrative example. We can get an idea of horizontal travel distance from the wing's specific stats of Time(sec), Height(tiles), and HFSB.
The Solar Wings have 3.0 seconds of Flight Time, 167 blocks of Height, and 200% HFSB.
200% HFSB means that we're moving at 3x normal horizontal speed, so 11.36 * 3 = 34.08 blocks/sec. In the 3 seconds of flight time we travel 102.24 blocks.
Now, the main distance actually comes from the glide after the wings Flight Time has run out. I was unable to find a number for glide descent speed on the wiki so I went and tested myself to get a reasonable number. My testing (with Fishron Wings) indicated a gliding fall-speed of ~12 blocks/sec. Using 12 blocks/sec as the glide fall-speed: 167 blocks / ~12 blocks/sec ≈ 13.9 seconds of glide time. The horizontal distance we can travel during the glide is then: 13.9 seconds * 34.08 blocks/sec = 473.71 blocks.
Putting this all together, 102.24 blocks + 473.71 blocks = 575.95 blocks of horizontal travel distance. For comparison, the Fishron Wings with 3sec, 143 blocks, and 167 HFSB yield a horizontal travel distance of 452.44 blocks while the Stardust Wings with 3.33sec, 110 blocks, 83% HFSB yield only 259.79 blocks.
EDIT: I haven't had a chance to try them yet, but the Stardust Wings have notes "Hovering Speed boosted to +150%" and "x2 duration". I'm not sure what these mean exactly -- further testing is required.
The solar wing can go the same horizontally as they can vertical
