Articles about Policies and Explanation Pages
Calculation Instruction Pages	Black Hole Feats in Fiction • Calculation Evaluation and Request Instructions • Calculation Guide • Calculations • Calculations Introduction • Calc Stacking • Celestial Body Feats • Cinematic Time • Cloud Calculations • Creation Feats • Earthquake Calculations • Explosion Speed Calculations • Explosion Yield Calculations • Gravitational Binding Energy • Inverse Square Law • Kinetic Energy Feats • Large Size Calculations • Laser/Light Beam Dodging Feats • Lightning Feats • Mass-energy conversion feats • Mountain and Island Level Requirements • Multipliers • Planet Curvature Scaling • Projectile Dodging Feats • Reactions and Perceptions • References for Common Feats • Storm Calculations
Terminology Pages	Canon • Character-Induced Stupidity • Crossovers • Environmental Destruction • Fallacies • Fighting Games Powerscaling Standards • Game Mechanics • Hax • Hyperbole • Inconsistencies • The Kardashev Scale • Marvel/DC Comics Powerscaling • Metaphysical Aspects • Outliers • Plot-Induced Stupidity • Power Inheritance Standards • Reality Equalization • Stabilization Feats • Standard Battle Assumptions • Universal Energy Systems

Introduction

Calc stacking refers to the practice of using results from one calculation in order to calculate other feats.

Usually, calc stacking is believed to be flawed, so that calculations that use it should be disregarded almost always. Usually, people try to use it for calculating characters' speed, but also different uses are imaginable.

The reason it is usually disregarded is because it has shown itself to be inconsistent many times and usually gives inflated results. Through the method any long-running franchises could also scale their stats infinitely upwards without actually ever showing any feats in the range they are listed.

Rules

Only parameters that can't change between calculations can be re-purposed. To provide a few examples:

• Pixel scaling over several steps is permitted, as long as the size of the scaled objects usually stays constant.
• Using the calculated speed of a projectile to calculate the speed of a character dodging said projectile on the very same occasion is usually permitted, as long as the projectile wouldn't have changed its speed mid-flight.
• Using a reliable stated timeframe and reliably stated speed something travels during that timeframe one can calculate the distance travelled. Said distance can then usually be used for calculations.
• Multipliers can be used under the conditions outlined on the multiplier page.

However, even for these parameters, calc stacking is avoided as much as possible. That means that results taking less such steps are usually taken over results that rely on more calc stacking.

Using Stated Speeds

We don't generally consider using stated speeds (even somewhat unclear ones, such as a character moving while a timer is shown) in other calculations to be calc stacking, under a few conditions:

• If characters are known or implied to not be moving at their top speed in the scene being calculated, an earlier stated speed is unusable unless the stated speed was for them holding back to a similar or greater extent.
• While we do allow stated speeds to be used across one step of scaling (i.e., if Character B is faster than Character A, a stated speed for Character A can be used in calculations for Character B), we don't allow them to be used across multiple, due to concerns with reliability.
• Care must be taken to only use stated speeds that are relevant to a calculation. A character's stated running speed cannot be used to calculate someone moving faster than they can react, as that requires a conversion between the two, and thus, a calculation. Similarly, a character's stated reaction speed, or a timeframe they can act within, cannot be used to calculate a character running faster than them, for the same reason.

Hiding Calculations

Hiding calculations is the practice of trying to avoid calculating a feat in order to be able to use the result in another calculation. In other words, it is the practice of trying to fool people into not noticing that calc stacking is being used.

This usually occurs if a feat is quantified per a rule of thumb instead of precisely calculated. A typical example would be a character dodging a bullet from a short distance being ranked as "Supersonic" and then using that ranking to calculate the speed of another character, whose speed one can compare to the former in some feat.

While it is acceptable to rank a character by such a self-evident feat without a calculation, one should keep in mind that the unwritten calculation is only skipped due to being trivial, but is still the justification for the ranking. Hence, calc stacking will still be an issue for such feats.

Examples of calc-stacking that can not be applied

• Character A moved so fast that character B couldn't react to him. So character A needs to have crossed the distance until he could be seen by character B again in the time that character B requires to react. Since we know from a calculation how long character B needs to react we can calculate the speed of character A based on that.
• Character A has a certain speed through a calculation. He can not dodge the projectiles from character B from 2-meter distance. But Character C can dodge them from 1 meter distance, so character C has to be twice as fast as character A.
• Character A has a certain attack potency through a calculation. They made a 1mm dent in character B's shield composed of a fictional material. But character C destroyed the whole 30mm thick shield, so character C is thirty times as strong as character A.

Discussions

Discussion threads involving Calc Stacking