After a bit of tinkering, I realized that the newest version is actually a bit slower.
In older versions (not sure in which version it changed) to get the Murderer running for a horse you just needed to point your gun at him, but in the newer ones you actually have to shoot him for him to get to his horse.
Yeah. I emailed the company about that but got no response from them, but I did my own research.
Actually, the newer version is faster. Shooting anyone in the location where the murderer is there will make the murderer run straight for his horse and you can just give chase right away.
I usually shoot the graveyard girl but if I'm lucky, I can save about a second by shooting anyone nearer to the NTS horse
That's interesting, I might get back to running it then since that's the main RNG in the game.
So I looked into this a bit and I think the desperado getting spooked just by drawing out a gun was fixed on Westerado: Double Barrled Patch 2 https://steamcommunity.com/games/275200/announcements/detail/111811160945047791 which is the latest update/patch for westerado DB on 2015 June 30th (oh god this game is dead)
But still, even if the desperado spawns very near to the NTS horse that it gets spooked upon arrival and brandishing the gun, I doubt it would make a big difference if at the newer version since the new speedrun tactic is to shoot anyone on the map to spook the desperado. Not that I have seen the desperado spawn in clintville very close to the NTS horse. The desperado usually spawns near the T junction where the graveyard girl stands or near the concerned wife. I usually just try a new run if the desperado spawns too far though...