Exploits

[Tetigustas shadowson]

You can call it a strat if you wish 'The Net Strat', as with many exploits, eventually they became indentured into a strat of one sort or another.
The Foreign Aid strat, drop from clan and share land strat, and the clan in last week strat where all deemed exploits by one prom or another.

It seems a code exploit is being intentionally used insuring one person as the ruler of the games.
Some of you guys argue whether you’re the best of the game, best at what? Netting, running an exploit, can I say it 'CHEATING'

All the prom sites say; exploiting game code or running scripts, ect, ect. Is enough to get you banned...
So what’s the problem, if they exploit, they get banned right?

Every prom on the net tries to keep a balanced game, some sites actually do it and some screw the game up totally.
I was under the impression FaF ran much the same way, no siblings, no roomies, no multi accounts, no bad language all the same things found on the other proms.

If netting screws the game up so badly that one user owns all the others, month after month and set after set.
The major consensus would be;
The exploit was frowned upon and the person was informed of their wrong doings or flat out banned. The Admin either told them they must not continue to play in such a manner or they where banned.

The idea was so all users could have fun with the site and not just one person.
But maybe something should be done or said………….

I am having fun smashing every one I wish to smash, even that dude at the top, my stones broke him down the same way your stones could.

There is a thread that is all about how some one is net-running, and has done this for like ever.
so that means I can use an exploit to right?

We ran FaF on our server and as coder/admin I found several holes, does this mean I can use them to win the game……

WIN THE GAME; what a great phrase to bad it’s being exploited.

[bjornredtail]

So... What exploits are we talking about here? What can someone do that they shouldn't be able to do? And just where are these holes anyways?

Assuming that you are not accessing something you shouldn't, I call fair game. Running a script with curl to keep scouting while you can't play? Fair, as any player could do that if he or she wished, and it offers no real advantage over someone doint it manually... Getting access to the database to give yourself land? Not Fair. You get free land, and you can't to it through the game.

[Freenhult]

...Sounds like someone just doesn't understand how our code works and is complaining because its not working for them.

There are no exploited bugs or anything of that magnitude here. Nothing, this game is just as balanced almost as say Valhall. Few exceptions of course...

[bjornredtail]

I wouldn't be so quick to say that Freen, since as we all know testing can only confirm the presence of bugs, never their absence. If he is referring to an instance of code not behaving as it is documented, we can test that and either confirm or disprove the existence of a bug. If the code is doing what we say it should be able to do, and people are using that in an unusual way, then, I see no problem, unless it throws balance off in one way or another, like market storing. The problem here is I don't know what he is specifically referring to.

[The Beatles]

I think by exploit he means an avenue to contradict the spirit of gameplay rather than an undefined state of execution. E.g. dropping from a clan and sharing land. The trouble is, these are hard to address, and may not even be possible to address without restricting legitimate actions too much. However, they ought to be taken just as seriously as bugs.

[Tetigustas shadowson]

Agreed....ought to be taken just as seriously as bugs

An exploit is more than just a code hole.
It is hard to define; this net race thing is just way out of control and resembling a bug
I mean really almost a billion networth give me a break, a well oiled clan engine should be required to achieve this net...!
Do you remember the team from Z-prom, banned for using the clan FA to much.
Right now one of my empires is #1 because of the clan, not because of war but because of FA! And that’s just wrong.

I joined the clan for war and am stuck with net, well until my son joins the clan hehe!

[Freenhult]

I don't think so. There was no problem before with the old code and even with the new thing we have now, its very hard for a person to have more than say, 4x their land in networth.

As for aiding a person ridiculously high, thats always been there. The only way thats broken perhaps is that it lets you quickly jump ranks, but the fact is someone already has to have that net.

We previously discussed topics in which some of these matters that Tetigustsa is talking about. I'll dig them up later.

[Shadow I]

If you are talking about Volkov on WoA, his net is the product of about a week of clan teamwork. All that net was made legitimately, and I see no reason why we should restrict where it goes. There is already an aid limit (3x the aider's net) which serves to stop anything drastic)

[Tetigustas shadowson]

I still say 5-8 times the highest on the totem pole is way off base, it’s not healthy either way we look at it.
I don’t know about a restriction exactly, maybe an algorithm that determines how much net you would be able to accumulate depending on the ranks and or conflict.

The prom gamers have moved from one over do it to another, each time resulting in a change of play. The code change is to reflect a correction in game code, correction meaning a way to re-balance the game.

It is just a matter of time before all the games change, limiting the net based on the ranks and a varying set of circumstances.

It’s sad….

I just wish there was an easy answer, but we all know there isn’t one.

[prog frog]

I don’t know about a restriction exactly, maybe an algorithm that determines how much net you would be able to accumulate depending on the ranks and or conflict.

I may have misunderstood what you were trying to say.... But rank is determined by networth. If rank controlled net that would be a completely backward system.

Just because a player can take the top spot and get way out in front of everyone else by holding land doesn't mean there is a balance problem or a fault in the code. There were sets in which Arthus had over 1.5 Bil net while everyone else had in the hundred million range. Even though that sounds absurd I don't think there is a problem with the code.

[Freenhult]

Agreed. The fact is people can make huge net gaps between ranks because of ability. If I wasn't preparing for war in terms of stashing troops on the CM and such, I wouldn't have had a net below 100mil when I had my Chitzkoi account. Whereas, had I played to gain a high net, I would have been constantly 2-3x my land value for net.

People get huge gaps because no one stops them. Thats the only factor in determining these things. If you think you found something huge, I encourage you to do it on WoA. I severely doubt that you've found anything new or anything that truly works in practice.

[Tetigustas shadowson]

I would rather win with skillz than with a bug/exploit
it just seems that in the past, when there was a balance issue. Admins of the various sites adjusted and or modified the code to mend the issues.

Currently promisance has a networth problem, some sites have more out of balance than others, granted FaF has the least issue but it is still there.

As for code practices, FaF has more on the ball to fix problems than any other site I've frequented.

I like the FaF code its straight forward and not so full of random scrap scripts, I did find some issues before, I believe I brought them to the attention of Beatles but he may have not been given all the problems we discovered running max turns and max markets ect ect
We ran FaF maxed out all the time, more bugs showed once I cranked it up.


I will look through the bug forum and see if the bugs we found have been fixed, if not .............
I will be sure to let you know

[Shadow I]

I would rather win with skillz than with a bug/exploit

Last BFR set I consistently held 10x the net of second place, and finished with 3.5x second place. Are you suggesting that I exploited a bug in the code to do so? I assure you I did not. Arthus has done same thing a few times, and he did not exploit any bugs, he is just a good player. I am sure others have as well.

There is no balance issue here - if you have the ability to pull ahead, then you have the right to use it. If there were a limit of how much net you could achieve you would be limiting players' abilities for no good reason. There is no huge emp that teamwork cannot bring down, sooner or later. Hell, Arthus broke me solo last set, although he didn't actually take me down. Likewise, a team working together can easily achieve huge net by storing it all on one person. This is not a bug, and it is no an exploit, it is simply intelligence, and shows an ability in a player to see beyond the present run. It's like the difference between an average chess player and a great chess player - the ability to think ahead.

Just because you have not learned how to do this yet does not mean it is an exploit. There is no balance issue, you just have some learning to do.

Hm, this post sounds a bit egotistical. It is not intended that way, I just wanted some concrete examples, and I have not been at FAF long enough to know of any others.

[Freenhult]

I would rather win with skillz than with a bug/exploit
it just seems that in the past, when there was a balance issue. Admins of the various sites adjusted and or modified the code to mend the issues.

Currently promisance has a networth problem, some sites have more out of balance than others, granted FaF has the least issue but it is still there.

As for code practices, FaF has more on the ball to fix problems than any other site I've frequented.

I like the FaF code its straight forward and not so full of random scrap scripts, I did find some issues before, I believe I brought them to the attention of Beatles but he may have not been given all the problems we discovered running max turns and max markets ect ect
We ran FaF maxed out all the time, more bugs showed once I cranked it up.


I will look through the bug forum and see if the bugs we found have been fixed, if not .............
I will be sure to let you know

Instead of talking about these things, show examples? Screen shots, descriptions, detailed analysis.

Saying theres a problem without really explaining it and showing no proof isn't helping.

[Tetigustas shadowson]

if you dont think the networth out there is a problem then I dont know what to tell ya.

I play a crud load of games, always have and proly always will



I am in 10 games, I was in 12 but I got killed at QMT, 12 Games is a good re-start.

I cant seem to get enough turns from one game.