New Anticheat Measure Going Live Today

[TeddybearSTHLM]

I must say at first I was a little scared about these changes, but bishop has somewhat calmed me down in his usual cool irish manner (or wait, he is irish right?). I hope this change stops a lot of cheating, and I don't think it will have a major effect on gameplay for partners. We have a husband/wife in the kd, and we've been really worried about what would happen.

Thanks Bishop for being calm as always. I will now go send the province I'm sitting some food!

[DHaran]

Topsy this system doesn't prevent RL friends from playing together, and it was never acceptable for them to all (or more than 2 if whitelisted) to play from one IP anyway, so besides maybe the 2 brothers, they aren't really affected here.

[Landro]

Its not really that hard for the couple to ensure they dont interact - they live together remember?

You are right assuming they are glued together. Let's say one is at work/school/etc while the other is at home idling in IRC. The one on IRC gets a few PF requests and casts them on the chains. When the other gets home (s)he won't be able to hit a chain because of that. Sure, you can think ahead and do PF on only one prov thinking that the other prov is a better target for your mate, but by the time he gets home he's been chained and no longer in range of the intended target. Why should (s)he be limited in target choice?

I think the main issue here is that few people see couples playing together as a threat to the game. Yes, it gives some limited advantage but will that really change the outcome of a war? It could be if a kingdom had 12 couples but I don't think that's a very realistic scenario. My concern is that you're tempting honest players to cheat.

[Topsy]

DH, i know one of you guys already said that there was a limit to the amount of time before before you could op, but could we get what it is? Im not sure if the message will just be "You are not permitted at this time to do this" or if its "INSTABAN!" and want to make sure that if its the latter we dont have that happen.

Also, is there anyway to ateast get SoT off of the op list? I know that this is probably abused, but even if it might be nice having some super rogue to get your orc SoT, this really does not seem like the biggest issue from a balancing perspective. Also, with SoT included, its just impossible to not interact. Having constant intel is so important, and since its an op that everyone can basically do, i just dont think you could over the course of a war not interact.

Edit: To Landro's point, if it was possible to ban SMS'ing, or texting inbetween players, would you for "balancing" purposes?

And Dh, i didn't realize that. If those players were already never playing from same IP, then i guess these changes won't affect them

Edit2: reread blog post and saw that it is "access denied." That's good. So I guess only suggestion is that its not affected by SoT

[Eus]

Watch the language. And Dark Azn's statement was pretty accurate from my experience, most cheating is in mid-level kds now, as (most) top kds have no reason to cheat with sitting available and enough friends to get whatever intel they want.

They are called friends now? Like the same friends which top kingdoms used for example in the Covenant vs Abs AWar? Fail logic again. And I am perfectly watching my language.

25 provinces hitting one target is far from the only, and certainly best, strategy. And to say it wasn't a problem that needed to be fixed is equally absurd.

That is called teamwork and determination, DHaran. What is happening, devs got too many complains from noobs unable to keep up with wars? Tough deal, but the devs made it look like that! They just HAD to allow trading. You know, if that didn't happen, this conversation wouldn't take place ever. But no, the devs decided that would be money-making machine maybe? And yet another example how the old-timers gets kicked in the butt because of stupid noobs. It began in Mehul times when he banned IM requirements, then when he increased the attack times, then when he removed the away bonuses, etc etc..... So.... frustrating the old players is a way to get new players? I don't really understand that.

[Just another dumb utopian]

The argument that everyone should be able to do something because some people get away with it takes you down the road of useless rules and rampant cheating.

I wasnt aware of any argument I was making. I was merely trolling and you actually commented on it.

Nub

[DHaran]

They are called friends now? Like the same friends which top kingdoms used for example in the Covenant vs Abs AWar? Fail logic again. And I am perfectly watching my language.



That is called teamwork and determination, DHaran. What is happening, devs got too many complains from noobs unable to keep up with wars? Tough deal, but the devs made it look like that! They just HAD to allow trading. You know, if that didn't happen, this conversation wouldn't take place ever. But no, the devs decided that would be money-making machine maybe? And yet another example how the old-timers gets kicked in the butt because of stupid noobs. It began in Mehul times when he banned IM requirements, then when he increased the attack times, then when he removed the away bonuses, etc etc..... So.... frustrating the old players is a way to get new players? I don't really understand that.

The Cov/Abs AWar was like 3 years ago, before B&S assumed control and before the new code if I remember correctly. Regardless it doesn't have anything to do with this thread. And cursing is not watching your language, quite the opposite.

As for the teamwork and determination of a full kingdom targeting one province, I'd sway closer to bad strategy. It's easy and effective, and far more common, to have more than one target for different groups to target.

[loki EQ]

Sure, Bishop. Let's just pick one off the top of my head. I've mentioned I don't read the throne links because you guys put too much content there that isn't newsworthy. I also am not under any obligation to read them as far as I know. So, my question is do you still feel I am at all responsible for your system completely decimating my kd's strategy and burdening us with needing two new invites and two new players?

One other question... I have 18 credits currently with my account. Is there any way to get a refund on that money? I would like to spend it somewhere else like at the post office on some stamps.

[Nuriho]

So it's ok to protect the tiny group of couples with the ability to legally xlog, but it's not ok to target a much larger group of cheaters by altering that tiny group's advantages of playing together. I just don't understand your point of view on this, it makes no sense.

if you want to arbitrarily make up generalities you have no basis for, have fun.

[peteyb22]

I didn't have time to read through the 11 pages of posts, so sorry if this has already been addressed, but:

Does this apply to sitters?

[DHaran]

Sure, Bishop. Let's just pick one off the top of my head. I've mentioned I don't read the throne links because you guys put too much content there that isn't newsworthy. I also am not under any obligation to read them as far as I know. So, my question is do you still feel I am at all responsible for your system completely decimating my kd's strategy and burdening us with needing two new invites and two new players?

One other question... I have 18 credits currently with my account. Is there any way to get a refund on that money? I would like to spend it somewhere else like at the post office on some stamps.

You chose to not stay up to date on game development, that is your fault, not Bishop's. If your players leave, that is their choice, they can still play together effectively. The system does not decimate anything, and as Bishop said, they have looked at it for a month and the effects are pretty small, but the affects on cheating is large.

[DHaran]

I didn't have time to read through the 11 pages of posts, so sorry if this has already been addressed, but:

Does this apply to sitters?

Lets clear same stuff up, because this thread is deteriorating horribly and there are some very bad assumptions being made.

First - sitting. When you sit someone that province inherits your IP - for all intents and purposes they are you. Since you don't get blocked interacting with yourself (har har) you will not be blocked interacting with your sat province. If you are blocked from interacting with province C then so will a province you sit.

Second - its ok to xlog your partner. I almost fell off my chair reading this (well, i scowled a bit). It is not OK, not in the slightest.

Third - this wont fix any issues. As someone that has dealt with support for a long time now I can assure you this will address a major problem we have.

Forth - i can make a multi and not interact. We aren't stupid :/ we still log all provinces/account activity and can investigate them.

Five - This cripples couples. Not really, we've been tracking the interactions for a month and we know that the effect is minimal. It takes minor adjustments to facilitate couples in a kingdom.

Six - You didn't tell us this would happen! We did I'm afraid, we had a link on your throne room for a month.

Let me know if i missed something.

There you go petey :)

[peteyb22]

Ah, excellent. Thanks for the quick reply.

[The Imp]

its seems ( judging by this thread) that the playerbase in general is willing to accept a certain level of cheating in exchange for liberties such as couples playing together

[Eus]

The Cov/Abs AWar was like 3 years ago, before B&S assumed control and before the new code if I remember correctly. Regardless it doesn't have anything to do with this thread. And cursing is not watching your language, quite the opposite.

As for the teamwork and determination of a full kingdom targeting one province, I'd sway closer to bad strategy. It's easy and effective, and far more common, to have more than one target for different groups to target.

The age that AWar happened B&S were assuming control already, they haven't implemented the new code yet, but it was in progress if I am not wrong. It has a lot to do with the thread. Things haven't changed a lot for the cheaters, but have changed for regular users. Couples weren't allowed to play, with the addition of free invites/trading, it became possible and now we get kicked again. Cheaters will still cheat, it wont change with something like that.
Don't make up excuses to get me baned or w/e about the cursing. I've seen posts a lot more offensive and rude then mine ever was and they don't even come close. Or should I ask like someone asked earlier - what's the price??

Also - you are not the brightest of all strategists to decide for everyone what's good strategy and what's not. Every kingdom has a style of playing, sometimes more common, sometimes not quite, but that's up to them to decide, not you.