Diplo rank exploit?

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I just saw a Diplo score creep up slowly, changing every 2-5 seconds-ish. I can only think of two possible reasons for this:
1. Any score is not added in one go, but is interpolated on a timer (I've never observed this).
2. That player is using an exploit, e.g. sending a single T2 thief against a town with just a T1 thief in it (repeatedly and quickly), resulting in success and no losses because of rounding.

This happened too long and too often to be a batch of diplo quests.

I can write a petition, with specifics, but rankings seem a petty thing to concentrate on.

Edited by Albatross - 12 Jun 2012 at 23:36

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Albatross Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Postmaster General Joined: 11 May 2011 Status: Offline Points: 1118	Topic: Diplo rank exploit? Posted: 12 Jun 2012 at 23:32
	I just saw a Diplo score creep up slowly, changing every 2-5 seconds-ish. I can only think of two possible reasons for this: 1. Any score is not added in one go, but is interpolated on a timer (I've never observed this). 2. That player is using an exploit, e.g. sending a single T2 thief against a town with just a T1 thief in it (repeatedly and quickly), resulting in success and no losses because of rounding. This happened too long and too often to be a batch of diplo quests. I can write a petition, with specifics, but rankings seem a petty thing to concentrate on. Edited by Albatross - 12 Jun 2012 at 23:36

dunnoob Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Postmaster Joined: 10 Dec 2011 Location: Elijal Status: Offline Points: 800	Posted: 13 Jun 2012 at 00:27
	Could be also the opposite effect: Player A defends with 100 thieves and a ward of destruction. Player B forgot that an ordinary ward of destruction has only 250 charges, and sends 400 T1 mineurs (= T1 thieves on solo missions) good enough to take out a ward of intentions. Almost all T1 thieves from 251 to 400 won't make it, and player A gets a better diplo score over some minutes.

J Pizzle Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List New Poster Joined: 17 Jun 2012 Status: Offline Points: 2	Posted: 13 Oct 2012 at 23:56
	I don't think there's any way that could be an exploit. Near as I can tell, rankings are based on the # of units overcome (or killed, for that matter, by defending thieves). I think it's more likely that the player knows what they're doing when it comes to thieving an undefended town. ps I don't see why some people get angry about thread resurrections :-D

Rill Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Postmaster General Player Council - Geographer Joined: 17 Jun 2011 Location: California Status: Offline Points: 7078	Posted: 14 Oct 2012 at 00:05
	JP, it's an exploit because they're diploing themselves, or occasionally an inactive with known theft defense. The increase in score is caused by essentially meaningless activity. In April the devs outlined plans to have a portion (or all) of defending diplos die, which would successfully address this problem. Obviously implementation of this idea has been significantly delayed.

dunnoob Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Postmaster Joined: 10 Dec 2011 Location: Elijal Status: Offline Points: 800	Posted: 14 Oct 2012 at 01:00
	Diploing inactives with diplo defense is no exploit, notably after 400 solo T1 thieves died to cancel the ward. If there is a diplo defense there's also a failure chance: Lots of T2 thieves returning without goods, lots of T2 thieves returning not at all, and of course also no score.

Rill Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Postmaster General Player Council - Geographer Joined: 17 Jun 2011 Location: California Status: Offline Points: 7078	Posted: 14 Oct 2012 at 01:28
	sending 400 t1 thieves solo seems like rather a waste of time. Why not just send enough to clear a rune then some to test the defenses?

dunnoob Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Postmaster Joined: 10 Dec 2011 Location: Elijal Status: Offline Points: 800	Posted: 14 Oct 2012 at 01:43
	400 charges can be depleted by 400 dead thieves sent individually. Sent as a "horde" they'd also die, but 399 charges remain. Diplo specialists could just send, say, 5K T2, and train 400 new T2. I can't afford that, upkeep, saddles, extra building, and most of the time no interesting targets within 200 squares.

Rill Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Postmaster General Player Council - Geographer Joined: 17 Jun 2011 Location: California Status: Offline Points: 7078	Posted: 14 Oct 2012 at 02:08
	Each charge represents one dead diplo. So if you send 400 individual thieves, that depletes 400 charges. If you send 400 thieves in one pack, that depletes 400 charges. It is true that it makes more sense to send t1 than t2 to deplete the runes, but I don't get what you're saying about sending them individually.

dunnoob Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Postmaster Joined: 10 Dec 2011 Location: Elijal Status: Offline Points: 800	Posted: 14 Oct 2012 at 02:24
	No, each charge in its initial state kills up to 400 thieves. If you send 400 missions with 400 thieves you end up with a depleted ward of intentions and 16K dead thieves. It's slightly more complex with a Runemasters' Grounding: For, say, level 16, you'd get 720 charges at the time when you cast the ward of intentions, and each charge kills up to 720 thieves. If you later upgrade or demolish the Runemasters' Grounding the number of unused charges stays as is, but the number of killed thieves is determined by the current level. You can build level 20 for 800 charges, cast the ward, and then completely demolish the building, back to 400 dead thieves per charge. It's listed in the wiki, but apparently inactive players rarely bothered to get more than 400 charges. Edited by dunnoob - 14 Oct 2012 at 02:29

Rill Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Postmaster General Player Council - Geographer Joined: 17 Jun 2011 Location: California Status: Offline Points: 7078	Posted: 14 Oct 2012 at 02:40
	In the parlance of runes, 1 "Charge" = 1 Dead Unit. Every time. No matter whether the units are sent all in one mission or in many missions. "Charge" does NOT equal number of times the rune can be used. if you send 400 missions with 400 thieves, you end up with 400 dead thieves from the first mission and 399 missions with varying levels of success. None of the 399 missions after the first one would be affected by the rune. (Assuming the original rune is a Ward of Intentions with no runemaster's ground and player is inactive and/or is not putting the rune back up or it is in cooldown.)