Money Cheat in DOW3

Korwinthale

I have a replay proving that 2 players were using some sort of money cheat in game I wish to share it with a dev, The players in the game were generating close to double the resources of their ally ... All the math was done showing the non cheating player is receiving exactly the resources he should and the other 2 players are close to doubling his income. Can a Dev contact me so that I can share this information and replay with him? If you check any normal game you will notice all players on a given team recieve their resources at the EXACT SAME RATE - whatever for upkeep which can easily be added back to the total.

When the team members are generating almost double that of their ally something is WRONG

Korwinthale

Am example is a player receives 24 power base with our generators we were receiving 111 + base 24 135
Our enemy was receiving 164 from their points the non cheating players total income was 188
The two cheating players were receiving 274 and 265 if you subtract the 24 base thats 250 and 241 on 164 point income.... Something is wrong there.
their requisition was 1103 and 1066 while the non cheating player had 752 ... So absolutely something is going on.

HARRYY

sad this is not getting a response.

VVonderbread

I was in the game in question. When I watched the replay very carefully and took resource counts at various time-based intervals, our team (with Korwinthale) was all generating resources both requisition and power at the same rate each time I measured. On opposing team, however, two of the players were generating resources and power with a huge margin of difference relative to their third team mate. The difference was extreme and persisted with two players on the opposing team receiving very large resource bonuses over both their third player. Its all there in the replay and very suspicious when you count it up. Not a simple variance, but a game breaking economy exploit of some kind.

tritol

replay would be nice, I bet someone will figure out what they are doing

VVonderbread

We certainly have the replay, and could provide it, but just posting it to the forum could be counter-productive. It would be much more productive to submit it to a Dev who took interest in the fact that there is something very wrong with resource generation under various circumstances. I'll talk with Kor and see what we can extract, redact names, etc., to make salient points. But any such analysis is likely just to lead down the path of threadlock since the evidence of any one screenshot can be multiply explained by people who don't watch it all. But releasing it as essentially calls out at least 2 opposing players as cheaters/bug abusers etc., shifting the focus away from the essential economic disparity of one team gaining resources as different rates per player and in massive amounts.

I'd like to see this addressed and fixed without running any player through the mud. Best way would be to upload the replay to someone with the authority and qualification to review it for the evidence which it contains and not do something that could shift the focus of this discussion into a blamestorm, flame war, or other pointless exchange. There is a real issue here. Perhaps Kor and I can find a way to make the point without dragging the discussion down.

Korwinthale

And this is exactly why I haven't released it to the public yet.

Korwinthale

compiling a post showing the math involved we will post a slightly more explanatory breakdown.

it was very apparent as in the after game screen he had spent over 30000 resources while we had spent about 16000 - 19000 and In his match history it shows he spent only 2400 in a 32 minute game

VVonderbread

So, for anyone that encounters anomalies where it appears that the opposing team steam rolls you with seeming infinite units, here is a short explanation of the economic bug or exploitation that appears to make this possible.

Identify a player (if there is one) whose income in both requisition and energy is accurate based on the nodes that have been built or upgraded. This is how we first noticed the economy being abused. This player we will refer to with the name of "BL" for baseline. BL's economy was consistently correct and his income was as it should be. A good time to measure is 5-8 minutes into the game. Because the economic boost that results is percentage based, you won't find a considerable difference between the players' actual numbers, but its the percentage that is important.

We sampled the game at 10 or so different tollgates, usually after a new resource node was added or point upgraded so we could compare against BL for validity. We found that the economic disparity between 2 players on the other team was roughly 30-34% consistently above player BL from the 4:05 minute mark on up to and beyond the 19 minute mark.

Here is one sample taken at 19:38

Player_BL Requisition = +610 (our baseline player without economic boost or exploitation)
Player_NH Requisition = +813 -68 upkeep (881 total requisition income)
Player_AG Requisition = +850 -68 upkeep (918 total requisition income)

Similar disparities were evident in power generation as well. Remember, we had started seeing a 30-34% for NH and AG from the time shortly after the construction of the first resource node at 4:05. So the magic 30-34% range is barely visible early on but of course it becomes proportionally more powerful. Chances are, this is a safe number boost your economy by because it makes the exploitation noticeable only when you are ready for mid game and your killing stroke.

So at 19:38

Player BL is at 100% normal economic conditions.
Player NH is generating 31% additional Requisition.
Player AG is generating 34% additional Requisition.

An economic bonus we observed all game from the 4 minute period onward. Also be aware the game screen on a players Match History is incorrect when viewed later on, with regard to how much requisition or energy is spent or earned. But a quick screenshot of the after match history you get immediately at the conclusion of the match is accurate. By the end of our match, AG had spent 30,000 requisition.

It is not clear at this time if malicious software is being used, but the consistent 30-34 percent, the ability of this boost to remain consistent, and the endless tide of units that a 30+% boost gets you means that if you are going to win under conditions where the economy can be abused, you have got to do it early. Otherwise, you face a never ending tide of top tier units.

Korwinthale

Yes his match history claimed he spent 2400 req and 177 power while mass producing tanks end game.... The end game screen showed 30,000 req and around 6000 power spent to our 18,000, and 3000 ish respectively Looking at the actual numbers this is equivalent to having 10 extra tier 3 nodes mining ...

VVonderbread

Here are the 19:38 screenshots

https://image.ibb.co/gRZ1gk/Player_AG_Req.png
https://image.ibb.co/bFbQ7Q/Player_NH_Req.png
https://image.ibb.co/izT57Q/Player_BL_Req.png

VVonderbread

Using the approach above, we invite other players to post any economic discrepancies in this thread. Kor or I will update this thread next time we run into the dynamic duo and see if the results of our match are similar in terms of % economic boost.

Kat_RE

@Korwinthale You should be able to shoot me a PM directly and attach the replay file in the message.

Draconix

OP, I didn't knew about this exploit, can you tell how it exactly happens, so then I would avoid it?

To be precise, I was playing only versus AI alone and didn't knew it about that exploit. If it is true, then @Kat_RE , I'm really sorry that I didn't noticed and I'm not sure, but I could accidentally activated this exploit in my earlier Versus AI matches. I feel worried that I might be banned from the game because of it. And I don't remember exactly what happened on my matches, not even having a replays of it.

Draconix

I checked my latest match replay versus AI today and I didn't find suspicious about my match. Of course I noticed however that AI has more resource rate than me, but after checking that I hardly doubt that I could accidentally use exploit. So I don't know.