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Evidence of bot city bug or cheating?

Evidence of bot city bug or cheating?

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Feb 16, 2017, 02:3102/16/17
12/15/15
3326

Evidence of bot city bug or cheating?

Hello. This post is about bot city resources. Bot cities are random computer cities. They usually have unusual names. For example, <23hj4679> or . They have no coalition. The message board said they can help players. They have resources for raids. They can be useful for sieges too.

Maybe a few weeks ago, there was a big change to the bot cities. Some players asked about the change in the forums and chat. The change was that bot cities produce a little more food. But because of that, some bot cities now don’t produce much timber or bronzeBelow I have evidence of the bot city problem with screenshots. I don’t know the reason why exactly. It could be resource production bug or some kind of cheating. 

I spied 84 bot cities. The bot cities location was in 7 different lines (4 up-down lines, 3 right-left lines). I saw the same situation in 69 of the 84 cities. The bot cities had food, but not much timber or bronze to raid. I spied again some bot cities to check production results after 1 hour exactly. The result was shocking.

Here is a screenshot. It is from one of the bot cities. The name is YV1CKD4>. It was not seiged during my checking. It was not raided during my checking. Please look at the lumberyard graphic. To get that graphic, the lumberyard must be level 10 or higher minimum.  http://prntscr.com/e9b2er 

Here is a screenshot from the bot city again. The name is YV1CKD4>. Please look at the forge graphic. To get that graphic, the forge must be level 10 or higher minimum . http://prntscr.com/e9b2qw


Here is a screenshot from the bot city again. The name is YV1CKD4>. Please look at the farm graphic. To get that graphic, the farm must be level 10 or higher minimum . http://prntscr.com/e9b349


Here is a spy report from that bot city. Time is 17:42.  http://prntscr.com/e9b44l


Here is a spy report from that bot city. Time is 18:42 same day. It is 1 hour after exactly.  http://prntscr.com/e9b4f2 


What is the problem? Look at the first report and the second report together. The resource production is less than the level minimum.   

Below is the bronze bonus chart. The bot city graphic before showed level 10 or higher minimum forges. There are 5 forges total. Look at the chart below. A level 10 forge can make 180 bronze/hour. So 5 level 10 minimum forges should make 900 bronze minimum in 1 hour. But look at the spy reports. The forges only made 190/hr. That is 78.9% less than the minimum. I mean, the forges show a level 10 or higher graphic. But they produce like level 3 or 4 forge only. That could be a bug or cheating to lower production.  http://prntscr.com/e9b4qr


Below is the lumberyard bonus chart. The bot city graphic before showed level 10 or higher minimum lumberyards. There are 5 lumberyards total. Look at the chart below. A level 10 lumberyard can make 180 timber/hour. So 5 level 10 minimum lumberyards should make 900 wood in 1 hour minimum. But look at the spy reports. The lumberyards only made 196/hr. That is 78.2% less than the minimum. I mean, the lumberyards show a level 10 or higher graphic. But they produce like level 3 or 4 lumberyard only. That could be a bug or cheating to lower production.  http://prntscr.com/e9b51h


The grain result is not bad. But we can see the same problem. Below is the grain bonus chart. The bot city graphic before shows level 10 or higher minimum farms. There are 6 farms total. Look at the chart below. A level 10 farm can make 215 grain/hour. So 6 minimum level 10 farms should make 1290 food in 1 hour minimum. But look at the spy reports. The farms only made 689/hr. That is 46.5% less than the minimum. I mean, the farms show a level 10 or higher graphic. But they produce like a level 6 or 7 farm only. That could be a bug or cheating to lower production. http://prntscr.com/e9b5dq


After the spy reports, I raided the city also. I checked the results. I got exactly the raid difference. I mean, resources after minimum city protection (13k). I didn’t get any extra timber, bronze, grain from the storage.

This situation was in many bot cities –almost 84% of bot cities I checked. It means, the bot cities can’t produce resources correctly, especially timber and bronze. Is the evidence and math correct? if yes, is it a bug or cheating to lower resource production?  Can Plarium check this situation please?


Thank you. 




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Feb 16, 2017, 06:3502/16/17
Feb 16, 2017, 08:51(edited)
774

Good morning KJM,

I haven't been raiding bots all that long, perhaps for 8 or 9 months if not less, but in this time bot-city resource production has changed frequently IMO. It seems bots do not follow typical city mechanics as we would see in the production of an abandoned city which isn't that big of a wonder, they are bots :-).

I have two bot-lines close by and two more I use mid- and long-range, and I don't recall their resource yields ever having been balanced. It certainly makes resource management a bit more challenging when supply-and-demand changes from time to time. Referring to this a "bug" is difficult, since there is no documentation that I know of outlining bot behaviour and "cheating" would also imply that there is some guaranteed bot yield that is not being provided, but I know of none.

My general approach has been:

  1. Check which bot lines are heavy on which resources, in my experience this is often the case although the current timber and bronze shortages seem global.
  2. Trade for needed resources at the market.
  3. In a pinch, use boosts to raise my own production of specific resources.
  4. Wait for the bot yields to change, which seems to occur every 8 weeks or so.
Cheers Dio

Feb 16, 2017, 08:3802/16/17
12/15/15
3326

Hello Diomedes. 


OK. I didn't know that the bot cities use different resource calculations. Also I didn't know that bot cities usually change resource calculations after some time. Maybe I saw some changes before. But I just didn't think about it at that time. Only the last few days I thought about  it.  I understand.


Thank you for your help!
Feb 16, 2017, 09:0902/16/17
774

You're very welcome KJM, although it wasn't much help at that :-)

I certainly agree with you that the current global(?) timber and bronze shortage is a bother, I suppose it's Sparta's version of a pre Adam Smith laissez faire economy :-). Personally, those months in which individual bot-lines each had different resource yield mixes was the most interesting; one could find bronze next door but had to raid bots have way around the world to find some grain, or vice versa. 

I've currently switched to raiding abandoned cities since their resource mix is much more balanced, at least until bot supply changes again. The only advantages of the current grain flood, at least for me, are that ...

  1. ... it's been easier completing a few high-level agreements that are very grain-heavy, 
  2. ... the troop count I am currently able to feed has increased dramatically. I'm currently at -3k/hr. grain production, something I would never have done a few weeks back, but bot raids bringing back 50k to 60k grain each, make this possible.
Cheers Dio

Alyona KolomiitsevaCommunity Manager
Feb 16, 2017, 09:5102/16/17
09/17/15
8278

Hi! 

Such "bot" Cities are not computer-generated. they are created by players, and can be used to violate our game rules: like selling Resources, etc. Unfortunately, Plarium can't give you any information about their Resource production as this information is available only to account owners. From our side we didn't change anything about them.