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Cheating in Rebellion

Cheating in Rebellion

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Jan 4, 2020, 12:0201/04/20
06/02/19
32

Cheating in Rebellion

When is Plarium going to stop orders from cheating in KVK Rebellion?  Certain big orders (such as [CREW] -FIGHTCLUB- from kingdom 95) move some of their accounts out of the kingdom, so they get matched up with low power kingdoms.  They bring them back after the kvk is announced, and have an easy time of it.


While these accounts cannot score points directly, they are used to kill the meatshield from towers, so the rest of the order has an easy time killing the top end troops.  They are also used to stalk and kill members from the inferior kingdoms they get matched up with.


It is cheating, pure and simple, and fraudulent, since the people in the orders who are being taken advantage of are paying customers.  Plarium is not protecting them from being abused.


The fix to this problem is simple, don't allow server moves from the moment any kvk event (rebellion in particular) is announced, until the event is over.


Also, ban all the members of cheating orders.  They are all responsible, as they condone and profit from the actions of their members.


Plarium has a fiduciary duty to provide a fair tournament system to all of its paying customers.  I can only think that Plarium has allowed this practice to continue because when some small town gets wiped out by a gargantuan account, it profits from it financially.  This is at best morally and ethically questionable.  In my opinion it is actually fraudulent.

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Jan 4, 2020, 21:2801/04/20
Jan 4, 2020, 22:24(edited)
06/02/19
32

So, here's the info on our rebellion:


Kingdom 160, St Eastver (mine)  about 1 trillion power total, top order is KILL COMPANY [KC_], about 340 billion.  Top town in kingdom is mine, 136 bil, level 31.

Kingdom 34, Crovenbett. about 850 billion in active people, top order is Texas Outlaws [TXO].  Top town is 230 billion, level 35.


Kingdom 10, Willaugh.  about 1.7 trillion in active people, top order is Deutsche Templer [D_T], about 1.35 trillion power.  Top towns, 6 level 35's, ranging in power from 88.6 billion to 255 billion.


Kingdom 95, Oxly, about 2.8 trillion in active people, top order is -FIGHTCLUB- [CREW], currently 2.65 trillion power.


So, I have to wonder, how did we get matched up against kingdoms with level 35 towns in them, and trillion+ power orders.  In the case of kingdom 95, especially, this looks very odd.


Well, it turns out that 3 members of FIGHTCLUB, including the order master, moved into the kingdom after the rebellion matchup was generated.  These 3 accounts total to more than 1.2 trillion power.








Now, when you click on a gold town, it says "You won't get points for attacking this Lord.  They relocated to the Kingdom after the worldwide Tournament had been announced, so they are not taking part in it."  Well, like so much that Plarium says, this is not really true.


They are free to stalk and attack you, to inhibit you from attempting to kill towers, the major source of points in Rebellion.  They are free to reinforce towers, so that you cannot kill them.  They are free to kill off the lower tier troops in towers, so that the rest of the order has an easier time killing the higher value troops, for more points.  They are free to do pretty much everything except score points directly.  And, you cannot score points from them, either.  So, they can assault your town again and again, without fear that you will score points from their dead troops.  StreetPirat attacked my town repeatedly, killing my troops, and I got no points for it, even though without the event he would not have had access to my town.


This is not the first time I have seen an order suddenly gain massive power after kvk rebellion is announced, but it is the most egregious to date.  It seems likely that these orders, and this one in particular, move accounts out of the kingdom in order to get easier kvk-rebellion matchups, then they bring the accounts home to help out.  Plarium's "solution" of not allowing these towns to score is not an adequate fix to the problem.  The only effective solution is to not allow towns to relocate during the period between the announcement of kvk-rebellion, and it's conclusion.


Orders that are manipulating the matchup software are cheating.  In my view, since every member of the order (and kingdom) receives illicit benefits from this behavior, they should all be permanently banned from the game.
Jan 4, 2020, 22:4701/04/20
06/02/19
32
If Plarium expects us to spend money for resources and boosts to build troops for these events, then they need to provide assurance that the events are fair.  Otherwise, what is the point?  If they aren't going to protect the integrity of the tournament matchup system, then they should tell us.  Otherwise, they need to fix the loopholes, and vigorously and publicly punish those who seek to manipulate it through dishonest methods.
Jan 5, 2020, 18:2801/05/20
04/12/17
1308

Dear ROSE MCCALLUM, 

Thank you for your commitment to the game. 

We are determined to make the game better, so we'll definitely consider your feedback, and our developers will analyze your suggestions. Feel free to write us if you have any other ideas or suggestions. 

We wish you a good play and glorious victories!



Jan 5, 2020, 19:4601/05/20
Jan 8, 2020, 00:48(edited)
09/09/17
1143

@ROGER MONTGOMERY ... maybe ... just like the introduced 24h delay before rejoining Order, 24h delay before rejoining kingdom?

- that's half KvK4's duration, giving the still present members some time to work on things. Better than zero, I suppose.




Edit: Never mind. Was reminded later that there is a minimum of 30 days between carting.

Jan 5, 2020, 20:1901/05/20
Jan 5, 2020, 20:22(edited)
09/11/17
7

You know you need 1 month to jump kingdoms right? 


What about the other way around : your teams encounters success and has new joiners after announcement ? Are you cheating ? People jump in rebellion when most people are in the targeted kingdom to lower carriages. It s for their wallet. Not all that looks unfair is cheating. 
Jan 5, 2020, 23:1001/05/20
09/09/17
1143

> You know you need 1 month to jump kingdoms right?

Was reminded of that. D'oh. nm.


> What about the other way around : your teams encounters success and has new joiners after announcement ?


Fair point. But I think this is more about optics than anything else. The descriptions make it clear you can't participate in the first / next event - no biggie, it's known.


OTOH - Getting side-schmucked from a new heavyweight former / returning order member, hurts, is more than they can aspire to in any reasonable time frame ... so they 'sulk' and call it cheating.


You make good points.

Jan 6, 2020, 00:0201/06/20
06/02/19
32

Yes, I know about the 1 month restriction.  What is to stop someone who has multiple accounts from moving some of them off each month, while bringing others back?  They stay away 30 days, and come back after they get the favorable matchup.


In this case, I have no history information on the kingdom, but the fact that one of the relocated accounts belongs to the order master is a major warning flag in my book.  Seems unlikely that the master slot of a major order would just be handed over to a truly new arrival in the kingdom, especially during a major tournament like rebellion.  It is clear to me at least that the one account is an alt of the order master.  Whether the other two new accounts also belong to him, or to a crony is unclear.  During the event the OM demonstrated a complete lack of concern about the cost of the units he expended, so it seems to me the person has exceedingly deep pockets.  It would not surprise me if all 3 accounts were his.



Jan 6, 2020, 00:1101/06/20
Jan 6, 2020, 00:13(edited)
06/02/19
32

Rebellion Results  (pretty predictable, really)


1st place: Kingdom 95   7,515,972,951,529

2nd place: Kingdom 10  1,086,150,607,963

3rd place: Kingdom 160    147,319,988,117

4th place: Kingdom 34         48,566,311,412

My order, KILL COMPANY, scored 90,873,360,168 of our kingdom's points.  That is not a good number for us.  In a normal matchup I kill numerous level 1 towers.  It takes me some time, usually about 12 marches, healing troops in between to keep the costs manageable.  Our best performance to date is about 615 billion, out of a kingdom total of about 670 billion.



In this event, because no level 1 tower survived past the 1 minute mark when towers spawned, we got little chance to score points from them.  This matchup was egregiously lopsided, with two kingdoms with multiple level 35 accounts that kill level 1 towers with a single march, and two kingdoms without.  It was just hopeless, and totally unfair to all the paying customers in both my kingdom and in kingdom 34.


Cheating isn't the only issue here, the quality of the matchup code is exceedingly poor, pitting two kingdoms whose top orders are around the 340 billion mark vs two kingdoms with advanced trillion power orders.  This was simply a gift to the two top kingdoms.

Jan 6, 2020, 07:1801/06/20
Jan 6, 2020, 07:19(edited)
09/11/17
7

With all due respect Rose ...  a 450b player doing all that “cheating planning” to annoy a 340b order ? 


That looks ridiculous and laughable. 


Play more and cry less and you will improve your performance 


As for matching, since it is based on power and announced 1 day before than usual kvk/kvkr it can very well be affected by presence of OvO enemy in your kingdom. 
Jan 6, 2020, 21:2301/06/20
06/02/19
32

Your comments make no sense. To start with, how would they know they would be matched up with us, before the matchups were even created? You're trying to impeach my complaint, and seriously botching it.

Obviously, they didn't do this so they could "annoy" a 340 billion order. They did it so they could get matched up against 3 kingdoms of 1 trillion power, instead of 3 kingdoms with 3 trillion power each.

The only ridiculous thing about this is that Plarium can't figure out how to prevent this kind of manipulation. The solution is *really* simple: don't allow relocations between the time rebellion is announced and it finishes.

As for improving my performance, get a level 31 town of around 140 billion power, and we'll go at each other, and see whose performance is better.

As for your last silly comment, I suspect that Plarium's code is good enough that it can distinguish between resident towns and those who are in kingdom because of ovo. The idea that rebellion matchups can be skewed by ovo opponents being in kingdom is *seriously* off the wall.

Jan 6, 2020, 21:4001/06/20
Jan 6, 2020, 22:06(edited)
06/02/19
32
Aaaaah, you're from Sontefield.  I've been there, nice plundering.  Think we defeated SWAT Academy in ovo recently.  Or, is your attitude the result of something more sinister?  Does S. W. A. T. engage in the same sort of power manipulation during rebellion matchups?  Or even worse, do you and FIGHTCLUB share some management?
Jan 6, 2020, 22:2001/06/20
Jan 6, 2020, 22:27(edited)
06/02/19
32

In case anybody is wondering, I'm not some turnip that just fell off the truck.  I have a BS in Computer Science.  I did my first game programming in 1977, when I programmed an old (now, pretty powerful back then) IBM 360 to play bacarrat.  I actually still have the punch card decks from that.


For many years I wrote code for and ran a MUD (multi-user dungeon, for the millenials out there).  Hmm, I really should resurrect that, it would be fun.


Anyway.


When it comes to multi-player games, I always found that the more information I provided to the players the better.  It made them my allies.  While anonymity tends to bring out the worst in people, many people are still decent at heart.  If Plarium made enough information available, the player base would help you police the kingdoms, looking for cheaters.


In particular, I'd like to see full tournament results available on a web site, or better yet, in game.  Players should be able to look up results for any event that has ever been run.  They should also be able to look up all immigration records.  There should be a public record of every player who has relocated.  Players would certainly do all your legwork for you, if that were the case, finding those orders who are systematically manipulating rebellion and other tournament matchups.


There is other information I would like to have, as well, that I have written about before.  As an order master, I would like to be able to see the grand totals of what everybody has contributed to the order citadel, for example.  The current system of writing over contribution records after 100 entries is entirely inadequate.  I would also like to see daily, weekly, and monthly help hit totals, along with on line time.  


I should be able to look at the contents of all marches of all order members.  It is lame beyond belief that I can use espionage on other members of the kingdom to see what units they are yielding with, but I cannot check on my own members to see if they are following the rules.


It would also be nice if I could see what troops my members have on hand, by clicking on their town, so I can easily evaluate our military readiness.


Jan 7, 2020, 06:5601/07/20
Jan 7, 2020, 09:34(edited)
09/11/17
7

Oh you take it personnaly , interesting 


Now let me tell you something lady 


1/ never ever associate Swat name with an illusion of yours. 

Or next time you will get playing the Academy, point or no points you will burn by my hands and you will have something very concrete to cry about. 

if Everything what you seem to not understand becomes cheating , you will soon be a Guru of this  forum. 

2/ silly comment about power of kingdom when everyone is in one kingdom, native or not : silly is your ignorance. Again, people jump during rebellion because it is cheaper when all are in same kingdom 

This being said if as 150b player you need 12 marches to take down a level 1 tower, and are proud being 140b power at level 31, all fighters know what this mean... thanks for your own description ;) and ....  again, play more and cry less.  


The fix to this problem is simple, don't allow server moves from the moment any kvk event (rebellion in particular) is announced, until the event is over.

Bottomline this "simple fix" prevents any movement of any kind and any evolution of any team: if everything is freezed during Rebellion and / or regular KVK's time (more or less form Tuesday night to Saturday and / or Wednesday night to Sunday), what is left ? Monday ? great! of no, hold on, there is OvO announced already which will affect the math already done... poor teams in OvO victims of same strategy of being chased by big bad L35's. 


No wonder Plarium does not listen valid complaints and suggestion when they are spammed with this 


There is no perfect formula. Matching kingdoms is what it is. sometimes it will look unfair. sometimes it will look lucky, depending whether you are the smallest or the greatest who welcomes new players. 



Jan 8, 2020, 00:4601/08/20
09/09/17
1143

TAT1ANA, the ranting is not helpful. Yes, Rose started it first.


Both of you have now been mixing the OP on KvK4 with OvO.

[Granted, similar concepts, and similar irks.]


Roger, please lock the thread.


Rose, please reconstitute in Technical Support if you feel interested to continue pursuing, sticking to particulars, perhaps splitting out to two threads, KvK4 and OvO.

Jan 8, 2020, 14:5401/08/20
09/18/17
17
Their are more than just a few issues with this game and when you consider the cost of packs, subscriptions etc it makes it pretty poor that plarium cannot develop this game better. As an example  you cannot hit towns below level 13 and get rss but a level 34 guy with 30bil power can come long and  wipe a level 22 guy out .This is not strategic in any way shape or form, all that I see happening in this  scenario is  Plarium prospering from the troop rebuilds or the player who lost leaving the game.Too much emphasis is placed on having to buy, Changing your hero  or getting hero Crystals (which is being directed towards having to buy packs that include them) they have become almost non-existent to get within the game as have many of the items you need to build equipment . All in all the developers of this game  need to look at just how fair the game is structured, that means focusing a little more on strategy and a little less on profit .