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Funny blockades trick

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Jul 27, 2018, 12:4007/27/18
01/23/17
12

Funny blockades trick

Hello Community,


You might not have noticed there's a new star in town, a guy who managed to make 400k+ points (at the moment) in the weekly T10 for blockades. What's even more impressive is that he managed to make those entirely from blocking Treasure Islands (TI's).


I did a little approximate math to try and grasp the proportion of the talent of this skilled player.

440.000 block points means 4400 successful blocks - he has to have gotten killed on some TI's and replaced those blocks. That's 1000 per day, 40-46 per hour, roughly. Given a TI block takes at least 7-8 mins (trip to/from TI, plus 5 mins at target) and taking into account he has 6 TI spots open, that pretty much means this guy has been doing TIs for the whole week, non stop.

Being unable to figure out this one myself, I'm going to ask here - and hope wise people will rush to help me:

In short, to paraphrase the famous TV show name, HOW DO THEY DO IT? 

a) Owner of the account doesn't sleep/eat/leave the computer

b) There's a bunch of people taking turns to throw their time away with the sole purpose of getting 5k rubies in one account

c) 


P.S. - Would have asked him myself, but that guy is so busy sending trips to TIs virtually non-stop, that I am embarrassed to bother him with my ridiculous demands.

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CrowbarModerator
Jul 27, 2018, 20:4007/27/18
03/07/16
2355

You're aiming at the use of a 3rd party software, right? Completely possible, and if you believe that this is the case here, you can report them here. Do make an effort to explain in detail why you think that they are doing this.

Now, with that out of our way, let's check your math.

First, travel time to TIs is small. I can reach my farthest one in 4min 4sec with Buccs and Bonnies. Second, the collection time is 5 min for a minimal party, which is what you go for here. Third, the max. number of TIs you can get at once is 6. Fourth, you can start sending new parties as soon as the old ones start returning.

Assuming you can send 1 party per 10 sec, you need 1 min to send 6 of them. Plus 5 min that they spend there and a one way ticket (no need to wait for their return) of 1-4 min, gives you 7-10 min for 6 parties (notice that faster units won't change much on such shorter distances). That's 36-51 in an hour, with 51 being more likely because you'll be as close to your haven as possible. So, your estimate is quite close.

But that's 85.6 hours of sending units. If there is several people on that acc, they can do that non-stop, but they'd still need to do it for 3.5 days straight. IMO, not very likely.

So, assuming that it really is 440k block points since Monday, I'd have to agree that something's really weird here.

However, I do have one problem with your post: how do you know it's just TIs? Where do you see that they didn't combine the TI hits and with blocking inactive havens?

Jul 27, 2018, 22:4707/27/18
04/13/15
44
It all depends on your browser. 
Jul 30, 2018, 16:3607/30/18
Jul 30, 2018, 16:43(edited)
12/13/14
1283

Should be obvious to all that Blockade Points from Treasure Islands should not be permanent

We get 100 points when we capture, but lose these points only when successfully attacked

I admit to using this trick myself ... thanks for the free rubies


You need to spend all week attacking his TI's  




I have said many times that the option to blockade should be removed from the game

Newer plarium games do not have this option
CrowbarModerator
Jul 30, 2018, 23:0207/30/18
03/07/16
2355

Snowgoon said:

Should be obvious to all that Blockade Points from Treasure Islands should not be permanent

We get 100 points when we capture, but lose these points only when successfully attacked

Same thing with TIs. But, once you claim the res, you abandon TI without being successfully attacked, so it only makes sense that you keep these points. How else would you deal with it?

Aug 1, 2018, 12:3008/01/18
01/23/17
12

Crowbar said:


You're aiming at the use of a 3rd party software, right? Completely possible, and if you believe that this is the case here, you can report them here. Do make an effort to explain in detail why you think that they are doing this.


However, I do have one problem with your post: how do you know it's just TIs? Where do you see that they didn't combine the TI hits and with blocking inactive havens?

It seems our champion friend doesn't read Forum much... or at all, cause he/she/it's at it again


Since you had a point there, I went ahead and checked to see if our champion doesn't do "regular" blocks too. And you're right! -  I found 4 (four) regular blocks close to his haven, despite there being thousands other free ones. There could be other blocks out there, million miles away from his haven, but I'm not going to scan the map for hours just to prove something all too obvious.

Also, with the help of the district attorney and cbXII's mom I set up a sting operation (just kidding about the DA - I totally ripped that one from an SNL skit). 

4 target TI's were blocked for an extended period of time (the other 2 were probably blocked by other dudes).

What happened next? Well...



Then, 6 mins later...




... and 6 more minutes later...




... and so on. I've got more screenshots, but I thing we all get the picture 

So it turns out your maths was spot on. He/she/it does send 1 Bonnie and 1 Bucc every 6 mins to the closest TI's. Funny/stupid thing is that he/she/it does it regardless of whether that TI is or is not already blocked by someone else. Which IMHO would be quite idiotic for a real person to do. So that pretty much narrows it down to one of two options:

a) It's a clockwork orange with the brains of a chicken.

or

b)  - not going to say it, you already figured it out 


Next up I should rant about how I'm not surprised at this given it's a haven from the whole Armageddon/Nightmare/shiv family tree that came to own 1/3 of the map with alt farm mock-BHs and all that. But then you would ask me for proof beyond reasonable doubt for that. Which - I gotta admit, is quite reasonable, at least for us people going by the principle that it's shameful to break the rules. And, since I don't own a telescope and I don't rent an apartment across the street from Mr. Shiv's office, I can't prove it.

P.S. - Not going to report it either. I don't think Police should wait for a formal complaint when a guy is running around town shooting people in broad daylight... metaphorically speaking, of course

CrowbarModerator
Aug 1, 2018, 21:0308/01/18
03/07/16
2355

Petre said:

P.S. - Not going to report it either. I don't think Police should wait for a formal complaint when a guy is running around town shooting people in broad daylight... metaphorically speaking, of course

The police shouldn't wait for a formal complaint, but if the police somehow misses it, then a citizen should notify them. Even in your "shooting people in broad daylight" metaphor, people do actually call the police, without waiting for them to realise what's going on.

It's your right to not report, but then what's the point of this topic? Me telling you that you're right? There is a theoretical chance that you're not, but you almost certainly are. However, don't let my "moderator" tag confuse you. Outside of the forum, I'm just a player, like you. Can't do anything about it, except report it via the same form that you can use.

Aug 6, 2018, 16:0808/06/18
Aug 6, 2018, 16:25(edited)
12/13/14
1283

Greetings, Professor Falken  hehehe



When resources are successfully collected from treasure islands and the island is no longer besieged, the 100 blockade points should be deducted. - http://prntscr.com/kfdjwn


This happens automatically if we recall any blockaded haven

You can check your Captains Quarters at any time - http://prntscr.com/kfdfm9

Immediately after recalling a blockade - http://prntscr.com/kfdgq7


This simple hotfix would stop the third party abuse at TI's

Just add MINUS 100 to the Merchant Report - http://prntscr.com/kfdmic

http://prntscr.com/kfdpdb




CrowbarModerator
Aug 6, 2018, 21:2608/06/18
Aug 6, 2018, 21:27(edited)
03/07/16
2355

Easier, with almost identical effect, would be to not count TIs for blockade points at all. I'm fine with that. Not with giving and taking, as it is senseless, but not giving them at all would be fine, IMO.

An alternative idea: 100 (or even more) nondeductible blockade points for each full hour that a TI is blocked.

Aug 7, 2018, 19:5108/07/18
Aug 7, 2018, 20:11(edited)
12/13/14
1283

Crowbar said:


Easier, with almost identical effect, would be to not count TIs for blockade points at all. I'm fine with that. Not with giving and taking, as it is senseless, but not giving them at all would be fine, IMO.

An alternative idea: 100 (or even more) nondeductible blockade points for each full hour that a TI is blocked.

I agree in part - but let's try to keep it fair

Weekly Blockade Ranking is supposed to reward all players who are still holding blocks at 07:00 on Mondays


This should probably include all new havens, targets and treasure islands (not more than 7 days old)

Lost or Recalled blocks do not count .. so why should TI's be treated any different?

It is a loophole, or an exploit, or something in between
I am doubtful that it was ever intended ... much more likely that devs simply forgot to deduct 100 points when a treasure island was released ... especially if this could lead to third party abuse

Recalling obsolete haven blocks leaves honest players with a huge negative blockade ranking, which is why this TI trick became popular. Re-blocking during the same current week does not help.
It is almost impossible to place high every week without cheating


We have similar problems with Tribute Ranking, where top placed players have been blocking their own active alt accounts for years
but now we are told that alt accounts are perfectly lawful .... except on facebook servers (dual standards?)