Station footprint hunting

posted on July 24th, 2010, 7:19 pm

I wouldn't really call this cheating as it's very difficult to pull off; I've tested it a few times. But I find that a lot of people like to do this at their base to find my cloaked scout. I mean come on! How else would people know that my cloaked scout was in that exact position!?

[Dominus_Noctis]

posted on July 24th, 2010, 7:25 pm

Last edited by Dominus_Noctis on July 24th, 2010, 7:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I wouldn't really call this cheating as it's very difficult to pull off; I've tested it a few times. But I find that a lot of people like to do this at their base to find my cloaked scout. I mean come on! How else would people know that my cloaked scout was in that exact position!?

I've experienced that too, and it's quite annoying. I'll have a fleet hiding in a corner and another fleet will be following me around despite never having seen my cloaked fleet previously and not having bumped into it... 

Thanks for removing the 'offending' material Myles - I'll have to discuss with some other people whether it is best to put this up on the guide or not. It's really so... easy to use that it relies on simple honesty, which means that if somebody is losing and values the win more than the fun... well... 

posted on July 24th, 2010, 7:27 pm

I wouldn't really call this cheating as it's very difficult to pull off; I've tested it a few times. But I find that a lot of people like to do this at their base to find my cloaked scout. I mean come on! How else would people know that my cloaked scout was in that exact position!?

i disagree, it is quite obviously cheating, its really easy to pull off.

reasons:

1) its free
2) u can do it from the start with ships which are auto built for u, for free
3) u can scan anywhere, anytime, as long as u have revealed the area previously, no need for a fleet to currently be there.
4) the enemy cant stop u doing this without killing all your con ships/relay dodes
5) the enemy doesnt even know you are doing this.
6) u can track the enemy by following with the footprint, as long as its still red, you are still pointing at a location of a cloaked ship

just run the footprint for the mining station over an area of empty space that should accept building, and if it goes red u know the enemy is hiding there.

[Dominus_Noctis]

posted on July 24th, 2010, 7:34 pm

Last edited by Dominus_Noctis on July 24th, 2010, 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Absolutely correct reasoning Myles. And unfortunately no way to stop this without causing issues with actual building - unless you can place on top of cloaked units. I guess it seems more and more likely that it is something that should be placed on the guide - I just hate having to draft rules that should be intuitive. That's why the HSA 'rues' were more common courtesy (for instance, using it from within your base by instant teching to HSA (takes 6 minutes I believe) and then using it on enemies in maps such as .... Asteroid Halma 

posted on July 24th, 2010, 7:39 pm

Thanks for removing the 'offending' material Myles

erm.. i havnt removed anything 

posted on July 24th, 2010, 7:40 pm

Well when someone try's to track your cloaked fleet, it involves a lot of concentration, which usually means that they cant focus on other things such as building their own ships, ect... I'm not saying that it isn't an exploit, as it clearly is. All you have to do is have a venture nearby, a fleet, and a constructor, and you can decimate cloaked forces. But now that you bring it up, everyone's gonna try it ^^.

posted on July 24th, 2010, 7:43 pm

as a message to everyone, doing this is really really.... mean 

please dont do it, its cheating and nobody likes a cheater.

well this lady does:

but that doesnt matter

if u do it i'll has a sad 

posted on July 24th, 2010, 7:55 pm

Is it possible to just put an auto-move command into ships when a building is going up? Obviously, in real life if one of your ships saw a constructor coming to build, it would move. A cloaked ship would too for fear of being exposed.

posted on July 24th, 2010, 7:58 pm

Is it possible to just put an auto-move command into ships when a building is going up? Obviously, in real life if one of your ships saw a constructor coming to build, it would move. A cloaked ship would too for fear of being exposed.

i think u misunderstand the exploit. u dont need to move the con ship out to the enemy

just push the build button to get the transparent footprint which is green if building is possible at that location and red if not. move it around, and cloaked ships will turn it red.

the con ship never has to leave your starbase. it never actually tries to build anything, nor does it cost anything as the money is deducted when building starts, not when u push the button.

posted on July 24th, 2010, 8:25 pm

erm.. i havnt removed anything 

I see....

posted on July 24th, 2010, 9:21 pm

well cloaking does not put you out of phase, you should still be careful where to put your cloaked ship
just park it near a building for example.

We do neither consider this an exploit, nor a bug.

posted on July 24th, 2010, 9:25 pm

well cloaking does not put you out of phase, you should still be careful where to put your cloaked ship
just park it near a building for example.

We do neither consider this an exploit, nor a bug.

Then I think you didn't understand it . You can simply take a constructor - any constructor, anywhere on the map - and select a building footprint and sweep it over the map. Where it turns red, there's a cloaked ship . Quite clearly a relic that can be easily used to determine where best to put anti-cloaking units.

posted on July 24th, 2010, 9:29 pm

We do neither consider this an exploit, nor a bug.

lolwut?

this bug allows you to find a cloaked fleet that is anywhere on the map you had visibility.

with no cost/trouble and with little time

just run the footprint of a big station around areas of the map with nothing in them.

it makes it really easy to detect an incoming attack. as u know where they are coming from.

posted on July 24th, 2010, 9:35 pm

ah yep. thats on todo for fixing

posted on July 24th, 2010, 9:36 pm

lol the micro for this is so difficult