Mobilization exploit/cheat

[Shaitan]

An extremely dangerous cheat has been discovered wherein a country in mobilization can have unlimited shield production. It exploits a bug in mobilization where shield production isn't recalculated when switching from a military build to a non-military one. The bug is apparently present in all versions of Civ3 & PTW.

In the GOTM they have eliminated the problem by taking away the ability to mobilize to a war economy. As this game is already under way that is not an option here. It is entirely possible that Firaxis will fix the bug before this game gets to Nationality but waiting on that is not a reliable solution.

This could be monitored by a neutral party looking for excessive shield production during mobilization but a concensus and agreement between the participating factions must be reached that this exploit will not be used.

Thoughts? Plans?

 

[WildFire]

I have also maybe found a bug. While playing CivGeneral online yesterday using Si-Move I found a very perculiar worker bug. I am not sure if this works for PBEM....Anyway, what I did was use the build road to even though the square was right next to the worker. He went to the square, and stayed there like his turn had passed. And yet, his little thing was still green not red as if he had not moved yet. So I clicked him, and he was still available to use even though he shouldnt of been able to be used. but it let me build a road anyway. It is quite a (good) advantage.

 

[Chieftess]

Well, I'm reading this, but I feel funny about discussing bugs, since I'm a beta tester for Firaxis... I don't want to blurt out if they fixed anything or not (it would go against the NDA).

So, I abstain from this conversation.

Besides, these bugs belong in the 1.21f bug report forum. One of the things in testing (I'm sure Shaitan knows), is documenting it, so some will figure it out...

 

[Chieftess]

hmm, what I CAN give you is a link to Apolyton.
http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77981

They already found out about it.

 

[Goonie]

Will bring this up at the UN.

 

[Chieftess]

Goonie, maybe the UN could have City Inspectors.

 

[Goonie]

Is this a 1.21f problem?

 

[GenMarshall]

Originally posted by Goonie
Will bring this up at the UN.

Good call, I shal be there momenteraly.

Speeking from as a Tourny Staff POV, this Exploit should not be alowed and should be on the list of Baned Exploits. Just to be on the safe side.

 

[Chieftess]

Most bugs (when found) usually exist in prior versions of the game.

 

[Goonie]

Is there a volonteer to test this out in 1.14f to see if this works? If it does, we have a problem.

 

[Shaitan]

Yes, it does work in 1.14f.

 

[Chieftess]

I tried it too (couldn't recreate it, but accidently found the opposite effect - NEGATIVE production).

 

[GenMarshall]

Hmm, We should post how to recreate this exploit as well as the negative verson of the Exploit. We need the instructions on how to recreate these exploits so that we can see how to do it and take note on what not to do. Then this information should be shared to 1BC's UN.

@CT - Hmm, hopefully it does not effect the Single Player aspect of the game.

 

[Hygro]

could one explain in further detail why this bug is so harmful?

From how I read it, you build a military unit as far as you can go without building it, then you switch to a military building or non military unit to use those shields, no?

In that case there are a select few things you can cheat-build with it, which you will generally have in most cities anyway, thus making this a minor and not majot bug, right?

 

[Shaitan]

No the exploit can be done in a single turn giving you as many shields as you care to have. This allows you to build whatever military build you want each turn. For example, your 1 shield corrupt border city could pop out a modern armor each turn.

 

[Hygro]

and can this be done with wonders you already started making and so forth?

Even with an answer of 'no' I understand how encredibly powerful this bug is...

how does one do it? I'm truly and merely asking out of curiosity--cheating is boring once you've done it once.

 

[Shaitan]

Not unless the wonder is a military build.

 

[Hygro]

With the link you PMed me, I now fully understand how this cheat is so encredibly powerful (the example a 20 shield or so city was building the military academy in 2 turns with over 200 shields).

I don't want mobolization to be disallowed from the game, as that's such a cool feature. However, the seriousness of such an exploit is simply massive!

 

[Shaitan]

Indeed. Hopefully Firaxis will address it.