V1.29 bug/exploit with Fortify All command

[cracker]

Just testing the limits of how these new functions work and found what appears to be a pretty distictive bugexploit.

NOTE: I think Wake All and Fortify All are great time savers and great additions to the game. Particularly Fortify All since we already could sort of wake all by using the right click menu and the shift key.

HERE'S THE BUG: "Fortify All" will even work on units that have no movement points left. As an example, if you have a stack of ten cavalry units and move them all out across the unroaded terrain for 3 tiles, then all of the cavalry units will show as already having been totally moved up. Now if you right click on the stack, "fortify all" shows as a viable command option. After you click on "fortify all" and try the right click menu again, the menu will now show "wake all" as a command option and "fortify all" is notably absent. If you click "wake all", you will get the message "this unit has already been moved" but the "fortify all" option will reappear in the menu.

This does not seem to activate the animation or graphics changes, but the fortified unit flag definitely seems to be engaged for all the units even though they have no movement points remaining. All the units in the stack will toggle between showing Activate or Wake as their individual unit command options even though they have no movement points.

If you leave the units fortified and proceed to the next turn they will stay fortified without engaging you to demand a movement instruction.

So all this testing means I am fairly sure they are Fortified from the viewpoint of the software.

This exploit basically allows players to activate a 25% defensive bonus for any and all units in a stack even though these defensive bonuses should not apply to units that have used up their movement points.

You can now move a stack of infantry and fortify all the units in the same turn.

I have to ask again (tough in cheek), If I am the only person here who really plays this game?? What's everybody else doing??

 

[Masquerouge]

Wee, everybody else had discovered that, but hoped to keep it to themselves in order to wipe out human players in MP games with Play the World

 

[ainwood]

Originally posted by cracker
I have to ask again (tough in cheek), If I am the only person here who really plays this game?? What's everybody else doing??

I, for one, am still playing on V 1.21f - when I actually get time to play that is. Which in the last two weeks has been a grand total of about 1 hour.

 

[Zouave]

What am I doing? Trying to find a way to stop Culture Flipping.

I lost NINE military, my garrison, when a town of '1' flipped around 100 BC, thus ending the game for me.

So on my list of priorities and Civ 3 quirks what you cited is low on the list.

 

[Masquerouge]

Zouave, why don't you create a sticky whose title would be "I lost NINE military, my garrison, when a town of '1' flipped around 100 BC, please come and cry over my sad situation" ????

Because I've got the feeling I've read this "story" almost twenty times.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

cracker: i noticed this, too, but thought I wouldn't mention it - after all once we mentioned the multi-cheat it was taken out right away

Good work though!

 

[cracker]

Just finished a major offensive war sequence in V1.29 and let me tell you that this exploit/bug virtually guarantees us that there will be another downloadable patch released for the game independent of PTW. If they leave this exploit uncorrected, then the AI will nevere win another game except when the humans don't use this feature.

If you use this exploit religiously then you become almost undefeatable because of the 25% increase in every units defensive strength.

This is also a great example that shows how fairly well balanced the units in the current game may really be. (note: that artillery, naval combat, and air combat is still screwed up but the balance of the land units are well balanced).

In the test game that I played, the Fortify All command bug was a God send that made sure that not a single unit was ever lost to a counterattack of any kind because they could always be foritfied even when they had exhausted all their movement points.

I will update my review of the Wake ALl command and reccomend that NO ONE SHOULD USE IT except in a few rare circumstances. It is better to use the right click menu and then hold down the shift key while you quickly click on any and all units in the list that you want to wake for action.

 

[Solver]

Zouave - you're Coracle, right? Oh well... your respective posts at Apolyton clearly show that you just suck at the game.

 

[Soren Johnson]

Originally posted by cracker
Just finished a major offensive war sequence in V1.29 and let me tell you that this exploit/bug virtually guarantees us that there will be another downloadable patch released for the game independent of PTW. If they leave this exploit uncorrected, then the AI will nevere win another game except when the humans don't use this feature.

If you use this exploit religiously then you become almost undefeatable because of the 25% increase in every units defensive strength.

This is also a great example that shows how fairly well balanced the units in the current game may really be. (note: that artillery, naval combat, and air combat is still screwed up but the balance of the land units are well balanced).

In the test game that I played, the Fortify All command bug was a God send that made sure that not a single unit was ever lost to a counterattack of any kind because they could always be foritfied even when they had exhausted all their movement points.

I will update my review of the Wake ALl command and reccomend that NO ONE SHOULD USE IT except in a few rare circumstances. It is better to use the right click menu and then hold down the shift key while you quickly click on any and all units in the list that you want to wake for action.

actually, units only get the fortify bonus if they are fortified AND they have movement points left.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

Soren: strange.... I noticed a difference, too... maybe too few tests

 

[cracker]

Thanks, Soren

All technical clarifications are always appreciated and its nice to know how the fortify bonus is supposed to work.

My data sample may be too small at this point, but it did seem to make a difference with spearmen defending against bowmen and/or horsemen.

I will have to watch more closely.