Bug Report- Apolyton News

NorthSwordsman · March 2, 2001, 04:58

In case anyone missed it.... from the Apolyton SMAC front page.

quote:

"BUG REPORT FROM U. OF T.
1 March 2001, 20:00 EST -- DanQ
A University of Toronto student has discovered an interesting bug in Alpha Centauri, one that is also present in the expansion Alien Crossfire. Andrew Krupowicz emailed us the following report:

I've noticed there's another bug in SMAC (which also happens in Alien Crossfire), which affects both single and multi-player games: you can control the allocation of workers in an opponent's bases!

All you need to do is infiltrate another faction (or become its pactmate). Then open up the base reports screen (F4) and click on the citizens (not the name of the base). Continue clicking until all the workers have turned into doctor or empath specialists.

Consequences

AI: I tried this against the computer and hypothesized that it would reset its citizens back to the original setting. It didn't.

The lack of workers started a nutrient shortage, so the AI put a few workers back to work, but not all. Production & Energy collection were therefore crippled.

Humans: A human opponent who doesn't get a nutrient shortage type message may have one base, or several bases, crippled for an extended period of time unless s/he personally investigates every base.

Countermeasures

Clearly this is a bug and not a game feature, so my hope in bringing this to the attention of the SMAC community is to make this another cheat that must be officially "outlawed" at the outset of multiplayer games.

Krupowicz told us that he originally posted a note about this bug in the alt.games.firaxis.alpha-centauri newsgroup. "

As if we didn't need another bug.

.

NS
"God, give us Peace! not such as lulls to sleep,
But sword on thigh and brow with purpose knit!
And let our Ship of State to harbor sweep,
Her ports all up, her battle lanterns lit,
And her leashed thunders gathering for their leap."
-James Russell Lowell (1819-1891)

Dimension · March 2, 2001, 06:32

That's odd... I KNOW I saw this bug reported at least a couple weeks ago, but now I can't find it... Maybe it was on another message board.

Aredhran · March 2, 2001, 06:47

That is OLD HISTORY guys.

NorthSwordsman · March 2, 2001, 06:49

quote:

Originally posted by Aredhran on 03-02-2001 05:47 AM
That is OLD HISTORY guys.

Maybe to you!

. Not to me.

. If it is old news, then why isn't it listed in the "cheating" thread?

NS

zsozso · March 2, 2001, 10:01

Take a look at this list: http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum12/HTML/000677.html

You will find this bug listed there among the other ~200 bugs that are still present in Alien Crossfire after patch v2 applied.

just FYI...

mark13 · March 2, 2001, 10:02

All they had to do to find this was look at Apolyton....I don't know....

March 3, 2001, 01:34

well it's always good to remind everyone that there are bugss left in smac....

perhaps we should even have a "bug of the week" feature where every week we re-report a bug from the recently bumped list

[This message has been edited by MarkG (edited March 02, 2001).]

NorthSwordsman · March 5, 2001, 10:43

quote:

Originally posted by MarkG on 03-02-2001 12:34 PM
well it's always good to remind everyone that there are bugss left in smac....

perhaps we should even have a "bug of the week" feature where every week we re-report a bug from the recently bumped list

[This message has been edited by MarkG (edited March 02, 2001).]

I honestly think that would be a good idea for the newbies and not so newbies who think Airdropping using the right click menu is a crime.

. I honestly don't think it is, for mercy's sake. Why else would the option be there? Sheeze. I say it is NOT a cheat!

NS

[This message has been edited by NorthSwordsman (edited March 05, 2001).]

Chowlett · March 5, 2001, 12:07

Please tell me you're being sarcastic...

Just in case you aren't and there's some confusion arising, you are allowed to airdrop from the right button menu, so long as you only do it once and from within an (air)base. The rules state that each unit may only airdrop once per turn, only at the start of its turn, and only if it started that turn in a base or airbase. The right menu allows infinite drops and in some cases drops from outside bases.

NorthSwordsman · March 5, 2001, 12:30

quote:

Originally posted by Chowlett on 03-05-2001 11:07 AM
Please tell me you're being sarcastic...

Just in case you aren't and there's some confusion arising, you are allowed to airdrop from the right button menu, so long as you only do it once and from within an (air)base. The rules state that each unit may only airdrop once per turn, only at the start of its turn, and only if it started that turn in a base or airbase. The right menu allows infinite drops and in some cases drops from outside bases.

Chowlett, I didn't even find out that was illegal or a bug until a few days ago.. and I've been playing this nearly a year now. It has become an integral part of my strategy. Now I have to adapt.

. Drop units don't seem so appealing now that I can't use them for long range pod "harvesting", or dumping a unit right where I need it at the right time, like in an empty base.

. Grrrr.......

NS

------------------
"The report of my enemy's death is not an exaggeration." -NorthSwordsman

"You can go a long way with a Rover. You can go much further with a Shard-equipped Rover."-NS
[This message has been edited by NorthSwordsman (edited March 05, 2001).]

DilithiumDad · March 7, 2001, 19:54

This citizen-flipping bug is not such a big deal because it is easily detected. I imagine that anyone caught using this bug would be banned from PBEM for life!