I see it a lot as well. Not really cheating,but definitely exploiting the game.
Player have more than one account, and joins the same game with intentions to only play one player.
They kill off their other player(s) pieces in the areas they want to take over. This causes the game to auto play the afk player and stack troops only on other players.
One option could be to restrict players from joining two players from the same IP. Even if one is on LAN cause you can play this on your PC, and another is WiFi, they will still share the same IP. This won't stop it 100%, but might reduce it to a more tolerable level.
- Another thought is why would the game auto play for a player for the entire game. Why not have it auto play for like 5-10 minutes, allow player to try rejoining, then set as afk and give no new troops. Their obviously not playing, even if is was by disconnection. Who wants to rejoin a game 20 minutes later an take it seriously...
..in so many words, if the game make it tougher to cheat we will have less of them!
Note, I love it so much more when I'm able to defeat this player with the elevated rank from cheating. Make it so much more worth it! Just takes so long cause I have to deal with his second or third player stacking players everywhere but in his way.
Constantine we're listening :)
Yes, it is possible for one player to join an online game playing as two different players. This is difficult for us to ban because:
What many assume is cheating is in fact just typical behaviour. I play every day and have the rank of Master. More often than not, a more novice player will immediately send me an alliance request at the very start of the game (even before my first turn). I can assume that due to my ranking, they figure it makes more sense to team up with me. I try and honour this alliance for as long as possible in the game. From another opponent's perspective, this could be misinterpreted as cheating.
On the flip-side, I can have players gang up on me from the very start because they know they'll get more ranking points for taking me down (smart tactics). I check the IP and user details as matter of course in the games I play and have only found 1 person to be 100% using 2 accounts in hundreds of games.
Today I've reviewed 6 support tickets for cheaters. None of them show any indication of cheating in terms of wins vs. loss history or IP address etc. There is one pair that appear to be family members who are most likely playing together as an alliance, but that's what happens in RISK. There are also friends who play together in global domination matches and use that as part of their tactics.
We did create the Play Friends mode for private matches, but some players still like to include random opponents so opt for Global Domination.
From our data, players using unfair tactics represent a very small percentage of all players. It is not unusual to confuse 'cheaters' for aggressive players who quickly form alliances and target other players as part of their early strategy. However, we will be releasing new automated measures in 2017 to monitor and minimise players that we suspect are playing using unfair tactics.
For now, send us a support request if you suspect anyone of unfair play and we'll look into it pronto.
Thanks –Lee@SMG
One small change could help.
- If user goes AFK/disconnected, have AI play for them as it does now, but for only a period of time (like 5-10 minutes), then stop issuing troops.
I think the majority of cheating/exploiting in the game come from users have secondary accounts, letting the troops stack on another players country, but never attacking. Why help the guy out and keep dumping troops on an account know one is playing. Do you really need to play it for half hour just in case the user decides to play.
big bity, no argument intended as you may not have had this happen to you...
I to have had many games where two or more players appear to be played by the same player.
- I make this assumption as one player is aggressive, and the other attacks know one the entire game. It's possible the one player got dropped, but strange coincidence the afk player per say only has territories in your country.
I personally would like to see the game auto play for afk players as it does now, but only for a short period of time to allow a player to try and rejoin. But why for an ENTIRE GAME ? Just makes for a scenario for players to play multiple players and try to exploit a game feature.
watch out for DarkPrinceT1000 - Grandmaster. He is a cheat. he suckers people into games then quickly adds robots as extra players and starts the game. I want to play humans, not robots. at least give me time to exit and find another game.
I now know what to look out and who to look out. .Obvious how he got to grandmasterds.
Is there an opposite of friends list, so that you are blocked out from any game that he has hosted or even joined in as, and vice versa, he can't join any games that I am hosting.
Gabriel Cuevas
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