PA Beta gentlemens ladder

As I said in the IRC, any behaviour which is obviously not as the developers intended should automatically be considered an exploit.

Having witnessed the entire exchange on IRC just now, I would like to say that Cola was simply stating that if a player broke a rule, they would be banned (possibly warned first, I dunno). He also clearly stated that if someone felt strongly about a rule, he would welcome a discussion on the topic and would change the rule if the majority of people voted as such.

As for this particular exploit (and it is an exploit), I'm sure it will be fixed shortly and I agree that it shouldn't be exploited. Just because both/all players are capable of using the exploit, doesn't mean that they want to or think that is good to do so.

If you would re-read the IRC chat you would see I said that after you said you would ban me from the ladder. Yes when you said that to me I did get aggressive, but it frustrated me that you threatened to ban me for not abiding by a rule that had not even been discussed. I don't find anything aggressive in the post I made.

I don't agree with this post since you can't claim to know what the devs intend, things are not banned which clearly go against what the final product will be like (force ably slowing down a bomber so it drops two bombs on a single target) and things the devs have stated are working as planned are banned (re walls)

Anyhows if we all on the changing rules subject. There's a reason that a 16 year old game like ta has a 15 minute no com rush rule. This to me is a much bigger problem than any of the above mentioned.

neptunio, while I do have a chatlog I won't start to turn around single words. If you want you can start doing it. By no means I meant to ban you just for expressing your opinion. I understood you were threatening to break rules on purpose and told you that you would get a ban out of it. I am sorry if I missunderstood. Go play random games and cheat all you want. I don't care.

Also actually arguing that this is INTENDED behavior is so ridiculous I will only consider it once I see neutrino post "Yes sure we meant for it to be like this"


clopse I don't understand your post at all. I have no idea about generally accepted rules in TA as I never played it online, but even so: What has that to do with this?

I'm sure I saw a keybind somewhere in the settings for 'randomly increase units attack range'...

Well there is one to copy paste units, but it's listed as a debug function and only works if enabled on the server. So who knows maybe there is such a function

I mean that in TA, the super strong commander cannot be used for 15 mins in a tournament or ladder game. As he is OP.

It's not only about overshooting.

There is also a second variation of this exploit, not with direct fire units, but with rockets. Deploy an AA tower / mobile AA next to an important target. Issue attack command on the target and AA rockets will form an impenetrable wall of death around the target, rendering it invulnerable against fly-by-attacks. (Circling rockets will hit bombers before dropping the bomb, unlike regular AA rockets which will be to late usually. Two AA towers placed close can protect each other and everything in between.) Found it very effective versus the AI, only had to issue 3 AA units to attack an forward placed mex and bombers could no longer do any damage.

lol, well that exploit is forbidden by the new rule as well. How convenient

Can I just clarify something - is it customary to ask your opponent if he/she would like the game to be ranked or not? I thought it was, and thus haven't reported any of my games yet so far because I've been playing with a 'learning the game' mentality and not with 'omg must win' mentality.

Before today when I've just posted my first ranked win, my record was 0-7 because people I have played against have reported their wins against me even though, technically speaking, they never asked if they could.

Somebody pointed out that games arranged/asked for in IRC maybe accepted as if they must want to be ranked, because the IRC room basically revolves around this ladder. Which is a fair point, but I still think people should ask before the game starts.

It is no big deal really. I have screenshots of casual games that I've won against people and I don't think I'm going to report them because I never asked those people if they wanted the game to be ranked or not. Tempting though!

I would say that it is definitely well mannered to ask first, but the argument about the irc revolving around the ladder is a good one. I'd say you should just ask yourself at the beginning of a match you found in the irc. That way you can be sure

Mmm, good point

Was #planetaryannihilation set up specifically for the ladder then?

not really, no

Yeah, i was treating it more as a general room to chat about the game. Hence why I didn't feel that games arranged in IRC were automatically treated as a ranked game. Oh well

added a rule about patroul and a-move. If somebody is unhappy about this he may complain here.

Further clarification on this exploit.

Your units can fire from out of range on A-move as well as on patrol move. Normal movement does not let them fire from outside their range. I also experimented with shellers and they act in the same way, although it should be said that they do not take advantage of their full range when a-moved or patrolled, but they still certainly can attack targets from outside your vision range, and targets they would not be attacking on normal move command.

Updated rules: no more a move for now. Is this on the bug tracker?

You mean never use A move or don't use a move when you don't have vision surrounding you? I tend to bring scouts with my army so I don't end up attacking from outside my vision anyway ... What about if you are in your own base trying to defend against a push from behind buildings. Can you not use a move then?