Probe exploits

TinkyWinky · Post by **TinkyWinky** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 2:47 am

I accidentally got a probe inside an He3 rock 1k away from PK's garr last sg, and so I lodged a probe inside an enemy op today and it's a bannable offense? Is there any way to get rid of that exploit? solid base models?

Syc

Dogbones · Post by **Dogbones** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 2:59 am

Well as far as it being bannable or not I will leave that to others, but I think it will hinge on how 'accidental' it was or if it happens 'accidentally' in the future or not.

It is fairly difficult (AFAIK) to get a probe inside of a rock and rather difficult to get one stuck in an enemy base. The later being almost impossible to do accidentally.

Now as far as making this impossible to do in the code, it is fairly easy to extend the tp2 'too close to an asteroid' code to all probes. Bases are a little more tricky. We could treat them like asteroids and destroy all probes deployed inside a radius but that may be a little too restrictive. A well placed probe in the arm of a base can take some time to destroy, this would not allow such probing. I suppose one could make a case that 'base defenses' would destroy such probes immediately.

Code is already in place to destroy probes that are rendered 'indestructible' when placed on/in an aleph tip.

Dog

Andon · Post by **Andon** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:03 am

Extending the tp2 code to the other probes would be a pretty good thing. It's not too restrictive for probing anyway.

As for bases, I would support treating the bases as asteroids for probes, as because it is a bannable offense, then it's not exactly a gameplay issue

TinkyWinky · Post by **TinkyWinky** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:07 am

For an IC op, just back into a flat part until you hit it, slowly back thrust and hit 0.

I think the tp2 distance is a bit too much, maybe split it in half so it's at least close to the rock?

Syc

Dogbones · Post by **Dogbones** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:12 am

Well as coded TP2 (well any TP, 1 or 2) are destroyed if they are within 5m of the radius, so you can still drop them very close. Where the impression that you cannot drop them too close comes from is most rocks are fairly asymmetrical and the radius is the largest distance from center of rotation to edge of the rock. So you need to watch the rock rotate to see how close you can get. If you get close to a short axis then you will easily be inside the distance that will destroy the TP even though you think are are at least 5m from the rocks surface at that part of the rock.

Broodwich · Post by **Broodwich** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:35 am

its not hard to kill them inside bases. You stick your nose in and shoot, which i did to lead's probe earlier

TinkyWinky · Post by **TinkyWinky** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:44 am

I also didn't lodge it in that far, mallow was right there and I barely got it in. You can't just stick your nose in and shoot a probe half way in.

I've had a lot of TP2's destroyed because of the rock turning with an uneven surface, is there any way we can write it so the probe will bounce off a certain distance when it comes in contact with an object? If you want to push it, then moving it by simply ramming the probe? that could solve a lot of red door problems.

Syc

Vlymoxyd · Post by **Vlymoxyd** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 4:23 am

Hmm, I'd like to try the idea of making the probe bounce instead of being destroyed. It's really hard to know exactly where you can drop the probe and waiting for it to rotate kinda takes a while. I'd also make sense for bases and alephs.

fufi · Post by **fufi** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:01 am

Dogbones · Post by **Dogbones** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 4:07 pm

Hmm, events/code exist to destroy a probe I am not sure about moving it and then resending its position to all of the clients. I am not sure there is any facility to do that.

As far as 'red door' problems with friendly probes that code is already 'live' in the experimental game type. Ships can now destroy friendly probes.

I'd really rather not mess with the collision code to have the asteroid destroy (or push) a probe out of the way on a collision.

Repositioning (bouncing) it on a too close drop to radius+5m (along a tangent) might be one way to go but as already stated their may be some programming hurdles for such a solution such that the effort does not match the benefit of doing it that way. I suppose another option might be to have it 'fail to deploy' if you are too close, something about 'your onboard systems detect a large mass in close proximity - teleport probe deployment aborted'. But again, my experience is that facilities to check the probe placement don't exist until it is actually deployed. A cludge might be to deploy it, silently destroy it, put a new one back in the ship's cargo, and send the above message to the pilot. Just thinking out loud here... as you can see things can get complicated quickly.

Dog