0014825: Question regarding abandoned/resumed dispatch missions - exploit/balance concerns - DEV Arcen

ID	Project	Category		Date Submitted	Last Update

0014825	The Last Federation	Note To Test		Apr 30, 2014 6:59 pm	May 1, 2014 11:09 pm

Reporter	Drak	Assigned To	Chris_McElligottPark
Status	closed	Resolution	reopened
Product Version	1.008 (Hotfix)

Summary	0014825: Question regarding abandoned/resumed dispatch missions - exploit/balance concerns
Description	It would be difficult to test effectively as a user, so I'm posing the potential problems here (may be nothing, may be vital). What happens if a race researches a technology that you'd started researching with them then halted the dispatch for? The reason I ask is because of the possibility of exploit/loss. For instance, if I started researching something that'd take say 140 months, and dropped 40 odd goons bringing that down to 5 months, researched for 2 months, then got interrupted (leaving 3 months) then the race researched the tech on their own (or I gifted it to them via some other race that had the tech/etc). If they complete it on their own, does it removed the saved progress, and if so, do I still get my copy (massive potential for abuse by starting then halting a dispatch on every planet for every possible tech, then getting the tech for basically free when they complete it on their own). If the saved progress isn't lost, what happens when I resume? Does it 1/3 the remaining time (because the race now "already has the tech") taking it to 1 month and the goons (well aprox 2/3 of them) were basically wasted? Does it stay 3 months and bone me even more (especially in cases where goons/etc weren't involved and it took maybe 5 months to begin with, but would now only take 1 2/3 to start over because of the 1/3 time for already have tech thing)? Is the race forbidden to research this tech while I've got the dispatch open? (This could be horribly abused by starting then immediately halting dispatches for every tech on every planet and basically bringing NPC tech advancement to a halt.) Would it take the 3 months, then grant the tech benefits twice (baecause it's not checking if they already have the tech,etc)? Similar concerns can apply to build dispatches (ie, could I prevent a planet from building the 5th Ion Cannon by having an abondened dispatch, could I get them to have 6 by completing it later after they get the base 5 on their own? Does my half-completed dispatch simply vanish when they build the fifth one on their own? Does the saved progress become available again once they lose one allowing it to be rebuilt faster? etc.)
Tags	No tags attached.

Internal Weight	New

Chris_McElligottPark May 1, 2014 2:12 pm administrator ~0037155	We've weighted all of this in favor of non-abuse. Specifically: - If you come back to a tech you were researching via dispatch, then it remembers your progress, sure. With that race only. - However, if the race learns the tech some other way (and they are not barred from doing so), then you can still research it with them, but with the usual 1/3 time bonus that you'd get researching with someone who already knows something. Your past progress is still there, but at the original rate, so you gain nothing by waiting until later that you would not already have gained by just waiting in the first place. Actually you lose some, because the original amount is not discounted to 1/3 price. - If you are working on property development in general, that is a completely side project with that race. If you stop and they continue to build up to their cap on it, then you can't resume until they lose a building and go below cap, but your progress on it is not lost. In short, it tries not to mess you up too much, but it is also weighted against stopping something for a long time and then coming back.

Drak May 1, 2014 10:48 pm reporter ~0037201	Ok, so just to double check that I'm understanding propperly. 1) If I dump goons and then take a break I just potentially waste the extra goons (fair enough, though potentially quite expensive, that's a risk I'm now aware I'm taking so I need to be careful, no problem). 2) I can queue up and almost complete a building (like a planetary Ion Cannon) then fly away and let them do their stuff. Then later when they're getting sieged, I can swoop in and nearly instantly replace, say the Ion Cannon they just lost, by completing the project that was stored there. Followup question, what happens if they were in the middle of replacing the Ion Cannon themselves when I swoop in and finish my saved project? Does their's get halted and the progress remembered, so when the next cannon goes down they just resume and replace it (for instance). For clarity: (Hypothetical) - 4 Ion Cannons Exist - I start project and then halt with 1 month (or less) left and head off. - Planet finishes 5th cannon themselves, so I can no longer complete my project(I imagine I can't even select it as an option), but it's still there waiting for an Ion Cannon slot to open up. - Planet comes under bombardment (or gets sabotaged/whatever) and an Ion cannon is destroyed (back to 4). - I can now pick back up where I left off and rebuild the freshly lost cannon in a month (or less)?

Drak May 1, 2014 11:09 pm reporter ~0037205 Last edited: May 1, 2014 11:10 pm	Added a related issue that seems to contradict what was being said here. (And reopened the ticket, please feel to re-close it if it's still nothing.) "ie, [...], could I get them to have 6 by completing it later after they get the base 5 on their own?"

Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
Apr 30, 2014 6:59 pm	Drak	New Issue
May 1, 2014 2:12 pm	Chris_McElligottPark	Internal Weight	=> New
May 1, 2014 2:12 pm	Chris_McElligottPark	Note Added: 0037155
May 1, 2014 2:12 pm	Chris_McElligottPark	Status	new => closed
May 1, 2014 2:12 pm	Chris_McElligottPark	Assigned To	=> Chris_McElligottPark
May 1, 2014 2:12 pm	Chris_McElligottPark	Resolution	open => no change required
May 1, 2014 10:48 pm	Drak	Note Added: 0037201
May 1, 2014 11:06 pm	Drak	Relationship added	related to 0014853
May 1, 2014 11:07 pm	Drak	Resolution	no change required => reopened
May 1, 2014 11:09 pm	Drak	Note Added: 0037205
May 1, 2014 11:10 pm	Drak	Note Edited: 0037205