Is there a new cheat method?

[jrb16915]

in the last several days 3 times against 1 player (a current top 5 player) and 1 time against another player I had the following happen: I took a cap with an army, and the cap immediately was "lost" to the other player with no battle taking place. They definitely were not cultural flips. The sound effect associated with a victory is heard, and there is no message of a city being turned. After the cap was "lost" there was no flag in the city indicating that the city was taken by some sort of ghost army. In one case I had a second army available and moved it in immediately and had no competetion. These were all pre-2600 BC and there had been no notice of any finding the school of confucious. And if it was a city flip, my army still would have been there.

If this is a new cheat, the game is basically ruined. Someone please tell me that I am losing my mind and that this couldn't have happened.

[HarryGodwinson]

in the last several days 3 times against 1 player (a current top 5 player) and 1 time against another player I had the following happen: I took a cap with an army, and the cap immediately was "lost" to the other player with no battle taking place. They definitely were not cultural flips. The sound effect associated with a victory is heard, and there is no message of a city being turned. After the cap was "lost" there was no flag in the city indicating that the city was taken by some sort of ghost army. In one case I had a second army available and moved it in immediately and had no competetion. These were all pre-2600 BC and there had been no notice of any finding the school of confucious. And if it was a city flip, my army still would have been there.

If this is a new cheat, the game is basically ruined. Someone please tell me that I am losing my mind and that this couldn't have happened.

Are you xbox or ps3? The only things I've witnessed similar to this is off resyncs. A few times I've lost cities without battles taking place because my archer has vanished. But if it has happened that many times to you it sounds like a cheat.

[jrb16915]

I play xbox 360

[HarryGodwinson]

I play xbox 360

pm me the name of the top 5 player.

[elthrasher]

I think I know what you're talking about. It's possible accidental, although that seems like a high rate of occurrence. If you want to know more, PM me and let me know who it happened with. I don't really want to post details about this publicly in case there are those out there who are working on a technique for this rather than blundering into it accidentally.

[Tripp]

I've had this happen twice now. Both times I was getting rushed and using roads to move defenders into the city they are attacking. Eventually the city is left empty and the units are gone. It sucks. I won't go into details for obvious reasons. It definitely seems like something you can't abuse because of the timing but I wouldn't be surprised if someone figured something out some people go to any lengths to cheat.

[MadDjinn]

in the last several days 3 times against 1 player (a current top 5 player) and 1 time against another player I had the following happen: I took a cap with an army, and the cap immediately was "lost" to the other player with no battle taking place. They definitely were not cultural flips. The sound effect associated with a victory is heard, and there is no message of a city being turned. After the cap was "lost" there was no flag in the city indicating that the city was taken by some sort of ghost army. In one case I had a second army available and moved it in immediately and had no competetion. These were all pre-2600 BC and there had been no notice of any finding the school of confucious. And if it was a city flip, my army still would have been there.

If this is a new cheat, the game is basically ruined. Someone please tell me that I am losing my mind and that this couldn't have happened.

how bad is your connection?

I know what you're describing (and it's been posted on the forums a few times), but I've only seen it happen when someone in the game has a slower connection. It's usually extremely rare, but given that there's some cheaters in the top 5, I don't doubt someone spent time trying to do it more repeatably.

Basically, it's a synchronization issue when multiple players do the same thing to a city. both run in, then both get deleted.

[Pedal2Metal]

how bad is your connection?

I know what you're describing (and it's been posted on the forums a few times), but I've only seen it happen when someone in the game has a slower connection. It's usually extremely rare, but given that there's some cheaters in the top 5, I don't doubt someone spent time trying to do it more repeatably.

Basically, it's a synchronization issue when multiple players do the same thing to a city. both run in, then both get deleted.

Mad is right.

Guys, this very thing has happened to me both for & against. It happened last night twice in my epic 1960 AD match. It is not a cheat. It's just a race-condition. I would think it's virtually impossible to "time".

thanks & best regards,
Pedal2Metal

[TyShine]

I think its how I took a city with a caravan. Just a weird timing thing.

[ScottieX]

3 times against the same person? it sounds like it is reusable at least against some people. soo...

Jrb,
the common factor here seems to be you.. so maybe you were always moving in the first instant of the turn or otherwise were making it easier for this to happen to you... Or maybe its somthing about your connection?

[Pedal2Metal]

3 times against the same person? it sounds like it is reusable at least against some people. soo...

I disagree. It's a function of how many button races occur. I had a brutal game last night that lasted until 1960 AD, 4+ hours, & we built more units than I've built in 20 games all put together. Come to think of it, he lost 2 cities this way & I lost 1 or 2 also. So it's just a random thing & the more the samples, the more likely you are to hit it.

It's NOT a cheat. Let's not start labelling everything we don't understand as a cheat.

best regards,
Pedal2Metal

[ScottieX]

the debate over whether it can be repeated and whether it is a cheat is a different debate.

and jrb's happened early on not late game...

[Pedal2Metal]

the debate over whether it can be repeated and whether it is a cheat is a different debate....

Fair enough but it's good to explicitly state this. The original thread uses the word "cheat" so the focus of this thread is targeting the question of whether it's a cheat or not. I have no evidence that it's a cheat. If it is, then both me & my opponent cheated in my game last night. Yet, neither of us know how we did it. Cheating, by definition, is an action of intent which means it requires pre-meditation. I can say there was no pre-meditation on either my part or my opponent's part to take cities we were both racing for.

and jrb's happened early on not late game...

I've seen this before myself. It just happens but once in a 100 games. Not often enough for me to give a flip about.

best regards,
Pedal2Metal

[ScottieX]

Cheating, by definition, is an action of intent which means it requires pre-meditation.

yes of course yours wasnt cheating.
Also quite possible that jrb's opponent wasnt trying to do it either - just that the combination of their and jrb's play MIGHT have made it more likely.

[Jackoneill]

Next time try to be the host of the game.Even if you have to wait a while in ffa or h2h, and take note of that players name.Just don't play them again.

[MadDjinn]

Next time try to be the host of the game.Even if you have to wait a while in ffa or h2h, and take note of that players name.Just don't play them again.

yeah, I've set a few people to avoid due to their network connection to me. it sucks if they're good, but I don't want to risk more freezes than necessary.

[the headless 10]

It's NOT a cheat. Let's not start labelling everything we don't understand as a cheat.

best regards,
Pedal2Metal

he's a witch!!!!!!

[spatenfloot]

he's a witch!!!!!!

Build a bridge out of him!

[Aheadatime]

This same thing happened with me and GeeEyeJoe, so i know its unintentional. He put an invisible caravan in front of my city, and i saw it on accident due to switching workers around. Walked out to grab it, and the INSTANT my archer began walking out of the cap (before the caravan was even in my control), the city just flipped into his control. Not sure how that happened, as he had no units near my city whatsoever and even the caravan was now mine, just pure confusion. It was a taken cap too lol.

[Cymru]

he's a witch!!!!!!

He weighs the same as a duck?

[bumbumalot]

i said a long time ago there were a few players that could do this at will

[Sevendust34]

This happened to me yesterday while playing Morte, except it was my capital he should have taken. It was definitely a timing thing of me trying to get my guy back to the capital at the exact same time he walked into my empty capital. This happened within the first 5 or so turns of the game. He took my capital, but then I took it back without a fight. His unit disappeared, but so didn't mine; however, I still had my capital. He ended up taking it in two turns anyways, as I had no chance to build a new warrior that quick and he had.

[elthrasher]

i said a long time ago there were a few players that could do this at will

Have you ever tried it? I wouldn't be surprised if some players had tried to perfect the technique for doing this, though I would be surprised if they were able to pull it off every time. Figuring out the timing on this would probably lead to figuring out how to avoid it. I'll bet it typically comes up when there's a button race at the start of the turn. What if you wait two seconds and then attack? Probably won't happen. Yes, there will be an extra defender, but if you're going horses vs. warriors, that's probably not going to hurt much. Better than trading your horses for a warrior and not getting the city anyway.

[bumbumalot]

have not try'd it but have stumbled onto it a few times, pretty sure i know how its done too.
there used to be a few players who could do it every game dont think there around anymore though