Having a public API means allowing 3rd party tools.
It's ironic to say "the tool evolved". One man was capable of improving the game via API, without even being paid. Db was not interested in a better game. So sad.
So, you DON'T believe "the tool evolved"? Because the other option is that people who were using it to CHEAT were doing so with an UNALTERED program. {Before 47 people have an angry meltdown, the developer him/herself was quoted BY A PRO-APP PLAYER as saying people had started cheating with the App.}
The tool has not "evolved", the STT program remained full of bugs/exploits and incomplete. Unfortunately DB is not interested in replicating the functions of IAP, and is not capable of fixing the bugs/exploits. They are not friendly with their customers, and it's ironic that one unpaid man working open source has done more to improve the game than the Tilting Point budget.
The problem will not go away. Look at the fate of GoTA for clues.
I'm sorry, I was a huge fan of IAP. But it absolutely evolved in terms of what it was programmed to let you do. There was tonnes of crew management, Voyage, and gauntlet stuff that were not part of it initially. @Shan's point was that you could do more with the tool in the end than when she initially pinned it.
I agree that there is a problem when an amateur programmer can outdo the game makers themselves on a lot of elements.
Lol @ByloBand you have nailed it and that’s a very generous way of describing my OCD.
Yes, taking away the optimization tools is what smarts. Ironically what hurts the most isn’t the modules people were debating, it’s losing the inventory management. Back to literally flying blind on what to farm, the driving without a GPS analogy others used. Since the whole game is about developing crew, this one hurts. I know i’ll eventually hit a point where i’ll have more stuff than I can use, but that’s a ways off.
If there’s one in game improvement I crave it’s the ability to at least search the inventory. Not to be greedy but we got it in skirmish now so maybe, maybe ...?
For voyage and gauntlet, we survived before IAP we’ll survive after. I’ve already scripted up my own optimization tools for recommendations for both that I think do a better job, and that I actually understand. Not where I would have wanted to put my time and energy but that’s on me. There’s plenty of good suggestions on these threads now about how to improve the worst of the gauntlet UI gaps, which should also be a priority.
As far as shout outs go, I have a big one for @Shan . I can’t imagine how hard these threads were to moderate. If IAP sat on a difficult blurry line between ok and not ok, these threads sat on a really blurry line between what to allow to play out and not to play out. Shan’s willingness to give us some breathing room, judgment in when to bring things to a close, and maturity when closing them were exceptionally professional and wise. The post today was enormously helpful, welcome and appreciated. We are fortunate to have such a great moderator.
Having a public API means allowing 3rd party tools.
I think that if they can control the API so a 3rd party tool does not allow one to say launch a voyage, or do any actions other than retrieve data, it would be ok to allow it. I don't know how APIs work. I don't know if this is possible. But that's sort of the root of my suggestion.
THIS. Retrieval of data is acceptable IMO. Initiating ANY action in the game is completely unacceptable.
For those wondering about how it streamlined Gauntlet, the match up is decided one way or the other long before the animation finishes. I played a game that is now gone that had a Roulette at the end of Missions, and for other Item Drops. People would get excited because the square they picked was "right next to" the big prize. "I was so close!!!" They really weren't. The second you initiated the "spin" the RNG would roll what you won. Whichever on the nine squares you picked, would have the winning Item under it. There is no conclusive way to know if the really good Item was plugged in "right next to" what you got on purpose or just a huge coincidence.
IAP just skipped the flashy lights.
"The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself."
I've been quiet on this topic as I wanted to give DB time to work out what response they are going to give and now that @Shan has given one I think I can just add my 2 cents.
I've been using the tool along with the various other spreadsheet tools for quite a while and found them all extremely helpful. The tool was billed as 'Crew Management', something that would help players manage their crew list, as many have said, this is an aspect that could be improved. It's hard to say unless your the developer or following the project closely as to when and what features came in that made the tool go beyond Shan's/DB's view of just a helpful tool but we have to remember it was a side project by someone who loved playing a game and being both curious to develop his skills and help other players, added features that may have been requested. I don't think they wanted to replace the client.
If the tool was broken down and each feature listed separately, we would get many results of users top five however I do think DB should have taken on-board the developer and worked with him to add some of those features in game so he wouldn't have to feel pressure to add them to his tool that would have caused it to diverge from helpful side-line resource to alternate client no more than a spreadsheet would have.
We can all create a spreadsheet. We can't all use complex formulas. We could learn the coding skills to do our own app that would use an accessible api/source link. We all don't have the skills/time to do so.
I fully supported the tool and will sorely miss it and I won't bother listing *my* top five to say what should go into the STT client as it's not going to be the same as another players. I would like to thank the developer for adding to my experience of the game and hope that in the end his learning experience helped (which he mentioned on his site that he learned a lot of what he wanted) and that DB do reach out to him and others who added to the code in later months to work on improving the STT client with some features.
---- The Guardians of Tomorrow Protecting the Galaxy's Future from itself
Many of the features could be incorporated by DB. It wouldn’t be hard to show the probability of success in the gauntlet for each match. That was one of the nice features it had. Yes, there are websites that allow you to plug-in the match and it gives you the percentage chance of winning but IamPicard made it seamless.
The inventory and crew management features would also be fairly easy to incorporate. That would be great for a quality of life improvement in the game.
Finally it would be very easy for them to estimate the length of a voyage and display it based on the crew you select. Then you could select and mix-and-match crew to see how it impacts the projected length of the voyage.
A single person was able to do all of those things and more just using the public APIs. It shouldn’t be hard for the in-house development team to accomplish the same thing.
A single person was able to do all of those things and more just using the public APIs. It shouldn’t be hard for the in-house development team to accomplish the same thing.
I see the term "public API" used a lot. Where was it documented? Being a software developer for 20+ years, public APIs are usually documented toolkits for public use. I am not aware of any documentation provided by DB detailing how to call their game API.
.
I agree that there is a problem when an amateur programmer can out do the game makers themselves on a lot of elements.
i think perhaps you have hit one of DBs problem issue right on the head.
DB has constantly ignored problem or brushed under the carpet. after nearly 2 years of players bringing up the same issues, DB still actively ignores them.
IAP's tool addressed some of those issues.
DB takes forever to respond, if they respond at all.
here are few issues that the IAP Tool addressed;
* voyage freeze,
the IAP would some times break the game freeze issue and allow us to make a selection or at least recall the ship. because CS would often take 2 to 4 days before even giving a first response, and then its stuck till they actually do some thing, but here are 300 chrons for having to wait, never mind that we just missed 2 to 5 days of voyages.
* crew lists,
DBs in game sorting leaves so much to be desired that a 3rd party became necessary, and DB just keeps adding more, every week.
* inventory,
1000 item limit, um hello, you have how many unique in game items in existence, but only limit it to 1000. and again the sorting issue, in game it is practically non existent. search for that one item for a crew you FF/FE last year, that looks just like 5 other items but you only have 1 of each of them. Equipment (1,654 members) *4 Grades = 6,616), Components ((22 members) *4 grades = 88), Ships (45 members), and several other solitary items not even counting the event galaxy items.
i have had DB's own CS tell me to use a 3rd party chat, suggesting discord.
how many of the entire community use discord or some other communication because the chat is so messed up, i have seen messages to other players disappear after only a few hours, and never be delivered if that player is off line.
@Shan you want suggestions, here are a few
* Crew sorting, on all levels, and i mean ALL Levels, any place a crew is selected, looked at or even contains a crews name.
* 1000 item limit, needs another 0, make it 10,000 or just eliminate the limit period.
improve sorting options, at any location that items are involved, inventory, crew build, replicator, etc... we should not have to be guessing at what we are throwing into the replicator as fuel, this game is suppose to be in the 24th century at least, why is the inventory in the dark ages.
* dump the chat and incorporate it to Discord channels, then you can have open world chat be as filtered as you want so no one can ever say anything, and fleets can inner regulate them selves, PMs actually get delivered to the intended targets. players can access messages even out side the game.
* voyage calculator time estimator, crew suggestions and a search bar because scrolling through 200++ crew to find the one that fits best is insane.
* for all those 3rd party apps, look at what they are doing or using them for. spread sheets, look ups sorting, calculation etc... there are hundreds out there, some even advert out right hacks.
if you pay attention, your players are making and programing more than you are for your game, and in some cases they appear far more capable of doing so, if hackers are mking exploits in your game, they obviously know some thing you don't.
start paying better attention to your players, and stop brushing us off. personally, i am tired of what can be described as a "stuck up" attitude. you might be surprised, but a lot of us are geniuses, we are just board. i do spread sheets, hugely massive spread sheets, i have crashed my own PC enough times to know that much. why climb the mountain, because it was there.
why hack the game, because it was there.
DB needs to fire the Ferrengi and higher more Engineers, Rom doesn't count. [FSC] Peace Keepers
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Lol @ByloBand you have nailed it and that’s a very generous way of describing my OCD.
I have OCD as well, or symptoms from something else that mirror OCD, and I've struggled with it my entire life. I've battled myself for my entire life, and every time I am able to conquer one of the compulsions, I almost kill that version of myself to vanquish the drive once and for all and start over. It is odd because while I have a near-photographic memory, I can look back on specific times in my life and remember very little because that version of me is gone, and when it goes I bury it completely.
I used to count my steps every time I walked anywhere. I spent probably 16 years fighting that, and one day I just stopped. It was traumatic, and to cope I just erased myself and started over, like a caterpillar in a cocoon.
What is leftover is somebody with only vague interest/knowledge in my own past, and somebody who is essentially nihilistic/irreverent toward pretty much everything. It gets me into LOADS of trouble, especially places like online forums because my default mode is often something close to a more playful version of Q. I try to combat this by constantly taking personal inventory of my own behaviors, reactions, and I force myself to remain open-minded, and in a way it has allowed me to continue to grow as a person.
I do try to have a positive impact here. Sometimes it does not always seem that way or come across that way, but I value this place and the people who live here, and I want to try and help other people get to where I am, because I'm in a much better place emotionally/mentally than I was 20 years ago.
To play devils advocate, and risk getting flamed to death. I do find it amusing that some people are so hell bent and worried about certain people using programs or macros to get some unknown advantage, but I often wonder if it is those same people that take advantage of certain exploits that already exist within the game, that have nothing to do with third parties.
I mean if DB is so concerned about fair and balanced game play, shouldn't some of these exploits, such as double voyage clicks? be addressed? or are we to believe that this was how it was intended to always be;)
To be clear, never used a macro and never got the opportunity to try the I am picard program, but didn't feel cheated by those that did, at least in regards to the latter.
To play devils advocate, and risk getting flamed to death. I do find it amusing that some people are so hell bent and worried about certain people using programs or macros to get some unknown advantage, but I often wonder if it is those same people that take advantage of certain exploits that already exist within the game, that have nothing to do with third parties.
I mean if DB is so concerned about fair and balanced game play, shouldn't some of these exploits, such as double voyage clicks? be addressed? or are we to believe that this was how it was intended to always be;)
To be clear, never used a macro and never got the opportunity to try the I am picard program, but didn't feel cheated by those that did, at least in regards to the latter.
You might change that view when the full extent of the exploits become apparent.
You might change that view when the full extent of the exploits become apparent.
Double taps are possible even now in the game. The main problem remains - DB is unable to fix flaws and not interested in giving the customers what one man did for free.
May I remind everyone that the Star TREK licence expires next year ?
You might change that view when the full extent of the exploits become apparent.
Double taps are possible even now in the game. The main problem remains - DB is unable to fix flaws and not interested in giving the customers what one man did for free.
May I remind everyone that the Star TREK licence expires next year ?
So, you’re saying it’s a good time stop spending money then. Good info to have.
Having a public API means allowing 3rd party tools.
It's ironic to say "the tool evolved". One man was capable of improving the game via API, without even being paid. Db was not interested in a better game. So sad.
So, you DON'T believe "the tool evolved"? Because the other option is that people who were using it to CHEAT were doing so with an UNALTERED program. {Before 47 people have an angry meltdown, the developer him/herself was quoted BY A PRO-APP PLAYER as saying people had started cheating with the App.}
The tool has not "evolved", the STT program remained full of bugs/exploits and incomplete. Unfortunately DB is not interested in replicating the functions of IAP, and is not capable of fixing the bugs/exploits. They are not friendly with their customers, and it's ironic that one unpaid man working open source has done more to improve the game than the Tilting Point budget.
The problem will not go away. Look at the fate of GoTA for clues.
I'm sorry, I was a huge fan of IAP. But it absolutely evolved in terms of what it was programmed to let you do. There was tonnes of crew management, Voyage, and gauntlet stuff that were not part of it initially. @Shan's point was that you could do more with the tool in the end than when she initially pinned it.
I agree that there is a problem when an amateur programmer can outdo the game makers themselves on a lot of elements.
Your last sentence means one thing and that is good attitude: Passion>Money
does anyone have the open source data, and are able to pull out the formulas IAP used to calculate the voyage crew? Is it possible to migrate this formula to a spreadsheet to display the optimal crew after performing the calculations?
If you didn't get a chance to watch the live Twitch stream yesterday, please take the time to watch the Youtube video about IAmPicard and its creator so that we don't get another 11 pages of mostly nonsensical and erroneous information.
EDIT:
I had originally put up the direct youtube link but considering it may go against forum policy I removed it. Finding the video is as easy as searching "I Roonis" and youtube. Video is offically called "Measure of an App - Timelines Chat with Frank and Roonis"
The Guardians of Tomorrow Protecting the Galaxy's Future from Itself
Fleet Admiral
does anyone have the open source data, and are able to pull out the formulas IAP used to calculate the voyage crew? Is it possible to migrate this formula to a spreadsheet to display the optimal crew after performing the calculations?
I never looked at the source code, the way the app behaved (different search depths, adaptively updating best predictions while it calculated) I'd guess it was performing some sort of tree search, or other optimization algorithm such as best-first-guess followed by simulated annealing or some such. This would be pretty hard to code into a flat spreadsheet, though perhaps an Excel VB master could do it. Yuk.
The best I could come up with using a relational database and some lightweight scripting is half-automated sorting, half human wetware intelligence of scanning down a prioritized list to match hard-to-assign but high value seats first. Without my RDB bells and whistles which are purely for speed/convenience, I think this could be replicated in a spreadsheet. Especially if you ignored trait bonuses which only add a smidge onto the bottom line.
A single person was able to do all of those things and more just using the public APIs. It shouldn’t be hard for the in-house development team to accomplish the same thing.
I see the term "public API" used a lot. Where was it documented? Being a software developer for 20+ years, public APIs are usually documented toolkits for public use. I am not aware of any documentation provided by DB detailing how to call their game API.
There is none. I think the "public API" line is the biggest issue I have with the advocates for the tool. The tool was great, wanting to use it was completely understandable, but that doesn't change the definition of a public API to fit your desired outcome.
As you said a public API is documented, published and available for everyone to use. That an API uses HTTPS does not make it public, that security wasn't put around an API so a 3rd party connected does not make it public. Publishing API documentation with an indication that other people can call it makes it public.
If you didn't get a chance to watch the live Twitch stream yesterday, please take the time to watch the Youtube video about IAmPicard and its creator so that we don't get another 11 pages of mostly nonsensical and erroneous information.
EDIT:
I had originally put up the direct youtube link but considering it may go against forum policy I removed it. Finding the video is as easy as searching "I Roonis" and youtube. Video is offically called "Measure of an App - Timelines Chat with Frank and Roonis"
Completely astounding. Talk about a smoking gun.
Kudos to Frank and Roonis for presenting the evidence this clearly.
Most anticipated character not in the game: Mr. Homn
Going by Roonis and Frank's excellent, detailed explanation, could current/future issues be headed off by DB making the API read-only? Wouldn't that allow informational pulls without allowing exploits?
I don't think so, because I think the official apps use this API as well to communicate with the server. So they would need to create a private API for the official apps and shield it from community built apps, and a new public read-only API.
Most anticipated character not in the game: Mr. Homn
I don't think so, because I think the official apps use this API as well to communicate with the server. So they would need to create a private API for the official apps and shield it from community built apps, and a new public read-only API.
It needs to validate wich app is making the request. It's pretty basic stuff, though maybe not unbreakable, but a minimum level of security should have avoided all of this. STT looks very insecure, and regarding that bug, is incredible that a commercial app has that kind of bug. Having the server accepting anything like that without a basic validation is incredible.
The problem is not the API but the program itself. Even now there are multitaps, but the situation is ignored. Instead of working with the IAP creator in order to improve the game they decide to ignore him and his work.
If you didn't get a chance to watch the live Twitch stream yesterday, please take the time to watch the Youtube video about IAmPicard and its creator so that we don't get another 11 pages of mostly nonsensical and erroneous information.
EDIT:
I had originally put up the direct youtube link but considering it may go against forum policy I removed it. Finding the video is as easy as searching "I Roonis" and youtube. Video is offically called "Measure of an App - Timelines Chat with Frank and Roonis"
Are you sure you are understanding the code regarding the bug, as explained in the video? I'm not a JS/Angular developer, so I can't be sure either of exactly how it behaves in those async call, nor I have the big picture to see wich layer of the app is invoking, but I THINK that that code, as written, is not the trigger of the bug (As I see, the bug would happen every time the tool is used)
does anyone have the open source data, and are able to pull out the formulas IAP used to calculate the voyage crew? Is it possible to migrate this formula to a spreadsheet to display the optimal crew after performing the calculations?
I never looked at the source code, the way the app behaved (different search depths, adaptively updating best predictions while it calculated) I'd guess it was performing some sort of tree search, or other optimization algorithm such as best-first-guess followed by simulated annealing or some such. This would be pretty hard to code into a flat spreadsheet, though perhaps an Excel VB master could do it. Yuk.
The best I could come up with using a relational database and some lightweight scripting is half-automated sorting, half human wetware intelligence of scanning down a prioritized list to match hard-to-assign but high value seats first. Without my RDB bells and whistles which are purely for speed/convenience, I think this could be replicated in a spreadsheet. Especially if you ignored trait bonuses which only add a smidge onto the bottom line.
I have seen it, I think it can be used in a script in a Google Spreadsheet, but it's too complex for me at the time (it's not long, but it uses a lot of bitwise operations that take a lot of patience from me). I would rather do something much more simpler (like picking the highest rated in each slot, with a little priority for the featured skill, with a tolerance) to get an acceptable result, insted of a rewrite/migration.
The problem is not the API but the program itself. Even now there are *REDACTED*, but the situation is ignored. Instead of working with the IAP creator in order to improve the game they decide to ignore him and his work.
Bad technical skills, worse communication skills.
I redacted that part just in case
The server side code should only allow what it's supposed to happen at the moment. This is terrible, and it probably happens with in-game mails, and similar stuff that you can collect (I have seen the app stopping that behaviour when collecting the daily dillithium, so there are validations, that are not being done in this case)
If you didn't get a chance to watch the live Twitch stream yesterday, please take the time to watch the Youtube video about IAmPicard and its creator so that we don't get another 11 pages of mostly nonsensical and erroneous information.
EDIT:
I had originally put up the direct youtube link but considering it may go against forum policy I removed it. Finding the video is as easy as searching "I Roonis" and youtube. Video is offically called "Measure of an App - Timelines Chat with Frank and Roonis"
Are you sure you are understanding the code regarding the bug, as explained in the video? I'm not a JS/Angular developer, so I can't be sure either of exactly how it behaves in those async call, nor I have the big picture to see wich layer of the app is invoking, but I THINK that that code, as written, is not the trigger of the bug (As I see, the bug would happen every time the tool is used)
As stated in the video, my coding experience is below novice with mainly just an understanding of concepts.
I had several experienced folks look at it, and walk me through it, having other fleets have their in house folks inspect as well.
It certainly looks like there is another piece that really makes it ramp up that isnt present in the desktop app but was in the web version. The consensus though was that the script itself is 100% written to allow repetition, there is no other apparent reason to loop to allow 20 promises on one shuttle claim.
If you didn't get a chance to watch the live Twitch stream yesterday, please take the time to watch the Youtube video about IAmPicard and its creator so that we don't get another 11 pages of mostly nonsensical and erroneous information.
EDIT:
I had originally put up the direct youtube link but considering it may go against forum policy I removed it. Finding the video is as easy as searching "I Roonis" and youtube. Video is offically called "Measure of an App - Timelines Chat with Frank and Roonis"
Comments
I'm sorry, I was a huge fan of IAP. But it absolutely evolved in terms of what it was programmed to let you do. There was tonnes of crew management, Voyage, and gauntlet stuff that were not part of it initially. @Shan's point was that you could do more with the tool in the end than when she initially pinned it.
I agree that there is a problem when an amateur programmer can outdo the game makers themselves on a lot of elements.
Yes, taking away the optimization tools is what smarts. Ironically what hurts the most isn’t the modules people were debating, it’s losing the inventory management. Back to literally flying blind on what to farm, the driving without a GPS analogy others used. Since the whole game is about developing crew, this one hurts. I know i’ll eventually hit a point where i’ll have more stuff than I can use, but that’s a ways off.
If there’s one in game improvement I crave it’s the ability to at least search the inventory. Not to be greedy but we got it in skirmish now so maybe, maybe ...?
For voyage and gauntlet, we survived before IAP we’ll survive after. I’ve already scripted up my own optimization tools for recommendations for both that I think do a better job, and that I actually understand. Not where I would have wanted to put my time and energy but that’s on me. There’s plenty of good suggestions on these threads now about how to improve the worst of the gauntlet UI gaps, which should also be a priority.
As far as shout outs go, I have a big one for @Shan . I can’t imagine how hard these threads were to moderate. If IAP sat on a difficult blurry line between ok and not ok, these threads sat on a really blurry line between what to allow to play out and not to play out. Shan’s willingness to give us some breathing room, judgment in when to bring things to a close, and maturity when closing them were exceptionally professional and wise. The post today was enormously helpful, welcome and appreciated. We are fortunate to have such a great moderator.
THIS. Retrieval of data is acceptable IMO. Initiating ANY action in the game is completely unacceptable.
IAP just skipped the flashy lights.
I've been using the tool along with the various other spreadsheet tools for quite a while and found them all extremely helpful. The tool was billed as 'Crew Management', something that would help players manage their crew list, as many have said, this is an aspect that could be improved. It's hard to say unless your the developer or following the project closely as to when and what features came in that made the tool go beyond Shan's/DB's view of just a helpful tool but we have to remember it was a side project by someone who loved playing a game and being both curious to develop his skills and help other players, added features that may have been requested. I don't think they wanted to replace the client.
If the tool was broken down and each feature listed separately, we would get many results of users top five however I do think DB should have taken on-board the developer and worked with him to add some of those features in game so he wouldn't have to feel pressure to add them to his tool that would have caused it to diverge from helpful side-line resource to alternate client no more than a spreadsheet would have.
We can all create a spreadsheet. We can't all use complex formulas. We could learn the coding skills to do our own app that would use an accessible api/source link. We all don't have the skills/time to do so.
I fully supported the tool and will sorely miss it and I won't bother listing *my* top five to say what should go into the STT client as it's not going to be the same as another players. I would like to thank the developer for adding to my experience of the game and hope that in the end his learning experience helped (which he mentioned on his site that he learned a lot of what he wanted) and that DB do reach out to him and others who added to the code in later months to work on improving the STT client with some features.
The Guardians of Tomorrow
Protecting the Galaxy's Future from itself
The inventory and crew management features would also be fairly easy to incorporate. That would be great for a quality of life improvement in the game.
Finally it would be very easy for them to estimate the length of a voyage and display it based on the crew you select. Then you could select and mix-and-match crew to see how it impacts the projected length of the voyage.
A single person was able to do all of those things and more just using the public APIs. It shouldn’t be hard for the in-house development team to accomplish the same thing.
I see the term "public API" used a lot. Where was it documented? Being a software developer for 20+ years, public APIs are usually documented toolkits for public use. I am not aware of any documentation provided by DB detailing how to call their game API.
i think perhaps you have hit one of DBs problem issue right on the head.
DB has constantly ignored problem or brushed under the carpet. after nearly 2 years of players bringing up the same issues, DB still actively ignores them.
IAP's tool addressed some of those issues.
DB takes forever to respond, if they respond at all.
here are few issues that the IAP Tool addressed;
* voyage freeze,
the IAP would some times break the game freeze issue and allow us to make a selection or at least recall the ship. because CS would often take 2 to 4 days before even giving a first response, and then its stuck till they actually do some thing, but here are 300 chrons for having to wait, never mind that we just missed 2 to 5 days of voyages.
* crew lists,
DBs in game sorting leaves so much to be desired that a 3rd party became necessary, and DB just keeps adding more, every week.
* inventory,
1000 item limit, um hello, you have how many unique in game items in existence, but only limit it to 1000. and again the sorting issue, in game it is practically non existent. search for that one item for a crew you FF/FE last year, that looks just like 5 other items but you only have 1 of each of them. Equipment (1,654 members) *4 Grades = 6,616), Components ((22 members) *4 grades = 88), Ships (45 members), and several other solitary items not even counting the event galaxy items.
i have had DB's own CS tell me to use a 3rd party chat, suggesting discord.
how many of the entire community use discord or some other communication because the chat is so messed up, i have seen messages to other players disappear after only a few hours, and never be delivered if that player is off line.
@Shan you want suggestions, here are a few
* Crew sorting, on all levels, and i mean ALL Levels, any place a crew is selected, looked at or even contains a crews name.
* 1000 item limit, needs another 0, make it 10,000 or just eliminate the limit period.
improve sorting options, at any location that items are involved, inventory, crew build, replicator, etc... we should not have to be guessing at what we are throwing into the replicator as fuel, this game is suppose to be in the 24th century at least, why is the inventory in the dark ages.
* dump the chat and incorporate it to Discord channels, then you can have open world chat be as filtered as you want so no one can ever say anything, and fleets can inner regulate them selves, PMs actually get delivered to the intended targets. players can access messages even out side the game.
* voyage calculator time estimator, crew suggestions and a search bar because scrolling through 200++ crew to find the one that fits best is insane.
* for all those 3rd party apps, look at what they are doing or using them for. spread sheets, look ups sorting, calculation etc... there are hundreds out there, some even advert out right hacks.
if you pay attention, your players are making and programing more than you are for your game, and in some cases they appear far more capable of doing so, if hackers are mking exploits in your game, they obviously know some thing you don't.
start paying better attention to your players, and stop brushing us off. personally, i am tired of what can be described as a "stuck up" attitude. you might be surprised, but a lot of us are geniuses, we are just board. i do spread sheets, hugely massive spread sheets, i have crashed my own PC enough times to know that much.
why climb the mountain, because it was there.
why hack the game, because it was there.
[FSC] Peace Keepers
Gryphon [****] Adm
I have OCD as well, or symptoms from something else that mirror OCD, and I've struggled with it my entire life. I've battled myself for my entire life, and every time I am able to conquer one of the compulsions, I almost kill that version of myself to vanquish the drive once and for all and start over. It is odd because while I have a near-photographic memory, I can look back on specific times in my life and remember very little because that version of me is gone, and when it goes I bury it completely.
I used to count my steps every time I walked anywhere. I spent probably 16 years fighting that, and one day I just stopped. It was traumatic, and to cope I just erased myself and started over, like a caterpillar in a cocoon.
What is leftover is somebody with only vague interest/knowledge in my own past, and somebody who is essentially nihilistic/irreverent toward pretty much everything. It gets me into LOADS of trouble, especially places like online forums because my default mode is often something close to a more playful version of Q. I try to combat this by constantly taking personal inventory of my own behaviors, reactions, and I force myself to remain open-minded, and in a way it has allowed me to continue to grow as a person.
I do try to have a positive impact here. Sometimes it does not always seem that way or come across that way, but I value this place and the people who live here, and I want to try and help other people get to where I am, because I'm in a much better place emotionally/mentally than I was 20 years ago.
Sorry for rambling
I mean if DB is so concerned about fair and balanced game play, shouldn't some of these exploits, such as double voyage clicks? be addressed? or are we to believe that this was how it was intended to always be;)
To be clear, never used a macro and never got the opportunity to try the I am picard program, but didn't feel cheated by those that did, at least in regards to the latter.
You might change that view when the full extent of the exploits become apparent.
Double taps are possible even now in the game. The main problem remains - DB is unable to fix flaws and not interested in giving the customers what one man did for free.
May I remind everyone that the Star TREK licence expires next year ?
So, you’re saying it’s a good time stop spending money then. Good info to have.
And if STT remains profitable it could well be renewed if that is the case...
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Captain Zombie's Combo chain calculator
Your last sentence means one thing and that is good attitude: Passion>Money
EDIT:
I had originally put up the direct youtube link but considering it may go against forum policy I removed it. Finding the video is as easy as searching "I Roonis" and youtube. Video is offically called "Measure of an App - Timelines Chat with Frank and Roonis"
Protecting the Galaxy's Future from Itself
Fleet Admiral
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I never looked at the source code, the way the app behaved (different search depths, adaptively updating best predictions while it calculated) I'd guess it was performing some sort of tree search, or other optimization algorithm such as best-first-guess followed by simulated annealing or some such. This would be pretty hard to code into a flat spreadsheet, though perhaps an Excel VB master could do it. Yuk.
The best I could come up with using a relational database and some lightweight scripting is half-automated sorting, half human wetware intelligence of scanning down a prioritized list to match hard-to-assign but high value seats first. Without my RDB bells and whistles which are purely for speed/convenience, I think this could be replicated in a spreadsheet. Especially if you ignored trait bonuses which only add a smidge onto the bottom line.
There is none. I think the "public API" line is the biggest issue I have with the advocates for the tool. The tool was great, wanting to use it was completely understandable, but that doesn't change the definition of a public API to fit your desired outcome.
As you said a public API is documented, published and available for everyone to use. That an API uses HTTPS does not make it public, that security wasn't put around an API so a 3rd party connected does not make it public. Publishing API documentation with an indication that other people can call it makes it public.
Completely astounding. Talk about a smoking gun.
Kudos to Frank and Roonis for presenting the evidence this clearly.
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Captain Zombie's Combo chain calculator
Bad technical skills, worse communication skills.
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Captain Zombie's Combo chain calculator
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Captain Zombie's Combo chain calculator
The server side code should only allow what it's supposed to happen at the moment. This is terrible, and it probably happens with in-game mails, and similar stuff that you can collect (I have seen the app stopping that behaviour when collecting the daily dillithium, so there are validations, that are not being done in this case)
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Captain Zombie's Combo chain calculator
As stated in the video, my coding experience is below novice with mainly just an understanding of concepts.
I had several experienced folks look at it, and walk me through it, having other fleets have their in house folks inspect as well.
It certainly looks like there is another piece that really makes it ramp up that isnt present in the desktop app but was in the web version. The consensus though was that the script itself is 100% written to allow repetition, there is no other apparent reason to loop to allow 20 promises on one shuttle claim.
Nicely done.