Found a way to make REALLY easy money in starter ships, checking if exploit

[Cmdr Daedalus Spyke]

Hey, so some friends and I have been trying to see what the limits were for using air-support for ground CZs and it occurred to me that it was VERY easy to use missiles to kill ground soldiers for a LOT of profit. And so I did. And then I thought "This is nice and all, but it seems like I'm only getting money for enemy kills here. So what if I just don't pick a side and shoot everyone?"
Turns out, the answer was neat and a bit weird.

So opening fire will automatically assign you to a side. However, you're still paid for killing soldiers from both sides. But because you've been assigned to a side, the combat bonds you earn from killing anything now register as being awarded from the side that you "joined" and results in that side paying you to kill their own soldiers.
And while I do have ships specifically build for air-to-ground strikes now, I decided to take a video showcasing this with a stock Eagle for emphasis.
Here's the outcome. So in that video you can see that this is an entirely stock Eagle (minus the hardpoints), and its total cost, with ammo, is only slightly above 151,000 credits. I use this to farm up just shy of 3 MILLION credits in just under 5 minutes and am only limited by the ammo capacity. (You can see around 9:23 in the video that I intentionally shoot a lone troop from a "friendly" dropship, kill it and earn 65k for it)

So I'd like to get confirmation on whether or not this is an exploit or "working as intended" or at least "fine" before I tell friends about it as it is a great way for new players to earn credits easy.

Steps to reproduce:
1) Equip any ship with any dumbfire missiles.
2) Find any ground combat zone rated "High" and fly there.
3) Do NOT pick a side and instead simply shoot any targets you see until you're out of ammo.
4) Leave and restock. Doesn't even matter if you finish the zone or not; you got what you came for.

Ideas to prevent this if it isn't an exploit, but also is unintended:
Have the base's anti-ship gun actually do something. (Presently only sits there looking menacing but not shooting)
Have an air battle going on over-head that could result in your ship being targeted (Might be hard on GPU right now)

 

[Drelthar]

Your fix suggestions have a big problem.

It would require FD to have actually thought about the space ship part of the game while designing the on foot part of the game.

That is apparently entirely unacceptable and crazy talk

 

[hardwire666]

I've been doing Air to Ground with CZ's for a while. And it will give a starter some good quick cash, but really. It doesn't make enough money to be a giant concern. I only do it out of boredom.

 

[Artaletta]

Hey, so some friends and I have been trying to see what the limits were for using air-support for ground CZs and it occurred to me that it was VERY easy to use missiles to kill ground soldiers for a LOT of profit. And so I did. And then I thought "This is nice and all, but it seems like I'm only getting money for enemy kills here. So what if I just don't pick a side and shoot everyone?"
Turns out, the answer was neat and a bit weird.

So opening fire will automatically assign you to a side. However, you're still paid for killing soldiers from both sides. But because you've been assigned to a side, the combat bonds you earn from killing anything now register as being awarded from the side that you "joined" and results in that side paying you to kill their own soldiers.
And while I do have ships specifically build for air-to-ground strikes now, I decided to take a video showcasing this with a stock Eagle for emphasis.
Here's the outcome. So in that video you can see that this is an entirely stock Eagle (minus the hardpoints), and its total cost, with ammo, is only slightly above 151,000 credits. I use this to farm up just shy of 3 MILLION credits in just under 5 minutes and am only limited by the ammo capacity. (You can see around 9:23 in the video that I intentionally shoot a lone troop from a "friendly" dropship, kill it and earn 65k for it)

So I'd like to get confirmation on whether or not this is an exploit or "working as intended" or at least "fine" before I tell friends about it as it is a great way for new players to earn credits easy.

Steps to reproduce:
1) Equip any ship with any dumbfire missiles.
2) Find any ground combat zone rated "High" and fly there.
3) Do NOT pick a side and instead simply shoot any targets you see until you're out of ammo.
4) Leave and restock. Doesn't even matter if you finish the zone or not; you got what you came for.

Ideas to prevent this if it isn't an exploit, but also is unintended:
Have the base's anti-ship gun actually do something. (Presently only sits there looking menacing but not shooting)
Have an air battle going on over-head that could result in your ship being targeted (Might be hard on GPU right now)

3 mil is nothing especially when there is Robigo's way (even for novices). So there is no exploit at all.

 

[Koma Pahu]

The only issue I see is if you’re in open, you may be stealing kills of other players on foot. Which is a little antisocial.

One of the first things tried as soon as ships were available was areal bombardment, as FDev have done nothing to restrict it we, the players, can only assume they are happy with it.

I don’t see it being a “problem” for long, they payouts aren’t that great in the grander scheme of things, and I suspect the gameplay aspect will get boring fairly quickly.

 

[Shintai]

I could make more money in the same CZ with a G1 suit and a G1 weapon. So not sure its an exploit as such.

 

[askavir]

Have the base's anti-ship gun actually do something. (Presently only sits there looking menacing but not shooting)

This would be nice, ideally there would be several anti-ship guns (depending on the settlement type). Not to prevent settlement bombing (because it's fun), but to make it necessary to fly over the settlement at high speed and fire missiles on the move, which is also much more fun than just hovering over the battlefield shooting fish in a barrel (and would make a lot more sense).

Have an air battle going on over-head that could result in your ship being targeted (Might be hard on GPU right now)

Alternatively there could be parked defence ships nearby that launched when necessary (again, depending on the type of settlement, military settlements for instance) or the settlement could call for air support that would show up after a while.

 

[Cmdr Daedalus Spyke]

3 mil is nothing especially when there is Robigo's way (even for novices). So there is no exploit at all.

Yeah, I'll agree that 3m is really not a lot at all, but keep in mind that this was a stock Eagle with standard dumbfires and that any larger ships with more hardpoints carrying advanced missile racks are going to see much higher returns. It's definitely no Robigo, but it seems to me like this may be unintended to some degree and is paying out more than one might expect.

I could make more money in the same CZ with a G1 suit and a G1 weapon. So not sure its an exploit as such.

While I believe this, could you do it in under 5 minutes and for little to no effort?

 

[hardwire666]

Like someone said earlier there are still things like Robigo that make FAR better money. Is this kind of broken? Yeah, sure. But there are other things that are far more broken than this, and as far as exploits go it has minimal to no impact.

I'd rather they fix the really broken stuff first, then worry about the little stuff like this later.

 

[Cmdr Daedalus Spyke]

Cool, I'm glad to hear that more people besides myself feel like this isn't an exploit so much as "merely silly" or something.

 

[Shintai]

Yeah, I'll agree that 3m is really not a lot at all, but keep in mind that this was a stock Eagle with standard dumbfires and that any larger ships with more hardpoints carrying advanced missile racks are going to see much higher returns. It's definitely no Robigo, but it seems to me like this may be unintended to some degree and is paying out more than one might expect.

While I believe this, could you do it in under 5 minutes and for little to no effort?

Did you ever try the CZ on foot? I normally make 5-6 million on these.

 

[CNC drill press]

Cant test it myself rn but what about dropping mines?

Idea with high velocty fly over with dropping bombs/missiles sounds damn awesome. Need this now.

@Edit: removed fragemnt where i forgot how to math. As others said amount of money gained is less than other legit activities. Im pretty sure that fdev wont punish You for that.

 

[Bigmaec]

For science!

 

[Guyperson]

While 60M/hr isn't exactly a new gold rush, you probably shouldn't be getting paid to blender friendlies.

 

[Cmdr Daedalus Spyke]

Did you ever try the CZ on foot? I normally make 5-6 million on these.

My frames per second don't really allow me to try High CZs like that one yet, but I fully plan to once they get better occlusion rendering optimization going.

Cant test it myself rn but what about dropping mines?

Idea with high velocty fly over with dropping bombs/missiles sounds damn awesome. Need this now.

3mil/5min (okay in the end more because time to restock) less than robigo can over, really? I was living under the rock.

I've tried mines, missiles, and remote flechette launchers.
Flechettes are the best as they still bypass shields and deal direct damage, making them super effective but slower to fire.
Missiles are a close second since you can give them rapid fire and other fun engineering while aiming them is easy and the explosions are fun.
Mines tend to detonate too early thanks to weird proximity detection from troops or the dropships but overall they don't hurt the ground targets half as much as they'll hurt you. That said, doing a strafing run is very fun and I still recommend giving it a try if for nothing more than to enjoy it.

 

[Cmdr Daedalus Spyke]

While 60M/hr isn't exactly a new gold rush, you probably shouldn't be getting paid to blender friendlies.

Agreed, and that's exactly what I was trying to clear up since there's some definite ery going on here. Like, in a space CZ I don't think you get combat bonds unless you pick a side and you'll also likely end up with the whole zone aggro'd to you. This though? I mean, you just get paid more and even by the people you're killing.

 

[Cmdr Daedalus Spyke]

So what are the odds that FDev would weigh in on this or have they already elsewhere? I'm really only even concerned because it's so weird to be paid by a faction for killing their own soldiers in battle.

(Btw, found out that if you shoot the friendly dropship then you only get paid for friendly kills, which is also super weird and probably an actual bug but it's funny)

 

[hardwire666]

Considering its been proven ground CZ's are currently detached from the BGS atm(and for good reason I'm sure), and with all the other things that need fixing probably not for a bit.

I'm not saying it won't be addressed, or anything like that. Just staying on the list of things they are going to focus on this is low priority. Probably even the reason ground CZ's are not effecting the BGS right now to begin with.

Despite how many people seem to feel, Odyssey is doing really bad, and they have a very full plate right now.

Edited bc of bad typing, never post before coffee

 

[Cmdr Daedalus Spyke]

Considering its been proven ground CZ's are currently detached from the BGS atm(and for good reason I'm sure), and with all the other things that need fixing probably notnfor a bit.

I'm not saying it won't bhe addressed, or anything like that. Just staying on the list of things they ate going to focus on this is low priority. Probably even the reason ground CZ's are not effecting the BGS right now tk begin with.

Despite how many people seem to feel, Odyssey is doing really bad, and they have a very full plate right now.

Great points! I'll just stay patient and enjoy the content as it improves for now and keep an eye on patch changes. Thanks for the insight and reply!