[POWERPLAY] Disable all autopilot features when pledged (existing and incoming April update)

Well to be honest: we know those. We did some investigations in the past about that. We probably should linkall of them, but as strange as it sounds, it could result in a ban, considering forum rules. :/

Do not -link-. Report to FD.
 
Yeah, I linked a gold seller site and immediately reported it, and got myself banned. Lol

Turns out finding bot software is actually really hard. They're all very paranoid on the forum I was just browsing. Lol
Maybe the right choice about that is talking about the fact that they've been reported to the Developers, and ask directly to them if they are gonna do anything about it.
 
I think Fdev are very clear that they dont want to engage with anyone about this (or a number of other things)

I think ideally we should be pushing for 2 things:

1. open only powerplay
2. Disable the new tools if you are carrying powerplay cargo - that way it doesn't stop you using them just because you're pledged (if you want to do non pp stuff) but does help reduce the botting
 
Maybe you all are looking at it wrong. Maybe instead of demanding that the Russians give up their nukes, you build nukes of your own. Bots v bots! As you say, building a bot is easier now than ever :D

Frontier should just go the extra mile and allow us to send our NPC pilots on errands for us, NMS-style. As Spock said, "Sauce for the goose, Saavik. The odds will be even."
 
Maybe you all are looking at it wrong. Maybe instead of demanding that the Russians give up their nukes, you build nukes of your own. Bots v bots! As you say, building a bot is easier now than ever :D

Premium example on why not to want that. Advise everybody to have nukes, and nations like USA, Russia, India, Pakistan and North Korea (and actually some more) also have them at some time. And at least one, perhaps more than one of what i just mentioned, is lead by people with "slightly strange ideas", which may include anything from gross incompetence over narcism to religious fanaticism.

The more of them with their hands on dangerous tools, the more likely that somebody will press the button at some time. Now transfer this to gamers. I am not sure if we have any technology yet, which can measure time quick enough to determine how long it takes between any exploitable feature being available and somebody doing the worst thing possible.
 
Maybe you all are looking at it wrong. Maybe instead of demanding that the Russians give up their nukes, you build nukes of your own. Bots v bots! As you say, building a bot is easier now than ever :D

Frontier should just go the extra mile and allow us to send our NPC pilots on errands for us, NMS-style. As Spock said, "Sauce for the goose, Saavik. The odds will be even."
Well bots are prohibited by the EULA of the game itself, nukes are not by the world's EULA. XD

Jokes aside: FDev should do more. It's a common problem in PC gaming, but other companies are clearly much better in dealing with them.
 
Botting is a curse on Powerplay. Its not helped by the new updates that will make it even easier to do.

Its a brutal move, but please disable these features if you pledge. Powerplay was supposed to be an end game activity, so these beginner features have no place there.

EDIT: A less draconian version of this suggested by others would (although gamey) would be to disable auto pilot tools when carrying powerplay prep and fort materials.
Since bots are already superior to the added modules I see absolutely no point in this suggestion.
 
Since bots are already superior to the added modules I see absolutely no point in this suggestion.

Like I said a while ago, these new modules may be superior to what botters use, and they take out significant hurdles that could trigger proliferation. Now all you would need is a macro to use the menu to load your allocation every 30 minutes, after reaching max cargo you then activate the new auto undock, autofly about and land, adn let the macro take over.
 
Jokes aside: FDev should do more. It's a common problem in PC gaming, but other companies are clearly much better in dealing with them.
This would require either detailed data analysis and / or the input analysis on the client side. I suspect this isn't trivial, especially with CMDRs using things like voice assist and other legitimate macros. And imagine the blow-back when Frontier bans a "bot" who turns out to be a handicapped player using various assists just so he can play the game.

Me personally, I find the entire PP system to be flawed, thus why I don't do "true" PP. Winning and losing systems based on how many pamphlets one delivers? Nonsense. In fact, I'm surprised anyone finds pleasure in doing this "manually". The fact that it is literally a predictable grind is what makes it bot-able. If it were mission based, with very unique, complex missions, I think it would be much more immune to bots.

But whatever, not my cup of tea or area of expertise, so I just go back to my original stance - don't nerf my legitimate use of autopilots to fight bots that are already a problem NOW even without APs.
 
Like I said a while ago, these new modules may be superior to what botters use, and they take out significant hurdles that could trigger proliferation. Now all you would need is a macro to use the menu to load your allocation every 30 minutes, after reaching max cargo you then activate the new auto undock, autofly about and land, adn let the macro take over.
I am pretty sure that you've seen videos of bots and that they are capable of performing all relevant actions themselves. While I support your cause against bots, artificially limiting game mechanics as blind activism is not the way to go.
 
This would require either detailed data analysis and / or the input analysis on the client side. I suspect this isn't trivial, especially with CMDRs using things like voice assist and other legitimate macros. And imagine the blow-back when Frontier bans a "bot" who turns out to be a handicapped player using various assists just so he can play the game.

Me personally, I find the entire PP system to be flawed, thus why I don't do "true" PP. Winning and losing systems based on how many pamphlets one delivers? Nonsense. In fact, I'm surprised anyone finds pleasure in doing this "manually". The fact that it is literally a predictable grind is what makes it bot-able. If it were mission based, with very unique, complex missions, I think it would be much more immune to bots.

But whatever, not my cup of tea or area of expertise, so I just go back to my original stance - don't nerf my legitimate use of autopilots to fight bots that are already a problem NOW even without APs.
Yeah in this case I'm just talking about bots by itself, it's a problem with Powerplay especially but it can be for BGS and I can't esclude it's gonna be the same in the future interstellar initiatives. So even if it's not trivial and there's a lot of legitimate macros, something more should be done to ensure a fair game to everybody. I think there's nothing wrong in asking such a thing. ;)
 
I am pretty sure that you've seen videos of bots and that they are capable of performing all relevant actions themselves. While I support your cause against bots, artificially limiting game mechanics as blind activism is not the way to go.

The only other route is for FD to actually spend some time making Powerplay hauling less routine. If they did that, the problem would be engineered out.
 
Yeah in this case I'm just talking about bots by itself, it's a problem with Powerplay especially but it can be for BGS and I can't esclude it's gonna be the same in the future interstellar initiatives. So even if it's not trivial and there's a lot of legitimate macros, something more should be done to ensure a fair game to everybody. I think there's nothing wrong in asking such a thing. ;)
I'm not opposed to your fight against bots, but I'd rather it be done by introducing more engaging gameplay rather than nerfing macros and autopilots. The other day I got a complex mission that sent me to a random place to meet some ship which then gave me a system address and coordinates that I had to manually enter into the galaxy map search to find this abandoned ship, and it was really enjoyable because of the complexity of it all.

I'm not talking about "grinding the Guardians" type of complexity, but rather the "follow the breadcrumbs" type of complexity, something I'm fairly certain a bot could never do. If PP and BGS depended on completing complex missions like this rather than delivering X amount of defined cargo from known point A to known point B, you would have no bot problem.
 
I'm not opposed to your fight against bots, but I'd rather it be done by introducing more engaging gameplay rather than nerfing macros and autopilots. The other day I got a complex mission that sent me to a random place to meet some ship which then gave me a system address and coordinates that I had to manually enter into the galaxy map search to find this abandoned ship, and it was really enjoyable because of the complexity of it all.

I'm not talking about "grinding the Guardians" type of complexity, but rather the "follow the breadcrumbs" type of complexity, something I'm fairly certain a bot could never do. If PP and BGS depended on completing complex missions like this rather than delivering X amount of defined cargo from known point A to known point B, you would have no bot problem.
That's of course my opinion as well, I proposed Powerplay Missions many times for example. ;) Still at some point there are parts of the game that are vulnerable to botting, like trading, it's a powerful tool in case of deliberate actions towards a certain PMF. I'd love to see both of the actions: much more variability (especially with scenarios) but real actions against bots. And I don't say they usually don't act when bots are reported (I had such an experience myself in a particular event that happened two months ago), but you can't just rely on reports then act as the problem isn't there anymore, that's what I'm saying, they should at least monitor continuously some systems (and we're going a little bit offtopic :p ).
 
They should make PowerPlay just less repetitive.
I've not bothered doing any of those junk mail deliveries, because it's incredibly boring. Sit in the station spamming the same key combo over and over, then fly a few LY and sell/drop all the junk mail, and repeat.

PowerPlay missions should be a thing, and rewards should be better.
Basically every type of gameplay in the "main game" should be in PowerPlay, but tweaked to work with that system instead. Everything from missions, passengers, trading, mining, piracy, USSs, scenarios, etc. Plus more combat activities, more CZs, more war!

Remove the easily repeatable stuff, and most of the bots go with it.
 
They should make PowerPlay just less repetitive.
I've not bothered doing any of those junk mail deliveries, because it's incredibly boring. Sit in the station spamming the same key combo over and over, then fly a few LY and sell/drop all the junk mail, and repeat.

PowerPlay missions should be a thing, and rewards should be better.
Basically every type of gameplay in the "main game" should be in PowerPlay, but tweaked to work with that system instead. Everything from missions, passengers, trading, mining, piracy, USSs, scenarios, etc. Plus more combat activities, more CZs, more war!

Remove the easily repeatable stuff, and most of the bots go with it.
Yes. And please remove the stoooooooopid fasttrack stuff. Had to go through this wednesday again for some pacifiers, and dear god is that awful.
 
The only other route is for FD to actually spend some time making Powerplay hauling less routine. If they did that, the problem would be engineered out.

And that is the main reason why I was looking forward to Powerplay missions. I don’t enjoy ABA cargo hauling, and I’ve never been much of a combat player in any MMO I’ve played. But give me missions to bring in power generators to fortify a system, or smuggle in explosives to undermine it, and I’ll be happily doing that, rather than the indirect fortification and undermining I currently do via the BGS.
 
Lol
Why don't you just murder some NPC's?
That's what I did this morning. It's free, you get materials, probably slower, but more fun.
My timeplan was: arriving from Colonia on tuesday, getting my merits in about an hour of playtime on wednesday, and depart back to Colonia on thursday.
Merit hauling sounded the best alternative... until my mouse and mind broke from endless fasttracking :LOL:
 
So, bots already exist. Effective bots if things are to be believed. They can dock, undock, fly between systems, load and unload stuff.

So, what difference would restricting the new modules actually make?

As I understand, the new SC module requires line of sight, it has little to no intellegence. The undocking module is just the reverse of the dock module. Nothing will auto load cargo, nothing will select destinations on the galaxy map.

I don't see how restricting anything here would make the slightest bit of difference to the botters.
 
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