Askew Armada

[Rowdypup]

Ever since Megatron donned the new “Armada” accessory, I have noticed something about him (well, he does look cooler- but that’s not the point) that has been a hinder when I perform nodes with him. You see, whenever I fire at a structure and create a black hole, the pull is much weaker and deals less damage on impact (only being able to barely crack wood and stone blocks), which is not normal since he is currently a level 10, and high-level Transformers usually deal a high amount of damage, so what is going on with the Armada?
We’ve had this issue a while back with the Coconut Helmet (Autobirds) and Cowboy Hats (Deceptihogs) where the description promised a “+%20 Defense” boost, but the effects actually seemed to hurt your character, where a shot from a Pigbot would remove 2/10 of a heart at a time (think of 1/5 of a single heart disappearing to make it easier)- a serious disadvantage for players who wielded these hats. Rovio eventually fixed the accessories in a recent update and they function normally, resulting in health deterioration at a normal pace. If Rovio fixed the two hats, when will Rovio come around to fixing this hat?

Back to the big picture, has anybody else noticed this in gameplay?

Topic

[beaups]

Many players on the Daily Players Facebook group are saying the same thing. I can confirm as well that the Armada accessories and the Null ray so far are causing negative effects instead of boosting.

[Pampeans]

I submitted a ticket regarding this and I think everyone else should too.

Howsomeever, from an application development perspective, I can’t think how or why this should possible. Either these are the worst/sloppiest programmers ever, or this code is deliberate and is not sophisticated enough to be applied as intended. What I mean is, perhaps this is some of the code nerfing the bots for the competitions (after that Seek & Destroy event it’s clear they don’t want us to do very well in the competitions) and the code is not sophisticated enough to distinguish between regular and competition nodes? Of course, the Seek and Destroy event also made it clear that people were cheating. I’m really wondering about this.

Filed under: Things that make you go hmmm…

[renta1964]

@pampeans really? When you say “Either these are the worst/sloppiest programmers ever, or this code is deliberate and is not sophisticated enough to be applied as intended.” you must be kidding. In the nearly two years this game has been around Rovio/Exient are consistently messing things up with eh, let’s see,
– achievement counters not working
– sudden death (characters losing health in the first 5 seconds) – this one nagged us for months on end
– end of the world bug (been around since time began)
– updating your progress bug
– competition timer glitch
– Blaster accessory disappearing on Skywarp
– accessories that reduce rather then improve capabilities
– should I continue?

I am just as addicted as everyone here, and we are all free to walk away and get a life. But R/E should be ashamed of the quality of programming and apparently total absence of any beta testing.

[Optimus_Pig]

Someone at Exient probably just put a “-” where there should have been a “+”.

They may have been hiring ex-Lockheed Martin software engineers, specifically the one that programmed the Mars Climate Orbiter to use feet instead of meters and caused it to splat on the surface of Mars.

[The Dark Knight]

I will also submit a ticket for those armada wast-time & gem insolence things! I used them i 3-4 times even i have him maximized 15 level (Dark Megraton) only defective thins it only blast a certain block and not open a black hole where it takes all the blocks within… so much damn effort waste waste of gem time and most important sleep times. Great rovio thanks!

[The Dark Knight]

I just submitted the ticked i hope things will changes if many people are starting complain at them.

[Pampeans]

Gaming application code is an act of manipulation. The computer, being a deterministic machine, has no concept of randomness. All it does is follow instructions. Code in and of itself is not nefarious, it only performs what was deliberately written (even it you’ve made a mistake by writing it).

The ABT enemies have set behaviors, except under certain circumstances, such as low health or depending on rank, type of accessories, etc. For example, I’m sure you’ve noticed that when a Tf has extremely low health, the game speeds up and the enemies become more numerous. As the game speeds up, the Tf slows down and the reaction time to commands (coming from the user) slows making it harder for the Tf to escape death. Also, each Tf and enemy has a damage mechanic, meaning you can’t do more damage than the maximum possible value calculated by the mechanic.

Level 10 is where the sudden death “bug” showed-up, (presumably to force us to upgrade) but this is why the Seekers were level 10 — the take on massive damage and die level. I don’t think levels 11 through 15 have this damage quotient built in, so I believe the damage mechanics for these levels is being manipulated (i.e., nerfed) using the code for the accessories.

Think about G. Grimlock and how badly he was performing until some noticed (I believe it was Millforce2k) that the accessories were hampering him. Removing the accessories restored him to his regular level 15 self. Previously we were using the “buddy” version of him (this way the level of the Tf didn’t have an impact) in the competitions, that’s why the drastic difference in his performance. In the first few competitions with users mainly using “buddy” G. Grimlock, I believe more gems, pigs, coins and awards were given out (net decrease) then ever imagined.

It’s just like the “updating progress bug” which had a supposed problem with the cloud which belies the point of using the cloud in the first place. The code was deliberately inserted to manipulate a situation. The real bug, with “updating progress” was that it didn’t initially take into consideration that missions/upgrades might be running when the “setback” occurred, resulting in free materials and upgrades until they tweaked it to just “take”.

During the Seeker competition the opposite must of occurred in that there was a net increase in gems paid. However, there were “hack & rack” cheaters and cheaters adjusting time zones/device clocks to prematurely produce charges. So the revenue stream might not make sense for the number of gems paid. Now we have a game clock “bug”.

I’m not saying that there have not been mistakes and plenty of them. But some of what looks like just foolishness and downright stupidity may be deliberate. Just a theory…

[Hunter_Elite]

I thought I as the only one who noticed that. And about the beta testing, I totally agree. They don’t even care about the quality of this game, and I guess it got worse since Exient. They just release a bunch of robots, so we can keep playing them stupid competitions, and actually spend gmes on them, if they are about characters at least, because this week’s comp I’ve spent only 10. The map stills the same since I don’t even remember when. I would love to see a new scenario. And about a scenario, since I mentioned it: Am I the only one who really, reeaaaaally hates the slow/fast motion on the nods by the river?

[Francis Crawford]

I agree about hating the slow/fast nodes by the river. It screws up timing, for one thing. Also, slow is slow.

But actually, I hate other slow motion more, e.g. when I’m trying to transform away from a falling monolith. Why? Because that’s a moment of peril when screwing up my timing is more costly.

[Rowdypup]

Earlier today I performed a “test” run at South Beach with both Megatrons, both donning the Armada, to see if the effects were the same (I only have the Armada for the original Megatron at the moment)- and sure enough, my hypothesis was correct! Albeit being dubbed “Ultimate” Megatron, the buddy had the same disadvantage as me (we were both around the same level), so my Mortarnik had to do all the work while me and my buddy helplessly attempted to bring down structures on our own. Also on a side note, I was wearing the “Medallion” for Megatron, which has explosive rounds as an attribute- which was cancelled out by the Armada’s “disadvantage” and only allowed me to fire normal shots, only being able to kill 1 Pigbot at a time! Wow- this whole mishap of a mystery is just growing bigger and bigger! I hope Rovio fixes it soon…

[Lewie4]

We are aware of the issue with the armada accessories and have a fix coming for them soon.

[Anonymous]

@lewie4 Will there be a fix for Shockwave’s Medallion?Spent 350 gems and it is not working…

[Lewie4]

@awesomepow Shockwave’s Medallion appears to be working as intended

[Anonymous]

Oh.Ok.Just noticed.Weapon isn’t green but now it does damage over time.What about Shrapnel for Sunstorm?