[Exploit 0.8] Outpost can be upgraded over and over again

from Elemental Forums

As stated.

I build an Outpost as Lady Irane and it merged into a City (being inside the "walls"). I noticed I could build an unlimited amount of upgrades again and again after it finished (there can still only be one in the queue at a time, but you can build e.g. the Consulate an unlimited amount of times). The Consulate growth bonus stacked. I don't know about the Stables movement speed, since I couldn't measure it exactly and neither about the +50% Atk from the Armory Upgrade, but all available Upgrades could be build over and over again.

Heres some screens.

Also the game crashed shortly after I build the 3rd Consulate but that shouldn't be related (a few turns between)

 

As you can see: The Outpost shows the Upgrades as build in the picture but one can still queue them again (I didn't research the other grey one yet).

 

Here's an overview about the area.

 

Here's a picture showing the 3x Consulate bonus from the only outpost connected.

 

 

Edit: Confirmed. It did happen again with another outpost inside the city walls.

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Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

I have another mayor update.

While the Consulate Exploit isn't all 'that' gamebreaking, when you research the High Tower you can build that an unlimited amount of times. 

Also I confirmed that the unlimited building is indeed happening for any upgrades available.

 

This made the AI unable to tap any resources and the only land they did own were their cities. Their outpost (and any build resources) were automatically joining my empire every turn.

I had the whole map in my empire. And there was nothing they could do except conquering my city which was too well defended.

Hence I could scout the whole map basically without ever setting foot anywhere.

 

 

FYI this can be replicated by building an outpost directly aside to a city and let it be inside the city walls. You can then queue up any upgrades once per turn. Forever.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

That's actually a rather significant exploit.

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top


Maybe a little off topic, but it would solve the exploit:

Imo, when a built outpost is incorporated into a city, it should CEASE being an outpost. Instead, the structure should be changed to a 'Guard Tower' (a building that should be available for construction within your city already), granting you a different static set of bonuses. Yes, that means that any bonus you may have been getting from the outpost would also CEASE, but that would be the included in the involved choice of merging your outpost into your city.

Thoughts? Comments?

Perhaps this 'Guard Tower' building could have upgrades for it as well? The bonuses would obviously have to be less than what the Fortress would offer. It would also have to be small enough such that 2 or 3 of these structures within the same city would not amount to an exploitable circumstance.

 

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Sounds good to me. Normally an outpost within a city is just ridiculous in itself so yeah. Thumps-up from me!

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

hmmmm, I haven't been able to reproduce this in .80, has anyone else? I got an outpost to enter my city, however, it isn't letting me build more than one of each upgrade in it. Do you have any more specific info of what you did to get there?

 

http://screencast.com/t/7Ysoy64SqPo outpost in walls

 

http://screencast.com/t/I8liyGp1ISv no upgrades allowed to be made

 

 

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Hm that is strange.

After building the Outpost I usually build a city improvement next to it to make it connect, but since yours is in the fence it shouldn't matter.

Did you build upgrades prior to it being in the fence?

I noticed you were using Capitar... I was using Magnar, Yithril and Tarth so far.

I'll try it with Capitar myself fast.

Edit:

It worked on the very first try:

 

Exact way to reproduce:

1. Start a new game as Capitar. (I don't think the game options are any good but I can provide them if necessary. I also don't think the race matters)

2. Settle your first city.

3. Move Sovereign Stack whereever (doesn't matter)

4. Start training a Pioneer.

5. Move the pioneer adjecent to your city and build an outpost just like in the picture above. Also queue up the Monument just at the side of the city like shown above. Queue up the Fortify upgrade instantly after that. End turn.

6. Confirm that the outpost is integrated into your city's fence.

7. You can now queue up your 2nd fortify or whatever.

 Note: Steam Game Cache is validated and -cheat is not enabled.

 

Please do report if you can reproduce this reliably.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Has this been fixed? It is still occurring in my games.

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting FM_Kilgore, reply 7
Has this been fixed? It is still occurring in my games.
End of FM_Kilgore's quote

Did you start a new game, or load a .85 save?  In another thread Derek said that some of the fixes would only be apparent if you started a new game.

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Yes I have started a new game. Many actually. The problem persists in all new games I make.

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting FM_Kilgore, reply 9

Yes I have started a new game. Many actually. The problem persists in all new games I make.
End of FM_Kilgore's quote

 

Are you sure? Because it is fixed in my game (0.87) and as matter of fact outpost can no longer be integrated into city if you place outpost right next to city improvement.