[Exploit] Infinite Repair

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mega_newblar
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[Exploit] Infinite Repair

Postby mega_newblar » Mon May 04, 2015 12:36 am

Re-reporting this problem b/c its still not fixed viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2207

TJJ wrote:I just found an exploit that allows free repairs.

What you need:

- Drone Control
- Drone Recovery Arm
- Repair Drone
- 1 drone part (so you can deploy the Repair Drone)

The repair drone is supposed to be destroyed once it's applied 3-5 repair actions.
However....

1) Deploy the Repair Drone.
2) let it perform 2 repair actions
3) Jump away.

The partially used repair drone will be collected by the Drone Recovery Arm and you'll have your drone part credited back to you.



Please fix :)

P.S. I LOVE YOUR GAME.
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stylesrj
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Re: [Exploit] Infinite Repair

Postby stylesrj » Mon May 04, 2015 1:11 am

Of course, jumping away does cost you a unit of fuel. Unless you're out of fuel. So it's not exactly free repairs. It's more like "cheaper repairs"
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5thHorseman
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Re: [Exploit] Infinite Repair

Postby 5thHorseman » Mon May 04, 2015 9:54 am

I specifically tested for this in the AE Beta. I swear they changed it. Maybe it was a dream...
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mega_newblar
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Re: [Exploit] Infinite Repair

Postby mega_newblar » Mon May 04, 2015 2:24 pm

5thHorseman wrote:I specifically tested for this in the AE Beta. I swear they changed it. Maybe it was a dream...


This may be true. I neglected to mention I did this on 'Original' not 'Advanced Edition'. I haven't tested it on AE yet because I wanted to beat original first; which I did using the exploit lol

If this is fixed in AE sorry for wasting time :) I will test it later today for 100% sure after class.
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stylesrj
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Re: [Exploit] Infinite Repair

Postby stylesrj » Tue May 05, 2015 10:37 pm

mega_newblar wrote:
5thHorseman wrote:I specifically tested for this in the AE Beta. I swear they changed it. Maybe it was a dream...


This may be true. I neglected to mention I did this on 'Original' not 'Advanced Edition'. I haven't tested it on AE yet because I wanted to beat original first; which I did using the exploit lol

If this is fixed in AE sorry for wasting time :) I will test it later today for 100% sure after class.


Regardless, it's not much of an exploit as "I've saved a few Scrap from repairs and Drone Parts at the price of 1 fuel unit."
There are better ways to game the system (like Hacking Drones. Time them just right and you'll always get through)
mega_newblar
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Re: [Exploit] Infinite Repair

Postby mega_newblar » Wed May 06, 2015 7:00 pm

stylesrj wrote:
mega_newblar wrote:
5thHorseman wrote:I specifically tested for this in the AE Beta. I swear they changed it. Maybe it was a dream...


This may be true. I neglected to mention I did this on 'Original' not 'Advanced Edition'. I haven't tested it on AE yet because I wanted to beat original first; which I did using the exploit lol

If this is fixed in AE sorry for wasting time :) I will test it later today for 100% sure after class.


Regardless, it's not much of an exploit as "I've saved a few Scrap from repairs and Drone Parts at the price of 1 fuel unit."
There are better ways to game the system (like Hacking Drones. Time them just right and you'll always get through)


I'd have to disagree with you there. It's can be a gamechanging exploit. You can routinely heal 3-5 bars per jump for 0 drone cost and it doesn't really make sense to say it costs you a jump because you are jumping once every system anyways. It's essential a free heal. That's very significant in a game where you can lose by literally 1 shot, or because you are short by 1 missile/drone part/etc. The alternative is to spend scrap on repairs, and if you have 5-10 scrap worth of free heal multiplied by a dozen or so systems it adds up very quickly.

I will admit though, it is fairly rare that you will get a drone bay, drone recovery arm, and a hull repair drone, and those who REALLY care about it can just not absuse the exploit (its a singleplayer game after all) but ideally it would be nice to have it non-existent.
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stylesrj
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Re: [Exploit] Infinite Repair

Postby stylesrj » Wed May 06, 2015 7:17 pm

I'd have to disagree with you there. It's can be a gamechanging exploit. You can routinely heal 3-5 bars per jump for 0 drone cost and it doesn't really make sense to say it costs you a jump because you are jumping once every system anyways. It's essential a free heal. That's very significant in a game where you can lose by literally 1 shot, or because you are short by 1 missile/drone part/etc. The alternative is to spend scrap on repairs, and if you have 5-10 scrap worth of free heal multiplied by a dozen or so systems it adds up very quickly.


And then there are those times when you get free hull repairs from saving another ship when you really need the Scrap for something useful...

Then you have those battles where you routinely lose more than 3 hull every time because WHAT THE HELL? OH NO YOU DIDN'T JUST FIRE A HERMES AT ME YOU BASTARDS! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD/SURRENDERING!

And well... missile ships...
It essentially saves you as much scrap as a lifehack does in saving money. Not very much and you're better off eating an apple the right way anyway.

I will admit though, it is fairly rare that you will get a drone bay, drone recovery arm, and a hull repair drone, and those who REALLY care about it can just not absuse the exploit (its a singleplayer game after all) but ideally it would be nice to have it non-existent.


There's also a neat trick to prevent losing a Hacking Drone to Defence Drones which works most of the time, as long as you are quick on the draw in powering it down. It would be nice to have it non-existent as it saves you more Drone Parts than that FTL Lifehack and is a lot more useful.
Leylite
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Re: [Exploit] Infinite Repair

Postby Leylite » Wed May 06, 2015 7:59 pm

It's also worth mentioning that all this equipment is really expensive - the Hull Repair Drone alone is 85 scrap, which is equal to 21 repairs at 4 scrap each. While that does mean you start saving money after the 10th jump... you're saving money on damage taken, and you really don't want to be taking that damage in the first place.

At the same time, since you have to jump with the Hull Repair Drone equipped (unequipping it destroys the drone without you getting it back from the Drone Recovery Arm), that means it's taking up one of your drone slots, meaning your ability to field some other utility drone that would actually save you damage (like a second Defense I, a Defense II, an Anti-Drone Drone, or some more indirect thing like a Combat I / Beam I) is compromised. Of course that's less of an issue on a 3 drone-slot ship, but in that case you've got better things to do with a Drone Recovery Arm than just use hull repair drones.

So, it's a nice bonus if the game happens to give you all this stuff for free, but it's horribly expensive to buy on your own, especially on Hard mode. And while having the hull repair does keep you topped off and less likely to die from missile damage accumulation, it does nothing to keep you from taking the system damage that leads to you taking additional damage (like getting hit in the weapons or shields).
JonasTheRoman
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Re: [Exploit] Infinite Repair

Postby JonasTheRoman » Thu May 07, 2015 7:02 pm

Guys:
Repairing with a repair drone is supposed to actually cost you a drone part. But this scenario here makes it possible for you to save that drone part.
It's as simple as that. No matter how rare this might be (I actually find hull repair drones fairly often) and how marginal the effect might be (personally I don't consider repairing at least two hull points EVERY jump for FREE to be marginal), it is still an exploit, as it isn't supposed to work like that.

The only question is if this is really worth fixing as it is possible relatively rarely and people could just avoid abusing it as it is a single player game. But it should still be considered an exploit and you really shouldn't leave the decision to the players to use it or not, that's a thing the devs should take care of, imo.

IF the exploit actually still persists, of course... :D