Book-learnin' too cheap?

[absimiliard]

Hi everyone! (sorry I had to drop a chunk of time recently due to real-life, but I'm starting to get some of that time back now that the project is closing up)

So I started playing CK again, and promptly got one of my star CK's killed over a stupid move on my part. (which is ok, I do stupid things every now and then and even more often than that when I've been away for a bit) The result is that I'm currently working up a new female hacker, and I think I found a bug.

One of the things I routinely do is buy the various files to load onto my computer. I don't regularly loot (being a "stealth exit" fan like Gravling is), but if I do I like to get the chance of getting a free XP from loading a file onto my comp that I already know. It pops up a message like "You already have loaded this file, but you've learned something from re-reading it."

I accidentally bought and loaded the basic file everyone starts with and saw that I got XP from it. That made me think. I then bought other files I'd already bought and loaded and confirmed that they gave me XP as well, and not on some random chance, but every single file loaded gave me +1 XP.

I decided to really push it and see if this was a bug, I bought 100 copies of "Neo-Archanist's Guide to Computers" and loaded them all. Each and every one of them gave me +1 XP. Not a single load failed to results in an experience point.

I suspect that buying 100 XP for 1,000 nY was not exactly what is intended. So I'm submitting this as a bug-report. I'm going to guess there's a randomization factor that's not being called in the code, or that you should only gain XP from found files (instead of bought ones), or that you shouldn't be able to buy a file if you already have it.

But no matter the cause, +100 XP for 1,000 nuYen is definitely the quickest and easiest way I've seen to advance a character, it's definitely broken and should be shut down.

Sorry. (to all the players who know this and might be hoping Cory won't notice, and then fix, it)

-abs

[grävling]

Hey! Long time no chat! Welcome back. And, hmm, neat exploit you found. The idea, I think, is that when you find a copy of a file you already have read, there is some tiny chance you will learn something new by re-reading it. But what you are describing is ridiculous!

By the way, hardened armour now works, as do Nano-Ready medkits. And the dodge bonus has changed for many armours. So now we are back to square 1 in terms of 'what should the best dressed CyberKnight be wearing today'. I am pretty sure it is the Kraken Nano aware armour over at Mars Import Warehouse at Charlesbank after experiementing, but our old spreadsheets now contain obsolete data.

[absimiliard]

Hrmmm, those armor changes are pretty big. The add of nano-ready medkits is probably the biggest of them from my viewpoint. (since I've always been more of a fan of the dodge bonus than you were)

I guess I've got more testing to do....

I'm not actually unhappy with the concept of it, adding XP by re-reading files you already own. When I thought it was just files dropped post-fight I actually really liked it, which is why I routinely buy up all the buy-able files and load them into my comp early on in a game. (of course I don't often search following a fight, but if I'm planning on resting soon I can usually justify the added heat I'll pick up) But yeah, as it is currently implemented it's definitely broken. 1,000 nY is pretty easy to get, even early game on brutal, and it doesn't seem like it should be the equivalent of 50 pickup jobs out of Tuckamores, which is about 16 runs (assuming you can load up three contracts simultaneously)

I'm guessing it's a quick enough fix though. Probably just finding the randomization that's not getting invoked and invoking it.

-abs

[grävling]

Currently the Saviour medkits do not deploy when you approach death. The Nano-ready medkits do, so look for ones that say 'Can be Used with Nano-Ready Armour' on the bottom.

[sgtcookie]

Quick question, where do you buy the Neo-anarchist's guide to computers?

[absimiliard]

That one's available almost anywhere someone sells comps. Some people sell it for 10 nuYen, Back Bay Importers for one (IIRC), and others sell it for 25 nY, and a few places really rip you off and ask 100 nY for it.

But it doesn't matter that it's that file in particular. This bug works on ALL the files I've tried. That's just the default file that comes with every new CK at game-start.

-abs

[Cory Trese]

this was fixed in 0.7.13

[absimiliard]

Yay!

(I'd noticed it got fixed, I've been poking at it every now and then for a bit and was quite pleased when I failed to load a file I'd bought and already loaded, though it did end up involving a trip to the pawn shop to get rid of the excess files.)

Thanks Cory.

-abs