Are the online scores hacked?

[Johs]

Are the online scores hacked?

I've just bought CW 2, played the second level and checked my score. Top place was 15.1 seconds, leading me to think "WOW! I guess you could just rush the level..."

So I repeat the stage, dig into the first 2 pieces of dirt, and notice that the level is past 15.1 seconds before the first blaster even comes online.


Off the top of my head, I suppose I could destroy/delete initial buildings, prebuild the blaster, etc etc, but before I even bother, can anyone validate this? CLEARLY they seem bogus.

[Karsten75]

There are always a few bogus scores...

[teknotiss]

i've heard talk of at least one player (i forget his name but it's on page 23 of "impossible code maps" discussion) admitting to hacking the scores.
and some of the scores posted are frankly unbelievable
some basic maths says even if you move the LS to shorten the build time you can only do some things so fast. so such a short time is suspicious
unless it's kithros.  he seems to be some kind of precision timing boss.
shame some people need to cheat but there you go, such is life.
just ignore obviously wrong scores and recalc the table.
later dude

[Johs]

A 'few' ? The entire first pages are fake. Its not even possible to complete the level that fast if you started with a blaster ready to go.

[Karsten75]

Emperium has acknowledged hacking scores. Kithros gets scores that most of us can't hope to emulate, but since he is in beta, it is hard to even think that he would be cheating. Assume that he is just super-good at what he does.  So the 2nd score on the list is valid.

[mthw2vc]

No, " Kithros's " time on day 2 is indeed hacked, but by another user who submitted under Kithros's name. Unfortunate, but true. The fastest legit times for that map are a bit over 50s.

[CJY101]

kithros the official record 51.7s
Use Update ver.0439
This is the world record.

then the ranked second 53.4s
Use Update ver.0363
This is also the world record.

Here kithros mentioned.
http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=9133.msg63552#msg63552

[cooltv27]

ya I was looking at a few of the scores, the first level score is so obviously faked it takes longer then that to build the nullifier!
his name was fred

[hoodwink]

his name was fred

This Fred person seems to have achieved less than 10 seconds on the majority of the missions, which is usually impossible. Of course a flash game like this is quite easily hackable, but once somebody starts deciding if a score is fake or not - and tries to get them removed - then people start to outrage.
A bad situation for a game's scores, really.

[4xC]

I can't help but notice myself that something is messed up with the scores. At least, the best times for custom maps for starters. Virtually all of them are so fast, I KNOW they are impossible for humans to ever achieve without messing around with the software.  ???

[teknotiss]

I can't help but notice myself that something is messed up with the scores. At least, the best times for custom maps for starters. Virtually all of them are so fast, I KNOW they are impossible for humans to ever achieve without messing around with the software.  ???

some players used to submit fake scores but not many, and not too often.
if a score is really fast and it's by any of these players it's prob correct (someone was posting fake scores in place of other users too)
ea3401
fitz
fisherck
morlon
and many others. yes some scores are pretty unbelievable, but it may be that you missed a trick in the map that lets you get a fast time, or that you don't yet know all the methods of time reduction.
feel free to ask how to do a map faster and the speed monkeys will often give out a few hints  ;)
hope that helps  8)

[lurkily]

Some maps are what is called a Fool's Mate.  Basically, it means you can move your city or ship to the totems or emitters, and easily charge the totems/build a nullifier with minimal actual engagement of the enemy.

Many maps with very short legit times meet these criteria somehow.

[4xC]

Quick question: is there any way to prove fake scores from real scores?

[Nemoricus]

Not unless you watched the person as they were playing the game....

[thepenguin]

Quick question: is there any way to prove fake scores from real scores?

only by the limits of feasibility.  i.e. it takes longer than N seconds to build a nullifier, where N is the score