This week we won't be discussing actual gameplay tips, but alternatively how you can protect your profile statistics against cheaters, dishonest players and lamers. Every online game has cheaters and lamers, fact. EALA does an excellent job tracking down dishonest players and giving justice to the people who work hard to climb up the ladder. Of course if someone disconnects against you online you may report them, but unfortunately you won't receive those well-earned win points, so this week I will be showing you how you can keep your eyes on dishonest players and explain how to deal with them.
In-game Cheaters
Cheaters use third party programs such as trainers to exploit game variables or allow them to do pretty much anything they want in the game. The first and foremost way to spot a cheater is if he/she builds structures that are impossible to be built outside his/her build radius, uses support powers they can't possibly have or have an unprecedented amount of units whilst managing a weak economy. For example, if you see a Refinery pop-up next to a Tiberium field with no MCV, expansion vehicle or other structure nearby then it could be possible that a cheat is in progress. Save the replay and then submit it to the report cheaters thread on the EA forums (all links at bottom of this page).
Disconnectors
Most commonly knows as D/C, DCers or disc, a disconnection is when a player knowingly tampers with their Internet connection to lose contact with the Tiberium Wars/Kane's Wrath server, hence the game results in a Disconnection or no result at all. Usually a game starts to lag followed by the Red disconnection screen; normally this happens when your opponent is at a major economy disadvantage, loses an important structure or has no hope of winning. Ideally you will want to take a screenshot of him/her admitting or claiming to D/C, but if that doesn't happen then take a screenshot of the disconnection screen and the endgame statistics. Before you submit your replays check if the person has a large amount of D/Cs on their name; if so, then submit your report and link their account link to the report.
Lamers
Lamers just tend to cause trouble in a game. Lamers can take the form of lobby spammers, game freezers and even join a 2v2 game just to sell his MCV and cause you to lose. Laming is considered dishonest gameplay and can still be reported so here is what you will need to do in each case:
- Lobby Spammers: Take a screenshot of the lobby being spammed by nonsense, advertising websites or offensive flaming and record the time of when it was taking place.
- Game freezers: Game freezers usually tend to freeze the game by slowing their Internet speed to make players leave the game and thus giving them the win point. The best way to report these guys is to take a screenshot of the players list, one screenshot of a unit possibly attacking and another screenshot of the same unit from another angle (rotate the angle by holding in the mousewheel).
- Team lamers: Usually this can happen when three friends make a 2vs2 game and one of them, being on your team, sells his MCV at the start of the game and thus giving you little hope of victory. The best way to report these guys is to save the replay after the game finishes. Check their profile stats and see if your "ally" has huge 2vs2 losing streak.
Other things to watch-out for
"Free win" gamesYou do see this sometimes in the lobby, players giving free wins to anyone who joins their lobby. This is usually a scam and he/she is just there to fool you into a game where he/she will freeze their PC and go watch TV or something. Just ignore these people.
Observer gamesYou might find some 1vs1 games where the host has an observer to spectate the game. Normally it's a bad idea to play in a ranked game like that because the observer can be talking to his buddy (you opponent) on MSN, Skype or Xfire and leak info about your gameplay, tactics and units etc. Best to avoid these games or ask if the host can boot the observer.
Mod mapsSome unofficial maps have codes in them that allows unfair advantage usually to the host. Things like starting with superweapons or hundreds of base defenses can make the game unpleasant to play. Luckily this is for unranked matches only, so it's up to you if you want to play it.
Broadcasting GameSome games will be broadcasted on the official EA website. The default setting is for a ten minute delay. However some players change the delay setting so that games have little or no delay. With a zero minute delay the game will in effect be broadcast in real time, allowing those players to watch the game as they play it, giving them an unfair advantage. Thus gamereplays would recommend making sure that games are broadcast with a minimum of a ten minute delay, which is also the default delay timing too.
Resources and Links
Taking ScreenshotsTiberium Wars and Kane's Wrath does support a screenshot function and this can be done by pressing
F12. This saves the screenshot in
C:\Documents and Settings\\My Documents\Command & Conquer 3 Kane's Wrath\Screenshots or
C:\Users\\Documents\Command & Conquer 3 Kane's Wrath\Screenshots in a .bmp format. You might have to open the picture in paint and resave it as a .jpg to decrease its filesize.
Uploading Replays and ScreenshotsGameReplays.org does have an Upload Center which allows you to upload any replays or screenshots for the purpose of reporting cheaters there. Please
do not upload any replays that are meant to report cheaters in our replay system. This is why the Upload Center exists.
Finding a Player's StatsYou can find a player's statistics by going to the
Command and Conquer website search engine, and then looking up a partial match of the player's online nickname.
Conclusion
In an ongoing war against cheaters and dishonest players we all have to do our part to bring them to light and get the much deserved justice we earn. We applaud Apoc's Army and their efforts to keep the Kane's Wrath and Tiberium War's server clear of dishonesty, but for the system to work we need everyone to help report these undeserving players!
