Found a bug

[mhiggins]

When playing as Japan I have moved ships into the Med. where upon Germany moves 3 light fleets into the same area. I now cannot move thru or invade from this region !!!

[WanderingHead]

Allied units cannot share the same region, so this isn't a bug. It is just the way it works.

It works out well on the whole. Playing with the AI as an Ally, however, it could be that it will get in your way in odd situations (like the Japanese in the Med).

[mhiggins]

I think you mis-read my note. The Germans DID move into and stop on the region i already occupied. And then attacked me (op file) every time I tried to move through.

BUG BUG BUG !!!!

[WanderingHead]

In that case, it seems like it is an AI bug that allows the AI player to occupy the same region, despite the fact that this is not supposed to be allowed. Sometimes the AI does get away with things a player cannot.

This must be quite rare, to have never heard of it before. Since it is only in the AI, I'm afraid that the probability of a fix is rather low.

[mhiggins]

Interesting reply - so ---- you write crap software, sell it for a premium and then fail to support it. Interesting. I'll be sure to buy from you again, I'll be sure to tell my friends what great support i got from you, and I'll be sure to blog your kind and generous (fucking idiotic) reply on as many gaming sites as i can !!

Best regards to he mutt children who right code this bad, don't apply for a job at Dell, we actually support our customers.

[Forwarn45]

I don't usually respond to these types of threads - but this one has to be the most ridiculously overblown complaint I have seen. This is a "bug" (if you can even call it that) that has never been reported by anyone since the game was released, is highly unlikely to arise unless you are playing an extremely ahistorical game versus the AI, and does not even make the game unplayable in that case. This game has had great support and was far less bugged when released than most.

[mhiggins]

It's a BUG. It's code that fails. It does not matter under what conditions it occurs, it is a failure. Failure - as in this is a coder i do not want working for me. The program does not do what is was designed (and documented) to do. It fails. It fails every time. It's the kind of crap code that gives commercial I/T a bad name. It is incorrect, hence a failure.

Had you acknowledged the bug and even lied about a fix it would have been an acceptable outcome. But you are trying to make a case that your crap code is actually OK because no one should find the bug. Like i say, don't apply for a job with a real I/T company, we don't hire crap coders.

[WanderingHead]

I'm actually a volunteer for 2by3, because I love the game (and I might add I have always been happy with 2by3's support, before I ever looked at the code). But I do have a job which involves writing SW. I have a lot of experience in the area and can say that EVERY company considers cost/benefit when considering which bugs to live with and which to fix. It happens everywhere, from your cell phone to your PC there are latent bugs that someone somewhere has decided not to address. To imply otherwise is inaccurate.

Even as a customer, I would prefer 2by3 to work on developing new things or working on more important bugs rather than tracking down every last little inconsequential bug. Time spent one one thing means time not spent on another.

Even Dell is not immune, and if you Google "Dell customer satisfaction" you'll find a recent downward trend. I'm sure we can find testimonials of people whose Dell PCs have crashed, or cannot reliably connect to WiFi, or whatever.

The most perplexing thing is the assertion that it is better to lie and say it will be fixed when there is no intention to. Personally, this is exactly the kind of behaviour I DO NOT WANT from customer service.

Reluctantly, I must confess that I realized today that I may have a fix. I have already made a change so that AI controlled naval units will not move onto Neutral controlled sea zones, it should be easy to extend to allies of the AI player. My only reluctance in changing it is the effort to retest it to make sure it doesn't break anything else.

Anyway, this should be the last of the thread for me. Please try to keep the tone more polite in future.

[tcart]

Brian,
I have detected a bug similar to that identified by mhiggins. In the normal course of play I discovered that if China, Russia, Japan, and Germany all launch amphibious invasions of Antarctica on the same turn the game stops abruptly. After about 10 seconds a window appears in the bottom left corner that reads: "Tim you're a schmuck". The game doesn't exactly freeze after that, but it does (seemingly arbitrarily) refuse to allow me to make certain moves. Each refusal is accompanied by another message window with the abbreviated message "Schmuck".
 
Clearly this is an egregious coding error requiring immediate attention. Please let me know when you have amended the code.
Thanks,
T

[Vilhjalmr]

Mhiggins, it is unfortunate you are so quick to take umbrage you feel it necessary to cast insults at the developers and the people who were politely trying to assist you. As a member of the user community, I cannot say enough praise for the responsiveness of the developers to the user community. You might not have appreciated the answer you received, but it was prompt, honest, respectful and sincere. And if you look through the rest of this forum, you will discover how exceptionally responsive the developers have been to the user community.

I started playing this game in March and I have found it to be one of the best games I have ever played in terms of historic value, strategic value and playability. I have nothing but the utmost respect and praise for the work the developers have done with this game and their responsiveness to their user community.

[Greenmachine]

I think the way this game was designed is almost genius in terms of historical design and strategy. Sure there probably are some bugs if you ever did take over the world as Germany and Japan but the game balance was designed for AV victories.

The only thing I have a little gripe about is the AI, I really do wish 2by3 would do more work on improving it because I really don't care for phem play, but you can't have everything you want.

mhiggins sounds like he has a few personal issues to deal with.

[lkendter]

I really don't understand the hostility from mhiggins.
 
I am a business program coding, and I will testify that is is impossible to allocate enough time closer every little bug, and the end-users keep pushing for more enhancements.
 
 
Don't start with me about Dell.  My Dell laptop broke so many times, that I replaced it with a Sony (error free almost 2 years). 

[Petiloup]

ORIGINAL: mhiggins

Best regards to he mutt children who right code this bad, don't apply for a job at Dell, we actually support our customers.

That's an interesting point as lately I had a Dell Hardware break down on my personal desktop. Called for a "next day repair" quote and then there was no one able to acknowledge my approval on that quote because someone was sick, nobody cares, "yes sir we will call you back" till at 4pm I got angry and told them being in charge of buying laptops for the whole of Asia for my company and that I would buy Compaq if nobody would repair my computer the next day (always fun to do the bully).

Suddenly I was the most important person in the world and Dell got someone to fix it asap with tons of apologies. So please pass me the joke of Dell cares about it's customers.

True this game is not full proof of bugs, far from it to say the least but it's the best deal on the market for a fast paced strategic PBEM WW2 game. Can do better Mhiggins?, please feel free.

[Marshall Art]

All I can add to the responses above is that I found both the general support (i.e. answers to questions, new patches) excellent and the presence of the developers in the forums frequent - more than worth the money I paid for the game. As we know even the biggest software packages are far from bug free (not to mention names, but think of operating systems, software for office applications...) so how could a game with so many detail and twists be error-free. While you may not like the bugs they are mostly fixed in a timely fashion and even more so, people like WanderingHead try to improve the game by adding more features which they are not commended enough for!

I'd like to add that if my boss would behave even close to what could be read above from mhiggins [:-] he would find me gone the next day. But I am not sure if he is old enough to realize that.