Many of us hard-core wargamers (Grognards) play PBEMs with "variable" and
"very variable" reinforcements option in order to add uncertainty of when
air/ground/ships reinforcements will come.
This means that no two games will be alike and it gives us great
unpredictability.
Sounds great?
Well... not really...
((Unfortunately today I accidentally discovered second of the two catastrophic
cheats/exploits in PBEM gameplay for 1st player (Japanese)...
((The first one was talked about on UV forums before (by me and others) but the
second one I just found out and it is even more dangerous.
If you guys knew of this please bear with me because this was great shock to
me. Also if you don't even want to know about this - please don't read it.
Explanation:
The Japanese player (1st player) starts the PBEM and here lie the two _HUGE_
exploits/cheats...
((#1 (We knew of this before - I and others already reported this)
Japanese player can repeatedly start new PBEM and then look into reinforcement
screen immediately after that new PBEM is created.
This can serve him with great insight of how many and when his reinforcements
would come into theatre. This is very important info and crucial for planning
of operations.
If he is not satisfied he can simply quit that newly created PBEM and start
all over again with another PBEM (i.e. new) until he is satisfied.
Please note that times of arrival for air/ground/ships reinforcements can vary
very much when "variable" and "very variable" option is used and thus this is
very valuable info.
#1 (We, I think, didn't know of this before)
Although first (see #1 above) is very serious this 2nd one is even more
important...
When Japanese player (1st player) finishes plotting his first turn and presses
red triangle (i.e. continue) and saves his PBEM he can then load this PBEM
meant for his opponent and when asked for password just press ESC.
He will then be inside his opponent's game.
Why is that important you may ask?
Well... since the reinforcements are now finalized the Japanese player (1st
player) can now look into his enemy dates for air/ground/ship arrivals.
This is like having complete knowledge of enemy OOB and his timetable...
((How can Matrix/2By3 fix this
IMHO, the only way is to disable the reinforcement screens for both players in
turn 1. This way this cheat/exploit can't be used.
Since WitP is now in production and no patches will be made for UV until this
is done the only thing we can do right now is to give our word to our
opponents that we will not use cheat/exploit.
Again, I am _EXTREMELY_ sorry for bringing this up, but if I found this out
then someone must have found it and, God forbid, some player who wants to win
at all costs might have used it...
Also, I hereby say to all my PBEM opponents that I didn't use this
cheat/exploit and that I didn't look into theirs arrival dates for
air/ground/ships reinforcements.
They can have my Grognard word on this.
I sincerely hope that we are all serious people here and true wargamers
(Grognards) who enjoy playing for joy of playing it right and proper and not
playing it to win regardless of the way to achieve it...
Leo "Apollo11"
P.S. I am really really really sad about this...
