Dark Knight

[Xietor]

The answer QM, to your question is this: if you think what you are planning to do is questionable, post on the game thread and ask the other players if it is acceptable.

In Alpaca, Valerius captured the Dark Knight, and posted
the question as to whether it would be proper to copy the commands and use them on other commanders. The other players informed him it was an exploit-and he should refrain from doing it. But he was thanked by everyone for his honesty.

If in doubt-ask.

[quantum_mechani]

That is not a very satisfactory definition. First of all, it doesn't really measure what is most exploitive, only what people are most accustomed too. For instance, people are very unlikely to outlaw archer decoying, not due to any particular judgement about it's abusiveness, but simply because people are so accustomed to using it. Further, even if it was decided exploitive, it would be almost unenforceable since it's impossible to say if that smallish group of units near the front is actually a decoy.

On top of that, it assumes a basic intuition of what would be considered an exploit, which implies another definition.

[Chris_Byler]

I thought archer decoying only worked if the archers were explicitly scripted to fire closest - if you leave them on AI (or fire none) they'll ignore close groups that are too small to be worthwhile.

If that's the way it works then I think it should stay - if their God orders them to fire at the closest unit, they'll do so even if it's two militiamen.

[Xietor]

As for decoys, that is not an exploit. When a tactic is listed in the strategy guide that you buy with the game, you are assured that that conduct is not an exploit.

[quantum_mechani]

Cris: It usually works on default order archers too.

Xietor: I doubt if IW did more than skim most the strategy entries in the manual. And archer decoying was in fact a known issue that there were attempts to resolve.

[Ironhawk]

Xietor said:
As for decoys, that is not an exploit. When a tactic is listed in the strategy guide that you buy with the game, you are assured that that conduct is not an exploit.

This comment is completely at odds with my experience in the beta test. IMO, archer decoying is an exploit of the targetting AI. That fact is brought even more to bear by the efforts of the devs to remove it. Its just so commonly used that no one wants to paste the "exploit" label on it, unlike the situation of the bogus orders.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Does archer decoying still work if you have fire none orders, or does it only work when you're set to fire closest?

[Saint_Dude]

What about exploits that are unobservable on the battlefield?

Specifically, I am thinking about using Telestic Animates to reanimate undead. But I am sure there are others.

[Tuidjy]

As far as I am concerned, the game host can stipulate any house rules he wishes
before the game has started. It's the players choice to join after all. Once the
game is on, and players have invested some time in it, it is too late to forbid
anything that is not a clear abuse of a bug. I think that setting decoys for
archers is just fine. So is scripting Bogus to attack commanders. Copying his
orders looks fishy to me, but I would not vote to exclude it, even if I weren't
the one who usually ends being visited by him and his friends.

[quantum_mechani]

Lazy_Perfectionist said:
Does archer decoying still work if you have fire none orders, or does it only work when you're set to fire closest?

It works with no order archers too.