The Hacker Project - a free online game

There are several issues that where addressed and some new features in this update. Details are below:

- on upgrade of a secret server, the hdd upgrade has been boosted

- delete file AP cost on task completion, only on remote deletes: 5 AP

- first secret server can not upgrade anymore and has fixed 0.2 protects (protected secret server, gateway for newbie players into the secret servers network)

- every 10 - 15 days, secret server change IP with localhost process
  -> protected secret server will not have IP Change
  -> a task list entry on the Running Software of the secret server will state the remaining time until the next IP Change
  -> clear / disinfect secret server virii installed of the IP Change server upon completion of IP Change task
  -> all foreign files on the secret server when IP Change task is completed are purged
  -> all mission files are the secret server when IP Change task is completed are purged, and new missions are created instead of the purged missions
  -> all task list processes (incoming / outgoing are dropped when IP Change is complete)

- on upgrade of a secret server, the hdd upgrade has been boosted Good

- delete file AP cost on task completion: 5 AP Bit more balanced now so good!

- first secret server can not upgrade anymore and has fixed 0.2 protects (protected secret server, gateway for newbie players into the secret servers network)Good

- every 10 - 15 days, secret server change IP with localhost process Good/Bad
  -> protected secret server will not have IP Change
  -> a task list entry on the Running Software of the secret server will state the remaining time until the next IP Change
  -> clear / disinfect secret server virii installed of the IP Change server upon completion of IP Change task
  -> all foreign files on the secret server when IP Change task is completed are purged
  -> all mission files are the secret server when IP Change task is completed are purged, and new missions are created instead of the purged missions
  -> all task list processes (incoming / outgoing are dropped when IP Change is complete)



Instead of warning us a bit first you have just put it into action so hmm.. We knew you were working on it but never knew when to expect it..



  -> all mission files are the secret server when IP Change task is completed are purged, and new missions are created instead of the purged missions

You lose connection to that secret server and the process is not continuing anymore until you have again established connection (cracked) with the exact same server (different IP)?

does the delete file AP cost work on your own gateway?

Will be the same as Deleting Logs I think..

I believe your own gateway should always have an advantage to remote gateway tasks..

Hmmm ... that is not how IP change works. You introduced completely new feature for servers. Will IP change on our gateways work the same or are players again something lower?
IP change does not delete/clear virii, only disables them. Says so in the guide.
IP change does not delete all foreign files.
10-15 days? I'm keeping track on protection resets on servers and some servers are change within two days, while others are not changed in weeks. Do you realize that some delete missions take even longer then 15 days? Deleting a 6.3 file share antivirus perhaps?

And with increasing AP cost on task completition you just penalize nongold players again. Less things for them to do. I know you want them to become gold players, but still... And just how does this new feauture addresses any previous problems? Newer players are trying to get and complete <30hpd missions as much as they can find them - with this they are severely limited again.

It is a nice try, but IMHO it should be fair to at least keep it fair for all ... Either change function of IP change or don't do that on secret servers. Even with protection upgrades you are severely punishing any new player that wants to start the game. It is easier for us, who plays round #2 from the start to keep up with the protection upgrades, imagine what can some newbie do with them? And now it will be even harder for them. With this you are not upgrading servers, you are actually deleting an old server and installing completely new one.

lpJ.

delete file AP cost only when doing remote delete files.

I will come up with something to solve that problem.

This secret server IP Change is something like a Full Diagnostics of the server by the mega-corps. Full Diagnostics scheduled when the IP Change is completed, and the diagnostics includes removing all foreign virii, files, etc. It's like a hdd format and new installation of the OS.

Im glad you're working on solving problems but why implementing this sort of BIG changes without informing us first?

Do you have any idea what amount of AP you're letting people waste first and then introduce this?

Im ok with the AP system (believe it or not..) but now you're just laughing with us or.. Common..

Nobody will lose so much HPD as me so I have the right to whine! :P

Research update round 1: helping SGP

Server update round 2: helping Ginjitsu

Two times people who everybody thought they would be impossible to catch up with..

Great..

Full diagnostics ... makes sense, that way I like the idea. If only players were able to do that too, not that it takes us a long time to remove virii and foreign software from our gateways :)

about mission problem - why not leave mission id, file id the same, mission is automatically paused and when you find new ip you can resume the mission? So just implement pause/resume :)

lpJ.

Jager stealing my ideas.. Tsss  :laugh:

Just kidding mate. Im glad you agree with me on this one  :19:

(Note to SirEmi: This post should let you know that so long as you have your heart in the game, our devotion will remain with you!)

If you look around the forums, Donn, you can find that Siremi has informed us that he would be implementing these ideas.

Aside from that, the game may have reset, but it's still a work in progress, just so you know. One day you are praising the new gameplay, but when the actual intended gameplay is introduced, you begin to complain. Not to take anything away from you, Donn, but that doesn't seem very fair to Siremi. It sounds like something I would do!

Please tell me how this update helps Ginjitsu, or the research update helped SGP last round. Now you're just pointing fingers.

I knew I read that already somewhere. I just think that is possible to implement and that it would be interesting ... :)

Agreed HJ, these updates is something what we've been waiting for.
Even if they are inconvinient at this moment (to some players a little more then to others) we should be able to see that it improves gameplay in the long run. All we have to do is adapt a little.

Yes indeed he has informed us but he never said when exactly.. Just like the time the research update happened.. I am praising his upgrades but not how he brings them into the game..

About me being fair to Emi or not: Im not going to start a discussion with you. You know I have been fair to him the last few days/weeks, as you were once.. As long as some people try to calm the others down..

Helping SGP in round 1:




And many other opinions can be read here: http://www.hacker-project.com/forum/index.php?topic=1005.15

You said it yourself HJ.. It helped SGP in round 1. Didnt help enough maybe but it helped..

Now for round 2: Helping Ginjitsu

He got such a good hardware thanks to his missions and (not sure since I dont know his farm) his virii..

Others have gotten strong also but not even close to Ginjitsu.. (and Vashied but since he's inactive..)

Why? We had virii installed also but we werent able to do so many missions because we lacked the free time.. (Remember the time when tactics mattered? Not the most free time..?)

Several people have therefor targetted file shares of Ginjitsu and many others to install their own (and luckely not many people responded).

So now some people are gaining in on Ginjitsu.. BUT..

We have 2 disadvantages now..

1) our file shares (who were almost 100% safe.. lol..) are gone and lots of AP will be needed to reinstall.. AP we dont have..

2) we cant profit from the tactic Ginjitsu used (doing mass missions) since it costs 5 AP now..

True.. Ginjitsu wont be able to profit from it also anymore but still.. The damage is done.. Some will still be able to keep up (I know who) but a lot wont..

As you know.. Hardware is everything since it gives you the ability (with the right breaker software) to hack anybody you want.. Whatever protection will come out.. He'll be able to crack it with the current hardware he has..

Latest update on his hardware that I know of: 8 Jan '09

load average 1,884,479/1,903,000 Mhz CPU 99%, 98,729,401/107,678,720 Kb Mem 92%, 2,000.70/2,380 Kbs Bandwidth 84%

Im scared to know what the hardware of his other server is..

I have nothing against Ginjitsu.. Really.. But he is the competition after all.. Its just not fair.. At least thats my opinion at the moment.. Im always ready to listen to other people and change my opinion so if you do see it differently then please do make the effort to explain me how you see it.. You know I will listen..

Other Server:

load average 50,750/50,750 Mhz CPU 100%, 2,030,000/2,051,072 Kb Mem 99%, 10,150.00/10,150 Kbs Bandwidth 100%

really not that much so nothing to fear there. I agree that some advanced notice as to WHEN the update was to go into effect would have been nice.

Ginjitsu.. I dont know everyone's farm but you do have a farm bigger than most (if not almost all) people out there so..

I think the updates to secret servers are going to make the game really crappy for new player.

Horray! You get ONE secret server.  After a little while when all the other servers are upgraded, a new player comes in.  Their choices for making money at the start: deletes on public servers, deletes on the ONE secret server.  Awesome, funnel all the new players into that constrained competition area.  I don't know about others, but I really never did deletes on public servers since there was too much competition for them.  Trying to nab them off secret servers that I could crack into was a better bet (at least in round one before all this BS)

Now, though, they will have to sit on their hands forever and hope that they get a little trickle of money from public server delete missions to eventually get better breakers to break the... what... v3 or whatever protects that may be on most secret servers by that time?

Nice update :) Thanks SirEmi.

Well as a reminder Emi, secret servers are starting to pop...and as of yet I don't know anything you have done in regards to the missions started WAY before you instituted this update that are soon to go bye bye. I would like to think that after waiting over 650 hrs for a mission to complete that it's not just gonna disappear and oh well mr/mrs player better luck next time or have you come up with a way to speed these older missions up so they complete prior to the IP change popping??

Why should he do something about that ?
I've also found myself forced to cancel a few delete missions which had been running for over 400 hours ... so what ? IMO that's part of adapting to the new (improved) gameplay.

improved?  :21:

I have a question, Sir Emi -> what is going to happen with missions when IP changes? I started a mission few minutes ago and it says about 130 hours to complete. There is already a IP change process on that server stating 60 hours till end.

I don't think it was explained what is going to happen with missions ...

Thank you for answering,
lpJ.

I think it was talked about that he might have it resume when you refind the server. But in the update it says ALL files are purged then new mission files spawn.

89 servers gone, 111 to go..

Pfff..

What I find interesting is that some servers first get their protection upgraded and few hours later they have their IP changed.
I was tracking some servers that i lost admin access. I had them on my "to-do" list to crack them (and I checked them for protection version, so I know they were alive) and few hours later the connection could no longer be established ...

So it looks like this upgrade has two stages:
a) protection gets upgraded
b) IP gets changed

At least that's how you can find those servers in you IP database - they are listed as uncracked :)

lpJ.

So I'm starting to think the problem does not lie within a bad community.

The problem lies in a crappy developer. He'll tell you one thing, and do another. He'll listen to your suggestions, and sure, he might try and implement them, but it seems to me like he doesn't know how. If you can't even do something simple like making 2 processes happen at the exact same time, you're not doing what you should be. It's a joke.

This game has become a joke, just like the other games Emi makes. He just doesn't know what he's doing. That's the best explanation I can come up with for the DOZENS of horrible updates and general ignorance. He's just some guy sitting in his basement and he doesn't have a f**king clue.

Good job Emi, that was the last straw, numbnuts. I'll never pay for or play another one of your games again. I have seen what you are capable of, and while it may be enough work, when all of the work is less than mediocre, you don't get anywhere.

I would suggest a myriad of things you could do to change that fact. For example, don't run SpaceO or SeaO, both of those games are terrible, but either way, we all know you won't listen because you're an ignorant prick.

I'll be quitting. and no I won't be returning. Bye now.

Bye HJ. Live long and prosper.

i know this thread is starting to get cobwebs but.....

as a new player i would like to comment on this post

i was stuck at 0.5 level software when i found the v2.0 secret server ---

i am now actively hunting all the secret servers

so far i have 149 servers up and running and the lowest is 5.8 and yes thats one huge jump from v2.0

the next few are

38.XXX.XXX.XXX   5.8
57.XXX.XXX.XXX   8.3
141.XXX.XXX.XXX   8.85
55.XXX.XXX.XXX   9.1
86.XXX.XXX.XXX   10.35
80.XXX.XXX.XXX   10.55
220.XXX.XXX.XXX   10.75
83.XXX.XXX.XXX   10.95

so unless i get really lucky and the 5.8 is full of juicy software i'll be stuck researching again for some time

so from the new players point of view this server jumping idea is harsh now but will be really harsh in a few months when the 5.8 goes above 10.0

would it be possible to maybe create a few new servers at around 2.0 every week or so to help us newbs out ????

Acctually, Emi wants to keep the number of secret servers down to 200 so there won't be any creating of more, but maybe a few will be foreced to stay low and be like stepping stones. Where some will stop at 2.0 then some at 3.0 then 4.0 then 5.0 and so on.

what i actually meant is say a server thats at about v22 when it reset rather than going to 24 or whatever it goes back to 2 and starts again, keeping the total servers at 200 but not all over 5.8 and increasing.

i'm not actually sure i like the static server idea as it just gets clogged with junk like the public servers. if anything move the public servers further apart rather than all 40 at 0.1 move them about a bit

Make atleast 1 secret server each 0.5 interval. That should solve atleast a bit of the problem :P

I agree :)

I realize that this topic is ancient history and my timing might be very bad, but I'm gonna dig it up anyway.

I've seen many updates to this game since I started playing 9-10 months ago. I can see the point in most of those updates.
Although I'm not used to expressing my opinion in public, I want you to know that IMO this update is the worst one so far.

Before this update I had plenty of options to enjoy myself with desinfect mission, planting spyware, installing my own virii and a bunch of other stuff you can do on secret servers.
May I remind you of the infamous 'matahari' spyware and a mysterious spyware invasion on SGP claimed servers.
I did pay a price for it (I've had my servers trashed at certain intervals) but I've already said before that this is part of the thrill of this game. Still I managed to maintain a position in top10 in both rounds.
What a huge difference to my current activities: all I do now is upgrading my farms while waiting for research to finish.

This post should not be read as a complaint in Emi's direction so I'm gonna make this suggestion hoping that you'll all agree with me and we can get this missing part back into the game.

I would like to suggest that secret servers will not change IP automatically, but instead give players the tools to
1) Initiate an IP change; This should be a longrunning process (like 48+ hours) to allow counteractions. In case of a succesfull IP change only the initiating player will get the new IP.
2) Initate a format. IP will remain the same but all software and virii will be gone and upgraded protections will be installed. This will give a blank server at which anyone will have their chance of installing their moneymakers.

A copy of this has been posted in suggestions section.

With the Faction Project update, secret servers will change IP every 30 days.

That should be enough of a timeframe to allow players to battle on the servers and to flush any old virii.

But good suggestions for future updates ivan, I will keep them in mind.

Thank you.

 :ermm: No problem Emi. I love to help out and put time in the game and forum, and making suggestions!


No offense, but I also like to get a reaction to what I say in the Moderator Discussion Forum.