Virus Capture nerf

[ZacQuicksilver]

As things stand, it's hard to argue that Virus Capture isn't broken. And since I'm the one doing it, I though I would start this.


As things stand, I could Capture a copy of Propaganda (a v3.368 Adware) with the basic .1 Virus Capture. It would take me a while, but probably less time than it would for me to AV, upload, decrypt, and install my own copy. It's even better when you consider that I had to get lucky to even download said virus in the first place: it's not like people leave big virii laying around (I got it as someone was hiding/encrypting), and that the download took a day or so.

Now, granted it will lose almost .2 in version from the capture. However, I'd argue that using 300 CPU and 11 500 Memory for 2-3 days in return for an income of 101.04 (v3.168)/hour is way better than uploading a 3.37Gb file, decrypting it, and installing it for an extra 6HPD/hour

Just for some numbers: it would take my 30 Bandwidth connection over 30 hours to upload that; decrypting would take another 10+ hours, for almost 2 days of work. The Decryption takes 2000 CPU and 50 000 memory: enough to run 4 virus captures and have CPU to spare. Assuming that the Virus Capture takes 40 hours, I could take over virii just as effectively as decrypting and installing them, and save my bandwidth for downloading new programs (which, BTW, is what I do).


And all this hasn't taken into account the cost of research. Propaganda costs 39 500 and 395 hours to research. If you just want to buy it, you can (It's there: v3.368 Adware Spam Deamon) for the price of 136 167 (Wish I could sell my copy for that much). It also costs about 1 000 HPD to store it (It's 3.37 Gb). The Virus Capture is less than 60 HPD to store (52.2 if 1Gb is 1000 Mb; less if it's 1024), and costs NOTHING to get: just get it anonymously at your favorite Free Light Repository.



All this serves is to provide a basis for the following changes I am requesting:

1) Make it either exponentially more difficult or outright impossible for a lower version Virus Capture to Capture a higher level Virus
2) make Virus Capture use up more resources. I suggest 20 000 Memory and 500 CPU, plus 300 Mb of HDD.
3) Cause Virus Captures to end when you change IPs (this is the one change that would not effect me: I play fair, and don't abuse the IP change).

[Araeus]

I would personally be happy if virus capture followed the same rules as AV, specifically as far as hiding the virii goes.  Your changes are nice too, though, and I do agree that something needs to be fixed about this.

[ZacQuicksilver]

I would personally be happy if virus capture followed the same rules as AV, specifically as far as hiding the virii goes.  Your changes are nice too, though, and I do agree that something needs to be fixed about this.

I'm not sure about the not being able to hidden virii. If anything, I'd say give Encryption a boost (it doesn't stop AVs), and make it stop Virus Capture: the rationale (if needed) is that you've also encrypted the data stream, which you need to hijack in order to Capture the Virus. Thus, as long as the Virus, and thus the data stream, is Encrypted, you can't Capture the Virus.

[Witcher]

1) Make it either exponentially more difficult or outright impossible for a lower version Virus Capture to Capture a higher level Virus
2) make Virus Capture use up more resources. I suggest 20 000 Memory and 500 CPU, plus 300 Mb of HDD.
3) Cause Virus Captures to end when you change IPs (this is the one change that would not effect me: I play fair, and don't abuse the IP change).

I am of two minds on this one.

I agree that there should not be an automatic success for a low version virus capture to hit a high version virus, I would not however make it automatically fail ever - and I would always leave a significant residual chance of success... probably at least 20% (which I would cap as a max chance of success at 80% as well). Why? Well because Virus Capture is a balancing mechanism, giving low level players with the guts to do it a chance to attack high level players. This is inherently risky business, making it nearly impossible to succeed makes it useless. If you make it exponentially more difficult to succeed without a cap it then fails to become a balancing tool as the low level players are incapable of hitting the high level viruses.

So... nerf it yes, it's very very powerful now but it should keep a minimum utility as a low level attack tool.

[ZacQuicksilver]

Don't think about low level people. Think about mid-level people.

I'm probably a decent example. Until Hatejacket took me out about 42 hours ago, I was in good shape.

My MO:

Start a bounce, usually get 2 or 3 links out, then start looking for virii to Cap. I could get 1-4 virii depending on level (I had a .5 Virus Capture, which I could barely run at full power, but because it scales down to the virus being captured, I could usually get about .45 total level of virii) in one go. The fifth outside stop (I'm non-gold) was to a Secret server, to check for programs.

I'd then sit back for a couple hours (I got other things to do), and then come back, spend my first two jumps picking up the Virii I just Capped, then jumps three and four were to look for new virii.

The exception to this was the one before I went to sleep: I'd look for a few better virii, and use a .1 VC on them. I was aiming for 4-6 hours to Cap. When I woke up, I'd pick up profits, the virii, and continue.

I'd usually lose about 3-4 virii (usually new ones) each day, and I usually had to spend 1-2 captures taking out a spyware (I didn't bother using AV: I just took the Spyware, and get to keep it). Other than that, I was good.

The only reason I stopped was because Hatejacket decided to take me down. Broke into my server, and deleted everything. Once I'm back up (No telling how long that will be), I'll be back at it again, with a few tweaks to the details, complements of a few lessons I got from Hatejacket.



In the month or so I've been doing this, I've got an income of about 2 000 HPD/day (less recently, due to not being able to replenish virii lost to Capping and AVs). I've been hacked three times, once by Hatejacket, once by RaiseCain, and once by someone else. Both Hatejacket and RaiseCain hacked me after I got bold: doing things that were a bit riskier than my normal activities. If I had kept up my quiet hacking, I probably would not have been hacked by either of them (though with Hatejacket, who knows).


Also, If I used IP Change frequently (I use it only after I get hacked), I'd be next to invincible. I'm willing to bet that with the right mix of ambition, daring, preparation, and chutzpah, I could probably take over a couple SGP servers worth of virii. I have no intention of doing so, but I could do it.

Now part of that is the issue with the IP change mechanism. However, another part has to do with how powerful Virii capture is. I could do the above with just a .1 Virus Capture and sufficiently good cracking software.

[HJ®]

Nice post. Made me laugh.

Anyways, I dont think you'd be able to cap an SGP server. Mine, anyways. I start disinfects on any virii on my claimed servers as soon as they get capped. I'll have it full again before you can even think about it. I'd also go hunting for whoever's capping my virii. an IP change doesn't always help those who think they know how or when to use it. Some people start multiple caps and then change IP, and forget that they have to re-log in to the server to complete the task. That's when I find you.

I'd also like to note that I didn't delete all of your files, that's a script kiddie's way of hacking. I hid and encrypted all of your files, rendering your HDD useless.

[ZacQuicksilver]

I'm well aware it would take 2 IP changes, and that you'd probably kill your Virii rather than see them Capped. However, the point remains that I could force you to start over on those servers; and with considerably less than you.

If I think about the SGP controlled server I know about with .12 defenses, I might be able to do it from a new account with newbie protection. Then I wouldn't even need to change IPs: you couldn't strike back effectively.


As for my server, I never said you deleted everything: I just said you took me out. If you hid stuff, it may still be there: if I can't find it, I can't delete it. I did delete the stuff I could see, and started over. And it was far more effective than just deleting would have been: just the Encryption took me an hour or two to delete everything.