The Energon Pub

Mon Aug 09, 2021 1:56 pm

Per request I'm writing down everything we've (the FB HMW Chat) figured out about the so called Mission Ghosts that have been showing up all day.

Around 17 hours ago something happened that cause a partial mission log reset.
As best as we can tell the log counter reset but the actual logs were not deleted.

After that every time the system generated a new mission it imports the lists of characters from the old mission log to be in the new mission.
These Ghosts are not visible from the main mission select page but clicking on a mission will reveal that there are more than just the characters that have deployed since it was (re?)generated.

The counters in the corners of the faction side columns remain accurate in that they show how many characters of each faction have actually deployed into the mission and do not count the Ghosts.

Before the missions start the Ghosts show the characters current level. Once the mission starts the ghost will show the level that the character had at the time that the old log was created. Despite this the Ghost still acts as though it has it's current level setup, weapons and , presumably, armor.

As new characters join missions the Ghosts do not seem to be replaced so it is at times possible to have more Characters in a mission than should be allowed. It is unknown as yet if the system would treat the extra Ghosts as SL'd or not. More observation required.

Any ghost whose level (old level) is outside the bounds of the current missions level restrictions is disregarded by the system and treated as if it is SL'd from the beginning of the match.

Any remain Ghosts will interact with the current players (and each other at times).

Because the Ghosts levels revert to their older state they almost always will be a lower level than their current setup. This means that when a current player damages/repairs the ghost they recieve XP/Energon rewards equal to that lower level. The Ghost however will deal & absorb damage equal to their newer(most likely stronger) set up.
This means the current players are doing a lot of work for little reward.
This would certainly be a bad thing if it weren't for the fact that they could be earning nothing at all given how few people are playing these days.

The Ghosts earn no XP or Energon despite what the logs show.

So far it seems that if a player has a Ghost in a mission then the system will not allow them to see/join that mission with the exception of players that have switched factions. In that case the system seems to switch them back to the old faction for that mission (more observations need to be done here for a further and more accurate understanding of this situation)

-addition #1
It seems likely that the ghosts are starting the new missions with the hitpoints that they ended the old missions with. This would account for many doing nothing, repairs done before Ghosts take damage, & easily SL'd Ghosts.

I will add to and edit this as we learn more.

Mon Aug 09, 2021 1:59 pm

I'm actually rather excited by this glitch.

Though I'm sure it wasn't on purpose it has given us a glimpse at a safe (though possibly time consuming and random) way of creating NPC's in the game.

THAT could have some wonderful implications for sustaining some interest in the game.

Mon Aug 09, 2021 3:45 pm

Bun-Bun wrote:I'm actually rather excited by this glitch.

Though I'm sure it wasn't on purpose it has given us a glimpse at a safe (though possibly time consuming and random) way of creating NPC's in the game.

THAT could ha ve some wonderful implications for sustaining some interest in the game.

hmmmmmmmmmmmm :-?

https://www.seibertron.com/heavymetalwa ... on_id=1399 not damaged but im in stasis lock! :lol:

Fri Aug 20, 2021 8:34 am

Has a fix for this been talked about or do we just keep fielding against these 'ghosts'?

Fri Aug 20, 2021 8:52 am

It's been talked about, at least at a player level on faceypage, and the concensus was that fighting Ghosts is better than fighting nobody so we aren't pushing for a fix.

News Credits: 28 · Thu Aug 26, 2021 6:39 pm

I'd rather participate in a game that is running correctly and play against real participants. I do enjoy pitting my character up against others I frequently see in new missions. If no one else shows up, I go in another mission later. I only have one character that I have maxed out over the years and I only still play just to see how high up the rankings I can get. If ghost (broken) missions are going to be the norm, I'd rather delete my character all together.

Thu Aug 26, 2021 7:52 pm

Well to be honest the game hasn't run "correctly" in a long time. :lol:

There's only 1 person left that can fix this, and it probably is an easy fix, so if you wanna be the guy that bugs Ryan into fixing it then ain't nobody that can stop you...
but everyone else seems pretty cool with it.

News Credits: 1 · Thu Aug 26, 2021 11:38 pm

I'm an idiot. But there's a couple of things I know.

The world is round.
How magnets work.
Not every enemy in the missions are ghosts, most ghosts are already SLed when they are in the mission or low on health so they die quick and are inconsequential. You're either getting a mission with people or not, same as before.
Ryan is incapable of fixing this without breaking something else. Didn't he break the rotations by "fixing" the colors, and break the colors by doing something unrelated to HMW?

Thu Aug 26, 2021 11:46 pm

Absolute Zero wrote:I'm an idiot. But there's a couple of things I know.
The world is round.
How magnets work.
Not every enemy in the missions are ghosts, most ghosts are already SLed when they are in the mission or low on health so they die quick and are inconsequential. You're either getting a mission with people or not, same as before.
Ryan is incapable of fixing this without breaking something else. Didn't he break the rotations by "fixing" the colors, and break the colors by doing something unrelated to HMW?

dont care who we fight..........long as we fight somebody

News Credits: 226 · Fri Aug 27, 2021 3:12 am

Absolute Zero wrote:The world is round.

Tell that to Psychout and all his flat Earth buddies.

News Credits: 42 · Fri Aug 27, 2021 4:57 am

Burn wrote:
Absolute Zero wrote:The world is round.

Tell that to Psychout and all his flat Earth buddies.

I'm on to you Burn, and the rest of you 'Australians'.

As for HMW, its been broken for years. Literally years. This is just another quirk of antiquated code that just refuses to die.

News Credits: 1 · Fri Aug 27, 2021 7:04 am

Burn wrote:
Absolute Zero wrote:The world is round.

Tell that to Psychout and all his flat Earth buddies.

I would, but really, I blame the Tories and a shocking lack of education.

News Credits: 226 · Sat Aug 28, 2021 3:28 am

Absolute Zero wrote:
Burn wrote:
Absolute Zero wrote:The world is round.

Tell that to Psychout and all his flat Earth buddies.

I would, but really, I blame the Tories and a shocking lack of education.

Well someone voted them in ...

Thu Oct 07, 2021 5:19 pm

https://www.seibertron.com/heavymetalwa ... n_id=16544 redoux
also now vs chris
https://www.seibertron.com/heavymetalwa ... n_id=16536

2 Lunatyks at once
https://www.seibertron.com/heavymetalwa ... n_id=16597
https://www.seibertron.com/heavymetalwa ... n_id=16600

Sat Oct 09, 2021 6:49 am

This is fascinating. I’m comIng back from a very long hiatus (glad to see my team didn’t fully rust out) and was wondering what was going on!

Sat Oct 09, 2021 9:16 pm

Netminder wrote:This is fascinating. I’m comIng back from a very long hiatus (glad to see my team didn’t fully rust out) and was wondering what was going on!

welcome back1ab.png

Mon Oct 11, 2021 4:11 am

Bun-Bun wrote:It's been talked about, at least at a player level on faceypage, and the concensus was that fighting Ghosts is better than fighting nobody so we aren't pushing for a fix.

Does anyone have the link to the facebook page or the group name? Would be interested in joining as the forums are... quiet?

Tue Oct 26, 2021 5:10 am

It's more of a group chat, and honestly it's been almost as dead as the forum lately.
If you PM the RDD page we can see about adding you if the other people involved agree to it
https://m.facebook.com/144930328909285/

Tue Oct 26, 2021 8:45 am

RhysPFC wrote:
Bun-Bun wrote:It's been talked about, at least at a player level on faceypage, and the concensus was that fighting Ghosts is better than fighting nobody so we aren't pushing for a fix.

Does anyone have the link to the facebook page or the group name? Would be interested in joining as the forums are... quiet?

Sure! More the merrier.