hallucination

Post is here: http://www.subspace.co/topic/27399-state-of-chaosleague-zone/ --hallu

As I'm sure you've noticed, Chaos/League SVS Zone did not come back up Thursday which was the ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival - please note the word "estimated" . I have no further news on when it will be back up, but am confident it will be back up, and probably soon. I have, or other folks in the SSC, have posted on these boards every bit of news we've gotten on the status of things. We'd all like it to get back to normal asap. >>>>So what's the hold up? Why isn't the regular zone back up? I can only speculate, but I think this scenario is fairly likely: 1) Major DDoS on the ssc servers 2) Hosting company (which hosts the game servers, the "real" biller, and the Chaos Bot server also) is not actually ready to handle such a massive attack. The attack affects not only us, but also other of their customers. 3) Management of the Hosting Company is not happy (I wouldn't be) as they probably thought/were told by their security people that they were ready for such an attack. They get complaints from a number of customers (including Priit) 4) Major meetings at the hosting company over how to deal with this sort of thing going forward. This is an issue completely outside the scope of our little game - they need to be able to deal with this stuff if they're to be considered a serious hosting company. 5) They design a way forward which includes: new hardware, new software, ordering it, getting it delivered, installing it, learning how to set it up, configure it and use it. Then ideally testing it against such an attack before releasing these upgrades into the field. 6) Their ETA of when they're ready to release it was Thursday (probably an optimistic estimate), which they missed. And that's where we stand - waiting for the hosting company to be sure that they're ready if another attack starts up as soon as those servers come back online. Which, imo, is the correct decision - best to be completely ready when you relaunch things. >>>>Why are Hockey and other zones back up on the real biller? The attack stopped several days ago. The real biller has been up. The zones that are at hosts that feel they are ready to deal with another attack (or not, and are just crossing their fingers). >>>>Why didn't you put up Chaos/League zone on a diff server? We did exactly that. The thing to understand is that the really important piece here is the "real" biller - no connection to the real biller means no cross zone chats, possibly illegitimate names, scores being messed up etc. etc. It's critical to the community to be on the real biller. It's not possible to connect to the real biller from a different server (i.e. the temp one), so we're in this interim state until the real game server comes back up. There is good, alternative biller that we could all move to. We've done what we could. Priit jumped in and did his part in getting things going again (pound on the hosting company and throwing money at them). When things come back up, we should be better off than before. Thank you for your patience. In the meantime, spread the word to get people into the temp zone and keep them connected. Thanks. --hallu

I did a local banfree to get you into Chaos/League - won't work in other zones... The ban needs to be modified a bit so it doesn't keep you out. --hallu

Behold!

Powerball has been hosted in Chaos/League SVS Zone for several months now. Come and play (when the zone is back up!). ?go powerball We could use someone to organize/schedule/advertise game times/nights so people know when to show up. --hallu

Psyops is hosting a temp Chaos/League zone - thanks Psy! All settings are the same as the regular zone, but the server isn't nearly as robust. We'll see how that goes. To get there, click Zones from the Continuum front page Paste ONLY this into the Directory Server Address List field: ssdir.playsubspace.com erase all the ones in that list Click the Download button Scroll through the list and double click on: SZ Chaos/League Zone SVS then click OK Now, create a new profile for your regular nick, but with a diff password (not on the same biller) This is not a critical thing to do here (since Psy isn't going to be stealing any nicks), but it IS critical in some of these other zones. So it's better to get in the habit of using a diff pw for each of these zones. When you see that box with the red text come up when you hit play (that says "this server isn't on the SSC biller"), make sure you're not using your normal password if you don't want the nick stolen. Alternatively, when the regular biller comes back up, just change the password there. I've set up one 4v4 prac bot. I've also just brought in the Chaos Bots - so scores will count! I will create a new reset whenever the regular zone comes back. If there are some unforseen problems, I can just delete all the new data/kills so it won't muck things up. --hallu

Psyops is hosting a temp Chaos/League zone - thanks Psy! All settings are the same as the regular zone, but the server isn't nearly as robust. We'll see how that goes. To get there, click Zones from the Continuum front page Paste ONLY this into the Directory Server Address List field: ssdir.playsubspace.com erase all the ones in that list Click the Download button Scroll through the list and double click on: SZ Chaos/League Zone SVS then click OK Now, create a new profile for your regular nick, but with a diff password (not on the same biller) This is not a critical thing to do here (since Psy isn't going to be stealing any nicks), but it IS critical in some of these other zones. So it's better to get in the habit of using a diff pw for each of these zones. When you see that box with the red text come up when you hit play (that says "this server isn't on the SSC biller"), make sure you're not using your normal password if you don't want the nick stolen. Alternatively, when the regular biller comes back up, just change the password there. I've set up one 4v4 prac bot. I've also just brought in the Chaos Bots - so scores will count! I will create a new reset whenever the regular zone comes back. If there are some unforseen problems, I can just delete all the new data/kills so it won't muck things up. --hallu

Stag thanks for posting. It echoes some of my posts in the 4v4 League forum in which I attempt to encourage the perpetrator(s) to reconsider their actions and the risks therein. I will repost here now since most people seem to be reading this thread. --hallu

PsyOps put up a server SZ Chaos / League Zone (you'll need to download the zone list) and I put a 4v4 bot up there (yes the scores are real) if leaguers want to prac. Remember to use !norating if you don't want your scores to count in the prac stats. --hallu

PsyOps put up a server SZ Chaos / League Zone and I put a 4v4 bot up there (yes the scores are real) ifPro leaguers want to prac. --hallu

New info: The hosting company is on the case. This is a fairly major attack on their servers, and might take a while to fully resolve. No ETA as of yet. The facts are that this person(s) has broken criminal laws that exist in a large number of countries and that there is collateral damage being done to companies and services other than just our little pew pew game. None of us can say what the repercussions for this person(s) might be and what resources might be leveraged in an effort to stop the damage and make sure it doesn't happen again. I imagine this person thinks they are untouchable, but is that really the case? There are many avenues along which consequences of various types could find their way back to this person(s). This person isn't thinking clearly and I'm just trying to assist them in perhaps making wiser choices about the course of their life. --hallu

I have matches in our db and more nicks for "other guy" - only occasionally in Chaos recently (no actions by us on him btw). --hallu

I replied here if anyone is interested: http://www.subspace.co/topic/27363-continuum-under-a-attack/?do=findComment&comment=289959 --hallu

Probably sometime tomorrow. Caer might want to just call it today since people haven't had a chance to prac. Probably MoC will be delayed a week. That is the other possible, ill-conceived motivation, though I would say less likely. --hallu

No news so far today... I'll post when I hear something substantive. Folks have mostly been doing a pretty good job of reporting on the situation (DoS attack on SSC servers). I'm not sure the perpetrator(s) are aware they are committing a felony under US (and other country's) laws with significant mandatory jail time and fines associated with this crime. The host of the game server, which is not a small company, will not look on this attack lightly as they would not wish for any of their business to be affected. This is a game that people hopefully have fun playing and talking in that is completely player run and funded - a number of us, myself included, pay money every month to keep the lights on. The rules to be able to keep playing on these private servers are mostly pretty easy going - at least in Chaos you have to ignore copious warnings and break the rule(s) over and over to get banned for any length of time (except for actual hacking which we see maybe once or twice a year [which is technically difficult and never by regular players who, you know, want to keep playing]). Netbans from any zone are very infrequent and exactly two people have been netbanned this year from any zone. The list of people that would do this is quite small. Does the perpetrator realize their situation? Do they really think the risk is worth it? Does the perpetrator really want a visit from the FBI? I'm not sure they are thinking very clearly about this. --hallu

Thx Mom for contacting Priit and Jowie for confirming the dos. Hopefully this will be resolved soon. --hallu

He can get in now with that name, I but we need to work with him some to completely clear it up (the ban was not on him). --hallu

New version of the tiny map is up and has a bot to try it out. The major question is if it's small enough to actually affect game play or not. --hallu

As an example/test, ?go 4v4tiny I don't think this is small enough yet to make much of a difference though. I could be wrong! Ozn has a good point about 'legitimacy' of a season win on any other map. The only reasons I can see to change map would be to try and affect the dynamics of game - specifically: tone down running; keep players closer together to create more offensive play. I'm not sure either goal is a good one, or something the league/players want. Are there other reasons to do this other than "change of pace/keeping things fresh"? --hallu

I've put up 4v4 bots in those two arenas: 4v4arc1 and 4v4arcwide so you can prac on those maps. Test shark is in those arenas also (same settings as 4v4test) - this is the same shark that has been in league but with a slightly faster fire rate - which is the same shark that has been very successful in Chaos as an offensive alternative to the weasel. It needs thorough play testing in league (the current shark is almost never used in league now). Remember to do !norating first if you don't want your stats to count while testing it. I advise to use one shark per team max (like you would in a match) for now. I would come out strongly for a distinctly smaller map for two reasons: 1) Is running a play style that league wants to encourage? Make the map small enough so running is more difficult. 2) League play has always been very defensive; a smaller map might make it a little more offensive. However, the map must not be so small that a pilot can't get clearly separated (even lost a bit) from his squad. Wide map vs. any shape isn't affected by display aspect ratio since the map is (much) larger than the display, so that's not a factor in choosing the map. Play dynamics should be the determining factor. Any new map (and all these points) would need extensive testing. --hallu

Let me coord with caer and under on that one. I'm not super knowledgeable about the 4v4 schema and how things are intertwined. Don't know when the next season is yet. --hallu

The prac arenas have a new compilation of the old code up - the only change is that the URLs have been fixed to point to the right place. Please leave a message here or ?msg me in game if you see any problems. This code is almost identical to the code I deployed before the beginning of last season, which, as some of you might recall, crashed during a couple of the first games during sub'ing. Underlord and I think we figured out why my compile crashed, and this new compilation is a result of that analysis. This code worked fine in many pracs before the season, but only crashed under certain conditions during a real game (again, because real subbing was involved) - so, this code needs to be tested in a 'real' game scenario. We'll determine the best way to conduct that test (or series of tests) and then ask people to help out. --hallu P.S. I've got a fake season up now ready for testing if you look at rosters and such on the website. Will solicit help when needed. Thanks.

I've made the HeadToHead and SquadToSquad bonuses free! Syntax is the same as it was before - e.g. .bonus headtohead hallu:lightbender To get more info, in pubchat type: .help headtohead --hallu

You can't separately control delay before firing a bullet and delay before firing another bomb (only the EMP setting does that), so if you lower the time to fire a bullet after a bomb via BombFireDelay you also lower the time before another bomb can be fired - yikes. I *again* encourage League to follow the success that Chaos has seen with the Shark by lowering the BulletFireDelay to 16 (it's at 18 in league now, and no one used the ship in Chaos when it was at 16 [just like no one uses it now in league -- not enough of an advantage]). The Shark is the #5 used ship in Chaos, but with the WORST win/loss ratio - easy to overshoot! Overpowered? The data says no. --hallu

Cool - nice going