Boat Troop Exploit

[unique-coder-124]

Describe the bug
There is a boating exploit where you can send and retreat boats repeatedly for higher troop regeneration, and a higher troop cap

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. send large boats out (2 staggered timing for better results)
2. after a short time, retreat a boat and send another out

Expected behavior
There should not be a way to maintain almost double your max troop cap.

Screenshots
If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: windows
• Browser Chrome
• Version v26

Additional context
could fix by applying the same troop penalty as land retreats.

[coderabbitai]

A summary of the changes CodeRabbit can apply:

• Restore src/core/execution/TransportShipExecution.ts and apply a clean fix that (1) inserts a retreat penalty constant (malusForRetreat = 25) after line 15, (2) replaces the first retreat troops addition with logic that deducts deaths = floor(troops * malusForRetreat/100), adds survivors to attacker and displays a cancellation message if deaths > 0, and (3) replaces the second retreat block with a conditional that, when destination owner is attacker, checks boat.retreating() to apply the same deaths/survivors logic and message or otherwise adds full troops.

• Update src/core/execution/TransportShipExecution.ts to add a malusForRetreat constant (25%) and change boat-retreat handling so troops lost on retreat are calculated (deaths = floor(troops * 25%)), only survivors are added back to the attacker (replacing previous unconditional addTroops), display an ATTACK_CANCELLED message when losses occur, and apply the same penalty both when a retreat is cancelled (no src) and when the boat completes its move to destination.

• Executed edits - (🔄 Check again to try again)

[coderabbitai]

Caution

The CodeRabbit agent's plans did not produce any file changes.

[abdallahbahrawi1]

This needs discussion. It’s widely used in tournaments, so a nerf could upset players. It also isn’t free, boats can be destroyed

[unique-coder-124]

i made a quick pr, but the penalty could be tuned. right now, with this fix, it is still possible, just not as effective. with the 25 percent troop loss (similar to land attacks), i found that you tend to sit closer to 40 percent over your max cap.

edit: the further you send the ships, the higher the theoretical maximum could be, with the current theoretical maximum being 3.25 times your troops given every boat is a full send of your max cap, where the old theoretical maximum was 4 times your troop cap. on average, troop cap of this approach compared to the old approach would be average defending troops + boats * (1 - penalty) * average boat troops were as the old was just average defending troops + boats * average boat troops

[sRemorse]

It could be interesting to keep the mechanic but only allow a surplus to build of X amount. Turning it into a skill that players could learn how to do as they pickup the game.

[Yahm0n]

It is a bit complicated to remove the mechanic without impacting other things. I suggest that troop regeneration remain the same as it is now, but as soon as your total troop count reaches max cap, it just stops. And to prevent people from getting screwed by having boats out, retreating boats wouldn't really count against the max cap per se, but would erode their troop count in order to keep your total troops from exceeding max cap.

[unique-coder-124]

i don't mean to remove it entirely, just to balance it a bit with a troop penalty.