[Bug] Hidden Fortress Defenders

[Joseph Lithius]

This is a really annoying bug (?), that I'm experiencing.

Every once-in-a-while, when I attack another player's fortress, it won't display their defending forces (Archers and Mages). My "council" (the little smiley-face, in the lower-right corner) tells me that I can win the attack, too, but when I actually initiate the attack, I get steamrolled by an unlisted throng of mages or archers – sometimes, both. I would be fine with wasting troops on attacks that my council tells me I can't win… but, I really do not like getting wiped-out by defenders that I don't even know exist!

If this isn't a bug, "hidden defenders" really needs to be documented, somewhere. And, if it is a bug, I'm surprised it hasn't been reported.

[Valkyra]

Please send a support ticket from the game and include your account name, server you are playing, your platform (browser, Steam, Android app, iOS app) and a screenshot if possible.

[Joseph Lithius]

Okay. Done. I guess this topic can be closed, now…

[Arturu]

You can't take too seriously these suggestions.
Sometimes they are more accurate, sometimes less.
Plus theres also RNG involved in fights themselves.

Especially deadly are situations where opponent has almost no elves, but has mages. There's no way you or the algoryth can tell if he lost 1 mage in the fight before or 14 mages.

You need to either play it safe or risk not winning. Your predictions are the key here.

[Leander]

This is a really annoying bug (?), that I'm experiencing.

Every once-in-a-while, when I attack another player's fortress, it won't display their defending forces (Archers and Mages). My "council" (the little smiley-face, in the lower-right corner) tells me that I can win the attack, too, but when I actually initiate the attack, I get steamrolled by an unlisted throng of mages or archers – sometimes, both. I would be fine with wasting troops on attacks that my council tells me I can't win… but, I really do not like getting wiped-out by defenders that I don't even know exist!

If this isn't a bug, "hidden defenders" really needs to be documented, somewhere. And, if it is a bug, I'm surprised it hasn't been reported.

Archers are always visible while mages are always hidden. The counselor predicts the outcome of a fight but without mages as he does not know how many will take part in the fight.

[Joseph Lithius]

Archers are always visible while mages are always hidden. The counselor predicts the outcome of a fight but without mages as he does not know how many will take part in the fight.

Are you sure, about that, chief?

Like, are you suuuper-sure?

I mean, I'm not calling you a liar, but…

I should like to mention, this last one's "use this many soldiers meter" is a blatant lie. I did not win that fight using only two soldiers. Or, eleven.

[Selidah]

Hey man, what's wrong with you? The screens you posted are all fine and show nothing special. In first two cases archers are perfectly visible with their number while mages have their number hidden.

The "council" takes number of mages as half of archers, so that if they are none, mages are not counted (as 0/2 is still 0). This is why there is, despite the fact mages are shown to be present here, your "council" unsure a bit on third screen.

Hope this will help you to solve this so-called issue.

[Leander]

Are you sure, about that, chief?

Like, are you suuuper-sure?

I mean, I'm not calling you a liar, but…

I should like to mention, this last one's "use this many soldiers meter" is a blatant lie. I did not win that fight using only two soldiers. Or, eleven.

The first two opponents have a certain number of archers and a hidden number of mages. The last opponent does not have archers but a hidden number of mages. The meter in red, yellow and green only calculates how many soldiers you need for all known and revealed enemies...WITHOUT mages!

As there is a secret number of mages in the third screenshot it is NOT possible to use a green amount of soldiers as "green" only means how many soldiers you need for the opponent WITHOUT his/her mages!

[Bortas]

The first two opponents have a certain number of archers and a hidden number of mages. The last opponent does not have archers but a hidden number of mages. The meter in red, yellow and green only calculates how many soldiers you need for all known and revealed enemies...WITHOUT mages!

As there is a secret number of mages in the third screenshot it is NOT possible to use a green amount of soldiers as "green" only means how many soldiers you need for the opponent WITHOUT his/her mages!

Well, I wouldnt be so sure with this. From my experience, guide is "presuming", that enemy has half number of mages than archers. Let me explain, when i attack an enemy with full defense (30 archers, 15 mages), guide is almost always right with reccomended amount of soldiers (when i send +2 in yellow part of slider, 99% win). During attack to enemy without archers and with mages, using hint means almost always defeat, cause game thinks, there are no mages (even when we see that there if at least one mage) and reccomends strenght only to beat the wall. And in opposition, for player with archers and without mages, game still counts with mages and reccomends unnecessarily high amount of soldiers.

I dont know, if it is truth, everything is based just on my experience but almost all my fortress attacks in past years was succesfull thanks to this "tactics".

[Joseph Lithius]

The first two opponents have a certain number of archers and a hidden number of mages. The last opponent does not have archers but a hidden number of mages. The meter in red, yellow and green only calculates how many soldiers you need for all known and revealed enemies...WITHOUT mages!

Okay, we're clearly not understanding each other, here. And, I actually do mean that.
See, after reviewing those screenshots, I noticed that you're right; the number of archers is always displayed while the number of mages is always hidden. And, that's fine. It's functional and it seems fair enough. So, I apologize, for my misunderstanding. However… that isn't what I'm talking about, as far as the "bug" goes. So, I will try and explain this as simply as I can:

Sometimes, both "defender" boxes are empty,
but when I actually fight, the enemy has defending units.

This doesn't happen all-the-time and, in fact, hasn't happened for the last couple of days. But, it does happen. And, it is annoying. Either way, hopefully, this will clear up any confusion about what I'm actually reporting.

Also.

[…] when i attack an enemy with full defense (30 archers, 15 mages), guide is almost always right with reccomended amount of soldiers (when i send +2 in yellow part of slider, 99% win). During attack to enemy without archers and with mages, using hint means almost always defeat, cause game thinks, there are no mages (even when we see that there if at least one mage) and reccomends strenght only to beat the wall. And in opposition, for player with archers and without mages, game still counts with mages and reccomends unnecessarily high amount of soldiers.

This is very helpful. It sounds about right, too, as I've attacked a fortress that didn't have archers – just mages – with the "recommended" soldiers, and gotten my butt whupped. Thank you.

[Selidah]

Evidence

Dear Joseph,
It would be very helpful, if you could prove this bug by sending any screens, though. As far as we can trust you, we cannot see if the bug is still really happening if there is no evidence of it.
Looking forward to the screenshots.

Thx.

[Leander]

"Sometimes, both "defender" boxes are empty,
but when I actually fight, the enemy has defending units."

Ok, this should not happen. If it happens again please take a screenshot and send an in-game support ticket.

[Exploit]

Do you cycle your opponents till you find fitting one?

Maybe you experience some kind of lag and graphics aren't loaded so you see it as no mages and scouts but it's really from the opponent before the one you're attacking.

[Leander]

Do you cycle your opponents till you find fitting one?

Maybe you experience some kind of lag and graphics aren't loaded so you see it as no mages and scouts but it's really from the opponent before the one you're attacking.

This is what came to my mind as well. Just like "I saw an item reward but did not get it" because the item was displayed for the first quest due to delay instead of the second quest at the quest giver.

[Joseph Lithius]

[Bug] Hidden Fortress Defenders *DISPROVEN*

Do you cycle your opponents till you find fitting one?

Maybe you experience some kind of lag and graphics aren't loaded so you see it as no mages and scouts but it's really from the opponent before the one you're attacking.

I'm sure that's happened, once-or-twice – and, that's why I'm usually pretty careful, when it comes to "interface lag." But, we'll see. As it stands, I went through 25 "no defense" opponents and haven't hit the bug, again, so this could take a while… Possibly, days of testing. You just had to file a bug report for a rare bug, didn't you, J.

June 4th edit:
Alright, I'm convinced that I was wrong, now. I think what happened was exactly what Leander said; I was fighting people who had mages, but not archers, so everything was all screwy and I lost, a lot. Sorry, for the false report! Mea culpa.