Westford

If we take a quick look at the last 6+ months, Aug 2024 when New Horizon was announced. I thought this was a great update by Little Orbit, new contacts and what not. Everyone saw the population increase. YEAH !!!! My thoughts are that if they had implemented SARD months prior to the New Horizon release, it might have retained that population boost. c’est la vie It is what it is And then the SARD anti-cheat forthcoming, with the announcement that "Noone" will be banned, instead Cheat Points will be assigned and subsequent high profile cheaters will be segregated. Ooof A "gut punch" to the legitimate players wanting fair competitive gameplay, and much "rejoicing" amongst those player who might rely on 3rd party tools. The message was clear... No Cheater will be banned. And the Cheater population blossomed. I imagine there were Legit players that just "threw in the towel" and started to use 3rd party tools, cause.... They want to play on a level playing field. "When in Rome" I thought I saw a forum post here, where Matt Scott had posted on Discord, that after reviewing the SARD analytics, he was shocked, or maybe even horrified at the number of cheaters actually present on either Server. Ok, so I had to rummage through my closet to find my Tin Foil Hat before posting my thoughts. What if.... The number of cheaters is so bad, that by banning them out right would significantly lower the population to a dismal amount ? EU might survive much more so than NA. I would hate to think that this is the dilemma that Little Orbit faces. I mean, you have to remove the bad actors that compromise fair gamplay, but at what cost ? 25%+ or more of the population ? If this is the challenge that they are facing, I do not envy them. They definitely got themselves stuck between the proverbial "rock and a hard place" Anyways, I hope they figure this stuff out, and it would be nice to see some monthly SARD stats by Server/Faction/Rank Thanks

@Reprimand This is a great informational guide. Appreciate the effort you put into this. Of course I have been perusing this list for my preferred weapons, will have to experiment with some of your suggested mods. Thanks EDIT: I looked through your list of suggested mods for the "High Mag Scope", which I own, and did not see it referenced, which made me sad.

If I understand your statement, your position is that "Cheaters", players using 3rd party tools to gain an unfair advantage in game, is a secondary issue to other issues in this game. ie, Matchmaking, Weapon balance .. etc Or maybe I misunderstood your statement. I think that the number one priority would be that everyone should be able to play on a "level" playing field. An untarnished baseline needs to be established before any changes can be made that will prove to be effective. If the scales are tipped, in favor of players using 3rd party tools, then there is no competitive gameplay. and LO would be operating on a skewed baseline. Altering/Tweaking the Matchmaking system will not mitigate or accommodate for those players Cheating. I doubt that any amount of changes to the Matchmaking system to insure fair gameplay in an attempt at creating evenly matched opponents is possible if there are cheaters on either team. Again, the baseline is skewed, and not yet established. Weapon balance changes might be difficult, as data is harvested/anaylized as to the effectiveness of any weapon, when using macros, triggerbots or aimbots. I would think that that data gathered from weapon use from both legit players and Cheaters might not be an accurate representation of any weapons capabilities or performance. Just my thoughts.

It would be great if we had some SARD stats.. I think SARD is on ........ Oh well... 2025 is a New Year.

So yeah ,.. this is not a great message.. I personally do not know if SARD is up and running on the NA Servers. Above my pay grade... but a lack of messaging only invites "Tin Foil" hats EDIT: I am not a conspiratorial type of a person ..... I have a dog.

Hmm

It is unfortunate that some people use them for disrupting missions, but in another scenario, when I am not in a mission, and I see the unauthorized use of these municipal vehicles, as an Enforcer, I turn on my siren's and chase them down. I have been able to make a few crash as I chase them across the district. There have been many times where other Enforcers join the pursuit, which often results in a fireball of vehicles ending the havoc that these joy riders have inflicted on the District. It's a fun distraction. EDIT: I noticed last night in Financials the Cement Trucks had a Santa hat on the cab. ’Tis the season

Thanks

Very much appreciated.. Thanks

Game is running smooth as butter on EU 12/18/2024 EST 19:35

Have not Checked ... Will try now - 12/18/2024 EST 19:12 Will update this post News FLASH Update: Was able to connect to EU. I had new mail. A lot of mail. I received a Snowball RPG.... but it's in Europe.. 12/18/2024 EST 19:18 I don't live in Europe.

I would be happy to just check my mail ...

Was able to connect to NA-Social ..... yet again... (3rd time) Was at the Mail Kiosk.. Just reading my mail... Disconnect... EDIT: If I have enough time next time... I'm going to use the "Report" feature. Wish me Luck.

Yeah,,, Was able to hit the Login Screen. Selected Jericho for connection ..... connected Select District (Social for me) switches to Loading screen. It's Regurgitating..