[ bzflag-Bugs-1605137 ] Anti-cheat Mechanisms

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Bugs item #1605137, was opened at 2006-11-29 10:20
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Category: None
Group: None
Status: Open
Resolution: None
Priority: 5
Private: No
Submitted By: Goostie (goostie)
Assigned to: Nobody/Anonymous (nobody)
Summary: Anti-cheat Mechanisms

Initial Comment:
First of all I apologise if any of this is already covered in a different bug. I did try searching through the list but couldn't find anything. I downloaded the source code myself and set about implementing some cheats just to see how they'd work out on a server. I created the following mods to my client:

[1] Created an "always identify" option which will always tell me which flag is nearest.
[2] Created a "show good flags" option which will highlight the good flags on the radar.
[3] Created an invincibility option which stops me from ever being hit.
[4] Created a "tank radius factor" which reduces my hit radius in checkHit (in ****Strategy::checkHit)
[5] Created a "shot speed factor" which changes the speed of my shots (in NormalShotStrategy)
[6] Created a "tank speed factor" which changes the speed of my tank (
[7] Spoofed my client identification to the server to be a released version.

Now, some of these don't work on all servers due to various factors (e.g. flag identity is not necessarily available to the client and server stops my tank from moving too fast) but the shot speed factor and the tank radius are great for increasing my kill ratio when I'm getting badly beaten. Once I started using them, however, I began to suspect that someone had already implemented my cheats (and probably more) since I noticed other tanks behaving in the same way as mine (harder to hit, faster shots).

To get to the point, I think the server should implement a shot speed check (like the tank speed one). I'd also like to see a command which an administrator could use to check a tanks "hitability" (for want of a better word) so that the server can calculate how many times a tank that's been hit doesn't actually die.

It would also be good to have some way of preventing the client from spoofing the client version to the server so that it's easier to identify potential cheats.

If you get this far, thanks for reading :)

G

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