AI uses powers without necessary AP

Unknown

I have noticed and have heard from friends that lately the AI has been firing powers when it did not have the AP to do so. Sorry this is anecdotal and I don't have hard evidence, but I figured I'd mention it and see if anyone else has seen it. I know that at least twice in the past day, all of a sudden all three guys shot off tons of their powers in one turn. And more specifically there have been instances of a character shooting a power when he already had 0 AP in that color.

Only way for me to prove this would be to screenshot AP before each turn, and even then that's not going to give you much info, but it's happening to multiple people in my alliance starting very recently.

Unknown

Past instances of this have typically been attributed to the AP counter not updating until the end of the AI's turn, after the AI has already fired all powers and used up whatever AP it may have earned during the turn. If you are seeing AI powers going off after a big cascade where the AI keeps its turn initiative, then you are likely being mislead by the AP counter.

While many people still swear that the AI can fire powers without sufficient AP, to my knowledge there has never been any conclusive proof to support that claim. If you can produce turn-by-turn screenshots that actually catch the AI cheating, that would certainly be a big discovery, and I think the developers would be very interested in seeing them.

Unknown

Well it happened to me today.

First move by the AI was a (horizontal) Match-4, with no cascades. So the total possible amount of AP gained is eight. On the AI's second attack, the first thing it did was use its team-up power of Kamala Khan's Inhuman Stretchiness, which would have required 8 TU AP. Now there is no way it got eight TU AP from a single Match-4 row clear. So I'm flabbergasted as to how it was able to set off the power??

Unknown

Try to record your matches or start taking screenshots then. You can help solve one of the biggest mysteries in MPQ.

I am Scourge

I just lost a PVP match against force wolvie in which he used his green and black powers 3 times each in the span of 8 turns. I went from dominating to defeated in 10 turns. He did not have 33 black and 24 green AP to do it. I'm PISSED.

Unknown

X-Force green and black can both create big cascades. Without careful accounting by screenshots or video, it's hard to prove that the AI cheated.

Unknown

Taking screenshots every turn wont help. You wont know exactly what was matched, cascades, etc... The game needs to be recorded.

I have the impression this happened to me a few times, but in PvE. But cant prove.

stochasticism

This happened in a PvP match against (a thankfully only level 74) oBW. Aggressive Recons and Anti-Gravity Devices were flying after turn 2 and basically at will by the AI with less than the requisite AP. Turned what should have been a cakewalk into a tense match for some moments.

Philly79

this has happened to me a few times, especially during this recent brotherhood event. It seems very random and it hard to keep track of during heated battles (provided there are not goons feeding powers). The last sub was kicking my butt with that Rags node. There was a goon but I was keeping a close watch on enemy ap and what tiles were being destroyed...he still wiped the floor with me a few times

alphabeta

I have no idea how to record it but I just proved to myself it happens.

Current PvE node is hood, jugs and venom.

I've downed hood, jugs has 2 red ap - matches 3 red no other cascades. I make a green match 3. Jugs head but me then matches 3 black. End of turn has 2 red ap left.

If someone can tell me how I record a match from an iPhone I will fight that node till my entire roster dies to show it again as I've always felt it was happening - this time I took notes every turn to ensure it wasn't just sour grapes on my part.

Unknown

I've downed hood, jugs has 2 red ap - matches 3 red no other cascades. I make a green match 3. Jugs head but me then matches 3 black. End of turn has 2 red ap left.

I have seen, way back, nodes with 3 champions where there was passive AP generation, as if there were goons present. I thought it was intentional, to add an extra difficulty to the node.

Could some of these cases be explained by this? An intentional behavior (to add extra difficulty) or a bug (passively generating AP with no goon present)?

Unknown

This happens to me also, a few times every other time I play. Total overkill by the AI although they don't have the required AP. Annoys the hell out of me to be f*cked over like this time after time when I have spent big money on the game. Feels like someone is taking a p*ss out of it all. Shame on such a excellent game.

Gagutz

Come to think of it... I never noticed it so much until this past week.

Always thought there was something off...

Today I had a Battle Against Xforce - His green was activated the second turn even though the AI only matched a 4 green combo.

Also Captain Marvel Photonic Blasts activated with only 3 red ap gained after the first turn.

Philly79

this is somewhat related...I was playing that brotherhood event last night against juggs/ ares/ ? and somehow they made a match that had a small cascade and it filled xf's green, probably 6 or more ap. not that I am complaining cuz I used it right away and smashed them out but it was strange.

Unknown

This just happened to me in the blade pvp. Fighting a maxed hulkbuster and he fired repulsor punch on two consecutive turns. After the first, ai made a basic match 3 for red, on my turn I had night stalker steal a red. Then it fired the punch a 2nd time on the next turn to ko my hulkbuster. I ended up retreating as I had no chance.

Unknown

I know this is not what people want to hear, but the claim of AI cheating with AP has never been substantiated with proof that could convince the developers.

I play MPQ on Steam, so I have the benefit of an interface that displays the AP counter of both teams at all times. Once I understood that the AP counter updates immediately after a match by the player, but is delayed until the end of any cascades and power use for the AI, I have never seen the AI fire off a power without sufficient AP through several thousand battles.

This is not to discount the testimony of all the players, but many things that have been reported in this thread could plausibly admit alternative explanations. OBW can steal purple, so it's not uncommon for her to use Aggressive Recon several turns in a row with a favorable cascade. Any node with goons can see them feeding up to +4 AP per color and turn to the enemy hero. Captain Marvel can generate red AP with Energy Absorption or power her Photonic Blasts. Horizontal natch-4's by the AI can create cascades that are easy to miss if they resolve near the top of the board. Hulk Buster can recharge his red AP with Overdrive to double Repulsor Punch.

Our memories are all fallible, especially late at night after playing through many battles. That's why only screenshots or videos are going to resolve this issue.

Unknown

But that's the big issue with not knowing when this is going to happen. You can't screenshot every turn and most of us can't do video on our phones.

I agree that our memories are issues but while some details may be missing, we can see things that should not be happening. In my case, two consecutive hulkbuster punches, I can recall enough about two turns to know something wasn't right. How does the ai use a red depleting power, match a basic 3 reds, I steal 1 red, and then fire the red power again? My memory didn't miss two or more turns between that...

Unknown

This not a new phenomenon, it's been going on at least for a few months. I'm glad more and more people are recognizing this issue. Maybe something will be done for the good of us players and the game. Or is it all about the money?

I'm all for a hard and good game, as long as it is fair. But when I spend real money on power ups, charachter upgrades, etc and get f*cked over by AI with insufficient AP over and over again, it pisses me off.

Unknown

Prof Krusty wrote:

In my case, two consecutive hulkbuster punches, I can recall enough about two turns to know something wasn't right. How does the ai use a red depleting power, match a basic 3 reds, I steal 1 red, and then fire the red power again?

There is at least one legitimate way for that to occur.

Vynyv wrote:

Hulk Buster can recharge his red AP with Overdrive to double Repulsor Punch.

To elaborate on the matter, the AI always fires off its powers in order of color:

> > > > > >

So double Repulsor Punches will occur whenever the AI coincidentally accrues enough AP to fire off both Repulsor Punch and Overdrive in the same turn. The color order ensures that Repulsor Punch will go off first, allowing Overdrive to immediately refill the emptied red AP, which leads to a second Repulsor Punch on the very next turn.

wuweird

Vynyv wrote:

To elaborate on the matter, the AI always fires off its powers in order of color:

> > > > > >

Are you certain that's correct? In the last PVP I repeatedly had Spidey fire his blue stun followed by Ares using his yellow or red in the one turn.

Unknown

I wrote a note to myself to double check > at some point, but the rest the order seems to be correct.

Are you sure Ares followed up Spider-Man's blue with Rampage and Sunder rather than the much cheaper Onslaught? Or maybe your entire team was stunned at one point and Ares technically fired his power on the next turn?