Appeal PiAir (Complete)

[PiAir]

Steam profile: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198023066987
Discord: PiAir#4327

Recently i got more and more into achievement hunting. However, in the past I used some methods that are not allowed. Some of which I was aware, some unaware. I should have read the rules in advance in more detail. I would like to apologize and file this appeal to make a fresh start and commit to the rules from now on.

I went through the rules on Astats/100pals and all of my achievements before compiling this list:

Stardrive Beta
Kickstarted
The beta version was removed when the game launched in 2013. I had only unlocked the kickstarted achievement, blocking future completion. I used SAM years ago to relock this achievement to raise my AGC, which of course did not work. It is still locked.

Universe Sandbox Legacy
Rule over your universe for X amount of time.
I unlocked several of these achievements in 2014 by changing the systemclock. Regretting this, I also relocked these achievements at the time. Afterwards I unlocked these achievements by idling. I think my playtime/tracking stats will support this.

Banished
Village - Reach a population of 600 citizens.
Town - Reach a population of 900 citizens.
Lumberjack - Produce 50,000 logs within a 100 year period.
Smelter - Produce 10,000 iron within a 100 year period.

These unlocked simultaneously in 2017 when loading up a town of someone else’s savegame. I relocked these now.

Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition
Unstoppable Force - Win a Clash sequence with any character

This was gained by a friend playing on my account. I relocked this achievement.

Iron Sky Invasion
When meeting the requirements of an achievement you already have, this game glitches and you cannot gain a single achievement from then on. For example, you gain the achievement “destroy X amount of ships”, fail the mission and start from a point where have destroyed less than X. The issue is also described on the steam forum: https://steamcommunity.com/app/224900/d ... 340918727/. I ran into these issues februari/march 2019. The advice on quickly saving and restarting did not work for me. I used SAM several times to relock achievements to circumvent this problem and unlocked them again ingame.

The Descendant
On my first playthrough I got stuck because of the elevator bug: https://steamcommunity.com/app/351940/d ... 0178839057. I started a second playthrough, got past the elevator, but was not granted any new achievements past the elevator as described here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/351940/d ... 7679164257. To be sure achievements were working, I relocked all achievements before starting my third playthrough. I unlocked all of ahievements playing the game on the third playthrough.

1812: The Invasion of Canada
Conqueror - Win an online multiplayer game.

This achievement is bugged as described on the forum: https://steamcommunity.com/app/555370/d ... 072107498/. I used SAM out of frustration to unlock it. Not proud of this. I relocked this now.

Jalopy
It's a Classic - Max out the odometer

This achievement would require a lot of time completing a boring task (200+ hours). I came across this guide on Astats: http://astats.astats.nl/astats/Steam_Ac ... 020#tabs-2 Since this glitch was fixed in v1.1 (april 2019, after the guide was posted) I downloaded an earlier version of the game. I later learned that an “easier” version of the game is not allowed. I think this qualifies as easier? If so, i will relock also. This one made me look into the rules and decide to come clean on all of the above.

None of the already relocked achievements popped when launching the game. After that I updated the tracker sites.

Thanks for your time handling my appeal. This is greatly appreciated!

Reference to Astats Appeal: https://astats.astats.nl/astats/aforum/ ... p?tid=1442

[Fabio]

Hey PiAir, thanks for creating an appeal about this. One of us will be able to review it shortly.

[PiAir]

Hi Fabio, thanks for the update.

Regarding the last game, I got a notification today that Jalopy has been removed from my account. (see attachment) I bought the key on a third party site. I have no experience with revoked keys. This might complicate matters if action is needed. The tracker sites don't seem to remove the achievements after updating. However, I can't see or add Jalopy in SAR since I don't own it anymore.

[Fabio]

Alrighty, so in regards to stardrive beta, universe sandbox legacy, banished, the descendant, and 1812, thanks for relocking these and making sure nothing automatically unlocked on startup.

With jalopy... this may be an issue. You are correct that this would qualify under an easier version to do an achievement. The only way to relock this now will be to either family share it from someone, or rebuy the game to add the license to your account. If you are unable to do either, the game will have to be invalidated on trackers, unfortunately. What would you prefer to do in this situation?

About iron sky invasion, i am somewhat confused about this. Would you be able to better explain what role SAM played with it? From what i am understanding, you had to relock achievements several times in order to get others to actually work, but did not actually use it to unlock anything. (in either instance, using SAM is not allowed, but i just want to make sure we are on the same page)

[PiAir]

I bought Jalopy again, relocked "It's a Classic" and it did not unlock upon a new startup.

I also updated the trackers again. I noticed that on Astats, Steamhunters and Exophase the achievements I relocked past week for Jalopy, 1812, Injustice and Banished disappeared. However, on truesteamachievements and metagamerscore they are still listed. Is this normal or am i missing something? MGS even says the game updated a few minutes ago.

I think you got it exactly right for Iron Sky Invasion. You cannot gain any achievements after triggering the requirements of another achievement you already have. Just to be sure, let me give a specific example.

In the last mission you have to destroy the "Götterdämmerung" ship, a sort of boss fight at the end. Before getting there, you have to destroy some lesser enemy ship types, including "Walkyr". For both you have an achievement:
- Destroy 300 Walkyr ships
- Destroy the Götterdämmerung
Let's say you start this mission when you already destroyed 295 Walkyr. Before you get to the Götterdämmerung you have to destroy 10 Walkyr. I dont' know the exact amount, but the point is that you will trigger the "Walkyr" achievement no matter what, before getting to the Götterdämmerung. Now say you then gain the achievement for destroying 300 Walkyr, but die before destroying the Götterdämmerung. You will have to replay the mission, from the point where you only destroyed 295 Walkyr. You then have no other option to trigger "Destroy 300 Walkyr ships" again. This will make the game glitch because you already have this achievement. It becomes impossible to gain the "Götterdämmerung" achievement. You can recognize this ingame. All gained achievements are represented by medals. After the glitch this section wil become completely blank. You cannot gain any new medals/achievements.

Long story short, I only used SAM to relock achievements. In all honesty, i encountered this glitch several times and I don't know which achievements I relocked exactly.

[Fabio]

Can you link your TSA account/profile page for me?
I'll try to figure out why they aren't updating right, usually they do.

Honestly, i have not had a situation before where this game came up, so it is definitely new to me. I'm going to talk this over with the other moderators to make sure i can give a fair judgement/answer to you about it. That explanation helps a bunch for sure.

[Fabio]

Actually, it may help to play/idle in the games for a little bit. They might load slower than other trackers, or the crawlers may depend on the header time differences, etc. I'd say no less than 1 more minute in game, and 5 minutes would be more than enough. I'll also ask one of the MGS staff to force update it themselves and see if that does the trick.

[PiAir]

I tried idling in Banished for while, exceeding 5 minutes. After that I updated MGS and TSA again at game and profile level. Both still show the relocked achievements incorrect as unlocked.

[Fabio]

After talking it over with the others, we agreed the best action for iron sky invasion will be to relock the game fully because of having to use SAM to mess with the achievements, even though you did not unlock anything with it. Part of the policy with SAM/SAR is that they are not to be used except for during an appeal. In order to correctly 100% the game, it will need to be done without the use of SAM.

[PiAir]

I can understand that decision. I will fully relock Iron Sky Invasion later today.

By that reasoning wouldn't The Descendant also require a full relock as part of this appeal? Maybe I didn't explain this well enough in my first post. Both relocking all achievements and the third playthrough afterwards were done in January 2019. Or is this different because all achievement were gained in one go after the full relock?