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Merit Hunters Guide to Planting a Virus

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  • JUX
    • PrincessJulie [11229]
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    Thread created on 02:26:09 - 13/04/21 (5 years ago)
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    Last replied 20:34:35 - 03/08/22 (4 years ago)

    THIS GUIDE IS FOR CRIMES 1.0

     

    I’ve been testing the various "Plant a virus" crimes for lord knows how long to get a better sense of which crime is the best for you. Praise lord cheesus because I can definitively say that it is a CE safe crime, with the worst crime being a 26:1 Green:red ratio, so I haven't been kicked out of PAs yet. 

    I attempted each type 1000 times to hopefully get a fairly accurate representation of the crimes.

    TLDR results: Simple Virus is the best option to get the merits done quickly provided you aren’t actively trying to grow your Crime Experience. If you are worried about your CE stagnating, stick to Stealth Virus.


    Now, onto the fun data and analysis!

    As you can see below, all the crimes are relatively similar, but when you're going for merits, every success matters. Polymorphic actually had the highest number of green results, but due to it having the worst green:red ratio and such a small lead in greens over Simple viruses, I discounted it as the most favourable option.

     

    Fig, 1: my second favourite type of bar. All the crimes side by side.

    Tunnelling and Simple have similar Green:red ratios, but tunnelling had a green rate in line with the traditional "safe" crimes, so it isn't worth pursuing. If you're going to accept a lower percentage of green results, make sure you aren't taking a CE hit at the same time.


     

    Fig, 2: Raw numbers of all the crimes and the Green to red ratio. Any crime above 20:1 is considered a "safe" crime (you will not lose net CE by doing it.)

     

    Fig, 3, 4 & 5: Pie charts are better than pie, so please enjoy this visual display of data.

    Armored Viruses had an unfavourable percentage of Green results, so even as a no-red crime, it is not worth pursuing compared to Stealth.

    Fig, 6 & 7: More pie charts! This time with 100% less red.

    Personally, I believe that it's worth the slowed CE growth rate to go down the Simple Virus route to finish the merits faster, which was not realistic under the old jailing CE loss. Given the final Computer Crimes merit is at 10,000 Crimes, you will need to make approximately 231 fewer attempts with Simple than Stealth, saving you ~2,079 nerve.

    If you're wanting to take a more conservative approach, Stealth will be the way to go for you given the above numbers.

    Methodology: All crimes were completed with the same variables to the best of my ability. I’m not really able to account for fluctuating CE, but realistically I should be beyond the CE cap for success for this crime. I didn’t track the crimes completed while faction perks did not include full criminality. I have 0/10 merits in crimes, and I have the enhancer item for Viruses.

    You can access all the raw data on my tracking sheet here.

    Last edited by PrincessJulie on 16:39:39 - 17/10/24 (2 years ago)

  • BS
    • Dr_Phoenix [1601223]
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    Posted on 02:30:51 - 13/04/21 (5 years ago)
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    Been hanging out with Andy to much?

    R+ thanks for this its helping me grind them out a bit faster.
  • JUX
    • PrincessJulie [11229]
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    Posted on 03:44:52 - 13/04/21 (5 years ago)
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    Dr_Phoenix [1601223]

    Been hanging out with Andy to much? R+ thanks for this its helping me grind them out a bit faster.
    He wishes

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    • Thene [2522529]
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    Posted on 04:21:35 - 13/04/21 (5 years ago)
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    Amazing job! I want to add that the difference between the success rates of the simple and stealth viruses is not statistically significant. With the number of tests you have done, it is still easily plausible that both viruses have the same success rate (p-value ~0.395 for a 1 tailed difference in proportions test) so you can't make a definitive conclusion just yet.
  • JUX
    • PrincessJulie [11229]
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    Posted on 15:48:11 - 13/04/21 (5 years ago)
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    Thene [2522529]

    Amazing job! I want to add that the difference between the success rates of the simple and stealth viruses is not statistically significant. With the number of tests you have done, it is still easily plausible that both viruses have the same success rate (p-value ~0.395 for a 1 tailed difference in proportions test) so you can't make a definitive conclusion just yet.
    It may not be statistically significant in the purest form, but it definitely suggests a trend. I wouldn't expect for there to be such a pattern and similarities in the results if they weren't accurate.

  • FLUX
    • Lilith [1814138]
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    Posted on 16:59:06 - 13/04/21 (5 years ago)
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    R+ for fig 1's description

    From the river to the sea

    palestine-flag-with-grunge-texture-png.png

  • JUX
    • PrincessJulie [11229]
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    Posted on 13:43:29 - 15/05/21 (5 years ago)
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    Bump

  • JUXL
    • Dolfwagos [1900418]
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    Posted on 13:48:14 - 15/05/21 (5 years ago)
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    Best guide out there, almost as if I wrote it myself 10/10

    6132a16d-37e4-40c2-beb1-b777ae1f543c-2864862.png?v=1940629196397

  • AQUA
    • Anomalousman [2534256]
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    Posted on 22:51:56 - 15/05/21 (5 years ago)
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    Thanks for the data

    The errors on those sample sizes are 25-30, so it may well be that they're all 80% success rate, which to me is more likely from a "what did they code" sense.

    Quids!

  • JUX
    • PrincessJulie [11229]
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    Posted on 19:50:31 - 22/08/21 (5 years ago)
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    bump

  • VICE
    • Kafia [2480738]
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    Posted on 03:40:04 - 23/08/21 (5 years ago)
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    PrincessJulie [11229]

    bump
    Karma Farmer.


    Note to noobs:
    You need a decent INT to have a good chance at Virus crimes. (Maybe all Computer crimes? I don't remember if it was just viruses, or all computer crimes)
    Noobs usually get advised to do virus crimes, but their INT is too low to have a decent success rate.
    Last edited by Kafia on 03:40:19 - 23/08/21 (5 years ago)
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    • Monk [2271278]
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    Posted on 08:13:37 - 23/08/21 (5 years ago)
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    R+ for the graphs, another great guide Andywoman. What would tr0n do without you?
    Last edited by Monk on 14:21:31 - 23/08/21 (5 years ago)
  • 39W
    • DeathDiviner [1729232]
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    Posted on 10:53:36 - 23/08/21 (5 years ago)
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    PrincessJulie [11229]

    bump

    Kafia [2480738]

    Karma Farmer. [b]Note to noobs: [/b] You need a decent INT to have a good chance at Virus crimes. (Maybe all Computer crimes? I don't remember if it was just viruses, or all computer crimes) Noobs usually get advised to do virus crimes, but their INT is too low to have a decent success rate.
    Is this confirmed that Int affects crimes? If so, are there others that are affected by man and end?

    dd3PWA2.gif

  • VICE
    • Kafia [2480738]
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    Posted on 11:15:52 - 23/08/21 (5 years ago)
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    PrincessJulie [11229]

    bump

    Kafia [2480738]

    Karma Farmer. [b]Note to noobs: [/b] You need a decent INT to have a good chance at Virus crimes. (Maybe all Computer crimes? I don't remember if it was just viruses, or all computer crimes) Noobs usually get advised to do virus crimes, but their INT is too low to have a decent success rate.

    DeathDiviner [1729232]

    Is this confirmed that Int affects crimes? If so, are there others that are affected by man and end?
    Yeah Bogie said it. Speed for shoplifting crime. Nothing for MAN/END.

    I'm not sure about Speed though. Personally, I had a >90% success rate at Chocolate Shoplifts when I had 10 NNB, but after a certain point I started getting jailed too much - then I shifted to Jacket shoplifts.
    Ched once mentioned that certain crimes have higher success rates till a certain cexp, so that might have something to do with it.
  • JUX
    • PrincessJulie [11229]
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    Posted on 13:58:13 - 23/08/21 (5 years ago)
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    Monk [2271278]

    R+ for the graphs, another great guide Andywoman. What would tr0n do without you?
    It's Andywoman, tyvm

  • JUX
    • PrincessJulie [11229]
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    Posted on 14:02:43 - 23/08/21 (5 years ago)
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    PrincessJulie [11229]

    bump

    Kafia [2480738]

    Karma Farmer. [b]Note to noobs: [/b] You need a decent INT to have a good chance at Virus crimes. (Maybe all Computer crimes? I don't remember if it was just viruses, or all computer crimes) Noobs usually get advised to do virus crimes, but their INT is too low to have a decent success rate.

    DeathDiviner [1729232]

    Is this confirmed that Int affects crimes? If so, are there others that are affected by man and end?
    Yeah, as kafia mentioned it has been confirmed, but I don't think we know the cap. I don't think it's very high though, as a lot of these crimes were designed back when Ched didn't future-proof the game quite as well as he does these days. I wouldn't suggest people concentrate on computer crimes until after 60NNB, personally, as you're better off growing your CE to that point first, and presumably at that point you'd have an okay intel stat. If you're lucky, you'll be in a faction that tries to put as many 60s in PAs, which will supplement the lost crime experience from switching from arson to computer crimes.

    FWIW, i had over 250k intel for this whole experiment, so it's pretty safe to assume that I had capped whatever limit there is.

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    • Monk [2271278]
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    Posted on 14:21:14 - 23/08/21 (5 years ago)
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    Monk [2271278]

    R+ for the graphs, another great guide Andywoman. What would tr0n do without you?

    PrincessJulie [11229]

    It's Andywoman, tyvm
    Edited to make you look weird
    Last edited by Monk on 14:21:45 - 23/08/21 (5 years ago)
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    • VanilaNightmare [2310825]
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    Posted on 14:34:56 - 23/08/21 (5 years ago)
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    PrincessJulie [11229]

    bump

    Kafia [2480738]

    Karma Farmer. [b]Note to noobs: [/b] You need a decent INT to have a good chance at Virus crimes. (Maybe all Computer crimes? I don't remember if it was just viruses, or all computer crimes) Noobs usually get advised to do virus crimes, but their INT is too low to have a decent success rate.

    DeathDiviner [1729232]

    Is this confirmed that Int affects crimes? If so, are there others that are affected by man and end?

    PrincessJulie [11229]

    Yeah, as kafia mentioned it has been confirmed, but I don't think we know the cap. I don't think it's very high though, as a lot of these crimes were designed back when Ched didn't future-proof the game quite as well as he does these days. I wouldn't suggest people concentrate on computer crimes until after 60NNB, personally, as you're better off growing your CE to that point first, and presumably at that point you'd have an okay intel stat. If you're lucky, you'll be in a faction that tries to put as many 60s in PAs, which will supplement the lost crime experience from switching from arson to computer crimes. FWIW, i had over 250k intel for this whole experiment, so it's pretty safe to assume that I had capped whatever limit there is.
    I have an 81% success rate with Stealth Virus on ~1200 attempts. All of these attempts were done with an intelligence of no more than 10k so either the threshold is low, or the influence of intelligence on success rate is low, or both
    Last edited by VanilaNightmare on 18:34:33 - 23/08/21 (5 years ago)
  • INQ
    • rocko0031 [2551154]
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    Posted on 18:27:07 - 23/08/21 (5 years ago)
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    Siiick stuff Julie

    GTAs next pretty please _/_

    :)
  • JUX
    • PrincessJulie [11229]
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    Posted on 20:13:34 - 24/08/21 (5 years ago)
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    rocko0031 [2551154]

    Siiick stuff Julie GTAs next pretty please _/_ :)
    I'll probably do more of these, but GTA is going to be low on my list as I've already reached 10k. I'll see what I can do though!

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