Root + Impact

Description

• Normal behavior:
  The feeIncreasePercentage parameter defines by what percentage the throne claim fee (claimFee) increases after each successful claim, implementing a progressive, escalating cost mechanism designed to encourage timely claiming and economically balance the game.

• Specific issue:
  The contract allows feeIncreasePercentage to be set to zero during deployment or through the owner-updatable updateClaimFeeParameters method. When this happens, the claimFee never increases after claims, effectively disabling the escalating fee feature critical to the game’s balance and incentive structure.

Risk

Likelihood: Moderate

• The owner or deployer can easily set the feeIncreasePercentage to zero intentionally or by mistake during deployment or configuration updates.

• Because the parameter is owner-controlled and also settable at deployment, this misconfiguration can persist unnoticed unless thoroughly tested.

Reasons:

• This parameter is involved in every claim transaction that adjusts the claimFee.

• The game mechanics rely heavily on increasing claim fees to maintain incentives and fair competition.

Impact: High (Game Logic Impact)

• The claim fee remains constant at the initial value across all claims.

• Players can repeatedly claim the throne at a low fixed fee, potentially enabling griefing attacks or economic stalling of the game.

• The escalating “king of the hill” mechanic is disabled, potentially undermining the entire purpose of the game contract.

• The pot and incentive structures may behave unexpectedly, reducing player engagement and platform revenue.

• The game becomes predictable and easily gamed, harming fairness and sustainability.

Proof of Concept

Recommended Mitigation

Where to apply:

• In the constructor, replace the existing require line checking _feeIncreasePercentage.

• In the updateClaimFeeParameters function’s modifier / require block, apply the same stricter check.