Reloaded - the win still counts?

I've been playing a deity game for the past week.
I try to never reload if I make a mistake or something. Consider it a little bit of cheating to reload. The only times I use the save game/load game function is when I finish playing and then resume the game the next day.

However, in this game, in the end I screwed up and made a bad mistake in the last 20 turns resulting in Napoleon winning a space race victory right before my UN vote was finished.
By loading an autosave about 20 turns back and undoing my mistake I managed to win a diplomatic victory instead of Napoleon.
My first win on deity.
However...would you consider it a bit of cheating to reload a game like this?
Or would this deity win still qualify for the forum hall of fame etc?

(I now it's a game and not an olympic sport so I can do what I want, but it is much more fun to try and beat the game without exploting functions such as reloading)

That's up to you; but as far as your machine's personal hall of fame it would count as a victory. (Along with a personal hall of fame loss)
In fact, reloading old saves is one way to get the 100 wins condition of one of the achievements much quicker than normal. (Save game the turn before you win; win game; reload and win again, and again, and again, ...)

Gotta say it depends on how YOU feel about it. If you feel that you earned the accomplisment then pat yourself on the back. If you don't then learn from the mistake and move on to the next episode. I used reload when I first got the game because the lag time on my computer caused my orders to be misunderstood and units went somewhere that I didn't intend to tell them. I considered that to be a fault of my equipment/software bug not my decisions and counted them. Then I got a better computer,

Depends on what kind of mistake you made. For example, If you accidentally clicked DoW button instead of trade button, it's one thing. If you intentionally DoWed and got decimated, it's quite different thing. Of course in the first case you wouldn't have needed to reload 20 turns back, 1 turn back would have cut it. So I think this answers your question.

There will be two entries in in-game Hall of Fame, but the game won't be accepted to CFC HoF, if that's what you mean. HoF rules don't allow any replaying and changing the outcome.

I have several thoughts on this (all just IMHO):

1. Re-rolling vs reloading. There are some who consider re-rolling your start to be cheating, as it's essentially folding your hand and waiting for the next one, which will hopefully be better. Now, reloading is like keeping your hand but going back and choosing differently on how to bet or what cards to keep. In either case in this analogy, if you were playing a multiplayer game or had another human present as referee or something, they'd likely say you should count the reload or re-roll as a loss.

2. The CFC HoF, as others already said, won't take it as a victory. Further, the CFC HoF has very specific rules about playing with only some DLC or expansions vs with everything, as well as what turn you have to save on for the finishing save, as well as how often you need to auto-save. It's worth a look at the HoF rules on here if you plan on playing more Deity games and would like to submit.

3. Everyone has different ways of looking at this sort of thing when it comes to a single-player Civ 5 game. Personally, I count rerolling and reloading as a loss (and try to feel appropriately bad about it ), and I also count an abandoned game as a loss. But the somewhat random nature of the game, as well as the fact that it is played across such a length of time that you are likely to be interrupted (not just to sleep, eat, etc., but with other unexpected things that need doing) means I also can see that not everyone wants to play a bad start or lose a long game because they didn't notice a simple unimproved luxury in city #40 for however many turns.

4. For purposes of getting achievements or your personal HoF within the game, any win is a win. The game cannot tell how many times you may or may not have reloaded, nor can it tell you that the 50 abandoned games prior to your one win should be counted as losses (I've quit many games without resigning them, simply exiting the game without playing out to defeat -- or even victory, on enough occasions).

5. Cooking the settings (choosing water maps and picking Carthage, etc.) also is a bit like cheating. Cooking settings basically allows you to give yourself a bit better hand than you'd normally get, which means whatever difficulty level you are on will really be a slight step down from what it normally is.

6. Finally, while reloading is really, like you said, a little like cheating, I sometimes will reload just to see where I went wrong or if victory was even possible. On Deity, I'm pretty certain that there are some games that are basically doomed to be defeats from almost turn 1, yet for most games I assume that I made a mistake X number of turns back and will sometimes load back to different points and try new things for the sake of the learning experience. I'd still count it as a loss, but it helps me learn how to get a legit win down the line.

-- Ultimately, if you got that far in one Deity game, I imagine you'll win Deity more than just once if you keep at it--

Edit: I forgot to note that The Pilgrim is right: reloading because of a misclick, which means reloading immediately and before the next turn even starts, is acceptable in my book, though again, CFC HoF won't accept that. I started accepting this right away, as numerous times the game will jump from unit to unit and select an artillery unit as I was trying to move my tank, and I'd inadvertantly lose a highly promoted artillery because of moving it next to a couple riflemen or what not. This is a particular problem around the time of artillery, coincidentally, because by then you tend to have a large army and the game often tries to jump to the next unit in its queue before you are ready (rather than pick the closest unit waiting for orders to the last unit you moved, which would be logical, it seems to do it some other way).

I agree with all of this, for games being played "for real." Play the map and see how you do.

However, there are many times when I want to set up games for the sole purpose of experimenting with a strategy or exploring some game mechanic, where re-rolls and reloads are useful.

As Mayans, what is the most efficient way to get Theology by turn 60? One city GL/NC? Two cities? Does Tradition work better than Liberty? Once I get a fast-Theology strategy to work on one map, I reroll for a new map and do it again. On this question, I actually spent a whole afternoon/evening playing 60-turn Mayan "games." (Yes, geeky, but educational.)

Another question I spent a week or so playing around with: if you found cities in all the same places, when is IP better than RT? (Concluded, perhaps unsurprisingly, that these two are pretty well balanced--either generally works about as well as the other on most land maps.) Is taking an early missionary before enhancing better than after? (Almost always yes, unless your faith production is pathetic.)

Or, practicing siege techniques: if I get Construction and 4 comp bows before turn 60, what is the most efficient method of taking down a nearby capital, given hill, forest, jungle and river placement? Up to what city strength are comp bows still effective? Etc.

Or one I'm exploring right now: Is it better to beeline Education and hard-build some universities in cities that may not have the pop to support the specialists, or get workshops going first, keep growing and then get unis up with shorter build times? (This one has a lot of moving parts and countervailing considerations, including timing to Renaissance and opening Rationalism.)

The list goes on, but reloading can help you figure out what works and what doesn't work in the game.

BUT, in my book, these experiments are NOT "games" that count for wins and losses. After I've answered the question I was trying to answer, I toss that game aside and experiment with another, or play a "real" game, with no reloads, etc.

If reloading a game is a cheat, then I do not think I have won a game yet!! I reload alot in single player games. Lose too many units in a war (regardless of who starts it) reload, don't like my ancient ruins find (BIG cheat, but maps and barb camps are worthless) reload, did not build enough cities or units in the early game, reload.)

except for hut reloads, I generally try a different tactic when I reload. I do not simply do the same thing over and over.

sjudubbel said:

(I now it's a game and not an olympic sport so I can do what I want, but it is much more fun to try and beat the game without exploting functions such as reloading)

Click to expand...

Try to play to submit for Civfanatics HoF. They have reasonably strict rules about reloads and such. That's what i do for self restriction & pleasure.