Cheating

[hoopmatch]

How many of you cheat at Civ 3 by, for example, saving the game right before stepping on a goodie hut (are they still called huts?), then reverting to the saved game if you don't like what you get?

I find this is an excellent way to get ahead on technology.

Have noticed though that you can't get something different from the goodie hut unless you let the game move on to the next turn.

 

[Theov]

You don't need to use a bigger font.
Uhm, cheating like that is frowned upon.

 

[del62]

Definately frowned upon round here, I used to do it as a noob, but never anymore after discovering this site, except for tests.

 

[Strong Reaction]

Its like cheating at solitaire, there's really no point in it. The only time I revert to an earlier save is if I do something stupid like, hand slips and unit moves off a railroad/road or if I forget to do something I intended to do.

 

[Fiddlin Nero]

Hey, if it improves your enjoyment of the game, have at it. I don't play for points and I have zero respect for the AI, so I view all solo play as pratice towards a 'real' game that I will probably never have. I save a lot and don't hesitate to take advantage of do overs.

Thought some more about my respect for the AI and zero doesn't cover it, disgust does. I don't see this as a game of solitaire, there is a programmed entity out there we are dealing with.

 

[hoopmatch]

Technically speaking it's not cheating, as far as the game is concerned. I'm just curious to know how many other players do it.

I use the larger point size because I wish that was the default size. I get tired of having to read small print on the computer, so I'm actually trying to give you what I would like to get if I was the reader (larger words).

 

[TheOverseer714]

You can increase your zoom level of all websites in the page options, my zoom is at 150%.

 

[t10000]

I does it sometimes mostly when Im trying to test thinks and see what happens next turn, I also do sometimes before major invasions to avoid complete failure especially in the beginning as that becomes so devastating to the rest of the game.

 

[Moosezilla]

I am a "re-loader" and love to get ahead. You will notice that what you get can change within the same turn if you do not use "save random number".

 

[timerover51]

I am a "re-loader" and love to get ahead. You will notice that what you get can change within the same turn if you do not use "save random number".

You are correct that things can be substantially different if you do not use the "preserve random seed" setting. As I do not use that setting, I have had games where I saved, then played on, hit several goody huts for tech advances, and then went back to the save to serve what happens if I do something different, and have those same goody huts give me gold, conscript warriors, and barbarian swordsman try to kill me.

However, I do not view it as cheating, but more as looking at and then testing various options during the game. If you come to a choice of going two different directions, save the game and go one way, see what happens, and then go back and see what happens when you do the other way.

 

[Theov]

I only reload when I do something stupid, like forgetting to defend a city when declaring for war. Or when I accidentally click "here, have this as a token of good will".

 

[Desertsnow]

Well, yeah, little blunders like that call for a reload. Otherwise, go with what happens.

 

[TheOverseer714]

Reloading can be a bad habit if done frequently. It can be used as a learning tool to test decisions if used at critical points.

 

[Ex.plode]

I've actually never done this, what's the point of playing a simulation-type game if your going to take shortcuts?

I guess I am biased since cheating and me don't mix well lol

 

[bigFRANK]

I’ve reloaded on the odd occasion, mostly after my little lads been alone with the computer (daft space bar), ‘daddy I didn’t press any keys on your computer’ and also the first time I used nukes (I didn’t like the outcome), but in terms of normal game play nope I stick with it even if I loose a city to the barbarians early on or a stack of tanks to spear defended town.

 

[Desertsnow]

The one time I ever decided to use a nuke, a mouse blunder once caused it to hit my own territory. I let the game run just to see how the AI would react, particularly to see if anyone would declare war on the aggressor, as often happens. Nothing happened. They were probably laughing their booties off.

 

[Raliuven]

The one time I ever decided to use a nuke, a mouse blunder once caused it to hit my own territory. I let the game run just to see how the AI would react, particularly to see if anyone would declare war on the aggressor, as often happens. Nothing happened. They were probably laughing their booties off.

You might be an AI Civ if . . . . you've ever nuked yourself by mistake!

I once moved a carrier loaded with bombers first, before its escort of 1 sub and 3 battleships, because it came up first in the move queue. It promptly ran into an enemy sub and was sunk. That cured me of two things - 1) I never move carriers first and 2) I never build carriers.

I seriously considered reloading that one . . .

 

[MysteryX]

I will use the editor to generate a random map, then look at the starting positions and assign my favorite to Player 1 to play. I got tired of playing games for a half hour or so to discover what a miserable starting position I had. I view it as removing a random element of the game I didn't like.

Otherwise, I stick with the randomness I suffer in the game. Since I favor playing without barbarians, there is no goody-hut lottery in my games. On any difficultly level that gives advantages to the AI over the human player, the AI opponents will always benefit more from the goody-hut lottery anyway.

I won't save and re-load to avoid bad random results, but I will re-load if I make a really bad blunder (like in my last game, use a Palace as a pre-build for a Wonder- then forgetting to switch to the Wonder before the Palace is completed). After I've devoted hours to a game, I'm not going to ruin it with that kind of a mistake.

 

[Ataxerxes]

Otherwise, I stick with the randomness I suffer in the game. Since I favor playing without barbarians, there is no goody-hut lottery in my games. On any difficultly level that gives advantages to the AI over the human player, the AI opponents will always benefit more from the goody-hut lottery anyway.

In general this is true, but on the first two levels it gives advantages to the player. The higher up you go the worse it messes up the player. However, turning them off does nerf the Expansionist Civs - that's their main benefit. I often like turning off the barbs myself.

 

[Desertsnow]

I always include barbarians, but I don't like them too aggressive. They're usually set to roaming and never above restless. Maybe I'm just a coward.