Do you save/reload before every attack?

[12ea56]

I have a bad habit of saving before I attack ANYTHING and if the attack fails, I automatically reload. While waging war, I save right when my stack reaches enemy city, then I reload as long as I get the best results.
I have random seed off, so I won't take advantage of that, but I keep on messing around with unit attack orders, until I get the best result.

Can this be considered cheating? If yes, I won't do it anymore.

 

[Ibian]

There is a bigger consideration than cheating here.

How stupid is it?

 

[Plinko16]

I've got to say you must have better uses of your time than that. I mean, if you save/reload to cheese out with the random seed different each reload, I can understand it, though I think it's lame and you're cheating yourself out of the actual game.

Do you really find you have a vast improvement in your battle outcomes by changing around unit attack orders? That sounds like a massive waste of time and energy to me.

I have some tips for you:

Before you attack, look at that stack you lovingly built and say to yourself 'you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs'. Maybe stop looking at their portraits and humanizing them so much that you're afraid that they'll be suffering. I highly recommend turning combat animations off at minimum on offense, maybe it will disabuse you of the notion they're suffering when they lose.

Try building two more seige units that you normally would and think of them as sacrifices to your mental well-being and free-time. Then sacrifice them by attacking first no matter the odds and enjoy considerably improved combat odds for the rest of your stack and all that extra time and effort you were wasting before.

A few hundred hammers is worth your sanity.

 

[madscientist]

I will generally save bofre an attack if it is a critical one against a strong opponent with a good chance of severe diplomatic repercussions.

Another word, if I am playing a great game where a massive war is pending I will generally save. I usually do not need to reload, however occasionally I will to better reinforce my army. Cheating???? Can someone really cheat at a solotaire game???? Dos it matter??? Hell, I have fun!

 

[towishimp]

I don't know that it's cheating...is it possible to cheat when your only opponent is an inanimate object? But it does seem kinda lame to me. What's the point of playing if you can't lose?

 

[JTMacc99]

I will save, sometimes, before I attack with my MASH unit. If I'm taking the chance of picking up a few experience points to get that one extra promotion for movement or something like that, I really hate to lose it in one of those 99% really-unlucky losses.

 

[Ibian]

Then whats the point? War is never a sure thing, thats part of what makes civ, civ.

 

[ond_magiker]

Whatever floats your boat. It's your game. I would advice against mentioning it if you're trying to impress a hot chick with your Civ skills, though.

 

[madscientist]

Whatever floats your boat. It's your game. I would advice against mentioning it if you're trying to impress a hot chick with your Civ skills, though.

I was going to post again, but I cannot top this one!

 

[r_rolo1]

Well, doing that in Civ IV is a major time drain... I bet that you pass more time reloading than playing. And IMHO reloading is not fun......

 

[SirLamphead]

I save before I start a war but that's it. I don't think it could be considered cheating. But before every battle to maybe squeeze a unit or two isn't worth my time.

 

[Rusten]

I'd advice you to cut the habit. Cheating or not, civ gets much more fun if you follow every decision you make to the end--it adds spice and that extra tension, at least for me. If you reload you'll just start playing sloppy and make sub-par decisions knowing you can "correct" them later.

 

[madscientist]

Well, doing that in Civ IV is a major time drain... I bet that you pass more time reloading than playing. And IMHO reloading is not fun......

Perhaps I can understand better as everyone of my games are at marathon speed. Invest several hours into a game, take 15 to wreck a game with a poorly executed battle plan, very easy to reload.

 

[Everest]

I can remember a time, back in Civ2 days, when I reloaded every time to make it across the atlantic with a galley - back then you coud, by chance.

So I know where you are coming from. I don't do this anymore, tough I'll save before starting a war or at another really critical point in the game.

It is good to go back when you have lost something game breaking to try another strategy. But you gain nothing by reloading and clicking the same unit again. I mean if its fun to you, do it, but my guess is - it isn't. And you already call it a "bad" habbit, so instead I suggest you lose a few games on purpose. You will feel bad about it. And then you will start improving your game. And then you will win once again and that win won't feal cheap anymore, it will feel very real and warm inside.

I know, it sounds a bit new agey. But it's true.

 

[r_rolo1]

Perhaps I can understand better as everyone of my games are at marathon speed. Invest several hours into a game, take 15 to wreck a game with a poorly executed battle plan, very easy to reload.

I agree , but saving before attacking anything and MM the units to lose ,as OP says?.... Major time drain

 

[kazapp]

No.

(10 chars)

 

[harusame]

no, thats not cheating

i dont know if i have bad luck, but i often fail at 70-80% combat odds
and never success below 70%

 

[12ea56]

Lol thanks for replies. I thought more people do this, guess not
Actually it really wasn't boring for me. It was boring to reload (with core 2 duo, reloads really aren't that slow), but seeing the better outcome evened it out. Anyway I will drop the habit from now on and only save at critical points and before the war. And the guy, who said about getting through oceans with galleys - I really haven't played Civ 2 much, but in Civ 3, I remember I did that, maybe that's where I got the habit from

 

[Kerran]

I used to do both things mentioned here - save before DoW and also quicksave before each attack. I still occationally do the first one, but I've pretty much stopped on the second - I just build bigger stacks, and as a bonus, the AI won't DoW/backstab me as much any more =)

 

[Andvare]

Of course it's cheating, the same way it's cheating to use the world builder. You guarantee a certain outcome, and could, in theory, take on an infantry army with nothing but warriors.
But, and it's a big but, if it makes the game more fun for you, then do it (doubt it though, as the uncertain outcome is a big part of most fun games).