Do you save/reload before every attack?

[TheMeInTeam]

Nooo, you've just taken all the FUN out of your posts..

Many beginner and intermediate players come to the forum to see whats "normal" in climbing the Civ learning curve, so any "real life" civ exeriences will help them identify their problems more clearly and that they are not just the extraordinary idiotic butter fingers they percieve themselves to be, just ordinary ones...

In fact this highlights one of the problems with the board - people leaving only sugary "sanitised" posts leave me wondering if me and the poster are playing the same game. I don't care about other people cheating in single player, I just want to learn. (haven't tried any of the compos yet though).

Finally if "things that make you reload" issues are made public this will eventually get back to the game developers and maybe they will learn to make games that have less of these ridiculous features in.

Supressing the truth should get you spanked

Don't get me wrong. I've posted quite a number of failed playthroughs on the forum. There's a difference between games I get decently into and I have a mistake worth seeing, as opposed to "that archer rush failed miserably" or "vedic aryans owned his capitol" (This broken event is still on apparently...I JUST teched archery in a game and got an uprising of SIX barb archers in 3200 BC. Tell me exactly how the !@#$ does ANYONE that isn't an AI get enough units to stop 6 barb archers...SIX pre 3k bc?! So much for 3.17 fixing the uprising event).

I'm honest when I use reloads or such to win. I will say it in my summaries. I get frustrated when I lose though. Then, no pictures, just a summary in text .

 

[Divaythsarmour]

As soon as you reload, you've lost the game. As soon as you open world builder, you've lost the game.

Can there ever be any value in continuing to play a game that you've already lost? Yes, as long as you realize that it doesn't count as a "win."

 

[Kawalimus]

As soon as you reload, you've lost the game. As soon as you open world builder, you've lost the game.

Can there ever be any value in continuing to play a game that you've already lost? Yes, as long as you realize that it doesn't count as a "win."

So if I accidentally give a key city back to its owner and reload, I've lost(this happened my previous game)? If I accidentally attack with the wrong unit, I can't go back and fix it? If I gift my great spy to the other team instead of infiltrating, I can't reload?

They have the feature for a reason, just because you use it doesn't mean you're cheating.

And even worldbuilder can be used legitimately if there's something wrong with the game.

 

[Shurdus]

I think what you need to do is to have the best experience possible from playing this game. If that means you want to save and load when attacks do not go well, then go for it.

It is not cheating really, although I do not really understand why you would do that. Your soldiers are there to die at your command, so who cares if they actually do die? You want to be careful with your units, but being afraid to use them is way overdoing it.

For me, loading is weak, so I will not do it. If I make a mistake I want to get ounished for it. I want to learn from it and experience this game as it was meant to be played.

Edit: I do reload on occasion, for example when I get distracted by friends, gf or the phone while playing I later sometimes find out that I forgot to do something several turns ago. For example I want to make a trade, build a wonder, changing civics, etc. If I did not do these things because I was distracted, then I will load a few turns back.

 

[Negator_UK]

So if I accidentally give a key city back to its owner and reload, I've lost(this happened my previous game)? If I accidentally attack with the wrong unit, I can't go back and fix it? If I gift my great spy to the other team instead of infiltrating, I can't reload?

They have the feature for a reason, just because you use it doesn't mean you're cheating.

Well I lost a game by a similar dialog mishap by voting someone else for thr AP diplomatic victory - I didn't reload, I just made sure I figured out how not to make that mistake again (read the text, know what it means). But you are free to do what you want to in a single player game the word "cheat" is subjective in this case and not very useful.

However it may affect the advice you give others on a forum like this. People who don't adjust the game will take fewer risks than those who do and the practice can alter perceptions about what is a "good move".

 

[JackOfClubs]

A good way to cure yourself of the "bad habit" of reloading for tactical advantage is to play Game of the Month games, where the practice will disqualify you. I used to do this, though not to the extreme of the OP, but once I started playing GOTMs I don't do it even in private games.

There are a couple of exceptions, though. The primary one is one of my pet peeves: when you right-click to move your unit and examine the path it says it is going to take, then it actually takes a different path, putting the unit in harm's way. I consider that a programming bug, so if it happens I will generally reload from the auto-save, if it isn't too costly.

Here is an example where I was sorely tempted to reload, but resisted. Saladin beat me to the circumnavigation bonus by one turn. I could have reloaded from an earlier save and whipped one or both of the caravels, but that seemed too much like cheating. Still, it was heartbreaking.

 

[SnowlyWhite]

usually attackin' at over 95% odds(beside what's meant to be cannon fodder); usually reloading when losing at over 98%(why 98, and not 97 or 99... because I like 98 and who cares in a sp game anyway...).

50/50 adding a galley if I forgot to build one and I have a barbarian galley incoming(but then I delete the next one I build). But then that depends on the mood... But then I didn't update to 3.17(that dang thing doesn't work no matter what) and in 3.13 barb. galleys are far and few...

and using wb to delete the archer event in -3k since I can't beat that no matter what...

p.s. - lately I don't load too much, but then, that's because I'm lazy(otherwise, I keep saving, I'm just lazy to load)... "cheating" and sp game... doesn't make sense anyway.

p.s.2 -

didn't realize that civ4 harbored so many cheaters. all the reloaders ought to form a league in Multi player and anytime they lose a battle they can quit and cry home to mama.

given the dumbness of your posts in the strategy section, I'd stick to solitaire if I was you...

 

[Yamps]

The point is that if you reload you are truly depriving yourself!

Go out there, give your best and don't reload at all. And lock those modified assets, you'll experiment with WB another day! You'll never know how bad or good you are until you do it. Yes, you'll lose some battles at high odds, but that's normal. Yes, you will make bad strategic decisions sometimes and get your ass kicked. You'll plan much better next time, that's what civ is all about. You'll be trilled every step of the way and you'll truly enjoy your victories.

Believe me, play one game without reloads and you'll never want to reload again!

 

[Joshua368]

The point is that if you reload you are truly depriving yourself!

Go out there, give your best and don't reload at all. And lock those modified assets, you'll experiment with WB another day! You'll never know how bad or good you are until you do it. Yes, you'll lose some battles at high odds, but that's normal. Yes, you will make bad strategic decisions sometimes and get your butt kicked. You'll plan much better next time, that's what civ is all about. You'll be trilled every step of the way and you'll truly enjoy your victories.

Believe me, play one game without reloads and you'll never want to reload again!

Plus sometimes you get pleasant surprises when half of your suicide catapults defeat their opponents at ~20% odds. Luck is not always bad!

 

[PimpyMicPimp]

I have bigger fish to fry than to preach the ethics of reloading.

 

[AmazonQueen]

I don't have the patience to save before every attack and reload if I don't like the result. I will save before major wars but unless the war is a disaster I'd probably be too lazy to replay it and if its a disaster its usually a sign of problems with my play that go back to long before the war began. I'm more likely to quit in frustration than reload.

 

[Kevie]

Yup, its a bad habit of mine. But I'm slowly getting rid of this habit. However, I do save my game right when I start, before a war, and after a war. =]

 

[civman21]

I consider it cheating and I don't do it but it's your game so do what you want. but you'll never get a realistic ideaof what it takes to win without it, your not going to get good at the game because you'll start attacking even if theirs little to no chance you'll win and just reload until you do win. anothr note, you'll suck if you ever play online because you can't just reload if you lose a battle

 

[Negator_UK]

A good way to cure yourself of the "bad habit" of reloading for tactical advantage is to play Game of the Month games, where the practice will disqualify you.

How do they know you've been cheating - if they can't catch you they can't disqualify you.

 

[elmerrietveld]

I reload occasionally after major strategic decions turn out wrong. But that's beacuse I only play a few games a year, and don't have time for more.

 

[Phatkarp]

It's a matter of opinion, but I consider anything but Ironman extremely weak. (Great example, btw, Negator_UK. X-Com was a game that was REALLY hard to do Ironman. Very tempting to reload after your favorite soldier/entire squad of favorite soldiers gets wiped out.)

I have competitive, nail-biter games on Monarch. That is kind of weak, I realize. But they are legitimate contests, with no reloads and no worldbuilding. I win or lose fair and square. It's a ton of fun that way.

I highly recommend it.

 

[6K Man]

I'd consider it cheating, but the whole idea is to have fun. If you're having fun, where's the problem?

I've never quite understood why some feel the need to act like the rules police and denigrate those who play differently. Lighten up, it's a game.

 

[Firewind]

I'll reload if something major goes wrong that I didn't anticipate, or if I make a -huge- mistake, or if plain bad luck hits me in the worst way (killing off a highly promoted GG unit, for instance).

Otherwise, I just play the cards as they come, and if it's a bad position then I'll just look for ways to improve it. I find that more interesting, generally.

Plus, my computer locks up enough as it is, I don't want to give it more to complain about