In game map editor = safety valve

[Tobyoneknobi]

While I'm still trying to get the hang of Civ IV and like for the most part. One of my favorite features is the in game editor. Here's how I use it...

Feel like you are off to a good start? Have a couple early game cities and you are living on the edge by having your warrior scout out the tiles near your city instead of defending. You go one tile too far and a barb shows up just outside your city - you'll never get back in time...go to map editor, pick warrior and place it on top of the barb. Presto changeo no more barb. Sure it is cheating, but you know what, losing a city early on would cause me to restart and overall I would have wasted 20 minutes. I'd rather cheat and enjoy that be frustrated and start over just because I was stupid.

Second use...have your little civ growing nicely and some maniacal leader is your neighbor and aggressively growing toward you. Go to map editor, select barbarians, put a barb right in his city - converts it to barb city. You still have a bad guy there, but you don't have to be over occupied managing that crazy leader. Once again its cheating, but my time is too important to me to have a crummy game experience. Once I've played afew times and I get better, I can ease of the mape editor and play it unaided if I want.

Bottomline is that the flexibility allows players to play however they want and I really appreciate the freedom to make the game what I want. I'm not playing for bragging rights, I just want to relax for a little bit.

 

[Amask]

I'd rather cheat and enjoy that be frustrated and start over just because I was stupid.

Well I've got a strategy for you. Something humans do. It's called learning. It is ok to cheat the first time you make a stupid mistake. But why don't you learn not to do it the next time? I say it is because you have the editor. Knowing that you can afford to make stupid mistakes makes you worry less and think less. Thus, the editor retards your learning process; if you know that you can get away with making the same mistake every time, what is the motivation to stop making it?

Smart players are not the ones who played a million games, they are the ones who played one and thought about what they did well and what they could have done better. They improve on their game even after winning. They learn.

Learn not to make stupid mistakes.

Oh, how exactly is this a strategy?

 

[Reagan1984]

I don't understand the folks who cheat at a game like this.

Why play the game?

It's really bad when you cheat competing vs. another human. When you cheat in a single player game....... Wow, that's interesting.

 

[lauer]

Why the bashing?

The OP clearly stated that having a good time (= not wasting time in failed attempts) is key for him. I can perfectly understand that (having no time at all to play a game like CIV during a work week).

Moreover, I couldn't care less if someone cheats in SP to maximise his enjoyment. MP, GOTM, ... obviously would be a different story.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Why play the game?

To have fun.

 

[Kissamies]

Not everyone is in to the game for teeth-grinding self improvement. Some people just want to have some relaxing fun. Why should you care if someone cheats on SP.

 

[Amask]

the question still stands, how is this a strategy???

 

[neriana]

the question still stands, how is this a strategy???

I have a question for you, why do you care?

Learning to be better at Civ 4 isn't really going to help change the real world. It only gives one the satisfaction of having beaten a challenge -- but again, not a real-world challenge. It's not like learning to build a fire, learning a new language, etc. It's just learning how to be better at a game. Sure, that's fun, and for some people that's where most of the fun lies. But others have fun just playing. Further, how would it help me to know I'm a better Civ player than others? It's a computer game, I don't care how "uber" I am. I just play it to have fun.

By the way, no one ever, ever learns not to make stupid mistakes. That's called being human. Read some of the stories about games here to see some. I recall one excellent player using a Great Person to build a harbor in Civ 3. But it's not just games, in life everyone does dumb things sometimes. There's no such thing as perfection, thank goodness, or how dull life would be .

 

[zienth]

Why is this a "strategy article"? It's a short post that says "hey, it's fun to cheat." It's not a strategy, and I wouldn't call it an "article" either. It belongs in some other forum.

If he wants to cheat, that's his business as far as I'm concerned (but I don't want to hear him ever start bragging about getting a launch victory in 1000AD on Deity)

Keith

 

[Arkalius]

Basically this strategy is easily summarized as this:

"Go ahead and feel free to be stupid and not protect your first city early on. If you get attacked, just cheat!"

I have an idea for the OP. How about you defend your first city so you don't have to cheat just to stay around? If you enjoy cheating at singleplayer then by all means go ahead and knock yourself out, I won't judge you... but coming here and posting about how you think playing stupidly because you can cheat to make up for it is a good strategy is just a little moronic.

 

[Methos]

the question still stands, how is this a strategy???

I have a question for you, why do you care?

Normally I stay out of these foolish arguments but this statement requires an obvious answer. The reason the question matters is due to this post.

Follow the forum rules, please. This should be in General Discussion.

As to the OP everyone needs to remember he is talking about a solo game. He or she can play anyway they want to so that they themselves are having fun. It doesn't matter how we feel, it's none of our business nor does our feelings matter.

 

[TRONBurger!]

People, you are asking fundamental questions about the human mind, and how it functions. I cannot fathom cheating in Civ or any other game. It blows my mind how people can cheat it games and still have fun! But, they are having fun! That's why I say let cheaters cheat. They are having the time of their life! Any time you beat a cheater (especially in Counter Strike) it feels so much better cause your hacked a hack!

I agree this really isn't a strat guide, but do we need to be any nerdier than we allready are here people???

 

[SilentMage]

I will admit, having the world editor at your fingertips has been very tempting for me to use in CIV to "plop a forest here" or "place a warrior there" to make my game "more fun."

That's why I'm glad Firaxis included the "No Cheating" option under the custom world option so I can crush the urge!

 

[emills]

Actually the world editer is a great learning tool and can improve your strategic ability.

Speaking for myself, I find that if I don't have what I think is strong starting position within say the first 20 turns or so (heck sometimes first turn), I will quit and restart the game. I have found that if I instead, open up the world builder and see what is the real situation.

I have seen where I would have got a great resource in a great location or how I would have been hammered or hampered.

After I use the editor I will restart a new game.
I now can read the starting position better and have more confidence is playing out "poor" starts.

 

[maltz]

Personally I look at the map editor all the time. I enjoy to see the map... so I learn what the AIs are doing, how goes a distant war, etc. Just to have some fun with the game.

 

[inspire]

I agree with some points that, in the very beginning, the editor is nice for players to look around the place of ur first city.
For really a poor situation, there is not too much fun to play any more, even for some brilliant guys.

I think this is a "strategy" for CIVers to have a not bad beginning of game.
However, I dislike to do more to the AIs. Though AIs cheats a lot.
What we want is the feeling when we pass over them and win in culture or land.

 

[Nestorius]

You can use the editor to make your own Alpha-Centari mod in 30 seconds (as long as you play Monarch level or lower)! Start a game, making all the settings random, and set the difficulty to Diety or Immortal. Name yourself 'Space-Colonists'. On the first turn, go to the map editor, look at the map. That's your reading your spaceship gave you before it crashed. Give yourself all the industrial and modern techs (but not the early ones) and delete all units except for your settler. Finally make that starting spot your settler is on radioactive (that's where you crashed). Exit map editor and never return to it!

Its kind of fun and a little challenging for a bit. You can't start off building mech infantry because you'd be crushed before you built your first one. Usually I don't use the map editor for normal games, though. I'd think it would make the game boring.

 

[MetHimPikeHoses]

It takes my map editor so long to load, I have only looked at it once. How's that for a "no-cheat" safeguard?

 

[Methos]

I agree this really isn't a strat guide, but do we need to be any nerdier than we allready are here people???

I find this statement rather hilarious. This thread was dead and has been for several months now. Yet someone just had to bump it for absolutely no reason.

Let sleeping dogs lie.