Is BUG MOD an exploit?

[obsolete]

Hmm, I just don't have time to play much Civ IV anymore, but if I did, I'm curious what the bottom 4 (checker cubed looking) icons are supposed to do. I guess there is a ducumentation somewhere on what all the little icons do.

 

[r_rolo1]

They are for unit organization in stacks: mostly to separate diferent kind of units in rows or columns ( it is surely helpful with big stacks )

 

[Mesousa]

This woudln't work of course, until firaxis fixes their trade bugs. The worst, is when I am trading spice to Egypt for 5 gold. Then suddenly they have an extra 14 gold coming in. So I cancel my deal which should give them 19 gold, then I attempt to renegotiate for 19 gold.

But no... as soon as I hit cancel, both the 5 gold AND the 14 gold just vanish.

???

So where did it all disappear to, considering Egypt hasn't even HAD a friggen turn yet to do anything yet!? AI's should NOT be allowed to get any extra turns in, ANYWHERE!

If this happens for strategic resources, I agree, but if it's for health or happiness resources, canceling the deal means they suddenly can work fewer tiles since their cities get unhappy or sick, so it makes sense that their GPT and their surplus changes and they have less available for trade suddenly.

 

[Dirk1302]

@Obsolete and r_rolo1,

your comments about checkboxes told me there's a new bugmod version, just downloaded it and it's much improved .

The icons you see i recognized as being part of 12 Monkeys plotlist enchancement mod, you can arrange units in stacks in all sorts of manners. I've been experimenting with this mod some time ago, it's great but it'll take some (well invested) time to get used to it. Good thing they added it to Bug mod.

Info about Plotlist enhancements:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=149572

 

[Fidardorist]

It's the power level you have vs the civ. It's directly from the graphs and you need enough EPs to view the power graph vs a civ before it becomes visible for that civ. It just saves you from having to press F9 as often as you otherwise might feel inclined to do.

Fair enough, but it seems to me that having a that number is so much more clear than scrutinizing the graph to see how your recent military build up has changed your power vs. your neighbors power, there's no comparison.

So I tried the alt+M function thanks to silver and somebody else's mentioning of it here and it's too cool. This makes me wonder where you found out about it and if, as obsolete conjectures, there is any docmentation out there for other features of BUG that I might be missing...

 

[Gliese 581]

Fair enough, but it seems to me that having a that number is so much more clear than scrutinizing the graph to see how your recent military build up has changed your power vs. your neighbors power, there's no comparison.

So I tried the alt+M function thanks to silver and somebody else's mentioning of it here and it's too cool. This makes me wonder where you found out about it and if, as obsolete conjectures, there is any docmentation out there for other features of BUG that I might be missing...

Yeah the number definitely gives you a more exact measurement than just checking a curve without numbers. Also the fact that you can colour code the number so you not only see your power level rounded of to "0.5" but you know if it's above or below this value. Then again if you really wanted to, you could use a ruler on the graph screen to get exact measures. I think it's fair that you have this more exact estimate, but I wouldn't mind if the information could be off somewhat, it would be more realistic if you didn't have binary information on an opponents military (have no figure/have exact figure) but could get an approximate.
I don't know if there's any documentation I just pick up information about the mod here and there, it helps to be a board-junkie.

 

[Dirk1302]

It's documented, documents are in:
My documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\BUG Mod Documentation.

 

[PimpyMicPimp]

1) I don't consider it an exploit, it provides information that's already there in an easy to access way.

2) Even if it were an 'exploit' as long as your playing single player, it doesn't matter. Cheat to your hearts conent. It's not a competitive environment (like online Civ, or WoW, or an FPS, etc.) so it doesn't matter at the end of the day. What ever is the most fun for you.

 

[Andvare]

Bug mod is part of what should have been. After four instalment, and several expansion packs, the GUI should really be better, and certainly more informative.

 

[Bostock]

An exploit is an abuse of a loophole in the rules of a game.
The BUG Mod is no more an abuse of a loophole in the rules of CIV than it is a jelly donut.

Bostock

 

[Bleys]

I think firaxis should have had an option (Advanced GUI, On/Off). Leave it off as default so new players don't get TOO LOST in stats. And let them turn it on once they get their feet wet and am tired of that clunky interface. YUK.

I actually had a post with this kind of idea in it, since it has been done in other games this way. I didnt bother posting it though, LOL, cant remember why, mighta been because Bismark was waiting, and poor Sitting Bull and GW are already in a holding pattern.

Sigh, you can tell you have too many games on your plate when playing actually cuts into your posting time!

 

[EmperorFool]

The whole reason for BUG Mod's existence is to save me enough time while playing that I can actually finish a game every once in a while. Features like Reminders and Civ4lerts allow me to play a few turns, put the game down, and come back later without being totally lost.

I agree that the power ratio in the scoreboard was a bit controversial. But being BUG, you can simply turn that feature off, or move it to the far right of the scoreboard, or make it purple!

You can open the BUG help from the BUG Options screen [ALT + CTRL + O] or press [SHIFT + F1]. Heck, you can even read it online.

We will be releasing BUG 3.0 within the next two weeks. You can check the BUG Mod forum or subscribe to our new release mailing list.

@silverbullet - I haven't forgotten your suggestion. Our Feature Request tracker has quite a backlog of some very good ideas. It's simply a matter of coding time. I was also thinking an alert for when the worst enemy of an AI changes would be helpful so you'd know when to stop or start up trades.

 

[reknaw]

It's also good to remember that BUG actually stands for BtS Unaltered Gameplay. The whole concept of the mod is to not, in any way, change the way the game behaves.

 

[troytheface]

of course its cheating. I would go as far as to say that all mods unconsciously -at best -favor the modder. Even flavor mods with no overt stat changes would make one focus on certin aspects via the graphic/mechanic. Tests that are run (once again by the modder) are likewise biased and unreliable.
On a side note - BUG is one strange name to give a mod- think i would avoid it simply because of the conatations of the name.

 

[mystyfly]

Well, my games take like forever already as I check almost everything every other turn and I don't like to think about how long it would take if not most info was so easily accessible thanks to the BUG mod.

If you consider BUG an exploit, don't use it. It's as simple as that.

 

[Julian Delphiki]

As already said, BUG shows info which should already have been available by standard CIV4 UI without checking gazillion screens - it's not an exploit by any means.

 

[Psyringe]

The BUG mod makes playing Civ4 easier because you miss less information.

Is that a cheat? No. Only if you consider things like "being anal enough to check every turn for trade possibilities", or "diligently checking the state of each city each turn" as integral parts of Civ4 playing skill.

BUG takes away the need to battle the interface and thereby focuses playing Civ4 into a contest of skill, instead of a contest of who's more anal about collecting info from dozens of different screens, or who's willing to spend more hours doing so. In my eyes, this effect is the opposite of what a cheat does. Cheats make skill less relevant for achieving success. BUG makes skill more relevant for achieving success, because it removes the need for many dreary, repetitive actions which are in no way related to any playing skill.

 

[Aristos]

Exploit???





How can it be an exploit if its sole purpose is to present the information that is ALREADY AVAILABLE in the game in an Organized and Creative manner????

Maybe you don't understand these two traits: Organized and Creative. Go back to the Civilopedia (although the Sevopedia is better), and the manuals, and learn some more strategy.

Unless your objective with the game is to dwell through endless screens, forgetting that it is meant to play...

 

[ruff_hi]

The BUG mod makes playing Civ4 easier because you miss less information.

Is that a cheat? No. Only if you consider things like "being anal enough to check every turn for trade possibilities", or "diligently checking the state of each city each turn" as integral parts of Civ4 playing skill.

BUG takes away the need to battle the interface and thereby focuses playing Civ4 into a contest of skill, instead of a contest of who's more anal about collecting info from dozens of different screens, or who's willing to spend more hours doing so. In my eyes, this effect is the opposite of what a cheat does. Cheats make skill less relevant for achieving success. BUG makes skill more relevant for achieving success, because it removes the need for many dreary, repetitive actions which are in no way related to any playing skill.

Can we quote you on our web site?

 

[Psyringe]

Can we quote you on our web site?

Feel free, I'd feel honored.