Hi, I'm new to GOTMs, and not terribly experienced with Civ3. I just finished GOTM5 and had a great time, but I won't submit it, because I cheated. On several occasions, after realizing I had made blunders and oversights, I let myself reload. For example, I would forget to change production instructions for my cities, so they would produce two consecutive settlers. I'd forget to defend a city that got raided by stacks of barbarians.
I understand that reloading for these reasons is cheating, and I agree that it should be. I think it would be unfair to compare my score with someone who just lived with their mistakes.
However, non-reloaders underestimate how challenging and educational a well-played reloading game can be. For someone who is learning the internal workings of Civ3, I would actually recommend that they reload often, to see how different courses of actions with the same initial conditions lead to different consequences. I personally learned a lot about how the game works through reloading.
On a higher skill level, I don't think just anybody, even with lots of reloading, can put together a truly glorious/devastating victory. Sure, the strategic thinking is different when you allow yourself to reload, but it is still indispensable. And (this is my main point) I really would be curious to read about and play back the games of this board's best reloaders. I think even the non-reloaders would/should be curious about how it would look to play these GOTM maps with 20/20 foresight. Don't you ever have thoughts like "I wonder what would have happened if instead of my plan, I would have concentrated on domination starting at about 10AD? Would that have worked? What would have been my score?" I'm sure many people do replay these GOTMs, and I, as someone who is still trying to learn the subtleties of GOTM strategy, would get a lot out of seeing their results and reading their comments.
Basically, I think there is skill and art in playing a reloading game. It's different from the skill and art you need for playing by GOTM rules. Because there are few real risks if you really allow yourself to reload insidcriminately (which I don't do, but others might), you tend to really push the boundaries of what the map allows. Anyway, I think I would be more interested in downloading and reading about these "masterpiece" games than the "honest" ones, and I'd be prepared to take my hat off for the reloader who (say) beat 10,000 in GOTM5. They deserve it, because I obviously don't have that sort of skill and/or perseverance.
Their results obviously shouldn't mix with the rule-abiding players, and that's why I think they deserve a separate list. Having one would indirectly benefit the legit players, because once there were "honors" for reloaders, some reloaders would stop posing as legit players.
Even though reloading and foreknowledge violates GOTM rules, it's a different sort of cheating from editing saved games or using cheat codes to magically create units. I think we should acknowledge there is such a thing as skill among reloaders, and perhaps even honor.
I understand that reloading for these reasons is cheating, and I agree that it should be. I think it would be unfair to compare my score with someone who just lived with their mistakes.
However, non-reloaders underestimate how challenging and educational a well-played reloading game can be. For someone who is learning the internal workings of Civ3, I would actually recommend that they reload often, to see how different courses of actions with the same initial conditions lead to different consequences. I personally learned a lot about how the game works through reloading.
On a higher skill level, I don't think just anybody, even with lots of reloading, can put together a truly glorious/devastating victory. Sure, the strategic thinking is different when you allow yourself to reload, but it is still indispensable. And (this is my main point) I really would be curious to read about and play back the games of this board's best reloaders. I think even the non-reloaders would/should be curious about how it would look to play these GOTM maps with 20/20 foresight. Don't you ever have thoughts like "I wonder what would have happened if instead of my plan, I would have concentrated on domination starting at about 10AD? Would that have worked? What would have been my score?" I'm sure many people do replay these GOTMs, and I, as someone who is still trying to learn the subtleties of GOTM strategy, would get a lot out of seeing their results and reading their comments.
Basically, I think there is skill and art in playing a reloading game. It's different from the skill and art you need for playing by GOTM rules. Because there are few real risks if you really allow yourself to reload insidcriminately (which I don't do, but others might), you tend to really push the boundaries of what the map allows. Anyway, I think I would be more interested in downloading and reading about these "masterpiece" games than the "honest" ones, and I'd be prepared to take my hat off for the reloader who (say) beat 10,000 in GOTM5. They deserve it, because I obviously don't have that sort of skill and/or perseverance.
Their results obviously shouldn't mix with the rule-abiding players, and that's why I think they deserve a separate list. Having one would indirectly benefit the legit players, because once there were "honors" for reloaders, some reloaders would stop posing as legit players.
Even though reloading and foreknowledge violates GOTM rules, it's a different sort of cheating from editing saved games or using cheat codes to magically create units. I think we should acknowledge there is such a thing as skill among reloaders, and perhaps even honor.
