So cheat mode is back — good or bad?

[Bluetooth]

Obviously cheat mode is back in Civ 4. I’m not sure I will use it, but it sounds cool. What do you think, are you going to use it or not?

This is what Civrules wrote in his preview:

How much control does the world builder actually provide the average player? You've probably heard many times that it can be opened during any game. Since it is a very, very detailed system, it is natural to think that it provides the player lots of different options (and this is very true). Just open the editor and you'll see the ability for you to tweak and change everything from Cities, Technologies, Units, and Diplomacy. For cities, you are able to add a specific population number (as the screenshot to the left illustrates), culture points, gold amounts and even change that city's religion. Adding technologies to the ones you already have is also possible. For units, you are able to change the level and promotion type of any available unit as well. Changing the terrain type is also another distinct possibility. Just like you are able to edit Technologies, Cities, and Units for your own Civilization, you are given the option to change these same aspects for the other available Civilizations in the game just as easily. The World Builder even goes as far as letting you change diplomatic options and relations. As you can see, this also opens the doorway for you to cheat in-game. While that may not be as fun as playing the game as it should be played, I'm in no way saying that the Editor is not fun... I have to admit that it really is a marvel.

 

[Commander Bello]

I am for sure going to use it as it will offer the chance to easily retrieve test scenarios from an ongoing game.

I WILL NOT use it as a means to "win" my epic games, though (as changing anything in your favor disallows to use the term "win").
I would be interested though, if this will have an effect on the hall of fame, as in Civ3, where you would change the movement rate on roads, and wouldn't have an HOF anymore.

 

[HourlyDaily]

I agree with Bello on this one - good for editing and scenario building. Moreso than the Civ 3 debug mode.

But in game - if I am caught out by a surprise AI assault, I'll be sorely tempted to cheat. So I am kind of disappointed that it will be so easy to do.

 

[Willowmound]

I would be interested though, if this will have an effect on the hall of fame, as in Civ3, where you would change the movement rate on roads, and wouldn't have an HOF anymore.

That really annoyed me at first - until I resigned myself to the fact. There should be some other system for determining HOF score, so as to allow modded games to still give you a HOF entry. When I discovered Rhye's, I found I couldn't go back to regular C3C. But not being able to compare the success (or lack thereof) of my various games was really annoying.

 

[GenericUsername]

I don't much like this decision, because I'm weak willed and having the ability to cheat so obvious and brazen... ack...

 

[Rexflex]

Geez - grow a spine, people!

Usage of the world builder results in your game being marked as a cheat. If that isn't enough disinsentive to use it all the time, I can't imagine you stopping yourself from downloading a third party trainer/editor which doesn't mark your game as a cheat.

 

[TerraHero]

I think its a good thing sicne it allows players more freedom and easyness on testing out new stuff. And i can imagine someone using it juz to get a little leg-up on his country or heck, bluntly crush any oposition. Wich is fun aswell from time to time

 

[CiverDan]

I am assuming they either blocked this in MP or an warning appears to indicate that a cheat has been used in this situation.

 

[hookmonkey]

This is a good thing ofcourse, anything thats gives you more options in your game is a good thing. You can decide if you want to use it or not. I don't think I would ever learn the basics of civ2 if it wasn't for the cheat mode. Thus i would have never liked the game in the first place just because it was a little difficult to master for a (at the time) young man like me. So this is good! But I don't think i will use it much.

 

[Willowmound]

I tried cheat mode once in Civ2. The HOF entry then screamed CHEAT and I never touched it again. Ugliest thing I ever saw.

 

[Grey Fox]

I wont use it for *cheating*, and I cant find ANY Bad thing about it, except maybe that it might make people weak to cheating cheat.

But its all an individual choice. ANd it wont be able to be used in GOTM or HOF games etc since it will probably say CHEAT or something instead of your score.

 

[Flak]

I'm going to be using this mode for a LOT of testing of mods. Especially since many of my mods will involve changes which could really change the balance or timing of the game.

 

[mitsho]

I like it. I hope it also gives me the ability once agains to switch civs in game. that was and hopefully will be fun...

mitsho

 

[Volstag]

Why would it be "bad"? If you don't mind cheating, it's great. If you never cheat, it doesn't matter.

 

[linjon1]

a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...
well, not really, but when i was playing civ 1 many years ago, for hours and hours, absolutely loving it, i got ahold of a sav modifier program. I gave myself tons of money, bought everything, bought spies, stole everything, etc, etc, etc.

It was so boring that i stopped playing for months.
almost killed the game for me.

why bother if you can get everything for free...

 

[josephstalin]

Well, this will provide some difficulty for me. It is good for mods/scenarios but not for general play.

 

[Bluetooth]

I like it. I hope it also gives me the ability once agains to switch civs in game. that was and hopefully will be fun...

mitsho

Switching civilization was a good way to understand how the game worked. I used it now and then in Civ 2.

 

[Bev]

I see no problems with it.
Could be useful for "I wonder what'd happen if..." situations.

 

[Bluetooth]

Welcome to the forum Bev.

 

[QiZhe]

The built-in World Editor lets you fire it up at any time and change the map while you’re still playing it (naturally, this is flagged as cheating by the game, so you can’t do it in multiplayer).

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/info

From what I understand, using it in SP will be flagged as cheating, and using it in MP isn't allowed at all.