Oddest/Hardest Game

[Mr. President]

There's another primeval thread that someone replied to on the front page now, I believe it's the Ogie Oglethorpe one.

[Pandemoniak]

I always play as an Ironman.

[Method]

me too

the question still remains about the bump of the 2 year old thread

[Pandemoniak]

Oops.

Anyway, I cant reload Year 2000, I am an Ironman.

[spartak]

Hmm. Always woth a re-read of an old thread..

[Sikander]

Wow a blast from the past there. Some SMAC legends posted on this thread, guys who were experts when I was just starting out.

[Lucidor]

Originally posted by Pandemoniak
Oops.

Anyway, I cant reload Year 2000, I am an Ironman.

What is "ironman"? A special code of conduct?

//Irritatingly nosy newbie...

[Mr. President]

Ironman is an option that you can enable at the beginning of the game, which means that when you save, you must exit the game. It makes it harder to go back and fix mistakes. It also doubles your final score, which is why it's popular.

[MariOne]

It's the most stupid and farcical option, imho.

As if it effectively could guarantee that a score was obtained without reloads...
Actually, under Ironman, when you save you *just* have to launch the game again.
Ok, this takes up, how much, 10? 30 seconds?
It's a bit more slow and annoying, but it won't deter at all any reload from someone who's determined to reload (=cheat...).

A more concrete effect would be that even when you reload an Ironman savefile, you get the same outcomes from combat, pods, etc..., as opposite to the randomness of normal settings.
This can be circumvented too, at the cost of a bit more effort:
you first reSAVE, and then you reload.
Each time you resave the same file, the Ironman outcomes will be scrambled, and you practically get randomness again.

Thus, if someone boasts that his result was obtained under Ironman, this does NOT exclude at all that he didn't reload to achieve his record: it only shows that he might be manic enough to bear with *some delay* to "fix" his result...
The player's word, i.e. the honor system, will be the only guarantee for his results, and that does NOT need any frigging Ironman setting, which indeed doubles the score with no merit at all, making it cumbersome to properly compare...

Is ther really someone who seriously expects to compare an Ironman score with a normal one, believing that it's actaully worth double than the normal????
You just get the hassle to manually HALVE the Ironman score, in order to compare it with others!...

Originally posted by Master Marcus
I ALWAYS play ironman. I'm a perfectionnist, I want to be in control of every anal aspect of my empire ( sole exception: auto tubes ) even if this means 20 minutes per turn: playing ironman is essential then.

At the light of the above considerations, the quoted statement is utterly meaningless, a total nonsense...

[Lucidor]

Originally posted by MariOne Is ther really someone who seriously expects to compare an Ironman score with a normal one, believing that it's actaully worth double than the normal????
You just get the hassle to manually HALVE the Ironman score, in order to compare it with others!...

Indeed, honour is the only way to go. I think that the double score is a bit weird, also.

Thanks for the reply Re. Ironman.

[Chowlett]

Good lord! I'd forgotten I'd started a thread!

[Pandemoniak]

Hell.
All your tricks to cheat with the Ironman enabled and randomness combats, etc... seem far more complex that just playing a normal, fair, Ironman game.

About the +100% score, I agree it is quite nonsense. But there must be a benefit for being honest, I think -- even if the best benefit is to finish the game honestly. Damn, I was so proud when I first finished the game in Transcend with Ironman option !!

[spartak]

You may be an ironman, but are you the HARDMAN?

[MariOne]

Pandemoniak, playing a normal, fair, GAME is not less rewarding or honorable than playing a normal, fair, Ironman game.

The ONLY point of Ironman indeed, was giving a "patent of honesty" to the game.
As a matter of fact, cheating with Ironman is equally possible, only a bit slower and annoying.

Boasting that you played an "Ironman game" just supposedly means "I have not cheated".
Well, it does NOT work that way.

IF you want to cheat, ther's no Ironman stopping you. An Ironman cheater is just a bit more manic and devious enough to take on the tedious tasks to be able to boast a hollow, undeserved Ironman tag.

IF you don't want to cheat in the first place, then you don't need no friggin Ironman.

Boasting the Ironman brand does NOT show you as a honest player!!! It shows you are a WEAK player, who needs a very thin Ironman barrier to keep yourself from cheating at the frist occasion (and also that you're not even purposeful enough in your cheating intention that a modest Ironman delay can stop you... too weak to keep from cheating, too weak to cheat with determination... bleah!).

In fact, Ironman players are WORSE and less honorable players than normal players, imho.

A much better player is one who tells you "I've not cheated" and you feel you can trust his word.

You should be proud of beginning a game telling yourself "this game I won't reload" and you win by keeping to that propositon. Forget Ironman.

[Pandemoniak]

Boasting the Ironman brand does NOT show you as a honest player!!! It shows you are a WEAK player, who needs a very thin Ironman barrier to keep yourself from cheating at the frist occasion (and also that you're not even purposeful enough in your cheating intention that a modest Ironman delay can stop you... too weak to keep from cheating, too weak to cheat with determination... bleah!).

It indeed doesnt show you're a honest player, but it doesnt show either that you are a weak player.

Anyway, I agree with you for the rest of your post, but I dont know why, I feel like you were quite angry when you wrote it...






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I've not cheated