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Very minor cheat, and doesn't really apply in multiplayer.
You can use formers to plant fungus in other players territory, even over existing improvments, for example turning those special resource forest squares into worthless fungus squares. This seems acceptable except you can do it to pact brothers too, which goes against two other rules : normally you can't destroy improvments (using "D"), and you are not allowed to raise/lower your pact brothers terrain, which suggests the designers didn't intend for you to be allowed to sabotage your allies improvments.
However I also seem to recall using naval bombardment to destroy improvments of a player I had a treaty with.
hmmmm, naval bombardment does destroy improvments without penalty in a pact brothers territory. The AI doesn't mind at all but I imagine this could be nasty in a PBEM (any SMACX player will surely remember the time sven came by and levelled every forest within two squares of the coast, happened to me in a LAN game, fecking annoying for fledging Morgan). In a PBEM I imagine you wouldn't even know it was happening.
This would seem to be a much more serious cheat than planting fungus in your neighbours improvments, you may want to add it to the list.
I'll just add my 2c on communicating+trading with other humans before contact. I've only played in (reasonably friendly) LAN games, and it was rather annoying in a three player game, as the first two players to make contact could swap 1:1 for tech, and end up with a lot of tech. The third player would then talk with one of the first two, the first two players will most likely now have all the tech the third player has, leaving the third player about 3-6 tech levels behind, and with no means to trade for it, this was annoying, and the best solution was simply for one of the first two players to gift the third all of the tech, meaning all players started equal. But two players making a pact from turn 1 results in a BIG gain of tech at no cost, so it should be considered a cheat unless all players in the game are let into the deal - or ofcourse the rule no trade until real contact is made. Ofcourse the whole multiplayer-diplomacy-probing thing is screwed anyway...
So my vote would be for tech-trade before contact is a cheat.
Blake
You can use formers to plant fungus in other players territory, even over existing improvments, for example turning those special resource forest squares into worthless fungus squares. This seems acceptable except you can do it to pact brothers too, which goes against two other rules : normally you can't destroy improvments (using "D"), and you are not allowed to raise/lower your pact brothers terrain, which suggests the designers didn't intend for you to be allowed to sabotage your allies improvments.
However I also seem to recall using naval bombardment to destroy improvments of a player I had a treaty with.
hmmmm, naval bombardment does destroy improvments without penalty in a pact brothers territory. The AI doesn't mind at all but I imagine this could be nasty in a PBEM (any SMACX player will surely remember the time sven came by and levelled every forest within two squares of the coast, happened to me in a LAN game, fecking annoying for fledging Morgan). In a PBEM I imagine you wouldn't even know it was happening.
This would seem to be a much more serious cheat than planting fungus in your neighbours improvments, you may want to add it to the list.
I'll just add my 2c on communicating+trading with other humans before contact. I've only played in (reasonably friendly) LAN games, and it was rather annoying in a three player game, as the first two players to make contact could swap 1:1 for tech, and end up with a lot of tech. The third player would then talk with one of the first two, the first two players will most likely now have all the tech the third player has, leaving the third player about 3-6 tech levels behind, and with no means to trade for it, this was annoying, and the best solution was simply for one of the first two players to gift the third all of the tech, meaning all players started equal. But two players making a pact from turn 1 results in a BIG gain of tech at no cost, so it should be considered a cheat unless all players in the game are let into the deal - or ofcourse the rule no trade until real contact is made. Ofcourse the whole multiplayer-diplomacy-probing thing is screwed anyway...
So my vote would be for tech-trade before contact is a cheat.
Blake
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