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Consensus on Cheating, Repost
So, I'm reposting the list in a new message to get rid of all the dead weight in the other thread. Here's the state of the thing so far:
This is a list of the actions that are possible in the game, but could be considered cheating in multiplayer games. I think this is an extremely handy list to have around, so that everyone can agree to the same rules of conduct before starting a multiplayer game. I'll list all the cheats I've heard of, or have been suggested, with an asterisk next to the ones I personally don't think are cheating.
The point of this list is not to argue about whether or not a given item is a cheat. The point is to compile a list of items that could be considered cheats, so that everyone can be aware of what needs to be discussed at the start of a game.
1) *Social Engineering Quickies: changing SE to get some temporary bonus (such as a production bonus, or Planet bonus, or to get the AI to like you) then changing back, in the same turn, to get the refund.
2) *Colony Pod-Booming: using colony pods from other bases to grow a base beyond its hab complex/hab dome limits.
3) Trading Bases: exchanging bases with the AI, for any reason; the AI will accept very idiotic trades. This is different from *giving* bases to the AI, which I've never heard anyone complain about, and which I think is fair.
4) Fleecing: forcing a Submissively Pacted faction to give you more money than they actually have, by selling tech to them and pushing their energy reserves into the negative.
5) Hand-Offs: taking advantage of the infinite-range missile bug by giving your missiles to an AI faction and having them bomb your enemies.
6) Infinite Drops: using the right-click menu to move a drop-pod-equipped unit more than once in a turn.
7) Non-Base Drops: using the right-click menu to make drops that start from outside bases or airbases.
8) Silent Probing: in hotseat, probing a pacted or treatied human faction without informing them you've done so. A bug gives the notification of probe activity to the probER instead of the probEE, so they won't know it happened unless you tell them.
9) Recalling: cancelling a Pact with another faction for the sole purpose of bringing home units. (I would have put a half-asterisk in front of this one, if I could have, because I think this is a cheat only if you do it with a human player, with whom you could be colluding. If you do it with the AI, it may be very hard to re-make the Pact, so you're not getting something for nothing.)
10) *Telepathy: communicating with other human factions before you've actually met them.
11) *Workshop Upgrades: upgrading units en masse from the workshop screen, so that they can move and get upgraded in the same turn.
12) Super-Crawlers: upgrading a Supply Crawler so much that it's really expensive, and can be traded in for as many minerals as a full Secret Project; if done correctly, you can buy a secret project at 1/4 the cost.
13) Evicting: in hotseat, right-clicking on a treatied human faction in the comm menu, and choosing "demand withdrawal." Doing this lets the computer, not your opponent, decide whether to comply (90% of the time, the computer withdraws).
14) Rigging Votes: clicking on another human player's portrait during a vote, and offering them a bribe, will cause the acceptance of the bribe (and therefore their vote) to be decided by the AI, not the human player. Also, sometimes you will get an offer of bribery from another human player during the council; this offer is coming from the AI and not the human player.
15) *Suicide for Profit: disbanding your only colony pod in order to get free stuff when your faction is re-started; most factions get a free terraformer out of this, but Morgan also gets an extra 100 energy each time he does it.
16) Early Rovers: making rovers before you've gotten rover tech, by using the workshop to modify the rover chassis that comes on a probe team.
17) *Reverse Engineering: making new unit designs from captured units, and putting their components, which you don't actually have the tech for, onto other units.
18) *Double Stockpiling: taking advantage of the extra energy given to a player whenever the queue automatically switches to "Stockpile Energy."
19) *Double Terraforming: giving formers terraforming commands when their flags are already greyed out.
20) Roads Through Fungus: using the auto-build-road command to make a former build roads over fungus, if done before discovery of Centauri Empathy (the tech that allows this).
Please post any I've left out.
(I'm going to update this message as people suggest new cheats, to keep the list in once piece. This means it may look like people suggested things that were already on the list, which isn't the case.)
This is a list of the actions that are possible in the game, but could be considered cheating in multiplayer games. I think this is an extremely handy list to have around, so that everyone can agree to the same rules of conduct before starting a multiplayer game. I'll list all the cheats I've heard of, or have been suggested, with an asterisk next to the ones I personally don't think are cheating.
The point of this list is not to argue about whether or not a given item is a cheat. The point is to compile a list of items that could be considered cheats, so that everyone can be aware of what needs to be discussed at the start of a game.
1) *Social Engineering Quickies: changing SE to get some temporary bonus (such as a production bonus, or Planet bonus, or to get the AI to like you) then changing back, in the same turn, to get the refund.
2) *Colony Pod-Booming: using colony pods from other bases to grow a base beyond its hab complex/hab dome limits.
3) Trading Bases: exchanging bases with the AI, for any reason; the AI will accept very idiotic trades. This is different from *giving* bases to the AI, which I've never heard anyone complain about, and which I think is fair.
4) Fleecing: forcing a Submissively Pacted faction to give you more money than they actually have, by selling tech to them and pushing their energy reserves into the negative.
5) Hand-Offs: taking advantage of the infinite-range missile bug by giving your missiles to an AI faction and having them bomb your enemies.
6) Infinite Drops: using the right-click menu to move a drop-pod-equipped unit more than once in a turn.
7) Non-Base Drops: using the right-click menu to make drops that start from outside bases or airbases.
8) Silent Probing: in hotseat, probing a pacted or treatied human faction without informing them you've done so. A bug gives the notification of probe activity to the probER instead of the probEE, so they won't know it happened unless you tell them.
9) Recalling: cancelling a Pact with another faction for the sole purpose of bringing home units. (I would have put a half-asterisk in front of this one, if I could have, because I think this is a cheat only if you do it with a human player, with whom you could be colluding. If you do it with the AI, it may be very hard to re-make the Pact, so you're not getting something for nothing.)
10) *Telepathy: communicating with other human factions before you've actually met them.
11) *Workshop Upgrades: upgrading units en masse from the workshop screen, so that they can move and get upgraded in the same turn.
12) Super-Crawlers: upgrading a Supply Crawler so much that it's really expensive, and can be traded in for as many minerals as a full Secret Project; if done correctly, you can buy a secret project at 1/4 the cost.
13) Evicting: in hotseat, right-clicking on a treatied human faction in the comm menu, and choosing "demand withdrawal." Doing this lets the computer, not your opponent, decide whether to comply (90% of the time, the computer withdraws).
14) Rigging Votes: clicking on another human player's portrait during a vote, and offering them a bribe, will cause the acceptance of the bribe (and therefore their vote) to be decided by the AI, not the human player. Also, sometimes you will get an offer of bribery from another human player during the council; this offer is coming from the AI and not the human player.
15) *Suicide for Profit: disbanding your only colony pod in order to get free stuff when your faction is re-started; most factions get a free terraformer out of this, but Morgan also gets an extra 100 energy each time he does it.
16) Early Rovers: making rovers before you've gotten rover tech, by using the workshop to modify the rover chassis that comes on a probe team.
17) *Reverse Engineering: making new unit designs from captured units, and putting their components, which you don't actually have the tech for, onto other units.
18) *Double Stockpiling: taking advantage of the extra energy given to a player whenever the queue automatically switches to "Stockpile Energy."
19) *Double Terraforming: giving formers terraforming commands when their flags are already greyed out.
20) Roads Through Fungus: using the auto-build-road command to make a former build roads over fungus, if done before discovery of Centauri Empathy (the tech that allows this).
Please post any I've left out.
(I'm going to update this message as people suggest new cheats, to keep the list in once piece. This means it may look like people suggested things that were already on the list, which isn't the case.)
The heads up a few turns prior had me grinning.
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