Is this cheating?

[Daz]

The AI knows the whole map, right? If it send a Settler into the black, it knows the best spot to place that city.

Would it be cheating for me to know the whole map, too (you know the ways to do it.... )?

What I used to do is save and retire to see where the AI placed me and my neighbours. After that I reloaded and knew in what direction to expand first...

[The Mad Monk]

Yes, it's cheating, if you're trying to play the way it was intended.

[The Mad Monk]

OTOH, it's your toy, to do with as you will.

[joncha]

Cheating? Yes. Satisfying? Also yes.

The same also applies to combat reloading and using the autosave in the absence of a crash or other unintentional exit w/o saving, btw.

jon.

[Daz]

But the AI is cheating first, right? So I cheat on the same thing and we're even.

[The Mad Monk]

I'll sometimes play with DEBUG on, staying "out of the way", just to watch the little buggers do their thing. It's oddly relaxing at times.

[The Mad Monk]

The AI is a blind, retarded cripple forced to hop around on one leg as it performs surgery with its toungue.

It needs all the help it can get.

[MrWhereItsAt]

I wouldn't try this on a lower level, but if I moved to Demigod, and found myself getting kicked I might just consider it.

[Dain]

I let the computer put down the cities wherever he likes because i know that he knows where all the future resources are going to be.

Then I just take them over. He builds tons of settlers and I build tons of military. Its a win-lose scenario. Win for me because i do not have to build as many settlers and lose for him because he loses the best cities followed shortly after by the loss of his entire empire.

I then rush build improvements until there is just one person left in the town and fill it up with my workers.

Computer AI is as dumb as a doughnut. Its only means to be competitive is to cheat and break the normal rules of corruption, maintenance and other factors such as knowing the map, where resources are, etc.

I am actually very sad when I do not start really close to one or more AI civs. Then i have to build stuff for myself.

[Tall Stranger]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
The AI is a blind, retarded cripple forced to hop around on one leg as it performs surgery with its toungue.

It needs all the help it can get.

That's about the best description of the AI I've ever heard. Anyone with an IQ over 80 should be able to "outthink" the AI. It is, after all, ARTIFICIAL Intelligence.

[Rasputin]

not sure it true the ai founds citys in best places , it often seems to just try to fill the gaps in my civ...

[vmxa1]

Daz I would look at it as if it was GOTM. That is all use the same map and see who can have the best results. In that case it would be judged as cheating.

If it is a just me at home and I never post any results, then who cares. I would still see myself as having cheated, but I only cheated me.

[Arrian]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
The AI is a blind, retarded cripple forced to hop around on one leg as it performs surgery with its toungue.

It needs all the help it can get.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by Rasputin
not sure it true the ai founds citys in best places , it often seems to just try to fill the gaps in my civ...

Playing with DEBUG on was a real eye-opener; the AI may know how to value a city based on accessible resources once it builds one, but the actual site selection appears to ignore "unseen" resources -- and, often, "seen" ones.

[Xorbon]

In multi-player mode, this would be cheating, of course.

But in single-player mode, it's only cheating if you feel it cheapens your victory.