Do you consider re-loading previous saves to be cheating?

[FatSean]

I do. If I made a bad descision and things start to go poorly, it is tempting to re-load an older save-file and try a different approach. I don't do it 'cause a 'real leader' can't go back and re-make descisions. Of course...when the computer somehow creates a wonder 5 turns after discovering the needed technology I am tempted to 'even things up'

[Ethelred]

Reloading because you moved a unit north instead of north-west isn't cheating.

Reloading because you lost a battle is cheating.

Reloading because you didn't concentrate enough on rapid growth isn't cheating unless its at tournament. Otherwise its learning better ways to do things.

Reloading because you forgot you were a religious civ and didn't go for Monarchy is cheating. (So I didn't reload on my latest game that I am pretty sure I am going to lose).

[Coracle]

When I see the AI cheating outrageously I have no problem doing whatever it takes to even things up. If it doesn't cheat, neither do I.

I ALWAYS reload whenever any of that Culture Flipping garbage happens, and I make whatever alterations are needed to stop it or prepare to raze the city.

[Ethelred]

Originally posted by Coracle
When I see the AI cheating outrageously I have no problem doing whatever it takes to even things up. If it doesn't cheat, neither do I.

Since the AI doesn't cheat outrageously then you should never reload.

You seem to be under the impresion that the game is cheating when you chose to play with a handicap. Stick to Regent. The only handicap there is your technique.

I ALWAYS reload whenever any of that Culture Flipping garbage happens, and I make whatever alterations are needed to stop it or prepare to raze the city.

Do you reload when they Culture flip TO YOU? I bet you don't.

[Coracle]

Originally posted by Ethelred


Since the AI doesn't cheat outrageously then you should never reload.

Utter nonsense. I wouldn't even waste my time detailing the examples.

Do you reload when they Culture flip TO YOU? I bet you don't.

No, I often quit in disgust. As I did when Antium, A Roman city of '12' that had been Roman for 5,000 years, suddenly and inexplicably flipped to me. Yea, a Roman city with millennia of Roman culture is just going to decide to join another civ because of the dopey AI formula dreamed up by Firaxis programmers after one too many beers.

BTW, there is nothing I can do to stop a city flipping to me by reloading. I have asked many times to be able to totally toggle off that Culture Flipping crap, be it regarding cities or borders.

[Ethelred]

Originally posted by Coracle

Utter nonsense. I wouldn't even waste my time detailing the examples.

It would be a waste of time. You would repeat the imortal galley nonsense you keep posting.

BTW, there is nothing I can do to stop a city flipping to me by reloading. I have asked many times to be able to totally toggle off that Culture Flipping crap, be it regarding cities or borders.

Play Civ II. Its pretty clear that you would prefer that. Culture flipping is part of the game. Its there to give a less method of growth. People asked for ways to win without warmongering.

[Flanker]

Ok, I confess, I reload after some battles, but that is always with all the barbarians at the start. Suddenly, a giant horde of barbarians is approching my cities, and I usually can manage to keep them at bay, but usually only after a few reloads. I would like to keep the barbarians at a straight level all throughout the game, like in Civ II, not just a giant horde in the beginning and then nothing...

[zulu9812]

You should never, ever reload under any circumstance. You moved a unit north when you wanted to move it north-west? Tough. You made a mistake - compensate for it. That's what great leaders do.

[Flandrien]

I always reload the game when something really bad happens.
It saves me the time of having to start a new game.
Just don't make the mistake of using a game that you won that way as 'evidence' of how good you are at this game.

Edit: Learning to compensate errors will be my next step in learning to play civ3. I will need it when I start multiplaying !

[Ethelred]

You should never, ever reload under any circumstance.

Wrong. YOU should never reload under any circumstance. I will continue to keep in mind that its for fun not competition.

Me, I have a problem with the map angle and the way I sometimes have my keyboard canted. Its either reload or restart sometimes.

You made a mistake - compensate for it. That's what great leaders do.

I am leading a bunch of pixels around on a PC monitor. There is little in the way of greatness in that endeavor. Unless the pixels are worshiping me as a god.

Do your pixels worship you and why do you care if they do or don't? Do they sacrifice photons in your honour? Must the photons be virgins or will photons from degerate atoms do? How do you get degenerate atoms this side of a white dwarf? Is the white dwarf a refugee from the Police Gazette? Does the white dwarf use manacles or does he just tie his victim to the flogging post? This post has been flogged long enough.

[Jethro83]

I don't consider it cheating. But I don't do it either. I don't even save frequently. I only ever save before exiting. If I screw up, I'll try and move on, fixing it up. If it can't be fixed, I restart. Since I don't play on huge maps, I don't have anything stopping me from restarting anyway, since it won't take me so long to build back up.

[theEntity]

It's cheating if you're playing as part of a competition, or if you subit your score to a HOF (or brag about the score).

Otherwise, it's just playing a more laid-back and forgiving game than you otherwise would. If you feel more comfortable with such a game than the more intense game you'll have where each mistake counts, then do it. It doesn't hurt anyone.

[Deathwalker]

I dont see anything wrong with it, unless of cource you edit to save game file.

[Harovan]

I reload under 2 circumstances:

- when the game freezes, which happens sometimes, when I drag a unit with the mouse over the screen borders
- when I hit the wrong button, for instance I sent a unit in a direction I didn't want to and the mistake can't be corrected by the next turn or similar. This happens very seldom, and I reload only if nothing of importance happened during the wrong move, like discovering enemy units or so. This principle has cost me a lot of scouts already. Oh well, they're cheap.

Reloading to improve combat results or to fix poor tactical or strategical decisions I consider cheating. I avoid this in most cases, and even if I do it sometimes, I play "what would have been, if..." for a while (for learning purposes) and abandon the game after it. No game I ever finished had a reloading far from the 2 described circumstances.

[DrFell]

A year and a half of civ2 MP has taught me reasonable dexterity and speed with keyboard unit moving etc and I've learned to live with the occasional wrong unit move and other mistakes. So I never reload for anything (unless the game crashes).