Are you a cheat?

[The Puny Celt]

I always think there's something a bit pathetic about cheating at PC games, but Civ3 has the dubious distinction of changing my mind.

If I have a town/city where all the population are happy (not just content, but happy, all of them) and it flips to a civ with less culture than mine...well I reload the turn, get all my troops out, sell all city improvements, then carry on.

Kind of pathetic isn't it? But that culture flipping is soooo annoying, it's like the AI has cheated me and I'm just getting my own back.
(but I still feel dirty and cheap for cheating at a PC game )

[Jethro83]

I don't cheat (unless you count modding the game as cheating).

Usually I couldn't be bothered saving every turn and reloading whenever something goes wrong (such as the culture flip). I prefer to play it out and see how things turn out afterward.

[alva]

no, i never cheat (unless i'm experimenting)
victorie is much sweeter when having overcome a couple of 'disasters' and knowing you have done it fair and square

NEW YORK! NEW YOOoRK !!

[vmxa1]

Before I could answer that I would have to have a definition of what constitutes cheating. It is not the same for everyone. For instance, I would not reload, but I have. If say I am going late in a game and I am interrupted (phone, dinner whatever), I come back to the game and forgot to do something I meant to do, I may decide to reload and do it or I may not. I would have to have a save to do it with and I may or may not have one. I ususally will save when I walk away from the game. I normally will finish the turn before I walk away, but sometimes you don't. Use of the editor make be a cheat, use of cetain mods may be a cheat. I don't have any mods or use the editor, but some do.

[Sean]

Ummm, you don't have to save every turn. Thats what the auto save is for!

[WarpStorm]

I use mods, but nothing that isn't as fair for the AI as for me. I don't reload except for the occasional CTD. I don't see a point in cheating against the AI. If I lose, I lose.

[fittstim]

Originally posted by Sean
Ummm, you don't have to save every turn. Thats what the auto save is for!

Only if you have the "autosave" preference turned on

[thorpey]

I think a poll is in order.

Many people have different views on what 'cheating' is.

It would be interesting to get a feel for what people
think on this.

[miccofl]

Originally posted by: WarpStorm
I don't see a point in cheating against the AI.

No doubt! Making a mod to test things out is something I do quite frequently, but unless I'm testing major economic changes I seldom finish them for a win. I haven't done the reload turn thing since I was learning to play this game (about a year.) Cheating would make the victory seem so hollow. Besides the AI plays so stupidly at times, it would be like cheating against a four-year old.

[Thrawn05]

Originally posted by LordAzreal
I don't cheat (unless you count modding the game as cheating).

The same here.


I should load up my mod, because I think it's neat.

[Wormwood]

When playing on a new difficulty level for the first few times, I often restart if I don't have a great starting position. I might be "cheating", but I consider it "cheap".

[Hagbart]

Sometimes I reload the game if I push the wrong button. But I try not to reload when my unit gets killed.

[WarpStorm]

Originally posted by Wormwood
When playing on a new difficulty level for the first few times, I often restart if I don't have a great starting position. I might be "cheating", but I consider it "cheap".

No, that's just conceding the loss a bunch of times in quick succession.

[vmxa1]

Mods can be benign or not. If you make a universal change that may be fine, if you play as Civ abc and give them a boost to their UU that is another story. If you are just doing an experiement that is different. The editor can be used the same way. You could make a map that favs you or helps. That is not the same as say removing all of a given resource to see what happens, since it effects everyone. So it all depends.

[jshelr]

I believe that folks who hate the culture flip but otherwise like the game should feel free to deal with that issue as they think best. I tend to play pure warmonger, often with no early culture builds at all. If I start to reload after flips, then it clearly is cheating since I'm taking advantage of the resources ignoring culture gives me without paying the occasional price in full.