Have I Discovered a New Cheat?!

Gatekeeper · July 23, 2000, 21:54

Everyone:

I think I may have found a way to improve the AI's attitude toward the human player without the player sacrificing *anything* for that improvement. Here it is, step by step:

1. Build a unit (U1) in City X.

2. Move unit to City Z and leave it there, but with the home city being City X.

3. Contact an AI (the Americans, in my case) and offer to give them U1 of City X, which should still be in City Z.

4. If the AI accepts, it will thank you and "take" the unit for itself.

Here's the catch, though: U1 never leaves your city! It stays there, but the AI's attitude improves as if it had taken the unit to add to its own forces.

I repeated the above several times, just to make sure it wasn't a one-time glitch. No way ... the cheat persisted! Then I tried it using the standard approach — offering a unit that's still stationed in its home city. That worked as intended.

So what's up? Have I found a new cheat, or am I simply rehashing an old one? BTW, I have the Macintosh version of Civ II and the map being used is Apolyton's "Northern Hemisphere" file. Furthermore, my RULES.TXT file hasn't been modified to include this weird little tweak. Heck, I don't think it *could* be modified for such a thing ... this is something that's hardcoded and untouchable.

CYBERAmazon

July 24, 2000, 00:45

Yeah um, I just think you have too much time on your hands.

Gatekeeper · July 24, 2000, 01:49

AH:

Actually, I do have too much time on my hands. I'm on vacation for the whole week.

CYBERAmazon

SandMonkey · July 24, 2000, 01:54

I think it's a usuable cheat. It would help keep the AI's off your back late in the game.

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SandMonkey

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tonic · July 24, 2000, 02:18

Pity this can't be applied to OCC! It would have been a godsend in OCC13, the "dishonorable repute" challenge.

Will test it anyway on my Windows 2.42 version and report back.

Mao · July 24, 2000, 02:31

Good, test it on a PC...I don't trust Macs...

SCG · July 24, 2000, 08:42

just tested it on a PC, with 2.42, first with a unit in its home city, then with a NONE unit and finally with a unit from a 3rd city. The AI happily claimed the unit and it disappeared from my city each time.

guess it is strictly mac-related. I can find no record in the patch.txt file reguarding this bug

edit:well, i did find that in patch 1.05 they fixed a similar problem where gifting a unit of superior technology cause the AI to be stuck researching alphabet, there might have been something similar to that in the earliest releases on the PC. I might test it out on my 1.07c tonight to see if it existed then
[This message has been edited by SCG (edited July 24, 2000).]

tonic · July 24, 2000, 18:17

I've run a quick test and the result is NO it doesn't apply to my Windows 2.42 version. Only the units stationed in the city specified in the offer are listed regardless of which home city they belong to.

Seems like a Mac peculiarity - more fuel Mao's distrust of that platform.

Edit: Seems to be a confirmation of SCG's test.
[This message has been edited by tonic (edited July 24, 2000).]

Gatekeeper · July 24, 2000, 20:35

Everyone:

**sigh** It must have been a one-time quirk in the game I was playing. I just tried gifting a spy to the Celts and they took it — literally this time. Not only that, but I caused them to get a scientific breakthrough because of the gift ... communism. ARGH!

Perhaps it's just limited to certain time periods in the game? Einstein, I am not in this case.

CYBERAmazon