Great Library: Player Cheats - Page 2

Ming · January 7, 2000, 01:25

Surely we haven't listed all the cheats yet.
There must be more

Xin Yu · January 30, 2000, 20:34

While more details still need to be tested, one more bug is found and confirmed once. You can use 'w' key to put your airplanes on the air on hold and move other units, then use 'Ctrl-n' to end the current turn. The planes won't crash.

CapTVK · January 31, 2000, 05:50

I would like to add to Xin Yu that it works with ALL airunits, that includes NUKES!

Titos · February 5, 2000, 19:19

quote:

Originally posted by CapTVK on 01-31-2000 04:50 AM
I would like to add to Xin Yu that it works with ALL airunits, that includes NUKES!

porcerax · February 8, 2000, 22:30

An (exploit) is an undocumented feature of the game that gives a single player an unfair advantage over the AI. A (cheat) is when you use these exploits in a multiplayer situation. Traditionally, I think of cheating more as a hack of the games code, such as the Raymond Tan Diablo Trainer and other similar add on software.

In addition, cheating is all a matter of opinion. If a group of players decide that they wish to have a free for all or permit the use of some exploits then no-one is really cheating. The worst thing about abusing exploits is that it takes away from the intended spirit of the game.

I only rarely use an exploit in single player mode, mostly after I have already beaten the game and feel like experimenting. Civilization 1, 2, and Alpha Centauri have so many exploits that it just takes restraint and good sportsmanship to avoid using them. I don't know about anyone else here but I don't care to play any game with someone who is a childish loser who needs to win so badly that they are willing to cheat to do it.

This thread was an insightfull read for me, and I hope that Sid and the rest of Firaxis read it and try to address these issues.

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"It takes one to know one"

Adam Smith · February 9, 2000, 17:51

Ming:
I just took another look at this thread and would like to pose a possible correction to the "Repeated Commodity" 'cheat'. If this is the phenomenon that I posted some time back in the strategy forum, then the idea is that certain cities can receive the same commodity over and over again. If somebody knows how to get cities to produce the same commodity over and over again (without rehoming), then I sure would like to know about it.

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"I fear that I shall die a Prince."
-Edward VII, Prince of Wales

Theben · February 11, 2000, 17:29

AS, I thought "Hides" was the magic item that would remain even after the caravan was built. I've also seen newer items free up a slot, but in both cases the items were never permanently freed.

Hugo, Not a conscious choice; most of the ones listed are from civ2 because the majority of cheats in SMAC weren't well-known at the time.

February 12, 2000, 01:54

Is it a concious choice just to let this section cover Civ2 "cheats"? I mean, SMAC is much closer in time than Civ2, and is therefore probably going to influence Civ3 more than Civ2 will. And believe me, SMAC has it's own "excentricities".

Ming · February 12, 2000, 03:46

Hugo Rune...
The reason was simple... I'm a civ addict

I don't know the other games as well. And since this was a discussion for Civ III...

I WOULD WELCOME AN EXPERT to list the cheats for other variations. The key here is to alert the designers on how we abuse there sloppy programming. Please, make this list even longer by showing them their new mistakes.... PLEASE!

Theben · February 12, 2000, 23:17

Ming- Check out the AC General forum, there are 2 HUGE lists of bugs, and probably some cheats in there too, covering SMAC and SMACX.

porcerax · February 14, 2000, 00:06

Ming, how could Sid or Brian Reynolds or Tim
Train have played any of these games through without finding one solitary bug or exploit? I especially like the bug I found in SMAC before they patched it where you could support your units for free from a pact brother or sisters faction. I enjoy finding obscure exploits that are hard to produce, but you would have to be pretty new to TBS style games for the very obvious exploits and bugs in SMAC to escape your attention!

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"It takes one to know one"

Ming · February 14, 2000, 10:28

Yeah porcerax... I wonder who the heck they have playing testing these games before they are released. Many of the bugs or cheats are very obvious to veteran war games. I found a bunch the first time I ever played civ... things that don't agree with what the rules said.

Xin Yu · February 14, 2000, 14:45

The reason is obvious: they are lazy.

When programming civ1 the major concern was the program size (they zipped it in one 1.44mb floppy disk, or was it two?) since hard disk were very small at that time. This 'compact' program could not expand very well, and all statistics had upper limits (city size cannot got beyond 127, etc.).

When civ2 was out they could reprogram everything but they just used the old civ1 codes. Then they just used the civ2 codes when producing Cic, FW, MPE, and TOT.

So I think Brian's leaving Firaxis may be a good news. Hopefully without him they have to reprogram everything!

February 23, 2000, 17:23

I want to thank you all for these usefull tips/tricks, especially the rush building and land scouting (sea or land) was very usefull. in exchange i wish to add one of my favourite tricks that is not yet described here: THE REOPENING OF HUTS. this is not a myth.
sometimes a hut stays visible when you moved a unit in. if you dont move this unit out you can send another in and get another goody. you can do this endlessly as long as you dont move any units out and hold at least 1 unit inside. this means you can put cheap units in (warriors) each turn and disband them after they took the goody. This works great in longer games when all the goodies are gone and you still receive 3 per turn. Simply make 3 cities close to the hut, produce every turn a warrior and move it in, then disband it.

Xin Yu · February 23, 2000, 18:45

Got to try that. Amazing!

Ming · February 24, 2000, 09:21

species8474... I'll have to check this one out. Does this happen only in MP or in solo games, or both. If only MP, is it another lag time problem (Does it only work if you aren't the host)
I have never seen a hut not disappear, or maybe I've just not noticed it because strange things always happen, and you get used to seeing it. I'll have to watch for it now so I can experiment.

Good cheat... Keep them coming folks

February 24, 2000, 11:30

it only works in multiplayer games. and you have to be lucky to get such a hut. but it really works

Xin Yu · February 24, 2000, 14:33

That means I can't check it out now.

Ming · February 28, 2000, 09:00

species8474...
I tried to duplicate this one over the weekend. I never saw it. You say it happens in MP... were you the host (since that's all I could test by myself) or were you just a player in a game where somebody else was hosting, or both? Let me know... Thanks!

Xin Yu · February 28, 2000, 14:37

I don't think it has anything to do with lag since it's the player's turn (a lag time bug happens when somebody else is moving or when it is switching from one player to another).

March 6, 2000, 01:56

i always join games, i cant host in MP games

March 11, 2000, 12:21

I have seen the hut remain, but never thought about keeping it there, or how to keep it there.
NICE catch!

cavebear · March 17, 2000, 18:44

Ming and others - Thank you so much for the list; it's depressing how many loopholes there are in the software. I had no IDEA!

I have printed out the list and will keep it with my manual. I'd feel rather bad if I discovered one of them myself and used it, not realizing it wasn't intended as legitimate tactics (most are obviously not intended to be done, but some are less certain.

Since gaming manuals deliberately do NOT tell you everything that you can do (part of the fun IS discovery, after all), it can get pretty difficult to tell sometimes. This whole discussion helps immensely.

klesh · March 20, 2000, 15:02

Hey Ming,
How about the Poorman's SDI. I guess it isn't a cheat, and I've never seen anyone do it, but it is interesting. A player can suuround his city with unoccupied airports. Then, during an air raid (especially nuke!) the opponents nuke is forced to occupy the airport rather than attack your city.
Also regarding airports, doesn't building them on hills produce extra shields or something like that?

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See you next December in the Kremlin, Komrade, when the first snow falls... if you are still there...

Ming · March 20, 2000, 21:38

Yeah... that is a good trick. I actually cover it in section 8.1 Xin Yu was the first person I know to really use it. Works like a charm.
But, again I ask, is this what the designers had in mind

adaMada · April 1, 2000, 16:17

I know people stopped commenting on this a long time ago, but I've got something not mentioned…

If you take an air unit, and move it onto a hut square, then the hut dissapears. This could be used to 'remove' huts close to one of your enimies cities.

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adaMada

adaMada · April 1, 2000, 16:23

Aslo:
I would say that using the city icon to see if a city has units, or a wall, is very much a legit. tactic. That's why they made seperate icons…

April 3, 2000, 15:36

There are a few other bugs that we have not gone over. The purple civs have astronomical GNP, and all the other 'money' things in the demographics section. When you start a game as a civ, such as the Americans, and build a few cities. Let's say Washington and New York. Then quit, then start another game as the Americans, it will try to name your first city Boston, then Philadelphia. Neither of thes are useful, and they don't appear in most games, but they happen.

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Long live the Communists!
-- SilverDragon

Ming · April 3, 2000, 22:43

You are so correct on the meaningless bugs.
It just shows how sloppy it all really is.
But it's just one reason why I try to keep this thread alive. We are still finding more bugs that really can effect the game.
After 1000's of games, there are still more to find.

Keep up the good work folks.

BOSS Roller · April 12, 2000, 04:23

Excellent Summary Ming!

Here are a couple of other "exploits" (good term) that I believe violate the "Spirit of the Game"

1) Continually "harvesting" a barbarian city for "NONE" units (especially when the player deliberately creates conditions for the barbarian capture of one of his cities for this purpose).

2) Just before a caravan sets up a trade route, maxing out the "connected" cities trade production to increase the one-time pay-off, and then resetting the workers afterward.

Do you agree with this opinion?