Information - Civ 4: The List
Cheats
Cheats
-MattH
Introduction
When I was young(er) I loved the CIV II cheat menu- got a pesky civ? Drop some
tanks and stealth bombers on them. Need more movement? Add it in. Out of cash?
Not anymore!
Cheats were totally taken out of vanilla CIV III. Should they make a comeback
in cIV? How should they manifest?
Thanks for reading,
-MattH
Summary
To Cheat or not to Cheat?
Consensus:
Cheats are needed as scenario editing tools.
Disputed: Cheats are needed to balance multiplayer games.
1.0.0 The Function of Cheats
2.0.0 List of Proposed Cheats
3.0.0 Appearance of the Cheat Menus
Conclusion
The Ideas
1.0.0 The Function of Cheats:
Perspective 1: Strict View
Brent and others suggest that cheating should be implemented in the CIV II
style, full cheats but with no hall-of-fame entry so that "It doesn't hurt
anyone".
Perspective 2: Limited Scope
Perspective 2 . 1
No cheats whatsoever! They are a temptation and only serve to ruin the game.
Perspective 2 . 2
Alva:No cheats, but include debug mode.
Perspective 3: All-Encompasing
Add functionality- Reveal and hide fog of war, make permant build changes to
the AI, change unit paths, mess with the AI's understanding of the current map.
Tassadar says transform cheat mode into a full-blown, in-game scenario editor.
Perspective 4: Multiplayer
Perspective 4 . 1
There is no reason to include MP cheats.
Perspective 4 . 2
A successful implementation would allow players to compensate for poor
starting locations, a lack of reasources, and other disadvantages.
Requests:
Kucinich: Fix CIV II style cheat bugs.
Sore Loser et. all: Add an Ironman mode similar to the one in SMAC where
you're not "allowed" to reload.
Majority Opinion:
Cheats are a core part of the scenario editing process.
Do not use "approved saves" (only allowed x turns) or similar save game
restrictions to prevent reloading or to allow hall-of-fame points.
2.0.0 List of Proposed Cheats:
- Enable / Disable
- Switch between game / cheat mode (see Appearance of the Cheat Menu below)
- Open / Close / Save scen.
- Place:
--- Start loc.
--- Terrain
--- City
--- Unit
--- Improvement
--- Goody Hut
--- Barbarian camp
--- Resource / etc.
--- Location based trigger
- Edit:
--- Start gold
--- Current gold
--- Start year
--- Current year
--- Attitude
--- Status of relation (war, fixed alliances, etc.)
--- Current trades
--- Triggers / Scripts
--- Object positions (units, cities, overlays, etc.)
3.0.0 Appearance of the Cheat Menu:
Since the majority of contributors suggest that cheats be used primarily for
scenario editing, I propose that what was the "cheat menu" in previous games
become an in-game editor with a layout similar to the editor in Age of Empires
or RON: the menu structure is transformed into in palette containing
drag-and-drop units, terrain, etc. This or its appropriate translation (to make
it fit into whatever cIV user interface) would be far superior than drop down
menus or consoles featured in prevous Civ/other games.
Conclusion
The majority of posters desired cheats, though there was some controversy
over Ironman mode as some declared it pointless in a Civ-style game. Others
wanted cheats allowed, but to make certain that those games couldn't
accidentally be saved to hall of fames, so that their halls of fame wouldn't be
messed up by ugly "YOU CHEATED" signs.
-Conclusion By: DarkCloud
-Respecfully Compiled: MattH
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