the definition of 'hardcoded' is basically something that is not easily changed or accessed by the end user. things like the unit stats are NOT hard coded, for the most part; we, the end user, can change those. things like how a crusade moves ARE hard coded and cannot be easily changed by the end user.

hard coded, hard wired, coded in stone, and so on, all mean the same thing. there are tools one can use that can get around hard coded stuff, like hex editors and disassembers and ram editors, but these often can wreck the game because most developers use some sort of 'check' that looks to see if the files and executables have been altered in any way. so one generally has to be pretty careful and pretty tricky to get around all these things. a lot of these 'checks' are put in specifically to prevent cheating in multiplayer games.

and yes, it's mostly the .exe where stuff is hard coded.

K.