How often do you guys use cheats?

**Hybr1d** · 09-07-2010, 00:25

I use the add_money cheat quite often. The only reason I use it is if my mnai drops to negative or if I need to build something in my cities... i always try to keep to keep my cities building something.

So.. how often do you guys cheat?

**The_Blacksmith** · 09-07-2010, 01:51

Well, in my current Pahlava Campaign im using toggle_fow because im new to EB and to see how the AI expands

And in my Romani Campaign, well.. i have to use the add_money -2000/3000 to ensure my FMs dont get corrupt and so on...

**Ca Putt** · 09-07-2010, 02:11

auto_win on battles I eiter don't have the time or motivation to fight myself but I'm sure I'd win.

**stratigos vasilios** · 09-07-2010, 03:04

I just use toggle_fow. Otherwise it's a ton of watchtowers ftw!

**Valion** · 09-07-2010, 03:15

The only cheat i ever used is toggle_fow and give_trait to remove traits i think are conflicting to my FM's Other Traits like Devout to a Utterly Pragmatic FM :D

I Never use the money cheat since imo it makes the game less fun if you can build anything you want any time...

**Olaf The Great** · 09-07-2010, 05:54

I use add_money sometimes, but I try not to actively "cheat" with it. I always use toggle_fow to check up on the AI's progression, and I always try to use move_character to get the AI to do stuff.
The only real "cheat" I've done is halve the cost of every single fleet to encourage the AI to actually do something....and so I can build poliremes...

**Mouzafphaerre** · 09-09-2010, 01:20

.
I cheat in the following conditions:

In naval battles. The auto-calculate mechanism is a shame for programming so I do my own and pre-decide the result according to the correspondent powers of the navies and the skills of the admirals.
To transport agents. It's nonsensical having to have a navy to move a diplomat or spy so I walk them to a nearby port and beam them across.
To get rid of nuisance rebels and navies (Not the scripted, powerful rebel armies representing unrepresented factions). The first type off to Eremos and the second to the Caspian.

ADDENDVM: FOW is toggled off in my preferences. This is not Starcraft for crying out loud!
.

**Suraknar** · 09-13-2010, 04:13

I raise the starting money to 5000000 mnai or denari for the faction I choose for a given campaign...and that is about it, no other advantages.

I never liked to be out of money in these games, because in reality money was not needed to build anything back then (with some exceptions), they forced people to work back then (slavery). And while today we do not Tolerate it, and I would not condone it either (being a humanist and all), it is still how things worked Historically and I like to play with the then rules rather than today's rules when I play a game set in the then era.

I still play carefully as to not have a negative balance most of the time, yet i can have cities constantly building something like that, I really hate the wait past a certain point, 6+ turns to build a single building in one city is a boring eternity for me.

**vartan** · 09-13-2010, 06:41

Originally Posted by Suraknar

I raise the starting money to 5000000 mnai or denari for the faction I choose for a given campaign...and that is about it, no other advantages.

I never liked to be out of money in these games, because in reality money was not needed to build anything back then (with some exceptions), they forced people to work back then (slavery). And while today we do not Tolerate it, and I would not condone it either (being a humanist and all), it is still how things worked Historically and I like to play with the then rules rather than today's rules when I play a game set in the then era.

I still play carefully as to not have a negative balance most of the time, yet i can have cities constantly building something like that, I really hate the wait past a certain point, 6+ turns to build a single building in one city is a boring eternity for me.

I'm glad you said 'not needed to build anything' instead of 'train anyone' because not all soldiers were slaves.

**Randal** · 09-13-2010, 09:23

Great wealth was still needed to construct things. First there's the materials, which may well have been the most important thing. Slaves themselves were hardly free, needing to be purchased, fed and equipped with tools. And construction incidentally was one of the few areas where free labour was used far more than slaves, because of its seasonal nature. It was not good value for money to buy a whole bunch of slaves that then only can work in summer. Free poor men were cheaper, you could pay them and then send them on their way to fend for themselves.

And that Cicero quote about the nerves of war being infinite money wasn't there for nothing either.

**Cambyses** · 09-14-2010, 01:12

I use auto_win if a CTD means I need to refight the same battle. Or if I get some random rebels pop up in my lands that i would own with a proper army. And lastly if I am assaulting a settlement with odds of 4-1 or more in my favour I auto_win. Ive found the AI can be funny about that sometimes - especially if there is a FM in the settlement. I have also occassionally used the move character cheat for agents and single characters stuck on islands etc. But never armies.

**Suraknar** · 09-14-2010, 07:27

Originally Posted by Randal

Great wealth was still needed to construct things. First there's the materials, which may well have been the most important thing. Slaves themselves were hardly free, needing to be purchased, fed and equipped with tools. And construction incidentally was one of the few areas where free labour was used far more than slaves, because of its seasonal nature. It was not good value for money to buy a whole bunch of slaves that then only can work in summer. Free poor men were cheaper, you could pay them and then send them on their way to fend for themselves.

And that Cicero quote about the nerves of war being infinite money wasn't there for nothing either.

Oh I am not saying everything was free, some armies as you pointed out were professional, even in citizen armies the citizens had to afford their own gear, that much is clear, yet, building a stable could be a community affair, the king or emperor would not be sending funds for things like that in remote cities, building a palace and raising a personal army specially a professional one would indeed require much.

Food is the commodity people would pay for most of the time, grain to feed armies etc. That much is certain. It is why I just did not mod everything down to 0 cost (as well as the fact that the game would be unbalanced), but striving every turn to build one stable building or a blacksmith in one city amongst 20, I found that game breaking from this point of view. It makes no sense to me that you can have en empire with hundreds of thousands of citizens (and slaves) and not enough money to build a barracks...

The game has us assume the lead of Empires and Kingdoms yet the royal treasury is literally empty. I just do not think that this much micromanagement is fun under this premise, so I fill up the treasury and apply macroeconomics instead permitting me to focus on Diplomacy, and Warefare in a higher degree, which to me become more representative of the role that Kings and Emperors back then would fill. It makes for a more enjoyable game for me that way.

maybe there is a better way to balance the game, instead of having to do this, but I do not know where to change it, to raise for instance the amount of money coming from taxes per citizen until an economical equilibrium is reached necessary for the undertakings of the game.

The alternative would be to mod all costs down by a factor of 10 or more to reach that kind of macroeconomic equilibrium, and then the starting treasure would actually represent an Empires capital in a more realistic manner.

It is faster to raise one number thought rather than try to balance all costs.