IMO, yes you are cheating.But from what I've gathered, most people pause.
In my experience, there are a small minority of gamers who truly play for the challenge-- the rest simply want to be entertained and play video games as if they were a set of toy soldiers or a box of lincoln logs.
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If the animation is too choppy, try cutting down on graphics and sound quality in the preferences menu. And if you have trouble controlling all your units at once, practice grouping and hotkeys and grouped line manuevers.
Also, try to just cut loose and enjoy the game. One of the things that is linked to "cheating" in video games is an emotional attachment to perfection. I used to save-cheat compulsively in Civ2 and SMAC, but letting go of this allowed me to master those games and increase my enjoyment immensely.
DA
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