Everyone in this forum has played a variety of computer games. Whatever game you played, war game, card game, etc., there was some sort of game plan. A stratergy. When playing against the computer there are moments that allow the human player to cheat. For instance lets say I'm playing chess. All computer chess games that I know of allow the opportunity to take back a move. As often as you want. No fooling. Human players usually don't allow that kind of behavior.
Now....aside from the built in---take back a play---cheats, there are things that a human player can apply to take advantage of in a game that may or may not have been expected by the programmers.
The most popular and handy thing for a human player to do is save a game at a given point and go back if things turn out not so good. This is not normally considered a cheat and so what....everyone does it(aside from the computer player). When playing a Civ game I would save the game offer lots of money for maps then go back to the saved game. I now have knowledge of the maps and my money is 'my' money. I would tell myself this was espionage and totally ok.
This forum is not about Civ or chess. Its about playing a stratergy game that has alot of historically correct events included(which as the game progresses can be termed historical might have beens).
Forget about the saved game stuff, going back because you got your ass kicked in a war is no big deal....its the overall gaming of making a nation that counts. One of the cheats that I have used is going right into the saved game file and altering my armies, cities, relations, etc.
I no longer do this type of stratergy/cheat. It is a very bad cheat. Just like using the F12 Key. The only editing I do now in the save game files is to give the monarchs my name...followed by a II, III, IV, etc. plus rename the armies. For instance when I was playing Austria I renamed one army the "Bohemian Ass Kickers".
Now this next one is part of the game, and I'm not sure yet if its a stratergy or a cheat. But it definitely is something that can be used to the human or computer players advantage. In real life there are moments when a ruler of a nation needs money but none is available. So too in this game. You are allowed to borrow money....200 Ducats. You can make five such loans. A total of 1000 Ducats. You are then expected to pay this back with interest in five years. But if at the end of the five years you don't have it you do not have to pay it. Yes its true! You can borrow up to 1000 Ducats and not have to pay it back! Now before I go into the drawbacks of this stratergy/cheat....the next time you play a game especially early in the game see how much your nation clears per year. Receiving 1000 Ducats all in one shot is indeed a very good deal.
The drawbacks. Where does the money come from? The loan is made from the people who make up your nation. Your loyal subjects. When they don't get their money back they get pissed.....ie you...your nation loses stability(one point). The word for this event is bankruptcy. Ok you say. So what...I'll just slide the little stability dot to the right. What also happens is....
1) you lose a substantial part of 'all' your current investments in new technologies.
2) all future loans will have a much higher interest rate.
3) your iflation will increase.
4) the morale of your troops will be lowered.
5) your nation will have a probabily of revolts(remember the pissed off loyal subjects?)
This last for five years.
Are these drawbacks really that bad? Lets start with #1. Hey just time the loan so you don't lose too much investment. Simple. No?
Ok #2 if I do make any more loans, I don't pay them either. Hey....if it worked the first time...
#3 I now have money to buy/promote mayors.
#4 Don't go starting any wars.
and #5 use some of the money to provide legal counsel(they reduce revolt risk in any situation).
I started a game using this stratergy as Brandenburg(a three province nation). After a short while I felt this was too easy and as of this writting I'm leaning towards labeling it a cheat.
Is it a stratergy....real nations have deficits, or is it a cheat? I'm still not sure myself because when I started Brandenburg again minus the loan thing I kept count of the nations going bankrupt. I set the message to open a window each time a bankruptcy happened. A total of 52 bankruptcies by the year 1574. A number of nations doing it twice. Majors doing it too. Venice did it twice. Yes....Venice is a major! Lots of provinces, don't forget the islands. High income provinces at that. A major seaport you know the shipyard thing, and a manufactory to start with. Savoy holds the record so far....with a total of five bankruptcies!
Now all these bankruptcies are not nations taking the five loans just to get the 'easy' money. I'm sure most of it, maybe even all of it are legitimate. They just are not able to make the timely payment and end up having to take another loan until they are overwhelmed(bankrupt). But I did see the Hessen's build a huge army before going bankrupt, and they were not at war....though they just finished a tough one with Spain.
Theres an option in the ICG that allows you to adjust the tax setting. I have it set for "Chaos Maims" which is suppose to give a severe penelty for low stability. I haven't seen any difference in the game using this setting but maybe I don't know what to look for. Does anyone know what the penelties are?
I would like to know your opinions on the matter if you have used this loan thing yourself. thanks
Now....aside from the built in---take back a play---cheats, there are things that a human player can apply to take advantage of in a game that may or may not have been expected by the programmers.
The most popular and handy thing for a human player to do is save a game at a given point and go back if things turn out not so good. This is not normally considered a cheat and so what....everyone does it(aside from the computer player). When playing a Civ game I would save the game offer lots of money for maps then go back to the saved game. I now have knowledge of the maps and my money is 'my' money. I would tell myself this was espionage and totally ok.
This forum is not about Civ or chess. Its about playing a stratergy game that has alot of historically correct events included(which as the game progresses can be termed historical might have beens).
Forget about the saved game stuff, going back because you got your ass kicked in a war is no big deal....its the overall gaming of making a nation that counts. One of the cheats that I have used is going right into the saved game file and altering my armies, cities, relations, etc.
I no longer do this type of stratergy/cheat. It is a very bad cheat. Just like using the F12 Key. The only editing I do now in the save game files is to give the monarchs my name...followed by a II, III, IV, etc. plus rename the armies. For instance when I was playing Austria I renamed one army the "Bohemian Ass Kickers".
Now this next one is part of the game, and I'm not sure yet if its a stratergy or a cheat. But it definitely is something that can be used to the human or computer players advantage. In real life there are moments when a ruler of a nation needs money but none is available. So too in this game. You are allowed to borrow money....200 Ducats. You can make five such loans. A total of 1000 Ducats. You are then expected to pay this back with interest in five years. But if at the end of the five years you don't have it you do not have to pay it. Yes its true! You can borrow up to 1000 Ducats and not have to pay it back! Now before I go into the drawbacks of this stratergy/cheat....the next time you play a game especially early in the game see how much your nation clears per year. Receiving 1000 Ducats all in one shot is indeed a very good deal.
The drawbacks. Where does the money come from? The loan is made from the people who make up your nation. Your loyal subjects. When they don't get their money back they get pissed.....ie you...your nation loses stability(one point). The word for this event is bankruptcy. Ok you say. So what...I'll just slide the little stability dot to the right. What also happens is....
1) you lose a substantial part of 'all' your current investments in new technologies.
2) all future loans will have a much higher interest rate.
3) your iflation will increase.
4) the morale of your troops will be lowered.
5) your nation will have a probabily of revolts(remember the pissed off loyal subjects?)
This last for five years.
Are these drawbacks really that bad? Lets start with #1. Hey just time the loan so you don't lose too much investment. Simple. No?
Ok #2 if I do make any more loans, I don't pay them either. Hey....if it worked the first time...
#3 I now have money to buy/promote mayors.
#4 Don't go starting any wars.
and #5 use some of the money to provide legal counsel(they reduce revolt risk in any situation).
I started a game using this stratergy as Brandenburg(a three province nation). After a short while I felt this was too easy and as of this writting I'm leaning towards labeling it a cheat.
Is it a stratergy....real nations have deficits, or is it a cheat? I'm still not sure myself because when I started Brandenburg again minus the loan thing I kept count of the nations going bankrupt. I set the message to open a window each time a bankruptcy happened. A total of 52 bankruptcies by the year 1574. A number of nations doing it twice. Majors doing it too. Venice did it twice. Yes....Venice is a major! Lots of provinces, don't forget the islands. High income provinces at that. A major seaport you know the shipyard thing, and a manufactory to start with. Savoy holds the record so far....with a total of five bankruptcies!
Now all these bankruptcies are not nations taking the five loans just to get the 'easy' money. I'm sure most of it, maybe even all of it are legitimate. They just are not able to make the timely payment and end up having to take another loan until they are overwhelmed(bankrupt). But I did see the Hessen's build a huge army before going bankrupt, and they were not at war....though they just finished a tough one with Spain.
Theres an option in the ICG that allows you to adjust the tax setting. I have it set for "Chaos Maims" which is suppose to give a severe penelty for low stability. I haven't seen any difference in the game using this setting but maybe I don't know what to look for. Does anyone know what the penelties are?
I would like to know your opinions on the matter if you have used this loan thing yourself. thanks
