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Author Topic:   Can anyone help?

Jack Diamond posted 06-30-99 07:26 AM ET
I am fairly new to this game and have played a little single player and a little multiplayer (modem to modem).
I am thinking of taking part in a bigger multiplayer game (ie. more than 2 humans) on the net, and was wondering, before I got too enthusiastic, if there is anyway that someone can "cheat" in a multiplayer game (non-PBEM).
The sort of cheats I am talking about are, for example, keying in a certain keypress combination and you get to see what everyone is doing etc.
I was just wondering whether the game was "tight" in that respect, as it has a direct bearing on whether i'll bother playing it on the net against people I don't know.
While I know that 95% of players are like me and not at all interested in these unnecessary little cheat codes that game developers insist on including in the game, there are always the few who find it entertaining.
Another thing I was wondering about was, it is actually feasible to meet up in forums on the net and play a game against say 5 humans, due to the length of time the game takes to complete! I mean, I take it that all 5 players have to keep meeting up time and time again until the game is resolved.
I would appreciate it if any one could help me with the above points.
Jack Diamond.

Nell_Smith posted 06-30-99 05:09 PM ET
Pol:
As far as I know, there are no keyboard "cheat codes" in SMAC (not like the ones in Quake etc). However, there are ways to "cheat" in multiplayer, depending on what you regard as cheating. For instance, some people regard it as cheating to use the Design Workshop to upgrade units, thereby being able to upgrade and attack in the same turn: other people don't mind this. You'd need to be sure that all the players were aware of the rules for your individual game before starting it, really.
There are threads about this kind of thing in this forum - check out, for instance, the thread posted by cousLee and entitled "CMNs, and the players who love them", which has extensive lists of possible "cheats" or abuses of some of SMAC's vulnerabilities. The URL for the thread is:
http://alpha.owo.com/ubb/Forum8/HTML/000096.html
And yeah, you're right, it does take a long time to finish a game, assuming all the players are pretty competent. I've only played a couple of direct IP games, and those against only one opponent, but these games tend to take 20+ hours... with 5 players, also, you're going to get more crashes and a slower data transfer rate, so the players would all need pretty good ISPs, fast modems and reasonably fast PCs.
Hope this helps,
Nell
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Author	Topic: Can anyone help?
Jack Diamond	posted 06-30-99 07:26 AM ET I am fairly new to this game and have played a little single player and a little multiplayer (modem to modem). I am thinking of taking part in a bigger multiplayer game (ie. more than 2 humans) on the net, and was wondering, before I got too enthusiastic, if there is anyway that someone can "cheat" in a multiplayer game (non-PBEM). The sort of cheats I am talking about are, for example, keying in a certain keypress combination and you get to see what everyone is doing etc. I was just wondering whether the game was "tight" in that respect, as it has a direct bearing on whether i'll bother playing it on the net against people I don't know. While I know that 95% of players are like me and not at all interested in these unnecessary little cheat codes that game developers insist on including in the game, there are always the few who find it entertaining. Another thing I was wondering about was, it is actually feasible to meet up in forums on the net and play a game against say 5 humans, due to the length of time the game takes to complete! I mean, I take it that all 5 players have to keep meeting up time and time again until the game is resolved. I would appreciate it if any one could help me with the above points. Jack Diamond.
Nell_Smith	posted 06-30-99 05:09 PM ET Pol: As far as I know, there are no keyboard "cheat codes" in SMAC (not like the ones in Quake etc). However, there are ways to "cheat" in multiplayer, depending on what you regard as cheating. For instance, some people regard it as cheating to use the Design Workshop to upgrade units, thereby being able to upgrade and attack in the same turn: other people don't mind this. You'd need to be sure that all the players were aware of the rules for your individual game before starting it, really. There are threads about this kind of thing in this forum - check out, for instance, the thread posted by cousLee and entitled "CMNs, and the players who love them", which has extensive lists of possible "cheats" or abuses of some of SMAC's vulnerabilities. The URL for the thread is: http://alpha.owo.com/ubb/Forum8/HTML/000096.html And yeah, you're right, it does take a long time to finish a game, assuming all the players are pretty competent. I've only played a couple of direct IP games, and those against only one opponent, but these games tend to take 20+ hours... with 5 players, also, you're going to get more crashes and a slower data transfer rate, so the players would all need pretty good ISPs, fast modems and reasonably fast PCs. Hope this helps, Nell