Does using game mods effect metaverse scores?

I certainly hope that the use of mods affects scores ... and some 0 scores I've seen (for games with cheat or game unbalancing mods) are evidence that it does.

Yes and no.

If a mod changes some aspect of the game beyond some unspecified boundary values (e.g. you had +1000% population growth would probably be over some boundary value) then the game gets flagged as anomalous, gets a 0, and you risk having your metaverse account deleted.

However, if it doesn't blow one of these boundary checks then it has no effect. It should, but it doesn't.

Good examples of this are mods which affect influence. Imagine a series of trade goods which increase influence. The human player will know to research / build them, which the AI player will not. The human player will therefore get a huge advantage and be more likely to win with a cultural conquest, BUT the score won't be modified as no basic change occurs in scoring mechanisms. The human play can however play at much harder levels with this advantage and thus get higher scores. There's not much you can do against these types of mods except examine the game data, and stardock cannot waste time doing this.

Paul.

~SDC~

Re: Solitair's example

I'm not sure if the AI wouldn't research them. My understanding of the AI is that it should be able to evaluate such a good and decide whether to build it or not with its dynamic evaluation methods. Of course, even if that is the case, because of the lack of hard coded weighting to go after these extra goods, the human still holds the advantage as far as getting them goes.

The trick in such a mod/cheat is knowing when to say when. Solitair's example works fine just so long as you don't go overboard. Ditto for any other aspect you want to mod. Heck, you could make a whole series of trade goods/wonders that cost 150 to build and were attached to techs the AI doesn't normally go after and both rack up the advantages and score bonuses.

Why they didn't implement a game integrity check from day one I will never, ever understand because now it would involve a lot of effort for something they apparently don't care that much about stopping.

There is an 'AI' setting in the Improvements file (where TradeGoods are defined), in theory this allows the modder to entice the AI to build this good. The AI players build my new TradeGoods all the darn time. So, no, the AI players are not locked into just building the stock items. And added events/anomalies/invasion tactics/etc. are available for all players as well.

I would caution against the implication that modders mod to 'cheat' on the Metaverse. I mod all the time. I am very careful with my modding that I don't introduce stuff that the computer can't use. I want a different experience, not an easier experience, if you get my meaning.

I agree with CM, however. I am puzzled that Stardock didn't lock out modded games from the start, or perhaps asterisk a score submitted with a mod. I understand that Frogboy doesn't want to commit the resources now to lock the barn door, so we'll just have to live with the cows roaming the streets.

I would urge modders that want to play the Metaverse to be conservative in their modding and not get lured to the Dark Side.

~SDC~

Modding a single player game is like cheating at Solitaire, play it with-out mods or whats the point?

There is a huge difference between adding in an event file and cheating. If it is a balanced mod that does not enhance your score but merely your experience then it just as fair either way.

~SDC~

Completely agree. I don't agree with the 'modding = cheating' perspective. Sure, some people mod to cheat, but please don't lump everyone into that category.

~SDC~

I don't think anyone did, in this thread at least, suggest that modding = cheating. The issue is whether the *metaverse* which is not a single player issue should be accepting modded and/or cheated game scores. My opinion is either it shouldn't accept them at all or it they shouldn't count towards rankings because as everything is set up now it's way to easy to blur/cross that line and an honor system seems mighty weak as a check.

#6 Wrote this post therefore my response.


~SDC~

Brad has said in other threads that 2 or 3 AI's have hard-coded tech paths based on strategies of a few expert players. Though those AIs may still acquire modded techs via trade, my understanding is that they won't research them. This is especially relevant since the ones who do this, I think are the better AI's (the Arceans and Drengins, right?) As a result, if the tech mod has significant benefits, it creatainly gives players who use mods an advantage over those who don't, simply because some AI become relatively weaker. So, I don't think those scores should be metaverse eligible.

What I'd like to see them do is generalize the hard-coded tech paths a bit, so that this issue becomes insignificant. In other words, the AI could assign higher utility to the techs that fit a generalized version of each tech in the expert research path.

using the events in the library does not affect your
metaverse score. They are "legal" events. Events posted here in the library. Some you get elsewhere and
are unapproved are sorta illegal events hehe


doug