It's interesting that the original poster did not specifically define cheating, but she certainly seemed to imply that she meant only using the "cheat codes." Many - if not most - of the other posters included other things such as exploits of quirks that may not have been intended by the developers and use of the editor during the course of the game. It may be useful to list the actual (recognized) cheat codes.
CONTENTO = Add 10 happiness points
ECONOMICDIFFICULTY = Change economic difficulty of map
EXACTO = Set national treasury to exact value
MUERTE = Instant death for selected unit
PESOS = Add $20,000 to national treasury
POLITICALDIFFICULTY = Change political difficulty of map
RAPIDO = Toggle instant building on/off
RATEDDIFFICULTY = Change map difficulty rating (I'm not sure that this has any effect on gameplay or scoring.)
[Control]+[keys] = Enter cheat codesThese are not actual "gameplay" cheats excepting that opening the EDITOR to use some of its tools can give a player an unfair advantage in competition.
EDITOR = Toggle map editor on/off
IMPORTMAP = Import map from PCX format image
REMOVEPEOPLE = Remove all units from map
Why these codes were left active when the "debug" menu was blocked, I don't know. Personally, I can't figrue how these would be useful - even in competition. They are actually for the developers, IMHO.
FIVEYEARS = Advance date five years
ONEMONTH = Advance date one month
ONEYEAR = Advance date one year
SIXMONTHS = Advance date six months
TENYEARS = Advance date ten years
THIRTYYEARS = Advance date thirty years
TWENTYYEARS = Advance date twenty years
First, I have to say that I am not particularly interested in "competitive" play because typically the conditions are not carefully defined. Additionally, few of the scenarios are really well designed (too simplistic).
... but cheating is just for when you start a game, [my] theory goes kind of like this way:
1} When your game is new you like to cheat to make things faster and have some quick action
2} When you realize that you are really bad playing without cheats, you begin using them just when you are stuck
3} Finally you find out that cheating is limiting your capacities and you abandon it, because it doenst reflect what "your" work is/was.
... I cheat when I am stuck on random maps, Cheating in competitions is really wasting your time. ...
I think that is a fairly good analysis; perhaps it's descriptive of why the publishers leave the codes available.
... cheating is useful for newbies, but even players with very little experience can find it boring if they build everything early in the game. If you control the extent to which you cheat then it can be even more fun for [you].
Example,You're not good with money and you don't like to wait a couple of years to make enough to build a church. You could type in "pesos" to get a small boost in starting cash to get things going and still have fun earning the rest of your money the normal way without making the game to ease. What you do early in the game decides the fate of what your island turns out to be in the end.
The point of the game is to make money; so if you use cheats, there is no more interest to play ...
Yups, cheating is boring. The point of the game is the challenge, so it's not like an adventure game, where you can get "stuck" on a particular part.
The majority view is dead right. Cheat codes just ruin the game - if you added as little as, say, another $10,000 to your opening amount you could win every game without any difficulty, and the same with other cheats. ...
There is a sampling with the posters wobbling all over the map. The point of the game is NOT building a city nor making money. The "challenge" is clearly defined as simply staying in power until the victory trailer plays. The idea that making any change by using any or all of the cheats makes winning absolutely assured is really quite silly.
I don't cheat in Tropico, ... I never needed to, because assuming sane difficulty settings, Tropico can be played relatively easily and be an enjoyable experience, rather than a frustrating one.
I do cheat in other games, though. It's true that the point of a game is to have a challenge, but not so much of a challenge that meeting it is [extraordinarilly] hard - then playing is not fun. So what I do is play normally and if I get really frustrated I use cheats. Hey, it's either that or a lot of hard work, effort and frustration; and we all get enough of that in real life, right? Playing a game should be fun, not hard work; and if it stops being fun, I cheat.
That is the excellent summary of playing this game. It is for enjoyment, escape and relaxation -- not for worry about the "Cheat Police" kicking in your front door. The player defines things for him or her self. If a competition is involved, the entrants join with an understanding or just stay away.
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