Warcraft III -- computer cheats?

Bullgrit · Dec 29, 2013

My 12 year old son and I got Warcraft III Battlechest for Christmas, and we've been playing/learning it a bit this weekend. We've only played 1.5 games against each other so far -- he won once, our LAN disconnected once. But we've both played against the computer maybe half a dozen times each.

I suspect the computer is a cheating bastard. It has beaten me every time, no matter what strategy I try.

My son wins his battles against the computer, and he has sat down to watch/advise/direct me in my games, but he is surprised at the computer's "skill" when watching me. But -- he usually plays in easy mode, and he saw I was playing in normal mode.

So, since this is an old game, I figure there are several folks here who have played Warcraft III, and may know whether this is a case of the computer cheating. It really, really seems to us that it has to be. It has too many troops, higher level, tougher and more damaging compared to my best effort. It just doesn't seem right.

Or am I just a sucky RTS player?

Bullgrit

PigKnight · Dec 29, 2013

1) The computer cheats super hard in several ways ( it has a maphack, it doesn't use currencies, etc.).

2) Once you know what you're doing the computer is a joke.

Bullgrit · Dec 29, 2013

I just did a Google search for "warcraft is a cheating bastard" and this thread pops up in the first page. That's pretty damn impressive. I didn't think Google could even process a new page that quickly.

Bullgrit

Whizbang Dustyboots · Dec 30, 2013

RTS games against the computer are mostly about multi-tasking earlier than you want to (or at least, earlier than I want to) and then taking it easy after that. In War 3, the sooner you can get a second mine and then a second full base up and running, the easier the rest of the game/level usually is.

Bullgrit · Jan 5, 2014

Yes, Warcraft III is a cheating bastard.

My son and I teamed up against the computer on easy difficulty. The computer forces attacked my son first, and wiped him out. During that fight I just continued to build my army. A few minutes later, the computer forces came to my area, attacked, and wiped me out, too.

I tried a few more games, testing out different strategies, but the computer consistently beat me. Every time. I never even got close to winning anything.

Just tonight, I tried an experiment. As soon as a game started -- against the computer on easy difficulty -- I set to building an Alter of Kings. As soon as it was built, I summoned a hero. As soon as my hero, (level 1), appeared, I ran him straight to the computer location. I knew my hero would die, but I wanted to just see what the computer had managed to build up in that short amount of time. I found: not only had the computer produced a hero of its own -- the hero was level 3!

The computer could not have legitimately produced a hero faster than I did. And the only way it could be level 3 would be for it to have defeated 2 "side monsters" in time it took me to get from my area to its area. What, 20 seconds?

!

I friggin' hate this game against the computer. How did this "feature" of the game not get crap reviews? Did no one else ever play against the computer?

Bullgrit