Need Mental Health

[rubikscube]

I really need a mental health lesson so here is my problem.

I cheaply save games before i do something big so i can restart if i lose too much things.

discuss and criticize plz

[HellishFiend]

It's commonly called save scumming. Generally frowned upon by video gaming elitists, but gaming is all about what you personally enjoy, so do it if you prefer. If its eating you up inside, then stop.

[Lancefighter]

I often make frequent reloads, but its almost never because something 'slightly went wrong'. Usually its some great failure on my part (like if i accidentally send my entire strike force through a gate.. with permamines on the other side, ill probably reload)

While playing x3tc (something that was brought up elsewhere that is on my mind), I often will reload of the autopilot decides it prefers pasting me across an asteroid or station, but I will not reload, say, if I take a good deal of hull damage in an encounter (note, I'm talking like capship encounter, not gonna repair laser that..)

As for just an op going incredibly badly, unless it was something i feel is incredibly cheap (see: permamines) then I will just sigh away my disappointment and move on.
For instance for the entire Dyson Campaign in my sig, I did not reload at all during the engagement with the Sphere, although i did have to reload once because I forgot to put my starships in low power before I hit the final AI..
Anyhow, I digress. And need sleep, but thats something else.

[dumpsterKEEPER]

My personal preference is to keep regular autosaves in case of a crash or something similar, but I try to never reload saves just because something didn't go as expected. I much prefer living with my mistakes and learning from them for the next game. The only time that I bend this rule is if I see an opportunity to experiment with something that I haven't had a chance to try before, or if I'm trying to reproduce a bug.

[Fleet]

I don't reload if something really big goes wrong, but I do consider it when I misclick, and I deem it partly the games fault. For example, if I'm switching between zoom levels, targeting turrets around an AI command station / warp gate, and suddenly the icon gets bigger or something and I click on it, instantly destroying it, that may be a reload. If it was my fault, like I was not paying attention I'll live with it, but If I think the UI was acting up I feel fine reloading.

Save is there for a reason...save scumming is perhaps a loaded term. Play how you get the most enjoyment from the game. I personally play with no astro trains or auto AIP increase. Those to me are not fun at all...I do however play with schizophrenic waves, which I find immensely more enjoyable of a challenge. Chances are you find some kind of challenge fun, while others annoying. Go with that, and if you like restarting until you make the perfect decision... well, you paid for the game. Play it how you like.

[Doddler]

I think the only time I generally go back on an autosave is if I lose something completely unreplacable, like one or more experimental/core fabricators, zenith power, etc.  If I outright lose the game due, I don't usually care, but having to play the game handicapped isn't that fun.

[HitmanN]

I try not to load after mistakes, but I've done so in case of permamines couple of times. I did load a ton of times in my first couple of games though, but that's all for learning and experimenting purposes. Now... I usually prefer to just try and keep going, or start a new game.

[quickstix]

A big part of the fun for me is dealing with the insanity that follows when I make a mistake. Otherwise it's all a bit ho hum really. AI War is the kind of game where you really shouldn't load just to get rid of your mistakes, otherwise you'll never learn how to deal with being on the back foot. That's part of the fun really. This is especially so when I leave one tiny little gap in my defences during a cross planet attack and the AI slips in. Not only is it crazy fun, but it completely changes the dynamic of a game and presents a unique challenge you don't often have in the game.

The only time I ever save/reload is during badly designed games where you can't get through any other way. Off the top of my head, F.E.A.R and Unreal 2 were guilty of this. If a game is designed well, a single mistake shouldn't cost you the game, and makes part of the challenge dealing with the consequences of when you screw up.

It's like the motto for Dwarf Fortress, 'Losing is fun!'