Is loading a previous saved game cheating?

In general, no.
In 1.2-Beta however save and reload can be flagged as cheating accidentally.

That occured in 1.12.009 where some games started under 1.11 and continued under 1.2.009 were flagged as cheating.

This has been fixed in the new version of the Beta that should be released today according to Carielf from Stardock.

Normally, If you save a game and then reload it, it is not officially flagged as cheating. But if you do it just to avoid or change a result you didn't like, most people would consider that cheeeeeeeeesy.

You gotta live with yourself, I mean its only a game.....

Also, if you are still new to the game it can be a useful learning tool, to see how different things work/react/etc.. But as Kosty said above, if used to avoid unfavorable results, it can be called out as cheesy.

I asked this question a while back not because I was cheesing, but because I have limited hours to play the game and I like LOOONG games, so I have to save alot to reload the next time I get to play. I was concern that this would be flagged as cheating in the metaverse.

Doesn't appear to be a problem tho, so...

Cheers,
Reaver

I'd say that in essence reloading is cheating. At the very least it's cheesy.

You won't get better at minimizing or eliminating the making of mistakes if you let yourself play sloppy.

If you reload anytime something doesn't go your way you will hardly ever lose.

You don't necessarly have to play a perfect game and recovering from less than optimal decisions is part of strategizing.

It's your game and you can play any way you want, but obviously if you're "rewriting history" any time you "make a mistake" or things don't go your way, then you're not really playing an honest or clean game.

I'd say that in essence reloading is cheating. At the very least it's cheesy

Depends on the situation. For example, the other night I had to make a beer run. Stepdaughter wanted to get online and do the IM / Myspace thing. She saved game, did her thing, opened game and reloaded the game exactly where I was. As I was none the wiser... you guessed it, cheat flag when submitted.

The above story of course is just that, a story to show that reloads are not cheesy all the time.

Good hunting,
W/R
Suralle Straykat
Kat Lord @ Large

I mostly only reload when i do something on accident. Like pressing right click on the map at the wrong location and using up all the movement of my fleet leaving my transports to be destroyed.

Very true. It is lame to reload because something went badly. But.... I still do it in one case - when the UP decides to destroy everybody's economy by forcing them to go back to being an empire, after I've become a democracy or federation. That's assuming I can't afford to simply leave the UP and lose the trade routes. I hate that event with a passion. In any other situation, I'll growl about it but I won't try to redo it.