[Gandalf Parker]

Sigh. This is no different than casting a summoning spell: Done right, the client would sent a request to the server that caster A cast spell B. The server would then check that the conditions are met, subtract the used gems, and send the result back. (In practice, there would be several orders and so on, but the principle is the same.) '

I repeat: Given a trusted server, cheating can be limited to "better clients". If no trusted server exist, cheating is possible. Try looking in the KDE forums for KBattleship. Battleship --- such a simple game. But there is no way to make it cheat-free without a third part acting the part of the trusted server. Try me, if you want

And yes, I'm aware that this would require such a major redesign that it would not be feasible for Dom 2. But I, for one, are secretly wishing for a Dom3, and for that, it might be done right <tm>

Im not sure that going from a PbEM type game to a different style of gaming is a "fix".

Yes that would allow for MANY things to be fixed if all actions were interactive at the server. Of course even more would be fixed if you just went all the way to an Online world environment. Of course then you have to shift attention from hex editing to packet editing. Everything has its pros and cons.