Trading commanders, exploit or not?

[Zeldor]

Yes, I am going to make a list of things considered exploits, so game admins can just include them in their games. There were some discussion about it already and certainly Sickle farming and suiciding mages on purpose via Life after Death will surely be on the list.

[chrispedersen]

lab filling
Bogarus orders (except on bogarus type, old units)
chayot RoW
chayot RoR

are exploits to my mind.

[Sombre]

I think you mean Bogus. The clue is in the name.

[Maerlande]

@Psycho

Yes, that's why I was talking about using it in a real fight. Rather than throwing priests at big PD to kill them off or something.

[Sambo]

Beginner questions: what is Sickle Farming and Ankh suicide?

[DonCorazon]

hmm, not an exploit but reminds me of a wily vet trick that is discouraging to learn about halfway through the game

[Ink]

I'm still not sure how you can hold suiciding mages in a battle with an opponent while you have LAD up can be an exploit. Is using the Sickle in a battle with an opponent an exploit too?

[Zeldor]

You suicide your mages against remotes, indie attacks, an ally, etc. And you create upkeep free mages and undead reanimators out of priests to create endless chaff.

[Gandalf Parker]

Wouldnt that be a tactic? The response would be the same as late Ermor?

[Baalz]

Meh, my views are well known on this, but how about...

Exploiting archer screens?
Exploiting switching the Armor of Virtue to somebody else after the returning has stuck?
Exploiting using a death bless on mages (including ritual spells)?
Exploiting sneak, attack, sneak, attack to avoid almost any retaliation?
Exploiting (potentially) blocking enemy movement by moving a large chaff force into them?
Exploiting moving a smallish force in on the magic phase to get your opponent to burn through gems before the main event in the movement phase?
Exploiting globals going into effect the round they go up?
Exploiting sticking cursed items on suicide commanders to get the enemy to pick them up?
Exploiting IRC all day to gain a big diplomatic advantage?
Exploiting casting spells in combat to take advantage of the deterministic order they go off in a round (reverse communions, etc.)?
Exploiting casting ritual spells to take advantage of the semi-deterministic order they go off?
Exploiting pooling gems for a mutually beneficial global? Dispels?
Deliberately trying to make the target route in an assassination?
Using vengeance of the dead to auto route targets after 50 turns?
Donating gems/items to an ally on your defeat?
Donating gems/items to the guy fighting your next target?
Using scorched earth and metagaming to get a leg up in the next game?
Exploiting autosummoned units (maenads, slaves, etc.) to make your forts practically unstormable?

I could go on. Seems like an exercise in both futility and likely to end in bad blood to try and dictate all the things that "gentlemen" are not supposed to do in war. If it doesn't break the game (and in fact everything discussed in this thread are examples of the quirks that make this game) I think it does far more harm than good to try and claim tactics available in the game are invalid.