When Gandhi Goes Bad [Civilization]
Civilization is all about building your empire and taking over the world by any means necessary. You don’t have to be cruel — you can aim for a culture victory by spreading the good word, or by helping others with a country built on peace. Or you can build nukes and go hogwild.
There are nukes in every game in the Civilization series, but the funniest use of nukes comes from a long-known quirk in the game’s code. Gandhi, a well-known figure of peaceful revolution, but in Civilization he’s a war-monger with his finger on the big red nuke button.
Why was Gandhi so war-like in Civilization? It’s all due to a bug. Gandhi’s aggression rating starts at 1, which makes sense! He was a pretty peaceful guy. But, once a country converts to Democracy in Civilization, the aggression rating goes down by 2 points. Code being the way it is, that meant that Gandhi’s aggression rolled over when India becomes a democracy, turning into a 9. And that’s how warlord Gandhi was born.
Self-Destructive Behavior [MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries]
MechWarrior gives us the chance to live out our fantasies, stomping around in massive mechs loaded with an absurd amount of weapons. There’s just one downside — your mech has a nuclear core. If that core gets breached, you’ll experience a rapid meltdown and a massive explosion.
Those explosions aren’t apocalyptic like in reality, but they’ll still ruin your day. And it was a weapon you could use against your enemies — or they could use against you. MechWarrior 4 models the explosion, allowing you to get a dirty kill on enemies that target your tiny engine with precision blasts. The game is a simulator for a reason, and it’s pretty fun when all those big red warning lights appear — it’s a pretty unique method to go out in a blaze of glory.
Enjoy the biggest booms or lessons on the nature of deterrence on the next page.
