Cry cheater, hack, hacked ship, . These are the sounds I hear from frustrated Pilots who can't hack it. "Pun" ;)  Then there are you lag, you skip, and others.  Enter the whiner!   Shut-up, watch, and learn!  The ultimate complement is being called a cheater

 How many times have you been in a game of Gig2 and another pilot who is whooping the hell out of you seems to be moving just a little too fast?  Or seems to take a lot of damage with no effect?   This pilot could be playing with a 'hacked' version of Descent 2.  Hacked, meaning that the program has been changed to give the player an unfair advantage.  Players who play with hacked versions of Descent 1 or 2 are cheaters.  It happens, and it is happening way too often.   There are a few hacks being passed around that are not very obvious.  These are the worst kind.   Most of the time the hog file has been altered to reflect a different value for speed,  shields, and or damage effect from weapons.  The cheater can have all, or only one of these minor adjustments.  And sometimes the hacks are very hard to spot and prove.

These hacks are a way of fulfilling the warped egos of cheaters.  For these cheaters there is no sense of fair play. Cheaters get off beating you up when they most likely couldn't if they weren't cheating.   They are, in fact, dishonorable cowards.  Many pilots have all seen a very fast speed hack and the guy that you can't kill at all;  but these hacks are obvious. Other hacks, like the 25% speed hack,  are much less obvious but give the pilot just enough to out run a shaker. If you think a guy is moving too fast in a game, you can call him on it.  He will probably say that he's triple chording.  While it is true you can move faster by triple chording, especially so if on after burner, you can't out run shaker bombletes. Like I said it's very hard to prove.  Not impossible, just very difficult. Such hacks are out there, believe it!

It is important to know someone on a much faster computer will move a little faster than the guys on slower computers, but a 300MHz Pentium II can't out run shaker bombletes.  (This does not hold true for D3)  I'm fairly good at this Gig 2 game, and their are pilots who can beat me; but not easily.  So when a guy comes in and whoops the hell out of me like I'm a Newbie, I say "Yea right!"   Hack all the way. I don't care what they say.

Don't mistake lag or packet loss for a hack. If you really think you have a pilot who is cheating, either leave the game or stay and get your ass whooped.  Staying is not a good learning experience, because no matter how hard you try you probably can't out perform the hack.  But there are pilots who are just plain great.  Make sure he's not just a good pilot before getting upset.  I've been called a cheater many many times, mainly because I like to fly using different Pilot names and the offended Pilot does not know who I am.  I will usually tell the other pilot who I am and that I don't cheat.  Most of the time they recognize me.  Sometimes others in the game recognize me and they support me.  Thanks Buddies!

My recommendations are these.  Don't be a lamer and cheat.  Don't stay in a game where there is a cheater.  Unless, of course, you are the Game Master in which case, kick them out.  (D1 & D2 Only)  But please make sure you are right.  There are still many more honorable pilots than cheaters... and there are probably many pilots who are better than you.