pecelot wrote:also almost invisible resource trickles, very insignificant but unfair advantages etc.
good luck with that! :)
Some are not subtle at all with their hacks, sending 30 learacorns and ten monster trucks at one minute. Others are a bit more so, "accidentally" losing connection when they suffer a loss or "miraculously" determining where their opponent will be attacking from and where their gatherers are.
Hacked-in resource trickles, if actually used, would be even more insidious as it would be very hard to assess an extra 5 or 10 resources per second by looking at the post-game graphs.
If someone uses a trainer to just send themselves eco it's readily apparent. However, if someone had an overall, say 10%, eco-boost hack you should be able to see it too by looking at the factory. If you see the factory producing more than 7.15 resources per second then something is definitely up.
I've seen people who have had extraordinarily good economies. However, a close analysis revealed that they just macroed very well. They did things like getting their TCs up soon and villagers out fast, never ceasing villager production other than during early transitions with TC-aging civs, concentrating gathering mainly on upgraded resources, timing resource distribution to specific needs, aging appropriately, etc. I've yet to see clear evidence of a subtle macro hack. Usually when someone cried "cheat" when their opponent had more eco, the post game revealed that they just did poorly in the macro or in the fight, where they spent more money on units.