Can you get banned for using cheat engine in BTD6?

You won‘t directly get VAC or game banned for using cheating tools in Bloons TD 6. However, getting caught does carry penalties. Most commonly, your account will be tossed into a separate "cheater pool" multiplayer matchmaking pool.

Getting placed in the "cheater pool"

Rather than outright banning cheating accounts, Ninja Kiwi‘s approach is to segregate them from the main player base. Accounts flagged for exploiting, hacking or cheating are restricted to only playing with other rule-breakers.

The scrappy cat-and-mouse game

This cheater pool versus player pool dynamic has led to a scrappy game of cat-and-mouse between players determined to gain illicit advantages and developers trying to snuff them out.

The factors that lead to being placed in the pool aren‘t crystal clear. Anecdotal reports indicate abnormal gameplay statistics related to cash, lives, tower types and upgrades can raise flags.

Particularly if they follow sudden spikes rather than smooth progression. Things like unlocking pricey Tier-5 upgrades without sufficient preceding funds.

Attempts to avoid detection

In response, some players maintain alternate "cheating" accounts specifically for illicit play, keeping their main profiles clean. The rationale is that even if cheating burner accounts get dumped into the cheater pool, primary accounts remain safely in the main player bracket.

Of course, this likely further fuels the detection arms race. As cheating tools and techniques advance, so must mechanisms to identify them.

No direct VAC bans for BTD6 cheats

A common concern whenever cheating in Steam games is receiving a notorious VAC ban, displayed directly on Steam profiles.

However, since Bloons TD 6 does not utilize Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC), this isn‘t currently a possibility solely for BTD6. You‘d have to trigger VAC bans in other applicable Steam games.

That said, general wisdom is closing out cheating programs before launching any VAC-enabled games. Particularly if they have kernel-level drivers that could be flagged as suspicious system modifications by VAC.

Gameplay mods can also be considered cheating

It‘s not only specialized cheating tools that Ninja Kiwi cracks down on. Gameplay-altering mods that provide unintended boosts also fall under exploitation.

For example, mods that make towers shoot faster, let you place more towers, or give extra starting cash/lives. These directly advantage you over other players in the same vein as traditional hacking.

So while visual-only mods are likely safe, breaking gameplay balance via mods carries the same risks of landing in the cheater pool. Tread carefully.

A look at cheat user statistics

Cheaters will always try getting edges illicitly, despite developers‘ best efforts. Across platforms, some cheating insights:

So cheating remains an ongoing balancing act. Players try getting away with advantages, while developers pare down offenses to protect fair play. The back-and-forth continues.