It's a good idea which merits additional exploration, although there are two problems with it:

1. The game stability is a big problem (and since E:WoM still is unstable, saying it's still a Beta might not be as much of a consolation as I certainly hope it will turn out to be).

2. There's a significant difference in pace between the games. A late game turn on a Huge map (not present yet, but hopefully will be) might very well take half an hour.

Both of these issues can partially be countered by mechanism that examines save games rather than continuous game progress, but it's easy to cheat by "crashing" the game by killing it from the task manager.

How about just having an ironman  option when starting a game? Stability would be a killer though (I had an ironman game corrupted for chaos gate in the end of the campaign, and it was pretty bad). It works much better than forcing oneself not to reload!

This idea allows you to save as much you like, autosaves etc. The bonus is only removed if you reload, so killing the game in task manager you'll still need to relaunch the game and load up your last save, zeroing any bonus.

It isn't about forcing oneself not to reload, but rewarding oneself for not reloading

I think a simple point is who are we to say how other people play the game.  Reload, never reload, these are personal preferences.  "I think I'm a better player because I never reload".  Who are you comparing yourself to?  Why?  The game isn't about being competitive against other people you will never meet or play against (it's a single player game remember), it's about having fun.

It's not about being better. Ironman mode has several effects that have nothing to do with it : you care much more for your units and champions because you know they may really die (at least, it worked in Chaos Gate), and it forces you to play more conservatively.

But if there is no option in the game forcing me to do it, I will have a hard time not reloading whenever one of my pokemons  champions get slain.

What about those that don't save/reload on bad defeats, but just haven't got time to play for more than 30 minutes a day?

Personally I think that to design a game to stop people wanting to save/reload is silly. Let them spoil the game for themselves if that is how they want to play it, don't try and water it down for those that don't.

It is possible to play a game that allows reloads on not reload within the scenario, just requires discipline.  And you'll find, especially in Wesnoth, that you care for your units better when you could lose them in a scenario playthrough.  You just don't appreciate units that level up unless you have a chance at losing them for good.

Did you read the post, though? I only asked for an ironman option that you could check at startup... Like there is in some other game (Armageddon Empires, Chaos Gate, Warlords Battlecry 3, Dominions 3...). It's not about feeling I shouldn't, it's just not the same at all when you know you cannot do it.

Agreed.

I personally never save except to leave the game, and the only 'reloading' I do is to start a game from where I left off last play session.  But not everyone is able to play with mistakes.  Some people need to play the 'perfect' game to have fun.  So let them.

Sure, and I'd be fine with an Ironman option that you check when setting up each game.  I played Mount and Blade that way and enjoyed in thoroughly.  

I guess I shouldn't have quoted you directly, since my point was meant more broadly to the original topic point of having a metagame system that rewards no reloading.  Mandatory save game gimmick systems are changing the game for no real purpose.  Whether I'm allowed to reload constantly or not is irrelevant if I'm punished for doing so (and call it what you want, but rewarding one behavior and not the other is no different than a punishment for the undesired behavior).  

You are punishing those that reload, no matter what you call it.  Even your terminology shows that you're idea stems from a disdain for people who like to reload often.  "Save-scumming".  

And I'm not willing to accept the stability argument.  This is a professional game studio, albeit a small one.  Stability in saving and loading is not a question and should not be gimmicked around.  It's expected.  No game should ever be released until the core basic systems are rock solid.  Particularly in a game designed for one game to last many individual play sessions. 

Not a fan of the idea, too "meta-game"