I too play with friends but it's not outright cheating that's an issue, it's usually more innocent than that, just edge cases or forgetting about less common rules, especially in more complex games like Eclipse or through the ages. It's easy to forget a rule that only applies in selective situations but which can have far reaching consequences.

It's nice to relax and have the engine take care of it, and by pushing things you can actually learn odd interactions you wouldn't have discovered through reading the rule-book.