diff --git a/src/kernel/faction.c b/src/kernel/faction.c
index 86830c451..10c614505 100755
--- a/src/kernel/faction.c
+++ b/src/kernel/faction.c
@@ -566,7 +566,8 @@ void faction_setbanner(faction * self, const char *banner)
 
 void faction_setpassword(faction * f, const char *pwhash)
 {
-    assert(pwhash && pwhash[0] == '$');
+    assert(pwhash);
+    // && pwhash[0] == '$');
     free(f->_password);
     f->_password = _strdup(pwhash);
 }
diff --git a/src/kernel/save.test.c b/src/kernel/save.test.c
index 71cb6e91c..732353d1a 100644
--- a/src/kernel/save.test.c
+++ b/src/kernel/save.test.c
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ static void test_read_password(CuTest *tc) {
     gamedata *data;
     faction *f;
     f = test_create_faction(0);
-    faction_setpassword(f, password_hash("secret", 0, PASSWORD_DEFAULT));
+    faction_setpassword(f, password_encode("secret", PASSWORD_DEFAULT));
     data = gamedata_open(path, "wb");
     CuAssertPtrNotNull(tc, data);
     _test_write_password(data, f);
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ static void test_read_password_external(CuTest *tc) {
 
     remove(pwfile);
     f = test_create_faction(0);
-    faction_setpassword(f, password_hash("secret", 0, PASSWORD_DEFAULT));
+    faction_setpassword(f, password_encode("secret", PASSWORD_DEFAULT));
     CuAssertPtrNotNull(tc, f->_password);
     data = gamedata_open(path, "wb");
     CuAssertPtrNotNull(tc, data);
diff --git a/src/util/password.c b/src/util/password.c
index b7880b8e6..24aff3d01 100644
--- a/src/util/password.c
+++ b/src/util/password.c
@@ -32,14 +32,14 @@ char *password_gensalt(char *salt, size_t salt_len) {
     char *cp = salt;
     while (buflen) {
         unsigned long ul = genrand_int32() & (unsigned long)time(0);
-        b64_from_24bit((char)(ul & 0xFF), (char)((ul>>8)&0xff), (char)((ul>>16)&0xFF), 4);
+        b64_from_24bit((char)(ul & 0xFF), (char)((ul >> 8) & 0xff), (char)((ul >> 16) & 0xFF), 4);
     }
     salt[salt_len-1] = 0;
     return salt;
 }
 
 static bool password_is_implemented(int algo) {
-    return algo == PASSWORD_BCRYPT || algo == PASSWORD_PLAIN || algo == PASSWORD_MD5 || algo == PASSWORD_APACHE_MD5;
+    return algo == PASSWORD_PLAINTEXT || algo == PASSWORD_BCRYPT || algo == PASSWORD_NOCRYPT || algo == PASSWORD_MD5 || algo == PASSWORD_APACHE_MD5;
 }
 
 static const char * password_hash_i(const char * passwd, const char *input, int algo, char *result, size_t len) {
@@ -57,7 +57,11 @@ static const char * password_hash_i(const char * passwd, const char *input, int
         }
         return result;
     }
-    else if (algo == PASSWORD_PLAIN) {
+    else if (algo == PASSWORD_PLAINTEXT) {
+        _snprintf(result, len, "%s", passwd);
+        return result;
+    }
+    else if (algo == PASSWORD_NOCRYPT) {
         _snprintf(result, len, "$0$%s", passwd);
         return result;
     }
@@ -99,17 +103,20 @@ const char * password_encode(const char * passwd, int algo) {
 
 int password_verify(const char * pwhash, const char * passwd) {
     char hash[64];
-    int algo;
+    int algo = PASSWORD_PLAINTEXT;
     char *pos;
     const char *result;
     assert(passwd);
     assert(pwhash);
-    assert(pwhash[0] == '$');
-    algo = pwhash[1];
+    if (pwhash[0] == '$') {
+        algo = pwhash[1];
+    }
     if (!password_is_implemented(algo)) {
         return VERIFY_UNKNOWN;
     }
-    if (algo == PASSWORD_BCRYPT) {
+    if (algo == PASSWORD_PLAINTEXT) {
+        return (strcmp(passwd, pwhash) == 0) ? VERIFY_OK : VERIFY_FAIL;
+    } else if (algo == PASSWORD_BCRYPT) {
         char sample[200];
         _crypt_blowfish_rn(passwd, pwhash, sample, sizeof(sample));
         return (strcmp(sample, pwhash) == 0) ? VERIFY_OK : VERIFY_FAIL;
diff --git a/src/util/password.h b/src/util/password.h
index ec7ab6bbc..fe84716d7 100644
--- a/src/util/password.h
+++ b/src/util/password.h
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 #pragma once
 
-#define PASSWORD_PLAIN  '0'
+#define PASSWORD_PLAINTEXT 0
+#define PASSWORD_NOCRYPT '0'
 #define PASSWORD_MD5 '1'
 #define PASSWORD_BCRYPT '2' // not implemented
 #define PASSWORD_APACHE_MD5 'a'
 #define PASSWORD_SHA256 '5' // not implemented
 #define PASSWORD_SHA512 '6' // not implemented
-#define PASSWORD_DEFAULT PASSWORD_APACHE_MD5
+#define PASSWORD_DEFAULT PASSWORD_PLAINTEXT
 
 #define VERIFY_OK 0 // password matches hash
 #define VERIFY_FAIL 1 // password is wrong
diff --git a/src/util/password.test.c b/src/util/password.test.c
index eb7bcbc69..bee535cdd 100644
--- a/src/util/password.test.c
+++ b/src/util/password.test.c
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@
 static void test_passwords(CuTest *tc) {
     const char *hash, *expect;
 
-    CuAssertIntEquals(tc, VERIFY_UNKNOWN, password_verify("$9$password", "password"));
-
     expect = "$apr1$FqQLkl8g$.icQqaDJpim4BVy.Ho5660";
     CuAssertIntEquals(tc, VERIFY_OK, password_verify(expect, "Hodor"));
     hash = password_encode("Hodor", PASSWORD_APACHE_MD5);
@@ -19,18 +17,27 @@ static void test_passwords(CuTest *tc) {
     CuAssertPtrNotNull(tc, hash);
     CuAssertIntEquals(tc, 0, strncmp(hash, expect, 3));
 
-    expect = "$0$password";
+    expect = "password";
+    hash = password_encode("password", PASSWORD_PLAINTEXT);
+    CuAssertPtrNotNull(tc, hash);
+    CuAssertStrEquals(tc, hash, expect);
     CuAssertIntEquals(tc, VERIFY_OK, password_verify(expect, "password"));
     CuAssertIntEquals(tc, VERIFY_FAIL, password_verify(expect, "arseword"));
-    hash = password_encode("password", PASSWORD_PLAIN);
+
+    expect = "$0$password";
+    hash = password_encode("password", PASSWORD_NOCRYPT);
     CuAssertPtrNotNull(tc, hash);
-    CuAssertStrEquals(tc, expect, hash);
+    CuAssertStrEquals(tc, hash, expect);
+    CuAssertIntEquals(tc, VERIFY_OK, password_verify(expect, "password"));
+    CuAssertIntEquals(tc, VERIFY_FAIL, password_verify(expect, "arseword"));
 
     expect = "$2y$05$RJ8qAhu.foXyJLdc2eHTLOaK4MDYn3/v4HtOVCq0Plv2yxcrEB7Wm";
     CuAssertIntEquals(tc, VERIFY_OK, password_verify(expect, "Hodor"));
     hash = password_encode("Hodor", PASSWORD_BCRYPT);
     CuAssertPtrNotNull(tc, hash);
     CuAssertIntEquals(tc, 0, strncmp(hash, expect, 7));
+
+    CuAssertIntEquals(tc, VERIFY_UNKNOWN, password_verify("$9$saltyfish$password", "password"));
 }
 
 CuSuite *get_password_suite(void) {