[Freeciv-Dev] is there anyway to play freeciv via email?

[Andreas_Romeyke@xxxxxxxxxx (Andreas Romeyke)]

Hello,

is there anyway to play freeciv via email?

(Background: I search free "play by email"-Games for BBSes. Sometimes ago
I released with a friend a civ-clone called simplanets under PowerBasic as
a stand-alone version. Earlier I used DOS-PbM-Games, but my BBS is now
running under Linux, and there is nothing in this relation. My first Idea
was to translate this simplanet to C or Tcl and build an email-Version,
but it was too complex for a complete rewrite...)

My idea was originally to develop an email-server/client based on openciv,
because there was a good point to handle it (Python and Tk)...

Now, I want to do this with freeciv (is the openciv-project a zombie
now?), but I need any informations/changes to do this.

1. Everybody can join and cut the game, but the game continous (like as
VGAPlanets), also there no restrictions of maps, players and so on...

2. I prefer a scripting  language especially Tcl/Tk to build an email-
handler, because there is a good way to check email- and order-
consistency, also I unterstand Tcl better as C or C++ (for hacking I can
enough handle with C)
If emails handled with a programming language like C there is a hard way
to parse binary-emails from various-computers. It can be solved by plain
Ascii-orders packed with ZIP in a mail

3. The clients should be OS-independent. I prefer in this way also Tcl/Tk,
I can't imagine that MSWindows-users can handle with a java-standalone
programm..., the installation of Tcl/Tk is much easier

4. the server also, but there is a good choice with C like freeciv

What are your meanings? There are some related projects? What could be
critical to solve?

Any hints?

(Sorry for my ugly written English, please don't beat me!)


Postscriptum:

the problem for cut and join to a running game I discussed with a friend.
We think by gamestart everybody must be an extended set of characters to
do more than one or two mouse-clicks in the first turns.

If a newbie is join the running, oldstarted game, he must be placed on
islands, thats is a little guarantuee (?rightspelled?) to survive. Another
idea was to give him a national park like as a prehistoric museum area. It
is saved by hardcoded rules :)


Bye Art.

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