Re: [Freeciv-Dev] Nationalities

[Stephen Hodge <stephenh@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Alexandre BERAUD wrote:
> Steve Hodge wrote:
> >I don't think it would bother me particularly but I just don't see the
> >point. FreeCiv is not a simulation of history and doesn't attempt to
> >accurately reflect life. There is no point in assigning traits to
> >nationalities just because someone perceives that they fit in real life.
> 
> No, but it would be really fun ! If most of you don't like this way of
> adding differences, why not finding another way ? Maybe it could be
> choses at random, as was proposed, and human players could have
> different abilities during the game depending on thei actions. I mean
> something like an 'alignment' that would make you become 'militarized'
> for example and give you automatically the advantages of this politic
> and the problems that come with it, too.

I don't have a problem with your idea but I think we should be careful about
stereotyping particular races with particular traits. Better would be to let
users assign traits, and randomly generate them otherwise. Assigning traits
to players based on gameplay would be a good idea IMO regardless of whether
or not they have any game effect. This could be very handy for diplomacy, eg
you could see if someone has been trustworthy (that one appears in Civ2),
militaristic etc, before doing deals.

Giving the traits effects in the game is something Sid Meier's Alpha Centuri
has: certain technologies let you impose certain styles on your civilization
(eg capitalistic) which have effects on knowledge, and resource production
etc. I'm not sure I'd be so keen on this sort of thing if it was only
indirectly controled by the player (ie based on how the player acts as a
whole, rather than a single conscious decision). It would be worth trying
though.

Regards,
Steve Hodge