[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Glaciars

[Anecdoter@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 1/5/00 3:59:35 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
miky40@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:

> At the risk of being pedantic, I would say that the time scale is probably 
>  wrong.  In the past million years or two, glacial advance and retreat 
>  happened about every 100,000 years, which is ten times longer than the 
>  maximum length of Freeciv time (4000BC--5000AD==9,000 years).  In real 
life, 
>  glaciers move at an extremely slow pace, hardly perceptible on a human 
time 
>  scale.  Therefore, I think a glaciers/ice age senerio is not very 
realistic.

    Why does a game based on randomly generated maps have to be realistic?  
Each map is its own unique world.  Just because our planet is between ice 
ages does not mean all of the freeciv planets are as well.  Some planets 
could be exiting an ice age, where as others would be beginning them.  If we 
were to take points off for realism, we would have to throw the whiole 
freeciv time scale out the window, because 1.)   no human being can live 9000 
years, thus no human could rule for 9000 years 2.)   no human civilization 
has been around for 9000 years.   
  
>  Of course, we can throw the above argument out of the window if glaciers 
do 
>  offer interesting possibilities in terms of gameplay.  After all, global 
>  warming hasn't really happened and yet it is in the game.  The interesting 
>  thing about global warming is that it is a direct result of industrial 
>  pollution, and the players more or less have some control over the 
situation 
> 
>  (complaints about "dirty" AI notwithstanding).  On the other hand, a 
>  spontaneous global glacial advance would just be a nuisance, at least to 
me.

    I was picturing a low possibilty for glaciers - maybe a 1% chance of 
happening per game, if and only if certain conditions would be met.  Of 
course, it would also be a server option.  This way, players would not have 
to worry about glaciers all the time.  On the rare occasion they did appear, 
well then, they would be a new, unexpected problem for the players to face.  
The players would have to deal with the changes cicumstances or be destroyed 
- just like in real life ;->
>  
>  However, I think a "nuclear winter" senerio would a perfect place for 
>  glaciers.  For this we have to treat pulltion from nuclear weapons 
>  differently from ordinary industrial pollution, and when too many nukes 
are 
>  being deployed, a new ice age will begin.  The resulting glacial advance 
>  would be much faster than during the natural cycle because of the much 
>  reduced sunlight.  Alas!  The game rarely advances to the nuclear stage.  
So 
> 
>  this is also kind of pointless, at least at the moment.
>  
>  On a much smaller scale, we can have icebergs instead of glaciers as part 
of 
> 
>  the natural disaster collection, floating around arctic waters, waiting 
for 
>  the Titanic.  I am pretty sure, once implemented, all the earthquakes, 
>  volcanos, floods, hurricanes, etc. will keep the player busy even without 
>  the threat of another ice age.
>