[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Patch: Run for your lives! The disasters are coming!

[Jules Bean <jmlb2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Feb 29, 2000 at 03:05:06PM -0500, Mike Jing wrote:
> >From: Daniel Zinsli <s830+priv@xxxxxxxxx>
> >Date: 29 Feb 2000 14:20:29 +0100
> >
> >Reinier Post <rp@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> >
> >>Yes, most definitely.  But it's a compatibility feature, at least with Civ 
> >>I.  If it works, tt would be a shame to let the code go to waste, in my 
> >>opinion.
> >
> >Yes, If the code is finished, we should put it into the cvs, but
> >disabled as default, IMHO.
> 
> The coding is not particularly hard, because the disasters ruleset only 
> depends on 3 other rulesets, and it doesn't really affect the code 
> structure, but just a simple extension of existing rulesets.  It would be 
> even cleaner once the new generalized buildings ruleset is in place.  I 
> actually should have waited for it, so the now "finished" code is more like 
> a proof of concept, because I just want to see how the rulesets work.  And 
> it still needs polishing anyway.
> 
> The question here is whether people want this feature.  Sure it was in Civ1, 
> but how many people still play in Civ1 mode?  More importantly, how many 
> people want to see it in Freeciv mode?  From the response (or lack thereof) 
> in the list, I feel that not many people are fond of the idea of disasters 
> (which should be pretty obvious, if you think about it).

I haven't tried them yet, but I like the idea of disasters. One of the main
flaws in the Civ model is that it is a dominantly positive feedback game.
Once you start winning, you carry on winning. (as long as you pay sufficient
attention to tactics). Disasters might give the underdogs a chance, since
they'd be more likely to affect the larger players (since they have more
cities).

Jules

-- 
Jules Bean                          |        Any sufficiently advanced 
jules@{debian.org,jellybean.co.uk}  |  technology is indistinguishable
jmlb2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx              |               from a perl script