[Freeciv-Dev] Freeciv: first impressions

[Big Gaute <gs234@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello!  I've been playing Freeciv (recent CVS) for a while now, and I
have some comments:

* The taxes dialog ought to show you how much your income and research
  is going to be when you click 'ok', as in Civ2.  This would
  alleviate a lot of clicking around in menus.

* The tax rate appears to be set to 0% every time there is a
  revolution, which is not very sensible.

* A foreign advisor a la Civ2 would be nice.

* It happened a couple of times that my democracy collapsed because of
  cities in civil unrest.

* Idea: environmental advisor: someone who tells you where there is
  pollution and how dire the situation is.  This would be more of a
  convenience thing than anything else.  (Also, I notice that Freeciv
  never brings up a message saying something like "Scientists worry
  about global warming bla-bla-bla," which we'll need for Civ2
  compatibility.)

* I miss the 'Go to City...' item in the orders menu.  A dialog along
  the lines of 'find units of specified type' would also be very
  convenient.

* If several units occupy one square, we never show more than four
  units in the space below the map and the turn info, even if there is
  enough space.  Also, the hit points of a unit on the map and the
  corresponding display appear to be out of sync from time to time.

* All the items in the help menu are of the type 'Help X'.  They
  should all be just 'X' since the word help is superfluous and only
  interferes with one's attempt to scan through the list.

* I noticed that at least some of the yes/no dialogs have ridiculously
  small buttons, just barely large enough to contain the words 'yes'
  and 'no'.

I hope of some of this will be of use to you.  Note that I have only
played against the ai locally, and always with the Gtk+ client.

Cheers,

-- 
Big Gaute (not to be confused with LG)
"There was a time when a guy who died at forty was revered as the toughest
and most doggedly ancient son of a bitch in Cow Ass Clearing, Shitoleshire,
Engalond, back in the year dot." - Spider Jerusalem, Transmetropolitan #25