[Freeciv-Dev] Re: maps/projections

[Stan Shebs <shebs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Martin Christensen wrote:
> 
> Okay, if we have to implement this 3D stuff, let's at least do it in a
> 3D fashion. I hardly know anything about non-Euclidian geometry, so I
> may be wrong, but isn't it possible to divide a sphere into a number
> of 'squares' on the surface of the sphere?

No.  That's because there are only five regular polyhedra, and
the only one with squares is the cube.  The closest you can get
is to subdivide each face of the cube, but then you get the funky
neighbor relationships at each corner of the cube.

Some Xconq oldtimers on this list may remember that we discussed
this issue for Xconq about 8 years ago, and even though there are
certain kinds of warfighting for which poles are crucial (think
ICBM flight paths), the work was way out of proportion to the
benefit that anyone could see.

Since Freeciv is a game where Americans and Sumerians can be
contemporaneous and your troops might take 50 years to walk 50
miles, it makes more sense to ain for a particular "feel" of play,
rather than geometric accuracy.

Stan