[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Sail River: Next Step

[Erik Sigra <freeciv@xxxxxxx>]

Geoffrey Dunn wrote:
> 
> These are great ideas for units but some of them should have other tech
> requirements built in for them. Canal has already been discussed and I
> think Heavy canal is late enough in the game that a mix of requirements
> will do but I'll pick on the Barge unit. It's rare that a player would
> have trade and not have researched seafaring so from a game play sense
> you would see a lot of barges and caravans would become a rarity. You
> could balance things out by either limiting the barges movement (2
> instead of 3 for trireme) or put in a new tech requirement for it.
> Actually now I think about it the first idea seems the better choice.
> Hmm... anyway think about it from a game play sense as well as a
> historical sense.

I don't think it is a problem if caravans get rarer then they are now.
Because in the real world history, trade with ships was also more
convenient than trade with caravans. Ships were used whenever possible.
Just look at medieval europe (for example the Swedish vikings in Eastern
Europe).

Caravans were used in places like Central Asia and Sahara, and they
could still have their use in such situations in the game. Especially
when playing inland games with "set landmass landmass'Last" and "set
rivers rivers'First".
 
>                         Geoff

Erik