[Freeciv-Dev] Re: the things i dislike about freeciv

[Erik Sigra <freeciv@xxxxxxx>]

Jamie Kawabata wrote:
> 1.c. i think internationalization should be pure client side.  the protocol 
> between client and server ought to be language-independent.  no messages, 
> except perhaps "willkommen," from the server make it to the client (e.g. help 
> text).  this is true for the most part.  it is not the server's 
> responsibility to have to speak every language simultaneously.  it's an 
> interface thing.  if a unit is to be called a "Cannon" then perhaps it should 
> be #defined UNIT_CANNON in the client and server, and only the client knows 
> about the string "Kanonenbein".  as for help text, well, i believe it doesn't 
> have any place in the server at all.

This is a well-known problem that has been discussed before. (BTW what
is a "Kanonenbein"? Cannon leg? Which po-file did you find it in?)
 
> 1.d. i feel that worklists should be purely client side.  they are a 
> user-interface convenience, and ought to be fairly easy to implement 
> client-side only, as long as there's no penalty for switching production the 
> turn after something has completed building.

This means that the client would have to make an own client-side
savegame file to store the worklists (shudder). That would be truly
ugly! Just leave the worklists server-side please.
 
> 1.e. city name suggestions and nation names should be pure client side.  
> partly this is a philosophical objection, that the server shouldn't be so 
> involved with names of nations (other than guaranteeing uniqueness) and city 
> names.  in Civ 1 i could name my country whatever i wanted.  with freeciv i'm 
> stuck if i want a country called "Mathland" and cities "Cauchy" "Bernoulli" 
> "Leibniz", etc.  well at least i can rename each city as i build it.  it 
> would be nice if i could configure my own personal country name and list of 
> city names.  the only tricky part is the flags.  i'm not sure how to handle 
> that one other than to have each client upload the tiny graphic at game 
> start.  (but of course i should be opposed to that, too, since the server 
> should take no part in graphics!)

City name suggestions have also been discussed before. It is
security-crittical. So are flags. Someone could upload a flag that
differs slightly in just 1 pixel from some other flag, to confuse the
opponents.
 
> 1.f. goto should be pure client side.  again this is mostly a philosophical 
> objection, since goto is very much a user-interface convenience.  i guess 
> some people would like way points and road-to commands.  they belong in the 
> client too.

Same problem with savegames as above. Must remain server-side, which is
also good for computer controlled players.