[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Suggestion for freeciv.

[Greg Wooledge <greg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Martin_Sawitzki@xxxxxx (Martin_Sawitzki@xxxxxx) wrote:

> 1.) terraforming, ability of settlers to build embrackments
> 
> not only the Netherland do it to get more land.
> If it would be possible you could transform big golfes in new land

Raising land from the sea?  This is possible in SMAC; it's a side effect
of the terrain elevation model.  (Each tile in SMAC has an elevation,
in meters.  Formers can raise and lower terrain; if any tile is more
than 1000m higher or lower than its neighbors, the neighbors are also
raised/lowered until balance is achieved.  If you raise a coastal tile,
it'll be more than 1000m higher than the sea it's next to, so the sea
tile(s) become land tiles.)

> 2.) Satellites
> Not as a wounder, but as a selfmoving unit.
> Many Nations have satellites to take a look at their Neighbours.
> The Appoloprogramm shows all cities, but with sattelites you could see
> either all enemy units or those units which where under the satelite.
> My proposion is to build them with a view range of about 5 squares and a
> movementrate of one quarter of the map.

Micromanaging those satellites would be a nightmare.  It's bad enough
trying to convince myself to fly planes around on patrols looking for
boats... would you actually *enjoy* moving this satellite unit around
every turn?

> You could see them crossing the world and if you had enough you will now
> more about your enemies.

If a Freeciv turn lasts a year or more, it can be argued that *any*
satellite (other than geosynchronous/equatorial orbit) will cover the
entire globe during this period of time.

> 3.) possibility to surrender.
> The winner get's all cities and units of the loser.

This is good.  Another possibility is SMAC's "submissive pact", in
which the faction who surrenders is "permanently" allied with the other.
The loser gives all their gold and unknown technologies (if any) to the
victor, and will always give new technologies discovered every time their
is communication.  Of course, this would be less useful in Freeciv (Civ2
model) because you don't automatically get trade income with your allies
(instead, you must build Caravans, etc.).

(In actual SMAC games vs. the AI, getting a submissive AI pactmate usually
means you get a good deal of trade income, but you end up defending them
from military attacks by the other AIs; once you've defeated them to the
point where they'll submit, they're unable to fight back against other
AIs by themselves.)

> 4.) Inflation
> At all real economy's there is one.
> It should depend on the power of the production of one land.
> Also it could happen, that after a revolution the Valuta is reformed.

Freeciv's economy isn't based on money; it's based on "gold".  Now, you
can think of this as actual gold (Au), or as an abstract purchasing power.
In any case, it's not tied to any specific currency, so fluctuations
in the purchasing power of the currency have no effect on your gold
(the stuff that *backs* your currency).

The effect of "things being more expensive as time goes on" is already
present in Freeciv, by the way.  Try founding a new city in the
post-Gunpowder era, and you'll find that you can't build a defender in
the city for less than 30 shields (or 40 for Riflemen); but in 4000 BC
you could build one (a Warrior) for only 10 shields.  This has a definite
impact on how the game is played.

It's different in some of the other Civ games.  In CTP the effect is even
more dramatic (Phalanx costs 135; Musketeer costs 560; Machine Gunner
costs 800; War Walker costs 3000).  If you build a new city in CTP in
the post-Modern eras, you'd better bring your own defender with you!
In SMAC it's the opposite: you can prevent your units from being marked
obsolete, so you can build 1/1/1 defenders (base cost: 10 minerals) as
long as you like, then upgrade them later by spending money (typically
40 gold or more).  (As far as I know, SMAC is the only commercial Civ
game with voluntary unit upgrades.  From what I've heard of CTP2, it
still doesn't allow upgrades either, despite the requests of players to
add that feature....)

-- 
*** Please note new address. -->  |  Greg Wooledge
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"Truth belongs to everybody."     |  http://wooledge.org/~greg/
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