[Freeciv-Dev] Settler tech patch

["R. Miller" <richere@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 11:07 01-03-16 +0000, Jules Bean wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 15, 2001 at 04:37:19PM -0600, Tony Stuckey wrote:
> > On Thu, Mar 15, 2001 at 02:30:59PM -0800, Arien Malec wrote:
> > > Attached is a partial patch to implement tech flags for settler techs.
> > > The basic idea is to make the settler technologies you get for free
> > > (road building, irrigation, mining) something you have to develop,
> > > which seems both more realistic and more challenging. (Settler techs
> > > would also balance out a terraform only unit with no population cost).
> >
> >       This is actually what Civ did.  The start of game message said
> > things like:
> >       "Your tribe has knowledge of Irrigation, Mining, Roadbuilding,
> > Pottery, and Bronze Working", where the first three never changed, and the
> > others were potential starting bonuses.
>
> I'm fairly sure you didn't necessarily get those three.
>
> The Romans always got Roadbuilding, and most other nations had some
> techs they always got, but I'm pretty sure it was possible not to
> start with roads.
>
> Jules
In Civ, CivNet, and Civ2, you always got Roadbuilding, Irrigation and 
Mining as initial minimum advances.
I haven't played Civ recently to verify if the following applies to it, but 
in Civ2 additional advances are
awarded to individual players at the start in order to compensate for a 
less than advantageous starting position.
For example, if, after map generation, the engine places my starting 
settler on a really small island,
I may receive several (5 or 6) additional advances at the start; if the 
island is larger, I may only get 2 or 3 additional
advances. If I am starting on a large continent, I will get on 
Roadbuilding, Irrigation, and Mining, nothing else.
Also, again from observation, if I start in an area which is not all that 
promising with respect to growth (desert and
plains squares), then I will probably receive additional advances at the 
start, whereas as what I call "golf courses"
(large expanses of grassland) will probably result in no additional initial 
advances.
In other words, the system does not seem to try to give equivalent starting 
areas to all players;
starting  areas will be different for each player, but geophysical 
disadvantages will be compensated by
the award of additional initial advances.

Robaire