[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Building wonder in stealth mode! (PR#764)

[Jason Short <jshort@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Greg Wooledge wrote:
> 
> Davide (nightmare@xxxxxxxxxx) wrote:
> 
> > I've noticed, what I think is a bug (someone can say is a feature,
> > but it is really a bug!).
> >
> > Whenever start building a wonder, a message is sent to every player.
> > The same is done when someone stop builsing a wonder.
> 
> This is a feature; it's how the various PayCiv games *all* work.  A
> wonder of the world is a project so vast and astonishing that it cannot
> be done secretly.

This isn't the "feature" Davide is referring to.  In the wonders of the
world info box (F7), it lists all wonders currently being built.  This
does not list obsolete wonders being built, however (a specific check
which he removed in his patch).  Because of this, it's possible to build
a wonder in "stealth mode" by continuing to build an obsolete wonder
until the last moment.  The same thing could be accomplished using
caravans, but would take a little more effort and could not be done
early in the game.


This brings to light an underlying problem with the PayCiv rules: it's
easy to switch between wonders.  It doesn't matter *which* wonder you're
building, because you can easily switch.  An alternative ruleset could
give you the standard 50% penalty when switching between wonders, thus
making the information gleaned from the "wonders of the world" info
window actually useful.  This would be an easy change to make, but
should be an option disabled by default.  I also suspect that the AI
would not handle it well.

jason short