[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Submit patch again?

[Trent Piepho <xyzzy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Miguel Farah F. wrote:
> >> it one of its nation.
> >
> >     And the vicious Malthusian view:
> >     Watchtowers are a waste of space.  Build a city! :)
> 
> You have just destroyed the entire argument in favor of a watchtower.
> I am duly impressed.

I think Tony has a good point there too.  Part of the balance in FoW for civ2
is that you need to deal with watching your borders.  You can do this by
sticking units there, but they have to be built in your cities and then have
upkeep or unhappiness to deal with.  Units like a caravan or diplomat that are
keep to leave sitting around die easy.  You can build a city, but there are
a lot of costs associated with that too.

If you make something a settler can build, doesn't cost anything, doesn't need
upkeep or unhappiness or any work at all to keep around, then that makes
watching your borders quite a bit easier.  I think the continued popularity of
civ2 is a testament to the balance the game had.  I don't think that should be
changed unless you come up with a good reason why the multiplayer nature of
freeciv necessitates the difference.