[Freeciv-Dev] Re: citymindist

[Karl-Ingo Friese <kif@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 7 Oct 2001, Reinier Post wrote:

> > BTW: citymindist 3 games are much more interesting then
> > citymindist 2 (which is default). Especialy in the begining
> > you realy need to make wise usage of the topology of your
> > starting island. The ai does not know this yet and often
> > places their cities pretty silly ...
>
> This surprises me: the AI tends to place its cities at distance 3.

The basic problem is that you can not found a city closer than that
anymore when you play with citymindist 3. If you choose your cites
without care, it might happen that you miss valuable specials (like
whales) or - even worse - that you get _much_ less cities on your
starting island than possible. With citymindist 2 you can correct
that "mistake". With citymindist 3, you cant (unless you destroy
your own city).

As an example: a small island.

  ..............
  ..............
  ....Ao.oA.....
  .....oBoo.....
  .....ooo......
  ......Ao......
  ..............

How many cities fit to this small piece of land ? Correct, three.
(placed at the locations A). Or only one (placed at location B).
The AI tends to found class B cities.

The multiple effects of a hardcoded citymindist (which seems pretty
simple at first) are often unexpected by those who have not plaid it
before and quickly after that very much appreciated.

Ingo

-- 

Karl-Ingo Friese
kif@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx