[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Clearing your backlog

[Petr Baudis <pasky@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> > Just go ahead. However I would also greatly appreciate any extra eyes on
> > the patches in the backlog. For example is the AI-railway patch a good idea
> > based on the fact that it may make it easier for an attacker to capure a
> > continent? This is a question were I have no answer yet.
> 
> There is no good answer for this question. It's a tradeoff. The AI can be
> much better at attacking with this patch, if it has a lot of cities on a
> large landmass map, and the human player has fewer cities on the same
> continent. In large landmass scenarios this is a big win.
> 
> There are scenarios where it can be much worse though. 3 equal size islands
> controlled by the ai. I land a big invasion force on one island, capture the
> capital and split the ai in half. Game winner. I believe this scenario is
> where the problem lies. If the ai capital and wonder cities are well
> protected, this might not be much of a problem. 
I watched AI for some time, and it seems to me that it is using to protect its
cities carefully most times. When there will appear a unit on a railroad
leading to some city, calculated danger will be IMHO same as if the unit would
be adjectent to the city, as move_cost to there will be zero.

> On balance, it makes sense to allow railroads. It also makes it much easier to
> reinforce cities as well. I think that
It is, that is another big pro.
> 
> a) improves attack a lot
> b) mixed blessing as far as defense goes, but it is not certainly a negative.
> 
> Anyone else want to make comments about the desirability of the ai building
> cross country networks? 
I'm for it.

-- 

                                Petr "Pasky" Baudis

UN*X programmer, UN*X administrator, hobbies = IPv6, IRC
Real Users hate Real Programmers.
Public PGP key, geekcode and stuff: http://pasky.ji.cz/~pasky/