[Freeciv-Dev] Re: auto settlers rework

[Ashley Penney <ashp@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Jan 21, 2002 at 11:54:27AM -0500, pc-freeciv1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx said:
> In playing Freeciv, I've run into one thing that I think really should be
> reworked: The auto-settler code.  Looking at the current code, each settler
> looks for work to do.  I think that it would make more sense to instead
> have each city create a list of work that needs to be done, and the
> settlers could seek a city that has work to be done.
> 
> So each city would have a map of what its terrain should look like, given
> unlimited settler time.  It could then assign a value to each change.  The
> overall value for the city would be largest such individual value.  This
> value would need to be recomputed anytime a settler begins work in the
> city.
> 
> Similarly, there would be a value for connecting a city to its neighbors
> with roads or railroads.
> 
> Once the initial change has been made, a new tab could be added to the city
> window showing the goals for the city.  This would be a view of the city
> with all worklist items completed, all settler activity completed, and the
> population maximized (up to a zero or negative one food value).  From here,
> the player could make changes to the goals.  For example, a plains could be
> changed to a grassland to stabilize the population (food value of zero at
> max population), avoid pollution from overproduction, or such.  If the
> worklist includes the construction of units, those units could be given
> orders to sentry, fortify, or auto-attack.
> 
> Eventually, default goals could be created, much like worklists today.  The
> default goals would include things like what to do with swamps (irrigate to
> grasslands or transform to ocean), taking into account specails, such as
> never transforming an oasis.
> 
> The goal should be to be able to create a city and never have to look at it
> again, provided that it is not involved in combat, and yet have the city do
> pretty much exactly what you want it to do.

One thing to also add is to take in account the distance the settler has to
travel in order to perform the work.  Nothing like a new city requiring some
work half way across the map, then having the settler move all the way back.

Trouble with that is that settlers are liable to get stuck in small sections
of the map, due to the distance required to travel elsewhere. :/ 
-- 
When Bruce Evans commits something one can virtually rest assured
that it has been throughly tested ever since he originally wrote
it in 1974 and that several satelites and ICBMs wouldn't work
and the cold war would not have ended without that patch. -- Poul-Henning.