[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Alternative nation dialog

[Mark Metson <markm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 28 Feb 2002, aliaga wrote:

> Remember the start of the game, when every tribe gets a flavour of the same 
> bunch of basic sciences? That's why. :-)

I would like to see the possibility in the engine to permit roads,
irrigation (agriculture?) and establishment of permanent settlements be
separated. I did find that by removing the Cities flag from a settler unit
I could make an irrigator that could not found cities, but I could not
find any way of removing roadbuilding capability.

I have been trying to work on some variants that I hoped would be merely
mod-packs rather than require code changes, but it is not always clear how
far the generalisation of the code has progressed. From various comments I
have seen it looks like a lot of stuff destined to be possible in
mod-packs is presently hardcoded in the code?

I have put up some pages at
http://www.knotwork.com/activity/games/freeciv/
about the variations I am looking to do and the problems I have
encountered in implementing them.

> But the same could be said about the Dinnosaurs, so what? There will still 
> be people who like playing against Annibal as well as against Velociraptor, 
> or make THEM win against the Romans (or Mammals).

Evidently I am not the only one to have wanted to go back before such
technologies as Language and Culture. The globbing of too many techs into
the one unit Settlers militates against that. Too many assumptions are
being made arbitrarily in the way that unit is put together.

> >Spain was important. Add them to the list. Nonetheless, I cannot name the
> >spanish contributions to civilisation. What did the spanish add 
> >scientifically?
> 
> More than a few bits, lets have a random pick over Civ-like things: the 
> first hand-portable cannon, the pikemen, the Galleon, the Caravel, the 
> Zero, the heavy sword, astronomy, modern-mapmaking, fortresses, the 
> explorer unit (the one with the spanish-trademarked helmet), spies, 
> Guerrilla warfare, the first Great Depression, the first serious studies 
> about those tiny endangered species called neurones and the accoustic 
> guitar. :-)

I always heard it was the Arabs who came up with the Zero. Are you perhaps
thinking of Moors?

Blessed Be. -MarkM-