[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Artillery and sea units (PR#1476)

[Thanasis Kinias <tkinias@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

scripsit Richard Stallman:
>     Is ``realistic'' modelling of technology and combat (e.g., something
>     like Trevor Dupuy's Operational Lethality Index and Quantified Judgement
>     Model) really something Freeciv wants to get into?
> 
> Freeciv does not try to model tactics, and that is ok.  It does not
> try to model specific resources, and that is ok too.  I think it would
> be far too complex to be an enjoyable game if it modeled all that.
> However, it does model technology, so the technology model ought to be
> accurate as far as it goes.

> One of the things people might hope for from such a game is to teach
> children an idea of the history of technology and its relationship to
> economic development and war.  It inevitable, and ok, to omit many
> things, but it can certainly avoid teaching them anything wrong.

Yes.  As I think about the pedagogic potential, I agree completely.

> Which reminds me--democracy was invented in ancient times, and I don't
> know if either banking or invention (whatever that stands for) existed
> then.  Also, a republic (in the Civilization sense) is more complex
> than a democracy, and I think they came later.

(Free)civ gets Democracy and Republic all wrong.  The modern
(English-language) distinction is a bit artificial, too.  The difference
is just that the Athenians called their form of government _dimokratia_
(rule by the people) and the Romans called theirs _res_ _publica_ (the
people's `thing' or however one chooses to translate _res_).  The idea
of both was popular sovereignty (for a given value of "populus"), but
the cultures differed in their interpretation of what that meant.
Neither would be considered very democratic in modern (EU or US) terms.

The important distinction, in terms of growth of the civilization, ought
to be which class or estate dominates.  Is it those who pray
(theocracy), those who fight (monarchy or feudalism), those who trade
(liberal democracy), or those who `work' (social democracy or
communism)?  Of course there are shades of grey there, and (for example)
the modern Dutch monarchy probably ought to be called liberal democratic
in these terms.  But if you're interested in teaching history, a model
along those lines might be more useful.

-- 
Thanasis Kinias
Web Developer, Information Technology
Graduate Student, Department of History
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona, U.S.A.

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