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

[Greg Wooledge <greg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> >Swap Writing and Alphabet
> >  historical accuracy and basic logic.  What's the point of an alphabet
> >  without writing?

From a gameplay point of view, the purpose of Alphabet as a tech is
to slow down that branch of the tech tree (Alphabet -> Code of Laws ->
Monarchy, or a similar branch leading to Republic).  Alphabet by
itself is a useless tech; it's only a prerequisite for other techs.

So one reasonable suggestion would be to scrap Alphabet, and then give
Republic (and possbily Monarchy also) an extra prerequisite.  Or two.

Ross W. Wetmore (rwetmore@xxxxxxxxxxxx) wrote:
> There was no real proliferation of writing and written records until
> *after* there were standardized alphabets. Pictographs just don't make
> a really accurate way to record the spoken word and turn it into the
> written word.

What about Chinese and other non-alphabetic languages?

My understanding of history is that the Phoenicians developed an
alphabet as a sort of shorthand for inventory management.  It was
more of an economic efficiency measure (and trade secret, so that
rivals couldn't read the captured inventory lists) than an effort to
disseminate literary works.  This would probably put Alphabet in the
tech tree leading to Banking.  It makes very little sense to require
Alphabet for Monarchy IMHO.

-- 
Greg Wooledge                  |   "Truth belongs to everybody."
greg@xxxxxxxxxxxx              |    - The Red Hot Chili Peppers
http://wooledge.org/~greg/     |

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