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

[Kenn Munro <kenn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 2002-05-27 at 17:49, Daniel L Speyer wrote:
> 
> Interestingly, rifles came into use shortly before ironclads, both seeing
> their first major use in the U.S. civil war.  Also, riflemen are the first
> defensive unit powerful enough that massive ironclad bombardment isn't the
> best strategy.  Furthermore similar techniques might be used in rifling a
> barrel and building a working steam engine (they both require making small
> patterns in hard metal).  All together, I think riflery as a pre-req for
> steam engine works well.
> 
> I've worked out a bunch of other changes (bring transports earlier, put
> destroyers/cruisers/battleships/subs closer (and later -- extend the age
> of steam), pull democracy, fix some dependencies...) and here's what I
> came up with.
> 
> gunpowder (canon, coast def)                        University
>    |                                 /----------------/      |
> metalurgy (musketeers) <------------/               Banking  |
>    |                                 /---------------/       |
> rifling <---------------------------/                 economics-----\
>    |                                                         |      |
> steam engine <----------------------------------magnetism    |      |

Why is magnetism a requirement for steam engine?  Only so that ironclads
aren't available before galleons/frigates?

Maybe ironclads should require a separate technology.  High
temperature/pressure steam engines became available in the early 1800s,
and railroads started to be widely used by 1830.  Ironclads didn't
appear until 1855.

I like the idea of a "rifling" technology.. much more appropriate for
the unit than conscription, but I think that steam and railroad should
be moved earlier.

One more point: I think it would be good to add a description for each
technology in the freeciv help, like payciv has.  Like: "[technology] is
the [short description], and was first developed by the [people] in
[year]."  Yeah.. its a lot of work.  Perhaps I'll start doing a few
after 1.13.  It may be easier to work out changes to the tech tree if we
are able to define *exactly* what a particular technology term refers
to.

>    |                                                         |      | 
> railroad --------------------------------------->industrialization  |
>              /----------------------------------------/             |
> bessimer process <---------------------------------chemistry        |
>  |      /--------------------------------------------/              |
>  |  refining (submarines) <----------------------------------corporation
>  |      |
> combustion (destroyers, cruisers) ---------------->automobile (battleship)
> 
> Note that I've eliminated electricity and democracy.  Electricity I think
> we can leave out (it isn't really needed this way), and democracy clearly
> should go earlier (for historical reasons).
> 
> --Daniel Speyer
> If you *don't* consider sharing information to be morally equivalent to 
> kidnapping and murder on the high seas, you probably shouldn't use the
> phrase "software piracy."
>