[Freeciv-Dev] Re: (PR#3489) Patch to add new generator

["jjc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <jjc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Mar 31, 2003 at 09:07:23AM -0800, Gregory Berkolaiko wrote:
> 
> Josh,
> 
> The generator you implemented is a bit specialised and artificial.  

So are generators 2, 3, and 4 :)  I am certainly willing to work on my
patch to make it less specialized and artificial if some concrete
suggestions are given as to it's current problems.  

> I am 
> not sure how many people will ever use such generator.  

I am not sure about the patch in its current form either.  I personally 
think that it will probably get a fair amount of use simply because it is 
quite different from any existing generators.  As for a patch with
all the players on one big land mass, see PR#2103.  It has a similar 
goal, but a different implementation than mine.  

> To me, it looks 
> more like a "automated scenario constructor" and I feel it is not generic 
> enough to be shipped with the main distribution.

I think that something like my patch should go into the main distribution.
Right now, all the generators basically are generate a bunch of islands 
and put some players on each island.  I personally think that freeciv
needs some kind of create a bunch of connected peninsulas and stick 
the players on the peninsulas generator.  

The problems that I see with my current patch are:
1.  No islands generated.  I think that the initial starting positions 
should be on the connected peninsulas, but island could certainly be generated
in the ocean.
2.  The peninsulas are evenly spaced and approximatly of equal height and 
width.  For fairness's sake, I think that the area of each initial penisula
should be roughtly equal, but even so, more variety could be added.

Are there other problems that you see with either:
1.  The concept of adding an all starting positions on a single continent 
generator.
2.  The current implemenation of generator 6.

> Right now there are attempts to rewrite and clean up the map generation.  
> It is planned to have a possibility of "external" or "pluggable" map 
> generators, although I am not sure if there are any ideas concerning the 
> implementation.  I feel that your generator falls into this cathegory of 
> external generators.

Are you refering to PR#2749 and PR#2750?  Or are you refering to something 
else?
 
> You are most welcome to join the work on the mapgen as a whole, I can
> direct you to various threads that discuss what should be done.  You are
> also welcome to propose designs for the external generator / Freeciv
> interface.  We do need your help!

Thank you for your feedback to me.

-- 
Josh Cogliati