[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Speeding Up Games

[Vasco Alexandre Da Silva Costa <vasc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Geez did I pack a full load of typos on that reply or what?

Anyway... I liked designing units in Stars! and Ascendancy (MOO like games).
I also liked the Heroes in Master of Magic.

Ascendancy, despite having tons of faults, was loaded with gizmos you
could add to your ships.
http://www.logicfactory.com/images/screens/AscScr05.jpg

Some examples:
 * Brunswik Dissipator: deplete enemy shields.
 * Recaller: Instantly transports a unit to the home system.
 * Gravity Distorter: Pushes all surrounding units away.
 * X-Ray Megaglasses: See the stats of the other units.

It also had tractor beams, repulsor beams, a self-destruct device,
bombs, devices which destroyed the weapons/shields/equipment of other
ships, a weapon recharger, a weapon range enhancer, hull mass to
energy converter, self-heal device, etc.

IMHO the best of these was MOM. You got really attached to your Heroes as
you got better equipment, etc.
Fact is most of the time you really do not want to bother designing units.
Especially if you constantly have to do extra shields/weapons redesigns
which are just more of the same (Alpha Centauri).

In MOM and Ascendancy you could have few of these "special" units. You
actually had some interest in doing careful design. Another nicety of
Ascendancy (and MOM) is that you can upgrade your old units/chassis. No
need for full dismantling. Or wasting money on upgrades.

---
Vasco Alexandre da Silva Costa @ Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa