[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Suggestions/Ideas

["Per I. Mathisen" <per@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 5 May 2003, Joseph Ennis wrote:
> I would like to implement the idea the ships could
> sail up rivers.
...
> 2.) Allow only certain ships to sail up rivers, using
> a flag in the units.ruleset file (easy, but requires
> adding more info to the ruleset.)

Yes, this is the way to do it.

> with Trireme, Caravel, Galleon, Transport, Frigate,
> Ironclad, and Destoyer all being able to travel up
> rivers.

I think only Trireme should have this ability. It would give it a unique
edge over later craft, giving players a reason (finally) for not
researching Navigation so quickly. Such a unit flag can be put to good use
in modpacks.

(Actually, it would be nice if barbarians were given ships that could sail
upriver. That'd be nasty. Viking raiders did that often with their
longships.)

> Is there any interest in this? If so, I'll get working
> on a clean implementation of it.

Note that several unit checks in the game look at which kind of tile the
unit is standing on (an ocean or not), so these need to be changed. Also
the effect of such craft on Coastal Defense must be determined. I'm
inclined to say that Coastal offers no protection against ships in rivers,
since rivers isn't "coast" and normal ships don't travel there - river
travelling ships is a kind of surprise tactic.

There is also the question of whether ground units should be able to
attack ships travelling in rivers. I'd say yes - they are so close to the
shore that it makes as much sense as a pikemen defeating an attacking
ironclad, and it would be a nuisance if players could place triremes into
rivers to block any ground based attacker.

  - Per