[Freeciv-Dev] (PR#5440) wishlist: moveable tech penalty(ies)

["John Wheeler" <jdwheeler42@xxxxxxxxx>]

Having all tech cost twice as much to research in 1 A.D. seems very
arbitrary to me -- sometimes that seems too soon, sometimes too late. 
While the year could be made into a server variable, I would rather see
it be a tech flag (say "Lightbulb_Required_Inc"), like
Population_Pollution_Inc and Trade_Revenue_Reduce, applying it mainly to
tech(s) that allow increases in lightbulb production.   Of course, if it
can be similarly stacked, a smaller factor than 2 would be advisable;
one possibility would be to multiply lightbulbs required by 1 + (N/2),
where N is the number of techs known with the flag.

I would suggest applying the flag to (in order of priority) The
Republic, University, Writing, Philosophy, Computers, Alphabet, and
Invention.  One particular benefit this would have is making viable
strategies other than a mad dash for The Republic.

-- 

++JohnWheeler