[Freeciv-Dev] (PR#5438) Starting position tidbit

["Karen Yeats" <kayeats@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yes, this really was just a quick hack, I'm not surprised you don't like
it.  I use it because it's good enough.  Really I'd like to get away
from the "pick a place randomly and see if it's ok" algorithm entirely
rather than just improve the "see if it's ok" part but I don't see how
to do that in this case.

> 1 (serious)  is_good_starter presumes that SPECIALs have certain effect, 
> like SPECIAL_1 in desert is always oasis with good food.  This can be 
> changed by rulesets!  And all other code I know can deal with it
flexibly.  
> I suggest you base your mark on food & production values instead.
> Have a look at Per's new settlers patch somewhere on Freeciv-AI.

is_good_tile should be fixed in the same way.  That is an excellent
suggestion.

> 2 If you start on 256x256 map with plenty of plains and space, the 
> algorithm can still put your settler on a forest.  The check that to 
> prevent such things is currently
> +  /* don't start on bad land until we're getting desparate */
> +  if ((map.xsize + map.ysize) / 5 < dist * is_good_starter(x, y)) {
> +    return TRUE;
> +  }
> I would rather suggest a check against the amount by which dist was 
> decreased in create_start_positions.  If it dropped 30% from it's
original 
> values, we can consider forests, 50% -- we will take good hills etc.  
> Something along the lines anyway.

Ok, that makes good sense too.  I don't have a new patch right now but I
wanted to respond so you knew I hadn't abandoned this.  I'm moving to
Boston to start my PhD and must finish packing up now so it will be a
good few days at least.

Karen