[Freeciv-Dev] (PR#4539) rules against smallpox (tutorials/nopox page)

["Juhani Heino" <juhani.heino@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> Therefore I tried to find another solution to the ICS
> problem and I think I have found a "historically correct" one.

The suggestions above are fascinating, I vouch for them.
The reason why I'm in this thread is that I got my own ideas
and now I don't have to start a new one:

As Mike Jing suggested, no free city centre production anymore.
But I go even further: you can't work it even with a citizen.
(REALISM: hard to get raw materials inside a city)
Perhaps you could encourage city growth by letting it produce
maximum 1 food (depending on the terrain) but nothing more.
(REALISM: home gardens)

The 8 squares near the city suffer a -1 food penalty. Farmland
(double irrigation) removes this, so it is more useful than now.
(REALISM: city pollution, traffic needs)

Every square has an index of exploitation, counted in a way
that resembles visibility in fog of war. That means, if a
square is used by two cities, it gives only half the production
to each city, and so on.
My suggestion of calculating this: let's say that cities are
so densely that a square is used by 3 cities and its capacity
is 1 food, 6 shields, 2 trade. First 1/3 food = 0, remainder 1.
Add the remainder: 7/3 shields = 2, remainder 1. Now we luckily
get 3/3 trade = 1. If the trade was 1, it would be 2/3 = 0.
You can change the order if you want.
At the same time, this would solve the "hogging" problem in
CMA: every city gets its (although small) share and it doesn't
care if another city uses the square or not.

These measures are quite good against smallpox, but ICS is a
different matter. Perhaps it's not so serious. You are supposed
to conquer the world anyway, and if big empires suffer huge
handicaps, the game may be prolonged too much (well, some
people, me included, enjoy the space race). And there are
already some factors working: corruption and lower cost of
city subversion, for example. But as I said, the "historical"
mechanisms above are worth looking into.

Perhaps these are too radical, but often such ideas pave
the way to really good solutions.
-- 
Juhani Heino
Finnish translator and now hacking too