[Freeciv-Dev] (PR#6173) Wishlist: Colonization-style civil wars

["John Wheeler" <jdwheeler42@xxxxxxxxx>]

In PR#4539, Kecskés Csaba wrote:

> Therefore I tried to find another solution to the ICS
> problem and I think I have found a "historically correct" one.
> If you look at the "real world history" then you can see the
> followings:
> - some European powers and Turkey have colonized the larger
>   part of the Earth in the 16-18th centuries
> - in spite of it now there are many independent countries
>   instead of a few great empires
> - if the colonizers moved into (relatively) empty spaces
>   ("built their own cities" in Civ terms) then the colonists
>   (when they become more numerous and recognized how far
>   are they from their mother country) developed a new
>   national identity and when this new identity matured
>   enough they declared their independence
> - if the colonizers conquered an underdeveloped country
>   then the inhabitants did not loose their original
>   national/ethnic identity and when they become more
>   advanced ("get enough technologies" in Civ terms)
>   they declared their independence
> The concept of "civil war" is implemented in FreeCiv
> therefore it wouldn't be very difficult (I hope) to
> implement the following rules, too:
> - when a city is conquered then the conquerors will
>   be the rulers of it but it's original affiliation
>   will be remembered (and the units created in this
>   city will inherit it)
> - a Player is not eliminated from the game if all of it's
>   cities are conquered, only when all of it's cities
>   are destroyed
> - if there are enough (3 ... 5?) conquered cities with
>   the same "national identity" and they have already
>   spent enough time under "colonial rule" (5 ... 10
>   turns at least) then they may declare their
>   independence (the cities are joining the empire
>   of their original owner or this original owner
>   will be an active Player again)
> - if an empire is big enough ("civilwarsize" variable)
>   and it has a lump of cities (3 ... 5?) not too far
>   from each other but far enough from it's capital
>   (at least 10 tiles?) then they may declare their
>   independence with a new "national identity"
>   (new AI Player)
> - the probability of such a revolt is increasing by
>   larger city sizes and by longer time spent under
>   "colonial rule"
 
I think taking the concept of wars of independence from Colonization
would help provide this effect.

As a prerequisite, nationality of city workers would need to be implemented.

Since borders have been implemented, rather than putting an arbitrary
distance from the capital, I would make contiguousness a criterion for 
wars for independence.  So, all cities within the borders surrounding
the capital would be safe; only ones on different islands, or seperated
by other nations, would split off.  (Historically, Russia and the US
were able to have vast areas remain as one country; whereas, Pakistan
and Bangladesh, which originally were one country split off from India,
quickly became two.)

Cities not contiguous with the capital would suffer severe corruption
and waste problems at first; as they built up more independence, the
corruption and waste would dissipate, but the probablity of a revolution
would increase.  (Presumably, as long as the cities were kept content,
they wouldn't revolt.)

Also, I wouldn't automatically start a war when the colonies want
independence.  While that was the case for the Britain and the US, it
was not the case for Britain and Canada or Australia.  Rather, when
colonial independence is declared, I see two options for the mother
country: declaring war and trying to take back the colonies, or allowing
them to split off (i.e., to a new player) with an automatic alliance if
the mother country so desires.

-- 

++JohnWheeler