[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Migration (fwd)

["Brandon J. Van Every" <vanevery@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: freeciv-dev-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
> I don't like the idea of migrants as a unit.  Why can't the shift
> happen automatically via a message along the lines of:

Because then you can't kill them, nor use them as human shields.  I want
my Communist police state to *really work* !  :-)  I really wonder if
you guys don't ever think much about being the Bad Guy.  Maybe this is
the SMAC in my blood.  I prefer Chairman Yang.  "Into the tanks!"  And I
don't mean the kind you drive around.  ;-)

Actually, a more realistic model for Refugees may be that they don't
exert any zone of control, and that you can move into the same hex as
them (if you're not attacking), but that they clog roads.  Road terrain
benefits are nullified in the square they're in.  Maybe rivers too.
Maybe not rails.  Also instead of denying all tile productivity, they
eat 1 food from that tile.  If there's no food, they have an internal
counter of the number of turns they can last before starving to death.
Probably not many turns, like maybe 4.

> We don't need to see the movement, it would just clutter up the map.

You have an inherent aesthetic desire for uncluttered maps?  Why?

I like to see my SMAC maps with the entire planet terraformed into
factories, with zillions of units running around all over the place.  I
don't like to *manipulate* all of that, I like to *see* it.  The key
here is automation options for dealing with Migrants, just like for
Settlers working the land.

> Not sure I like this though.  It should still be possible to force
> resettlement of your people, just as long as it's still expensive
> (shield production, etc) to do so.

Sell the city's developments, then kill a Migrant in view of the city.
Watch all the Refugees flee in terror.  You said you wanted *forced*
resettlement, right?

> I like the realism of the migration idea but it still needs to be
> implemented in a simple way.

We have different philosophies on how to handle simplicity.  Mine is,
"Migrant policies can be automated."  SMAC had checkboxes for this sort
of thing, i.e. "allow fungus removal, allow road/forest construction,
always ignore monoliths" etc.

> Cathedrals and other happiness style improvements shouldn't cause
> migration.  Migration should simply be caused by opportunity -
> production, infrastructure, etc.

People move when the would be *relatively* better off somewhere else.
Part of the equation is how much it would cost a Migrant to move, how
much time it would take, how far from family would they be, what kind of
danger they are in, etc.


Cheers,                     www.indiegamedesign.com
Brandon Van Every           Seattle, WA

Taking risk where others will not.