[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Pie in the sky wishlist for Freeciv

[Thomas Strub <ue80@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Jun 26, 2004 at 09:02:37PM +0100, Vasco Alexandre Da Silva Costa wrote:
> 
> The Civ IV slides got me going, so here is my pie in the sky vision:
> 
> This will be centered on game mechanics, because that is what I feel needs
> more improvement right now.
> 
> Game mechanics improvements should try to:
> a) minimize user boredom/irritation
> b) maximize user addiction
> 
> === Let us start with a):
> I always hated how fighters cannot overfly an enemy tank. We mentioned
> this here before. Units should belong to a sphere i.e. air/land/water.
> If the spheres do not overlap and the enemy unit cannot strike at the
> other unit, it should be able to move into it.

Wasn't there a layers patch? I don't know why the development of it was
stopped.

> Ships should bombard land units, not plain melee. Just like in SMAC.
> It is debateable if we should allow multiple square bombard range or not,
> but a ship's guns should only soften up land targets, never kill them.
> This would make ironclads less powerful for example.

Often requested to change the mechanism of shore bombardment. Hard to
decide ...
 
> It should also be a requirement that only land units can conquer a city
> (isn't this true already?).

Only land units can conquer a city, most only by moving from a landtile
into the city.

Only exception:
  marines can enter city out of a transport
  paratrooper, can enter into a city by jumping into it.

> Armies are a good idea, because they reduce micromanagement by grouping up
> many small units. Unit groups must have a game representation that enables
> group moves, attack and defense. There should be some bonus when using an
> army vs many units.
> 
> Trade routes should be automated or removed.
> 
> ZOC should be removed. I agree with Soren on this. But you should not be
> able to enter a square with an enemy unit defending it.

I don't think that ZOC should be removed. Units which show there flanks
are easier to kill. So when moving in the ZOC there has to be a penalty
when an enemy unit is near. 
And a simple penalty is "It is not possible".

When having a standing unit on the field it is possible to move through
ZOC.
 
> Pollution needs some re-thinking. Having settlers clean up the mess is a
> chore, unless you can automate them to clean up pollution. But IMHO the
> best idea is to have pollution just reduce a city's production and
> population growth rate, without corrupting tiles at all.

This gets better with the workers patch. But i think in the current
situation of the earth it is correct that pollution is a penalty on
tiles and not only another sort of "waste".

Think of Exxon Valdez.
 
> Global warming should not come as easily either. Larger maps should
> accept more pollution before global warming because the planet can soak
> it up better. Larger maps can have more cities, so this will help.
 
Think it is ok to have a mapsize-dependent modifier.

> City disorder should reduce production progressively, each turn bumping it
> down a notch, it is too hard now.

The current system is easy and doesn't lead to too much micromanagement.
I don't see big improvements when we change this.
 
> Managing many cities and many production queues is very hard. Perhaps we
> should drop the city assembly line concept and create user defined spawn
> portals (the user selects the target city) which funnel the production of
> several cities. Call them projects or something. Oh yeah, this should
> render caravans obsolete. We could have this be a lossy function which
> means far away cities contribute less to the spawn portal production
> unless you have better transport tech. There is a limited number of spawn
> portals per player, which can be increased with special techs or
> buildings.

Worldwide worklists. Production management agent ...
There are other ideas which can solve the same problem too.

> === Now for b) the addiction factor:
> To create affection we need to create an object of affection. Something
> special you can name and improve. Cities are sort of impersonal. They do
> not move, etc. What is necessary is an avatar, or even better, heroes.
> How dreadfully unoriginal, yes, I know. :-)

Play battle of wesnoth when you want to improve your Hero.
Freeciv is a 4X game (explore, expand ...) i don't like to change the
genre. Lets improve to get the best in the genre.

> Nation specific traits. Units, skills, etc. This can make the game more
> varied.

Makes balancing really hard, we don't even have fair maps ...
One whale can decide a duell between top players.

> Improve the social factor with better diplomacy and coordinated
> actions.

When having 5 players, 3 mediocre, 1 good, 1 top. 

The good player creates an alliance with the 3 mediocre players to
gangbang the top player. So we have a social factor, diplomacy and
coordinated actions. The good player gets the victory and the top
players loses without fun and a chance. 

There have to be rewards for the different actions.
And as long there is only a reward for the good player and not the other
4 it is hard to be addicted to the game.

Thomas
-- 
Thomas Strub  ***  eMail ue80@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
jb: people are stupid, they don't want to learn.