[Freeciv-Dev] Re: (PR#12266) patch: supporting variable numbers of trade routes

["Benoit Hudson" <bh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

<URL: http://bugs.freeciv.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=12266 >

On Wed, Feb 16, 2005 at 07:05:51AM -0800, Lo'oris wrote:
> <URL: http://bugs.freeciv.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=12266 >
> 
> Il giorno 16/feb/05, alle 11:50, Per I. Mathisen ha scritto:
> 
> >> While I'm all in favor of removing hard-coded limits, I think trade
> >> routes are themselves an unfortunate form of micromanagement that 
> >> needs
> >> to be rethought.
> >
> > I agree.
> 
> Let's throw in the ideas.

Sadly, these all increase the micromanagement.

(1)
In the spirit of free enterprise, we could say that every city
automatically trades with every city within 2 turns.  This has the
benefit of making shores and river systems do lots of trade.  It makes
roads, Corporation, and faster naval techs (and the Lighthouse) more
important.  It makes railroads ridiculously important, which it already
is, so there's a slight problem to think through.  The two travel turns
limit means you can do a blockade or a siege of a city.  There should be
a diplomatic action "impose blockade" that makes all your cities stop
trading with any of the target's cities; maybe this is implied by war,
maybe not.

Maybe long-distance trade routes can be established by building
caravans, maybe not.  I haven't thought that through.

Alternative: every city of size n trades with the nearest n cities
within a 2-turn radius.

(2)
Cities could have a "help wonder" build target that helps build a wonder
in the nearest city they have a trade route with; maybe, in fact, they
should have "help wonder once" and "help wonder", the former just going
for one turn (as coinage now is), the latter going until no trade
partner is building any wonders.