[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 09:34:14PM -0800, Brian Dunstan wrote:
> Here's an idea: any rule feature that can be handled
> perfectly by a simple AI, should be removed.  The
> current caravan rules are ones where it is simple to
> see how the AI could build caravans in large cities,
> calculate the optimal destinations, etc.

Actually, it's not.  It can often be quite worthwhile to set up a minor
trade route between two minor cities, because that gives them enough
luxury to avoid disorder or go to rapture.  It's not clear when you
should use caravans to make money rather than build wonders.  Crossing
the ocean is also hard, but you get big rewards from doing so.

Caravans are precisely a case where an AI can help but we can't be
optimal because we don't know what optimal is.

        -- Benoît