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

["Brian Dunstan" <bdunstan149@xxxxxxxxx>]

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


--- Benoit Hudson <bh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 
> <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.
> 
>         -- Beno�t

In the case where caravans are going between your own
cities, on the same continent, you can do a pretty
good job.  My suspicion is this sort of traffic
accounts for the majority of caravans.  Deciding
whether to go for a wonder, or building a trade route,
is simple if it's an economic decision.  You just have
to represent the economic benefit of rapture,
disorder, wonders, etc.  If it involves a non-economic
question -- e.g., send the caravan to build the great
wall so you can defend one of your cities somewhere --
then it is difficult to make the AI handle all such
questions correctly.

For caravan travel between continents, I think that
would be difficult to make an AI do well, since you
have to make sure the caravan gets there safely.  

This argues for some kind of automation that lets you
build lots of internal trade routes without having to
manually move caravans through safe areas, and solve
the problem of having exactly three trade routes per
city.  The interesting side of caravans, that is,
guiding a transport full of freight halfway around the
world in order to get 5,000 gp when you get there,
could still be done manually.




                
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