[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Ruleset editing (nations)

[Daniel Markstedt <himasaram@xxxxxxxx>]

> Hello,
>
> the amount of work Daniel is actually putting into the nation rulesets 
> let
> me think how we can take care that no work is lost. Maybe an improved 
> ruling
> about how rulesets (here nation rulesets) are edited can help.
>
> We have some help already at http://www.freeciv.org/index.php/Nations
Thanks for the acknowledgment, Christian. I also think it is very 
important to have clear rules for future contributors.
> - which transcriptions for foreign names? (need help here!)
It should either be:
- an official/de-facto standard spelling/orthography/transcription of 
the state/organization that govern the nation/people/region.
or
- a well-known and internationally accepted form.

It would also be nice if it's:
- readable (for English speakers, typically) and does not contain 
unnecessary or overly exotic accents.
> - contributors add there name to a contributor list placed in 
> comments. Or
>   is this unnecessary/unwanted?
I think we gave up on that. ;-)

> - geographical hints (at least some) for cities are strongly encouraged
Do you mean natural city names?

> - cities should be placed in order of importance or magnificence (I 
> assume
>   that the code uses this order if terrain information is not to be 
> used. Is
>   this correct?)
I think cities should be placed both in order of historical and modern 
importance, as well as chronological order. Otherwise, all your 
nation's famous "magnificent" cities will end up in the limited area 
that is your starting position. In reality (and in the game) a city's 
importance is decided from it's geographical position, not from early 
founding (even though that's important too.) I opt for a stronger focus 
on chronological order.
From my experience with the current code, cities are basically chosen 
in order of the city list, but are slightly shuffled within that order. 
I suppose that is to randomize the nations' capital cities with every 
game.
> - comments for leaders, placed in the same line after the name, 
> telling who
>   she was and when she lived, are appreciated. (Maybe we can use this 
> some
>   later time)
Comments are good. We like comments. :-)

> - waht rules do you suggest for classification/grouping?
- Only independent contemporary states can be considered "Modern"
- Only nations with independent dynasties before the year 0 can be 
considered "Ancient"
- Only nations that wasn't a part of another empire during the medieval 
era can be considered "Medieval"
> - flags have to be in SVG
>
> Comments?
>
> Christian
I agree with your other suggestions.

Daniel