[Freeciv] Re: tribal/national gods

[Tony Stuckey <stuckey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Mar 04, 2000 at 06:10:49PM +0100, Masheikh wrote:
> On 02.03.00 at 14:51 Paul Dean wrote:
> >here's an idea: parallel to the type of government, there could be a
> >type of religion.  You research each new religion, A, B, C,... and
> >each one gives different benefits to the population.  Eg religion X is
> >a war-like religion which gives good control and passion to your
> >troops, so all units attacking and defending strengths are multiplied
> >by 1.5.  Religion Y says that making money is a blessing from your
> >god, so every city gets a free marketplace.  Religion Z reveres
> >knowledge, so every city gets a free library.

        This can be viewed as a return to the bad old days of Civ1 where
the AI could build Wonders of the World simply by declaring it had them.
        Religion in the Civilization series has been muted, all the way up
to Call To Power.

        I don't think that "starting the game with a free Wonder" is going
to help game balance.
        Another historical Civilization principle is "Everyone starts out
equal" or nearly so.  Small variations in Tech and Units were allowed as
compensation for a bad starting spot (however that was defined).  But
tribal global bonuses really aren't modelled or suggested.

> >Of course, it would take a long time to change the religion of a
> >nation(proportional to the size of population, say), so you can't
> >change just on a whim, or for a quick war.  (maybe, even, to change
> >religion you have to sell all your temples and build new ones...)

> great idea in my opinion but religion is such a "critical" issue. should
> x y and z be real religions or new ones. i think to rate real religion is
> TO critical. and as far as this whole system is called "religion" in the
> game, people could try to find simularities to real religions if we
> create new ones. remember until today there are only chistian world
> wonders included in freeciv - i guess ;-)

        Historically, religion in the Civ line has been abstract.
Monotheism, Polytheism, and other *classes* of religion are included, but
Judaism/Christianity/Islam/Buddhism/Shinto/Atheism aren't.
        SMAC includes religious concepts in the Social Engineering options
with which you can mold your civilization, but the effects there are
significantly smaller than Mr. Dean proposes.

> on the one hand it is very hard to manage such a system but on the other
> hand as far as freeciv uses to be a picture of the real world religion is
> needed indeed.

        I'm not sure this sentence makes any sense at all.  Are there words
misspelled/missing from this?

> 4. pleassssse include fundametalism - my favourite government ;-) i like 2 b 
> arkbishop / ayhatola

        Not without significantly limiting it.  Which part of "No citizens
are ever unhappy", "Improvements which would make people happy require no
upkeep and produce gold instead", "10 units in each city have no upkeep",
and "Fanatic units never require upkeep" sounded fair to you?
        Even losing the +1 Trade/Square from Republic/Democracy and
halving the Science Research rate don't make up for that kind of rape of
basic game resource management.
-- 
Anthony J. Stuckey                              stuckey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"And they said work hard, and die suddenly, because it's fun."
        -Robyn Hitchcock.