[Freeciv] Re: Some questions

["Bobby D. Bryant" <bdbryant@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jesdyn Flamestrike wrote:

> I never show up for one darn good reason.
>
> I get whooped by ICS players.

I've been skimming to lightly to pick up what ICS stands for, but I suspect I
could guess.  I played on the civserver a couple of times and got thrashed.  I
haven't been back, because the style of play required to win doesn't correspond
to my idea of what a "history" game should be.  I prefer a more reflective style
of play.


> I'm just waiting and hoping for the day I see "[Freeciv-Dev] ICS broken!
> Huzzah!" in my mail reader. Then I'll break it back out.

I wonder if you could break some canned strategies by adding some randomization
to things like the cost of researching a given strategy?  For example, let the
cost in the data file be the statistically expected cost, but let the actual 
cost
for a given player fall in a gaussian distribution around that median, to be
determined when s/he starts building it.  For maximum effect, don't tell the
player what that cost is -- just have the client keep on displaying the time to
the *expected* completion, as if that's what the royal advisors are promising.

A similar effect could be applied to the construction of buildings and units, as
well.

Unfortunately, this might give luck too big an influence on the game.

Another option would be to give you a discount for exploring the breadth of the
tech tree, and a surcharge for exploring the depth, so that players who wanted 
to
rush out and get that One True Technology would find decreasing returns on their
investments.

A third, perhaps easier, option would be to fix it with a modpack.  If a tech is
too powerful, add more prereqs.  If a government it too advantageous, reduce its
benefits.  If a unit is too powerful, weaken it or make it more expensive.  Such
a modpack might require continual tweaking, since new exploits will be found as
you fix the most lucrative ones that now exist, but after a few iterations it
might at least level the playing field so that multiple strategies have equal
chances of winning.

Naturally, some players like the existing system, so any such changes should be
game options.

Bobby Bryant
Austin, Texas