[Freeciv] Re: the struggle against city smallpox (was: Some questions)

["Mike Jing" <miky40@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: Reinier Post <rp@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Well, small maps and generator 1 can make an enormous difference.
> An incresed city distance may even help more, but I've never tried
> it.  Many other variables (researchspeed, diplcost, tehpenalty, landmass, 
> settlers) can have a serious effect.  Different rulesets (with things like 
> very-wide-range very powerful military units early on) can change the game 
> completely, but they are not very convenient
> to use yet, particularly on a public server.  I feel there is enough to 
> experiment with even with the existing code base.
Of course, it is good to experiment with existing rulesets, but if you look 
at the intrinsic advatage of having many small cities rather than fewer 
large ones, you will see there is little in the current code base that could 
address this problem properly.  Map size and generator do not really make 
much of a difference because you always get more out of a bunch of small 
cities tather than building larger ones, especially at the beginning, when 
expansion is absolutely crucial.  Small cites use more tiles, grow faster, 
and do not need any improvements.  So the game is fundamentally biased 
towards small cities, and unless there is drastic change in the rulesets, it 
always holds true.  Unfortunately, drastic changes in the rulesets may well 
indtroduce undesirable side effects that's even worse than the problem they 
are supposed to solve, because they do not address the root of the problem.  
That said, I would be more than happy to be proven wrong.
Mike

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