[Freeciv] Re: Diplomacy

[Reinier Post <rp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Feb 14, 2003 at 07:51:43AM -0800, John Wheeler wrote:
> 
> Excellent point.  I certainly wouldn't want to use the
> old setting; however, while I would always want
> diplomacy on (embassy or contact), I wouldn't want
> countries to be able to "spy" on me if they hadn't
> gone to the trouble of establishing an embassy.  (When
> I let you establish an embassy with me, it usually
> means I'm ready to wipe you out. :-) So, I think the
> real question is, if diplomacy is available on
> contact, would anyone want to play with an embassy
> established on contact?
> 
> ++JohnWheeler

I'd love to get free embassies: I don't want others
to get one from me.

So basically unfriendly action should not be possible.

Just being adjacent to an enemy isn't realistically or gameplay-wise
enough to allow you to enter into head-of-state vs. head-of-state
diplomatic negotiations.  Gathering intelligence should be hard.
One diplomat doesn't give you all that much micromanagement anyway.
A "Ferryboat" state can be added for ships to make the goto easier.
Then you can just set the diplomat on goto and it will go to the city
using the ferryboat.  Another idea is to introduce a super-diplomat with
more moves.  This would also help for caravans.

I don't know what to think about autoattack.  Perhaps even client-side
autoattack should be made more difficult (by delaying the processing of
incoming packets).

-- 
Reinier