[Freeciv] Re: Cannons attacking ships?

["jianfei chen" <jianfeic@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Historically, the cannons that were mounted on forts and costal walls were
generally the largest, not having to be moved around at all. Having said
this, I would think that the costal fortress improvement in the cities
already give this benifit. The cannon units that could be moved most
certainly have to be smaller and quite helpless against sea bonbardment. 

However the current situation is in my opinion rather unrealistic and make
the game rather wierd. Shorter ranged cannons would still be useful in
defence as they will prevent the enemies from closing in and thus cause sea
vessels to have lower accuracy. Moreover, frigates and ironclads usually
appear before anyone has even invented gunpowder, making their high attack
powers seem rather silly. 

Before the advent of cruise missiles, naval powers were not the vital
integrent in taking over other nations. However, in freeciv, the entire
extent of an attacking land force is usually consisted of a few lowly
regular(not veteran) horsemen. These same relics are then used for many
centuries - despite being completely obsolete and the availability of
gunpowder armed dragons - until the appearance of the alphin troops. 

To solve these 'problems', I would thus rather suggest what is used in CIV
III; that gunboats and siege weapons gain the bombard option instead of
beingable to attack. Perhaps a succesful bombardment should take out half of
the remaining hitpoints of the target, similar to a sabotage attack by spies
(however, without risk of being captured and having the ability to attack
stacked units). 

- Jian 

  ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Per I. Mathisen" To:
freeciv@xxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [Freeciv] Re: Cannons attacking ships? Date:
Thu, 1 May 2003 20:31:06 +0000 (GMT) On Thu, 1 May 2003, Britton wrote: Not
at all. Research the origins of the word "gunboat diplomacy". Ships carry
waybigger guns than those you normally transport around on the ground using
wheels, and can hence shoot at the latter from a safe distance. - Per 

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