13-06-2004 04:23									#1
	Improving FreeCIV... Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

Here are some hits on what I believe should be changed(added) to next version of Freeciv:

1. The computer players should take pollution much more seriously so that they wouldn't be responsible for global warming(i.e. build more settlers for clearing pollution and keep them for that, not build factory etc unless the pollution level will be safe(let's say less than 2, etc))

2. I attached a file with one unit(the Armor) created with a program... What do you think?

3. Inner city defenceses(i.e. Towers to defend the city when attacked by land, which can be upgraded after some tech advances to Cannon Towers, Machine Gun Nest etc; and some naval defence building which can also be upgraded). All these buildings should only be controlled manually, like when a unit is outside the city, the human player should instruct the Tower to shoot, and this Tower mustn't shoot when the enemy unit is attacking the city(otherwise it would be impossible to actually conquer the city -- so defending units remain a must have) Also a building for air defence can be added.

4. There should be no limit to the playing time (no endyear condition unless specifically set) <=> There should be infinite years of playing.

5. (This is very very hard to implement) The possibility to actually create your own units during gameplay, according to the number of future techs evolved. This would mean that you can modify the hp, damage, movement etc of some units(which the player can create and name), of course in between some limits, and so have NEW units stronger than the ones already existing. The problem of new sprite images remains though.

6. Each country should have some specific units, or at least, some of the ones already present should be tougher or weaker than those of other nations(i.e. the germans should have stronger armors, the italians stronger modern navy, the romans stronger early infantry etc). This could really make the game a lot more interesting.

7. Trade routes should be of much more importance(no other explanations needed I hope)

8. The game should allow much larger maps to be played on and also, there should be a chance of a "World Event" to occur.
(i.e. A meteor shower on some part of the world in some year, a new disease that can wipe out many cities if a cure is not discovered, even an alien invasion -- the aliens having their own totally different units and a green color to their cities ) This also means that new techs must be added according to the world events... (DUH!!!)

9. (Again very hard to implement) The possibility of colonizing other planets(only from our solar system) of course after techs have been discovered to make people resistant to extreme temperatures, lack of athmosphere etc.

10. Diplomacy(especially against computer players) should become very important and a very complex system should be created. (I know it's hard but it's worth it)

Last edited by CMaster2003 on 13-06-2004 at 04:32

	21-06-2004 06:57									#2
	Re: Improving FreeCIV... Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

quote: Originally posted by CMaster2003 Here are some hits on what I believe should be changed(added) to next version of Freeciv: 1. The computer players should take pollution much more seriously so that they wouldn't be responsible for global warming(i.e. build more settlers for clearing pollution and keep them for that, not build factory etc unless the pollution level will be safe(let's say less than 2, etc))

Makes sense.

quote: 2. I attached a file with one unit(the Armor) created with a program... What do you think?

Um, you need to actually attach the file with the "Browse" and "Attach" buttons. And you should probably convert it to something smaller than .bmp first.

quote: 3. Inner city defenceses(i.e. Towers to defend the city when attacked by land, which can be upgraded after some tech advances to Cannon Towers, Machine Gun Nest etc; and some naval defence building which can also be upgraded). All these buildings should only be controlled manually, like when a unit is outside the city, the human player should instruct the Tower to shoot, and this Tower mustn't shoot when the enemy unit is attacking the city(otherwise it would be impossible to actually conquer the city -- so defending units remain a must have) Also a building for air defence can be added.

Pointless suggestion. As far as the player is concerned, it's more effective to stick a Catapult or similar in the city and use that.

quote: 4. There should be no limit to the playing time (no endyear condition unless specifically set) <=> There should be infinite years of playing.

I find it rather hard to believe that anyone has actually played a game into the year 5000.
That's well over 3200 turns.
I've only played to year 2000 a couple times.

quote: 5. (This is very very hard to implement) The possibility to actually create your own units during gameplay, according to the number of future techs evolved. This would mean that you can modify the hp, damage, movement etc of some units(which the player can create and name), of course in between some limits, and so have NEW units stronger than the ones already existing. The problem of new sprite images remains though.

Would be cool, but it changes the gameplay in favor of micromanagement. Naturally that doesn't matter for people who play in single player, and I'm sure that if it was implemented, there would shortly be a way to save sets of units, along with a set of prefab units.

quote: 6. Each country should have some specific units, or at least, some of the ones already present should be tougher or weaker than those of other nations(i.e. the germans should have stronger armors, the italians stronger modern navy, the romans stronger early infantry etc). This could really make the game a lot more interesting.

Age of Empires had something like that, and every time I played with my friend, we turned it off.
This is already possible, just not being used. Use the init_techs field in the nations file and make an appropriate tech tree for each nation to set it up.

quote: 7. Trade routes should be of much more importance(no other explanations needed I hope)

Could be done by simply removing the 4 trade route limit.

quote: 8. The game should allow much larger maps to be played on

200x100 is only too small if you play with set aifill 30.

quote: and also, there should be a chance of a "World Event" to occur. (i.e. A meteor shower on some part of the world in some year, a new disease that can wipe out many cities if a cure is not discovered, even an alien invasion -- the aliens having their own totally different units and a green color to their cities ) This also means that new techs must be added according to the world events... (DUH!!!)

Could be interesting, but there are more important things that the developers need to concentrate on before this.
Perhaps you could implement it yourself and send in a patch.

quote: 9. (Again very hard to implement) The possibility of colonizing other planets(only from our solar system) of course after techs have been discovered to make people resistant to extreme temperatures, lack of athmosphere etc.

Multi-layer maps was the only reason I played Test of Time. Having them would be very cool.

quote: 10. Diplomacy(especially against computer players) should become very important and a very complex system should be created. (I know it's hard but it's worth it)

AI diplomacy is already in the CVS version. If you play with set aifill 30 in the CVS version, it gets very hard to carry on a war against every one.