>>>>> "JM" == Jan Minar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
JM> Package: freeciv Version: 1.12.0-0.1 Severity: important
Looks like most of the issues noted below aren't applicable to
Freeciv any longer (as of 2.0.8-3.)
I guess that the report should be closed, probably after
splitting the issues that are still there off into separate
reports.
[...]
JM> The whole game lures myself into that lame way of thinking I know
JM> from the Evil Empire's world. Seducing to such an adultery is a
JM> mortal sin, and that's why I deem this bug `important'.
JM> Firstly, the grave ones:
JM> * There should be no hard limits. If you think the least
JM> reasonable number of cities for plunging in a civil war is 6, make
JM> it a formal requirement, devise a special flag for the server that
JM> would tell whether it is compliant with the formal requirements, do
JM> whatever you want to do, but *never* impose a hard limit. Cf. the
JM> GNU project attitude towards hard limits.
There's the `civilwarsize' server option:
> help civilwarsize
Option: civilwarsize - Minimum number of cities for civil war
Description:
A civil war is triggered if a player has at least this many cities and the
player's capital is captured. If this option is set to the maximum value,
civil wars are turned off altogether.
Status: changeable
Value: 10, Minimum: 6, Default: 10, Maximum: 1000
>
JM> * The server environment should be self-containing. There should
JM> be no reason to resort to shell for restarting the game, loading
JM> saved game, etc. There should be a /stop command, symmetrical to
JM> the /start one, a /load command for what is done now as ``civserver
JM> --file <saved_game>''. This would be The Right Thing.
At least, there're the `load' and `endgame' commands. Not sure
about `stop'.
The whole issue seems a bit like proposing the ``--daemon''
option to Make, so that it will watch for the filesystem and
start a rebuild whenever makefiles or sources do change.
JM> * There should be a way to start the game seamlessly both locally,
JM> and remotely. There is no way to start the game with one command.
JM> At least, you have to click the `Connect' button (xaw3d version).
I don't understand this one.
JM> On the server side, there should be some way to specify your
JM> favourite defaults (It would be *extremely* lame if you had to
JM> configure the (possibly complex) options every time you run the
JM> server, so I think there _is_ a way to do it, yet I didn't figure
JM> out how).
The `read' command is there for ages now, and there's also the
`--read' server option.
JM> * The GUI should be more simple. The repetitiveness: two
JM> production choice windows, `Worklist' and `Change', `Worklist'
JM> doesn't show turns-to-completion, two `Help' buttons in the
JM> `Worklist' window, etc., etc.
JM> Now some not so fatal ones:
JM> * The `Messages' pop-up hides most of the animations, and there *is
JM> no way to configure this*.
JM> * The only way to find a specific unit (say the only cruiser I
JM> have, on an explore mission) is to click through the whole map.
JM> When the unit is hidden under some another, or in a city, it's
JM> almost impossible.
I guess these GUI issues deserve a separate report.
JM> Ordinary bugs:
JM> * It should not be possible to explore where is land and where sea
JM> using the Goto (the game should not refuse to go to (through)
JM> land/sea destination for a sea/land unit, respectively, when it's
JM> not explored (black map squares). The same applies to ZOC, sea
JM> changing into land and vice versa (if it was possible), ...).
JM> * Obsoletable and destroyable wonders should not impose
JM> obsolescence on the city improvements whose functionality
JM> substitute. Once The Great Wall becomes obsolete, the city walls
JM> become handy (again). So one should be able to build them even
JM> thru the epoch it is in effect. Or the improvements should be
JM> destroyed upon the wonder completion (strange idea). Or there
JM> should be a way to destroy the wonder itself (so you can start
JM> building them again). As it is in the real world: you can both
JM> build and maintain obsolete things. They are just less and less
JM> competitive, as better alternatives emerge.
Apparently, these two issues were fixed (again, as of 2.0.8-3.)
JM> Wishlist:
JM> * Using sea units as bridges should be easier: The units stop on
JM> the sea unit when Goto-ing along. Moreover, when the sea unit is
JM> sentried, the Goto-ing unit gets sentried too. (A special `Bridge'
JM> command, along with the `Sentry', so that the units would not
JM> stop/sentry? `Ferry'--`Autoattack' counterpart, so that bridging
JM> over few sea squares would be possible (easy when only one unit
JM> going thru, complex cases would require, eh, more complex
JM> algorithm)?)
... A separate report as well?
JM> Yes, Freeciv is quite a complex program. So it should come with a
JM> strong, orthogonal design. There should be no ``That's just how it
JM> is...'' we know from the MS-DOS games world. Instead, I'd like to
JM> hear ``That's just The Wrong Thing, and Freeciv is a free software,
JM> and it should be changed.'' But perhaps the *design* phase is
JM> where the problem lays, and it would be just a different game we
JM> would end up after such a fundamental rewrite. And no, I *won't*
JM> do it.
Hope the above helps.
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