[Freecol-developers] [Fwd: FreeCol]

[Stian G. <sti...@st...>]

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: FreeCol
From:    "Ron Kivel" <ron...@ya...>
Date:    Wed, July 15, 2009 00:14
To:      sti...@us...
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To whom it may concern:  (Please feel free to redistribute to fellow
developers)

First and foremost, let me congratulate you on your project.  I've been
looking for a Colonization clone ever since I upgraded my computer all
those years ago and discovered that I could no longer play the original. 
I've only recently discovered your project (It was included in the latest
OpenSuSE distribution).  I found the game rather enjoyable to play
although I think there are a few rough parts that need to be addressed.  I
would add myself the the developer list and perhaps even start filing bug
reports; however, at this point I just don't have the time.  You may have
seen these before, and if so I do apologize.  I just really like this game
and would very much like to be challenged by it again.

Item 1:
I believe in the original game, that trading with Europe affected all
European players.  This had ramifications like, if you weren't the first
to market with Silver you didn't get the premium price.  Silver plummets
rapidly and take quite a while to recover.  Muskets, Horses, and Tools
were almost always high from one nation or anothers buying.

Item 2:
While playing FreeCol I had a tax rate of 79%.  I don't recall how high it
went in the original game, but I don't think it was ever quite that high. 
And I can't remember so clearly but I was sure that taxes went both ways. 
Not just on imported goods.  An excise tax makes more sense from the
'Boston Tea Party' point of view.

Item 3:
Indian status indicators, showed the color of the European player causing
the most alarm as well as the alarm of the city overall.  I also believe
that the overall alarm is a key in triggering Indian aggression.

Item 4:
Indian raiding parties.  Put simply I've not seen any in FreeCol.  I
believe Raiding parties occurred in the original game as the Indians
expressed alarm.  (I believe it was a direct relationship).  Indian
raiding parties did not automatically trigger war and could occur even
when you were not a war with the Natives.

Item 5:
Custom houses should be able to trade in volume.  As the price in Europe
tend to fluctuate with each sale, you should be able to set a "trade
volume" so to speak to make sure that you get the most bang for your buck.

Item 6:
Custom house boycott bug.  I don't think this is a bug, I think that there
is an incomplete rule being applied.  Peter Minute allow the creation of
Custom houses which allows you to trade with Europe; however, you are
still limited to your own nation.  When you get Jan DeWitt that changes
and you can trade with any European nation you are not currently at war
with.  Therefore if you get Jan before Peter you would never see the
custom house with boycotted goods.  Unless of course you happen to be at
war with everyone, in which case you've got problems.  I also believe that
after the declaration of independence if you didn't have Jan DeWitt Custom
Houses were useless.

Item 7:
I don't think that you could purchase boycotted goods in the original game.

Item 8:
Trading with the Indians.  This seems to be a little off.  As I recall
after a while the Natives stopped accepting trade goods.  I also seem to
recall that every time you gave the Indians what they wanted most, they
would request something else.  In FreeCol they don't appear to change, and
Natives appear to pay top dollar even for things that are not on their
'wish list'.

Item 9:
AI fighting.  This is a biggie.  My first was with the Spanish, and they
managed to get a colony or two.  I was surprised at the number of
attackers wondering how they managed to amass such a force.  Mass attack
on the part of the AI is good.  The fact that it leave *ALL* of it's
colonies undefended to do so is bad.
-> The AI does not defend it's cities.
-> The AI does not attack units in the open.
I watch my fellow European nations play round robin cities.

Item 10:
AI does not go after Native cities.  I've yet to see a war (lasting more
than a turn or two) between the Natives and the Europeans.  I've not seen
any of the Europeans conqueror a Native settlement, and have only seen
Natives burn a settlement to the ground once.

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Again, thank you for your time on this project.  I really like playing
what you have put together, and now I am really looking forward to a
quality Colonization clone that I can play in the future.

Thanks for your time,
Ron Kivel