[freeciv-data] Re: Re: Alternative nation dialog

On Fri, 1 Mar 2002, Per I. Mathisen wrote:

> So what you want is to turn off the option of buying/hastening production
> by default, and enable it using a tech flag. I can see the point of that.
> 
> But I don't quite see how this stops smallpox. Remember, smallpox players
> have much higher total shields production. Not just because they get more
> population (1 for free for each settler, and their cities grow faster),
> but they also get more resource tiles.

It wont *stop* smallpox, smallpox actually does make more sense in too
many ways, big cities are a blight and probably always will be at least
until we get very sophisticated anti-pollution technology. But it may
force them to use caravans and pretend to build wonders (then cancel and
build something else once the caravans are converted into shields) in
order to build expensive units. Or they'll have to wait a lot more turns
than a large industrial centre would have to in order to field a new
techlevel of units. 

In real life obtaining a mass of gold can be a total disaster. I have seen
it argued that the Portugese empire died precisely because it imported
vast amounts of gold from the New World and made the mistake of thinking
that gold was wealth or currency. The resulting inflation blew them away.
The reality is that there are only so many things (shields, for example)
to buy no matter how much gold you have.

BB
MM

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