forum.freeciv.org

Is there some way to enable units to embark like in Civilization 5/6? I find it very tedious to use a transport ship compared to the “go to” feature over land.

So in civ5/6 these units move on the sea on their own?

At least no freeciv ruleset (I know) have such units, and I don't think (all of) it is even possible to achieve with our current ruleset formats.

cazfi wrote: ↑Sat Nov 18, 2023 2:10 pm So in civ5/6 these units move on the sea on their own?

Correct. Embarked units:

• Usually they take a whole turn to transition between land and sea.
• All have the same strength at sea (for a given player) when defending, depending on technological level.
• Can not attack other sea tiles.

cazfi wrote: ↑Sat Nov 18, 2023 2:10 pm At least no freeciv ruleset (I know) have such units, and I don't think (all of) it is even possible to achieve with our current ruleset formats.

Please add this feature. It saves a lot of loathsome micromanagement.

That could be simulated via Lua script.

When a land unit is disbanded on a non-city land tile next to Ocean or Deep Ocean tile...

Create an unhomed boat such as a galleon (that unit type has no attack, but for less movement points a trireme might be preferred) and record that Unit ID as value in a table/array. Create the galleon with no movement points.

Create a replacement land unit in the boat, with no movement points (results in 1 turn lost to "embarking")

On the next turn, the unit is in the boat and both the boat and the unit are able to move

On turn_begin / turn_started signal (every turn) check each "Embark" boat by Unit ID from the table, and if any boat in the table is empty and not in a city, disband it and remove the associated Unit IDs for the boat and the land unit from the table. If the boat is empty and is on a city tile, move it out and disband it outside the city to avoid 50% shield/productivity recovery from disbanding the "free" boat.

Still leaves a possibility that a player could arrange a permanent free boat through this method by never leaving the boat empty -- so perhaps a maximum lifespan for the boat of 10 turns?

Also doesn't prevent "last-minute" boarding of another unit into the "Embark" boat without the 2nd unit losing a turn to "Embarking."

Lua "Embark" script for Freeciv 2.6.4 or later is posted at the following link: viewtopic.php?p=109060#p109060

There is "Convert" action that you can see for Leader unit in Webperimental ruleset that changes its type from land to sea or back, but it won't work if the unit is on tile inappropriate for its target type, or if it is in transport not suitable for the target tile. I.e., Leader can convert into Yacht and back only in cities. Maybe we should make versions of self-targeted actions like "Convert" or "Build road" that will be performed to other tile (and maybe also to another transporter unit). That would allow notural burrowing under sea win AlienWorld ruleset, and CivV embark everywhere.

Would implementing a Lua script or introducing a "Convert" action for units in different tiles be a suitable solution to address the inconvenience of shuttling units through the sea in the game?