Freeciv discussion. First of all, does anybody play this here?

[MosheTreutel]

I have a few noob questions since I'm used to civ 5 and while freeciv looks cool, it's really confusing. First of all, I start sometimes with two settlers and one just acts like a worker. What? Second, I meet people and create ceasefires and then all of the sudden my cities are taken over. What is going on? How do I make lasting ceasefires or renew them or whatever? Thanks a bunch!

[John Campbell]

Yeah, these forums are annoyingly dead. I've been working on a custom ruleset, and I've got questions I want to ask and suggestions I want to make, but posting here is like screaming into the void.

I have a few noob questions since I'm used to civ 5 and while freeciv looks cool, it's really confusing. First of all, I start sometimes with two settlers and one just acts like a worker. What?

Freeciv was originally based on Civ 2, but it's exported a lot of the game mechanics to rulesets, which make its behavior very configurable, and the classic ruleset has diverged a fair bit from the original Civ 2 rules over the years. For reasons which elude me, Freeciv 3.0 changed the default ruleset to civ2civ3, which is game-breakingly bad in numerous ways, the main one being that everything that was worthwhile in the classic ruleset has been nerfed to prevent anyone from gaining any kind of meaningful advantage. I strongly recommend, when you start a new game, switching the ruleset to classic, which, while it certainly has its faults, was at least not deliberately designed to make everything suck. There are also civ1 and civ2 rulesets, which hew more closely (though not exactly) to the behavior of the respective commercial games.

Anyway, way back in the mists of time, Freeciv classic split Civ 2's Settler role into two pieces: Settlers and Workers. Settlers retain most of the Worker abilities, but they can also found cities. Workers can't found cities, but they're cheaper to build, don't cost population, and don't require food support. So you can build Settlers to expand to new cities, but you can just keep Workers around to do all your road-building and irrigation and so on, and not have to feed an expensive Settler just for building infrastructure. (The AI is too stupid for this... it builds Settlers and they just wander around building roads to nowhere and then, mysteriously, its cities don't grow.) Workers eventually upgrade to Engineers, which work faster and can do some things that basic Workers can't, but, unlike in Civ 2, still can't found cities. Settlers don't upgrade; they stay the same through the game.

civ2civ3 has also added Migrants, which, like Workers, cannot found cities (though they can be added to existing cities), but, like Settlers, cost population and require food support. They are actively bad and you should never build them ever. If you happen to capture an enemy one, you should immediately add it to your nearest city.

Now, the units that you start with are configurable: At the top of the Sociology tab in the game options, there'll be a string of letters that represent your starting crew. civ2civ3 by default gives "cwsx", which is one city builder unit (Settler), one worker unit (Worker), one spy unit (Diplomat), and one explorer unit (Explorer). The "Settler" that you can't settle with would be your Worker.

You'll want to use the Explorer and Diplomat to scout your immediate surroundings, and then have the Settler found your first city immediately. If you can get a much better city site by moving a square or two, it may be worth doing it, but unless it's a really big improvement, you probably want to just found your capital where your Settler spawns. Those first turns are precious, and it's not worth burning them for just a marginal improvement in your city site. Then use your Worker to start building roads, mines, and irrigation around your capital while your Explorer and Diplomat spread out to explore and make contact with your neighbors.

Note that your starting units have no home cities and so are upkeep-free, and in the early game that can be really valuable; so try to keep them alive. Except for the Settler, they also all have tech requirements, so you won't be able to replace them for a while.

Second, I meet people and create ceasefires and then all of the sudden my cities are taken over. What is going on? How do I make lasting ceasefires or renew them or whatever? Thanks a bunch!

Freeciv has five diplomatic states: War, Ceasefire, Armistice, Peace, and Alliance. You have to move up through these states in order; you can't jump directly from War to Peace. You're at War with everyone by default, and you can't change that until you actually meet them so you can make other arrangements. Ceasefire and Armistice are temporary conditions. They have a turn timer, and when they time out, they automatically change to a different state: When a Ceasefire times out, it automatically reverts to War, and when an Armistice times out, it automatically becomes Peace. (This can actually happen from either direction. If you break an Alliance with someone, it doesn't go straight to Peace; it goes to Armistice first, so you have a chance to disentangle your empires before reverting to Peace. However, when you break Peace, it doesn't go to Ceasefire; it goes straight to War.)

When you first meet an AI, depending on the AI difficulty level and the AI's traits, they will usually offer a Ceasefire, or at least be open to agreeing to a Ceasefire if you offer one (open up the Nations tab - for some inexplicable reason, the game doesn't open all of the critical UI elements by default - select the appropriate nation, and go up to the Diplomacy menu at the top and select Meet, then click on Add Clause under your nation and leader name and... hang on, I just discovered that 3.2 has broken diplomacy in my ruleset here....).

(... Okay, got that sorted. Click on Add Clause, then go down to Pacts and select Cease-fire.)

But Ceasefires are, as noted, a temporary condition. If you don't make other arrangements before they time out, they'll revert back to War. When a Ceasefire gets near its end, you'll get a message in the Messages tab warning you of that. (Keep an eye on the Messages tab. There's a lot of important information there. I start every turn by going through the messages line-by-line and at least checking on everything that generated a message, even if it's just to confirm that a city's production orders still make sense.) Generally, again depending on AI difficulty, traits, and attitude, AIs will offer peace around this point - a Diplomacy tab will pop up, and you can go into that and accept the offer. If they don't, you can start a meeting and offer it yourself. (As above, but offer Peace instead of Cease-fire.) If you've maintained the Ceasefire for a while, and the AI's attitude towards you is good, they'll accept, and then the Ceasefire will become an Armistice, which gives you time to move any of your units out of your new friend's territory (and nominally vice versa, but the AI is kind of too stupid to do it). When the Armistice expires, it becomes Peace - and any units left in their territory are disbanded.

Sometimes AIs will refuse to make Peace, either because they don't like how you've been behaving, or just because their traits make them assholes. Sometimes you can offer another Ceasefire when the first expires, and they'll eventually come around, and be ready to make peace by the time the second one ends. Sometimes you can offer them other stuff to make Peace (though I generally don't; the game gets boring if there's no one to have a war with). Sometimes they won't accept anything but your blood.

Sometimes you'll run into a problem because you can't do diplomacy with another civ until you've actually met them, and if they're using fast units like Horsemen or Chariots, it's possible that they make first contact, offer a Ceasefire, and then use their second move to kill or conquer the unit or city they made contact with before you have a chance to accept. This is why it's a good idea to explore your surroundings and meet your neighbors, so your first contact with them isn't as they ride through the streets of your city.

If you haven't interacted with another civ's units or cities in a while, and you don't have an embassy with them, you'll lose contact with them, and then you can't do diplomacy with them. You have to go and actually find them again before you can meet with them. The contact timer is longer than the Ceasefire/Armistice timers, so it's generally not a problem for making peace. However, if you have to do a second Ceasefire because they're not ready to make peace when the first one ends, it can run past the contact timer, and you can lose contact with them and not be able to offer peace when the time comes. This isn't a problem if you've made an embassy with them. (Sadly, you'll have to burn a Diplomat to do it; the AI absolutely refuses to exchange embassies in diplomatic agreements.) You want to establish embassies with as many other civs as you can anyway, because that lets you trade techs with them, which is the best way to stay on top of the technology race.

[sarahmc]

Yeah Freeciv can be wild lol. That second “settler” is actually a worker, just looks the same. Can’t build cities, only does roads and stuff. bubble shooter

As for ceasefires — they expire fast and don’t mean much. People can still attack you after. If you want real peace, go for a “Peace Treaty” and keep checking/renewing it. Always keep units near your borders just in case.