[Fciv] FreeCiv: New version 3.0 and updates

The_J

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It seems we don't have a recent FreeCiv thread, so I'll make one.

FreeCiv 3.0 has been released in February, and recently also the patch 3.0.1.
As many of you know, FreeCiv is a free, open-source Civ game, inspired by Civilization 2. The recent change in version number has also changed the rules. The default rules are now closer to Civ3 than to Civ2, see https://freeciv.fandom.com/wiki/Civ2civ3 .

FreeCiv 3.0 can be downloaded free of charge here: http://freeciv.org/download.html
The current install should run on most modern operating systems and also all halfways modern computers.
Follow the FreeCiv Twitter account for more new.
 
Free civ!
 
https://freeciv.fandom.com/wiki/NEWS-3.0.1
The version 3.0.1 has been released.
Changes:
Spoiler :

Server / General
  • Fixed "turn_begin" lua signal, affecting especially 32bit Windows builds. This, e.g., makes various welcome messages to show up osdn#41662
  • Fixed some problems in builds where asserts are not enabled. More work remains. osdn#43871 osdn#44129 osdn#44019 osdn#44020
  • Fixed error messages sometimes appearing when a city has been removed but units remain (e.g. in case of Sentried Helicopter) osdn#44057
  • Correctly convert it, when savegame with AI level "Experimental" is loaded to a non-debug build osdn#44165
  • Don't kill the nation when client requires removal of a gameloss unit in editor mode osdn#44274
  • Fixed a bug that updated city info was in some cases sent to owner when it was supposed to get sent to everyone else osdn#44158
  • Correctly set resources on player's Fog-of-War map, for tiles which they don't currently see, when loading a saved game osdn#44176
  • If scenario lua script uses direction variables, value of those is no longer stored to savegames at all. Current freeciv version can't load that information, and such savegames generated by earlier versions only crashed the server at savegame loading time. Lua direction objects will function properly in freeciv-3.1 HRM#880895
Changes affecting players (supplied rulesets)
  • Start area is revealed also for the start city osdn#43652
  • alien
    • transform_result and transform_time consistent on all terrains osdn#43625
Changes affecting other rulesets / modders
  • Added deprecation warning about insensical singlepole and alltemperate requirement combinations osdn#44181
  • Fixed crash in lua tile:is_enemy() method when there's no city on that tile HRM#943039
Changes affecting server operators
  • Metamessage is no longer resetted on ruleset load osdn#43759
General
AI
  • Alight cargo unit immediately when transport reaches destination osdn#43639
Clients
  • gtk
    • Fixed drawing citizens for cities over size 30 osdn#43823
  • qt
    • Fixed memory corruption issues when detecting which gfx formats client supports osdn#43755
    • Worked around MacOS behavior of removing "Options" submenu osdn#43944
    • Renamed menu item "Players" as "Nations" to match naming in left pane osdn#43946
Tools
Modpack Installer
Ruledit
Tilesets, Art, etc
Help / Documentation
Translations
  • Updated translations:
    • Complete translations: Catalan, Polish, Russian
    • Incomplete translations: German (76% core, 85% nations, 5% ruledit), Finnish (100% core, 91% nations, 100% ruledit)
  • Marked strings for translations where they erroneously were not. osdn#43980 osdn#44029
  • Include core domain translations to Windows ruledit installer osdn#43981
Build/portability
  • Updates from the gnulib upstream: osdn#43588 osdn#43636
  • Fix lua compile for AmigaOS osdn#43571
  • Fixed problems in Windows snapshot builds being flagged as "modified" in their version number even when they are not.
  • Detect pthreads as thread implementation also when they require "-lpthread" osdn#43561
  • Support also such C11 thread implementations that are not built on top of pthreads HRM#852950
  • Added configure option --without-iconv osdn#43572
  • Updated Crosser environment to use to version 2.3 osdn#44047 osdn#43921 osdn#44110
  • Fixed libcharset configure check osdn#43600
  • Updated default Appdata/Metainfo installation directory osdn#44091


 
Version 3.1 has been released: https://freeciv.fandom.com/wiki/NEWS-3.1.0

Changes:
Spoiler :

WHAT'S CHANGED SINCE 3.0

The major changes in Freeciv 3.1 are new Qt6- and gtk4-clients, improved balance for civ2ci3 ruleset, experimental meson based build system, and a whole lot of extra flexibility to create custom rulesets.

As is usual for major releases, 3.1 clients cannot interoperate with pre-3.1 servers, and vice versa. Most pre-3.1 savegames can however be loaded into 3.1, and in most cases, the supplied rulesets have not changed so much as to make it difficult to complete a game started with 3.0.x's rules.
Server / General

Qt6 versions of the Qt-client, Qt Modpack Installer, and Ruledit are supported, and even the default in most cases HRM#892817
Player authentication is supported by default GNAPATCH#7379
Max number of regular players (not counting barbarians) is now 500. HRM#654973 HRM#677144
Rally Points can be set for the cities HRM#838543
Previously silent generic actions now have event message types, so can show up chat/messages/popup HRM#848791
There has been many changes to what actions each keyboard key does, as required by changes in the actions themselves. See Controls in Help for updated info.
Especially; Paradrop now has a key distinct from Pollution cleaning osdn#45958
Adding local nation definitions now works properly osdn#44590

Changes affecting players (supplied rulesets)

Experimental ruleset is no longer part of the main freeciv distribution. It's still available with modpack installer GNAPATCH#7625
Submarines are now in the new Subsurface vision layer HRM#682506
Huts on most rulesets (any ruleset that uses default huts behavior) can now result on reveal of the surrounding terrain osdn#42974
By default, bombardment rate now gets reduced if the bombarding unit is damaged. This is relevant only for rulesets with such bombarding units, and ruleset might still use the old behavior instead of the new default HRM#821129
The issue of Ships attacking Helicopters counting as land bombardment, when attack initiated from a city on land has been resolved osdn#43255
Extraneous StartUnit roles cleared from supplied rulesets osdn#45878
Rulesets except civ1, civ2, alien, and stub have new Eliminate Spy action, that is just diplomatic battle with no further actions osdn#46173

nations
Esperant nation city list updated osdn#45762
Palau nation added HRM#697041
Texan nation city list updated osdn#46114
Liege nation added osdn#46553
Floridian nation added osdn#46657

civ2civ3
Ecclesiastical Palace is real secondary capital now HRM#872572
Establishing trade routes give one-time bonus in Gold (used to give Nothing) osdn#42319
Effects of Culture have been reworked osdn#42712
The culture accumulated by each city increases its resistance in diplomatic fights against enemy agents (up to +50%).
The culture accumulated by your nation increases the cost to bribe your units or incite your cities (up to +500%).
Governments no longer get immunity against bribe or incite actions. Cities with a Courthouse or a Palace are now immune to incite actions.
Increased the amount of culture granted by achievements (from 100 to 1000 in most cases), and the lead relative to second best player needed for victory (from 33 to 100%).
Fortress and Airbase build requirements rearranged osdn#42709
All military infantry units can build fortresses. All worker units can build airbases.
The working time required to build a base is 2 times the movement cost of the terrain.
Attacks against helpless defender never grant veterancy osdn#43101
The chance to gain veterancy from combat depends on how challenging it was osdn#43203
Reworked which of the naval units count as military ones, causing unhappiness osdn#45225
Homeless diplomats may home themselves, to gain ability to bribe units osdn#45070

civ1
Alliance clauses are no longer available HRM#768396
Move costs on entering and leaving transports corrected HRM#850669
Both units' hitpoints and firepower have been increased to 10 in all situations. Single hit still kill them, but AI understand this math a bit better osdn#43042
Fortifying bonuses closer to civ2 HRM#871628
Unfortified units in cities do not get the bonus
Bonus is not cumulative with City Walls or Fortress

civ2
Alliance clauses are no longer available HRM#768396
Move costs on entering and leaving transports corrected HRM#850668
Fighters have real scramble bonuses HRM#923193
Fortifying bonuses closer to civ2 HRM#871628
Unfortified units in cities do not get the bonus
Bonus is not cumulative with City Walls or Fortress

multiplayer
Unit move rates doubled HRM#654404
The chance to gain veterancy from combat depends on how challenging it was osdn#43203

alien
Burrowing units do not make it impossible to attack other units in the same tile, even if general unreachableprotects setting is enabled HRM#824810
The chance to gain veterancy from combat depends on how challenging it was osdn#43203

experimental
Ruleset has been made ready to migrate under name goldkeep in freeciv-3.2 HRM#820950

sandbox
Various messages shown in the beginning of specific turn numbers HRM#732561
Both parties need to know Writing before they can trade techs HRM#768209
ICMB can hit anywhere in the world, from anywhere HRM#854014
New Disrupt Supply Lines action to take move points from target HRM#852114
Spies can simply (not as part of another action) eliminate enemy spies and diplomats HRM#859809
Pillaging gives the victim Casus Belli HRM#874199
Spies can Release Plague HRM#859160
Spies can do Suitcase Nuke action osdn#41809
Ecclesiastical Palace is real secondary capital now HRM#899242
New Chichen Itza wonder allows city to build units that usually have population cost without the city shrinking HRM#900032
Fortress can be expanded to a Castle osdn#41433
Some Castles are placed on the map when it's generated osdn#41434
Teleportation is possible via Ancient Transport Hubs randomly placed on map osdn#41557
Living units of the Amêzârâkian Mysteries owner can heal other living units osdn#41671
Nuclear attacks are now targeted against tiles, not cities osdn#41688
Added Nuclear Submarine that can launch one tactical nuke each turn osdn#41689
Added Treuga Dei Wonder that prevents all violent actions while it's active osdn#41677
New Altar of The Divine Ruler wonder allows making units homeless osdn#41836
New Mechanic unit can repair machine units, restoring 50% of their health osdn#41845
Poison City actions may fail, as dictated by diplchance server setting HRM#924521
Establishing trade routes give one-time bonus in Gold (used to give both Gold and Science) osdn#42319
Added Space Elevator small wonder and Space Elevator Tether City Improvement osdn#43128
Attacks against helpless defender never grant veterancy osdn#43101
The chance to gain veterancy from combat depends on how challenging it was osdn#43203
Reworked which of the naval units count as military ones, causing unhappiness osdn#45225
Homeless diplomats may home themselves, to gain ability to bribe units osdn#45070

Changes affecting other rulesets / modders

Scenarios can now ship ruleset specific datafile luadata.txt, and ruleset can ship parser.lua script to use that data any way it wants HRM#661635
There is now two separate visibility layers able to hide a unit; Stealth and Subsurface HRM#679427
"Bridge" rule options are now available for all extras, and are generally more flexible HRM#704288
Multipliers can now have requirements that player needs to meet in order to give it nondefault value HRM#732522
Ruleset can now limit how often a multiplier can be changed by new minimum_turns property HRM#908582
New effects controlling build costs of specific targets
Building_Build_Cost_Pct HRM#767451
Unit_Build_Cost_Pct HRM#768130
Added user-defined effects "User_Effect_1" ... "User_Effect_4" that do nothing by default. Ruleset is expected to make them usable by lua scripting. osdn#41745
Ruleset has control over which clauses are available for treaties
Whether it's enabled at all in the ruleset HRM#765945
When requirement vectors for giver and receiver enable it HRM#768208
Maximum number of Techs a ruleset can define has been increased to 250 HRM#776787
Maximum number of Unit Types a ruleset can define has been increased to 250 HRM#778026
New ruleset settings nuke_pop_loss and nuke_defender_survival_chance_pct to control destructiveness of nukes HRM#801780
Mechanism for a ruleset to migrate under a new name over freeciv versions HRM#820924
Ruleset now has control over city happiness' effect on civil war chance HRM#769075
New DefenseMultiplierPct and DefenseDividerPct combat bonuses provide more granular alternative for existing equivalent integer bonuses HRM#809470
New concept of Infrapoints that can be used to just place infrastructure instead of building it with units HRM#821956
Improvements for higher granularity rulesets
New output_granularity ruleset setting to support higher granularity with outputs (food/shield/tax/gold/science/luxury) HRM#822932
Increased max values many ruleset settings can take HRM#825215
Terrain transforming modes of Irrigate and Mine activities have been split to new Cultivate and Plant activities HRM#824074
New NeverProtects unit type flag to override global unreachableprotects setting HRM#809471
New extra removal cause Enter to provide better semantics for hut -kind extras HRM#802768
New history_intereset_pml ruleset setting allows older (longer existed) history to count towards culture more than recent HRM#823245
New AI trait Builder to adjust how much AI wants buildings (instead, e.g., units) HRM#825086
Maximum number of ruleset author defined flags increased
Unit class flags to 12 HRM#846122
Terrain flags to 10 HRM#877497
Some unit class flags have been unhardcoded, and removed
CanPillage HRM#846557
Move points taken after successful actions can be controlled by new effects
Action_Success_Actor_Move_Cost HRM#846773
Action_Success_Target_Move_Cost HRM#848435
New effect Illegal_Action_HP_Cost to control HP loss after failed action 879103 HRM#879103
New effect Popcost_Free to forgive population cost of built units HRM#659540
How many tiles action Steal Maps reveals can be controlled by new Maps_Stolen_Pct effect, and steal_maps_reveals_all_cities ruleset setting HRM#873390
Improved support for more detailed auto-attack rules HRM#850300
New UnitState values available to be used in requirements
InNativeExtra HRM#854185
MovedThisTurn HRM#875439
Maximum number of requirements in a requirement vector increased to 40 osdn#41661
New requirement types
CityStatus, currently only for checking if the city is controlled by its original owner (OwnedByOriginal) HRM#858238
MinForeignPct that depends on number of foreigners in the city HRM#857904
Activity that depends on unit's current activity HRM#870905
DiplRelTile that depends on ones diplomatic relation to the owner of the tile (e.g. the tile target unit is on) osdn#42515
DiplRelTileOther that depends on diplomatic relation between the owner of the tile and other player (e.g. the target unit owner) osdn#42522
DiplRelUnitAny that depends on ones diplomatic relation with owners of units on tile osdn#42562
DiplRelUnitAnyOther that depends on diplomatic relation between owners of units on tile and other player (e.g. tile owner) osdn#42563
Defense bonuses from unit being fortified unhardcoded by new Fortify_Defense_Bonus effect HRM#867744
NoFortify terrain flag unhardcoded HRM#877498
CanFortify and Cant_Fortify unit flags unhardcoded HRM#877577
slow_invasions ruleset setting has been retired as the same rule can be implemented via Action_Success_Actor_Move_Cost effect HRM#848684
Amount of shields received from unit doing Help Wonder or Disband Unit Recover action can be controlled by a new Unit_Shield_Value_Pct effect HRM#874806
Which cities are capitals is now declared for a turn - it can't change mid-turn. This also adds concept of secondary capitals HRM#871681
Last remaining Base Flag, NoAggressive, has been turned to an extra flag to make it available for all extras HRM#897492
The CityTile requirement can check if extras on tile are owned by the new Extras Owned value HRM#918819
OneAttack unit type flag retired. Ruleset can implement it via an Action_Success_Actor_Move_Cost effect that takes all the movement HRM#847256
Removed hardcoded rule that attack costs single move - ruleset can define move costs via effects osdn#41646
New Heal_Unit_Pct effect to control how much Heal Unit actions heal osdn#41789
Whether server setting telling that city has unlimited airlift also enables airlift when there's no capacity at all is now controlled by new airlift_from_always_enabled and airlift_to_always_enabled ruleset settings HRM#874937
Introduced new combat bonus type CityDefensePct that overrides Defend_Bonus effect HRM#865084
Success probability of Suitcase Nuke actions now shown HRM#920121
It's possible to make Poison City subject to diplchance HRM#869738
Whether opponents know about all Small Wonders player owns is now controlled by a new ruleset setting wonder_visibility.small_wonders HRM#924859
Improvements to when unit gains veterancy from combat
New ruleset setting only_real_fight_makes_veteran to prevent from one from gaining veterancy from safe attacks (ones against helpless defender) osdn#43009
New ruleset setting combat_odds_scaled_veterancy to make chance of gaining veterancy scale to the difficulty of the combat HRM#804347
Rules that set firepower to 1 unhardcoded can now have the value suitable for the ruleset osdn#43041
By the new tp_defense unit type setting, unit can be blocked from defending while it's inside a transport HRM#848689
New min_trade_route_val ruleset setting, mainly to control if trade output can round down to zero, or is it always at least 1 osdn#43011
Recycle Unit action has been renamed as Disband Unit Recover osdn#42959
Unhardcoded unit regeneration special cases
New Min_HP_Pct effect, to unhardcode minimum HP unit gets when in a city osdn#42699
New Min_HP_Regen_2 effect, to unhardcode base healing, and healing bonus for fortified units osdn#44201
Existence of at least one City_Vision_Radius_Sq effect in the ruleset is now mandatory, as city without any vision wouldn't work osdn#43647

actions

Completely new actions
Spread Plague HRM#859148
Spy Attack HRM#859163
More Action Enabler controlled actions
Pillage HRM#741274
Fortify HRM#742419
Build Road HRM#742986
Convert Unit HRM#747765
Build Base HRM#750400
Clean Pollution and Clean Fallout HRM#850507
Surgical Strike Building HRM#848643
Surgical Strike Production HRM#864578
Conquer Extras HRM#850508
Enter Hut and Frighten Hut HRM#919139
Unit Move HRM#919970
Unit Make Homeless osdn#41622
..._Possible -effects replaced with action enablers
Transform_Possible replaced by Transform_Terrain HRM#732503
Irrig_TF_Possible and Mining_TF_Possible replaced by Cultivate and Plant HRM#735703
Mining_Possible replaced by Build Mine HRM#753716
Irrig_Possible replaced by Build Irrigation HRM#754873
Transport loading/unloading is now controlled by revamped actions
Transport Alight - Unload to the same tile with the transport, cargo acting HRM#848430
Transport Unload - Unload to the same tile with the transport, transport acting HRM#848492
Transport Disembark - Unload to adjacent tile, cargo acting HRM##848682
Transport Board - Load to the transport at the same tile, cargo acting HRM#848637
Transport Embark - Load to the transport on adjacent tile, cargo acting HRM#850022
Suicide Attack is now separate action from Attack allowing it to be configured more freely HRM#783336
Some actions are duplicated, tripled, or even quadrupled so that the ruleset can define essentially same action to behave differently in different situations
Transport Disembark HRM#850550
Conquer City HRM#850551
Bombard HRM#851451
Conquer Extras osdn#41513
Heal Unit osdn#41602
Unit move actions HRM#920420
Explode Nuclear, Nuke City, and Nuke Units are now three separate actions, so their rules can be controlled separately HRM#850219
Actions formerly targeting both building and current production split to actions that target some building, and actions that target current production HRM#852132
More actions have maximum ranges, from the actor, that they can target to
Explode Nuclear HRM#854013
Airlift Unit (now it's possible to have a limited range) HRM#854978
Nuke City and Nuke Units HRM#859845
Help Wonder and Disband Unit Recover HRM#875249
Paradrop Unit range migrated from the unit definition HRM#879114
Number of actions with different side effects split from the former Paradrop Unit that is now free of those hardcoded side effects osdn#41565
Some actions have minimum ranges, from the actor, that they can target to
Nuclear attacks osdn#41701
Added user-defined actions "User Action 1" ... "User Action 4" that do nothing by default. Ruleset is expected to make them usable by lua scripting. HRM#852112
More actions supported by Casys_Belli_Success
Pillage HRM#874197
Move actions osdn#41627
Paradrop Unit actions HRM#921213
New Casus_Belli_Complete effect, supporting just Pillage action HRM#875465
Actor unit properties can be used as Casus Belli requirements HRM#921209
For some actions it's now possible to give a list of other actions that block them. This replaces old force_* entries
Blocking regular move action HRM#919110
Blocking actions that formerly had partial implementation via 'force_* entries HRM#919172
For some actions it's now possible to give a list of other actions that are automatically attempted after it osdn#41524
Ruleset now controls what actions unit tries in an attempt to escape the tile in some situations
When city gets destroyed, and unit can't survive on tile any more HRM#920149
When escaping stack death HRM#920951
For some actions, ruleset has the control over their target kind
Whether Pillage actions consider Tile or the specific Extra their target. This makes a difference, e.g., for any requirements referring to the "other" player - whether it's the tile owner, or the extra owner HRM#919305
Unit Explode Nuclear and Unit Nuke City actions have been merged, with ruleset selecting between the old behaviors by defining the target kind osdn#41552
Whether an diplomat action is subject to diplchance server setting is now controlled by new diplchance_initial_odds ruleset setting. This is still supported for a limited set of actions HRM#849492
Home City action enablers can be set to allow rehoming also NoHome units. The unit flag now only means that unit is initially built homeless osdn#41621
Nuclear attack units can be set not to get consumed in the attack. Makes sense when it's actually ranged attack launcher unit osdn#41681
Found City can be set not to consume unit HRM#931180

Changes affecting lua scripting

Lua engine has been updated to version 5.4 HRM#743677
Luasql files have been updated to match version 2.6.0 HRM#890257
owner property added for lua's tile data HRM#874440
government property added for lua's player data osdn#43294
Direction variables are now properly included to savegames HRM#880895
Unit upgrade / transform APIs osdn##42666
Unit:veteran
Unit_Type:obsoleted_by
Player:can_upgrade()
Player:can_build_direct(.. Building_Type)
Player:can_build_direct(.. Unit_Type)
Unit:can_upgrade()
Unit:transform_problem()
Unit:upgrade()
Unit:transform()
Other new methods
city:is_primary_capital() HRM#904702
action:target_kind() tells what the action was targeted at osdn#41446
tile:extra_owner() returns owner of an extra on tile osdn#41445
find.action() to get an action osdn#41519
edit.perform_action() and Unit:perform_action() to force unit to perform an action osdn#41520
effects.unit_bonus() to get value of the effect for the unit (unit matches requirements) osdn#41746
effects.unit_vs_tile_bonus() to get value of the effect for the unit on tile osdn#41749
Tile:show() and Tile:hide() osdn#42973
City:create_building() and City:remove_building() HRM#695117
Player:give_bulbs() osdn#42502
City:link_text(), City:tile_link_text(), Unit:link_text(), Unit:tile_link_text(), and Tile:link_text() osdn#43343
find.achievement() and find.disaster() osdn#43594
find.player(name) osdn#43705
City:remove() osdn#44229
Extended methods
edit.unit_move(), edit.unit.unit_teleport(), Unit:move(), and Unit:teleport() can take additional parameters dictating potential side effects of the move (e.g. if there's transport of a hut in the target) osdn#41730
create_unit_full() can place unit inside a transport it would not board at the place osdn#44834
New signals
Family of action_finished_... signals emitted after the action HRM#817749
player_phase_begin, player_phase_end, player_alive_phase_end osdn#42663
default.lua now constructs the "out of fuel" message osdn#43341

Changes affecting server operators

Bzip2 savegame compression is deprecated. Use another compresstype GNAPATCH#7112
Support for loading games saved by freeciv versions older than 2.3 dropped GNAPATCH#5591
Freeciv build can now support both the raw and json network protocols, not just either one HRM#664002 HRM#745596
Hack -level users can run lua -commands in a new permissive context with unsafe-cmd and unsafe-file commands HRM#692001
New odbc backend for player authentication database HRM#769096
New server settings
incite_gold_loss_chance and incite_gold_capt_chance control loss of money reserved for inciting revolt when it fails HRM#797697
New server command playernation for setting nation and leader name HRM#768292
Custom database.lua location is now supported osdn#41880
/reset game now works correctly in respect to setting provenance HRM#692373
zstd compressed savegames are now supported (compresstype value zstd) HRM#852626
New iphide server setting to not send IPs of players to each other osdn#43683
/metamessage server command has been deprecated. Use metamessage setting, available since freeciv-3.0, instead osdn#44107

General

New log level "warning" GNAPATCH#7373

AI

Extended higher resolution AI want tracking introduced in freeciv-3.0 to more cases osdn#45700
Tex AI module has been generally improved. GNAPATCH#8067
Run military advisor in the second (not the server's main) thread osdn#697715
Workers dying while tex is looking task for them no longer cause problems HRM#824565
Tex module is built in by default HRM#827157
AI has some rudimentary support for handling Ocean Workers HRM#664183
It depends on exact action commited against AI how much love is lost HRM#875910
AI difficulty level Handicapped renamed as Restricted HRM#872165
AI difficulty levels that are supposed not to see through Fog of War now respect that also when examining potential Paradrop targets osdn#41722
AI remembers its current Wonder building plans over game save/load cycle, so it as easily abandon Wonder building on savegame load HRM#857459
Hard level AI is no longer allowed to set tax rates freely, but max rates rules apply to it osdn#42333
AI's want for various things is not as easily clipped as before (max want is now ten times bigger), so it can distinguish between high and extremely high want osdn#45277

Autosettlers improvements (affect also human players)
Considers building also other kind (cause) extras as dependency of the wanted extra. Previously considered, e.g., building only Roads as dependency of other Roads osdn#42492

Clients

gtk2-client and modpack installers have been dropped GNAPATCH#7019
gtk3-client considered unmaintained. Use gtk3.22-client instead osdn#42981
sdl1.2-mixer support dropped GNAPATCH#6246
New gtk4-client added HRM#637945
City dialog shows if a tech has ever been stolen from the city HRM#657146
Improved the way untergeted action gets listed in the target selection dialogs HRM#862482
City Governor can be asked to maximize city growth speed (NOTE: No client supports this at the moment) HRM#839704
New "Pop up actions last move to allied" client option HRM#875939
Audio volume control added HRM#885685
Fast auto attack support added osdn#42719
Most clients have support of drawing number of units in the stack instead of just sign that there's more than the visible one HRM#911906
Number of new columns added to the nations reports osdn#42309
Single-step goto handled like a (single-step) move from the keyboard, e.g., opening action selection dialogs, and not similarly to long range goto osdn#44496
New Connect Maglev connection building type added osdn#41990

Qt
Client-side Rally Point retired, and replaced by server side rally points usage HRM#840514
Fonts settings rearranged HRM#772029
"Go to and ..." now allows sub target (e.g. exact extra to build) selection HRM#877098
Added trade related columns to goto dialog HRM#903720
Qt-client's special settings file is now versioned, so that different freeciv versions with different file content do not interfere each other osdn#44838
Options dialogs remember their geometry osdn#44391
Sidebar fonts refreshed on the session (not requiring client restart) they are changed in the options osdn#44907

Tools
Modpack Installer

Information about installed modpacks is now kept in a sqlite database GNAPATCH#7956
Having "/" in the end of baseURL is no longer an error. It still doesn't do anything, but is tolerated osdn#44309

Ruleup

Unused action enablers can be dropped osdn#41614

Ruledit

Effects editing added HRM#658566
Multipliers editing added HRM#735247
Improvements to ruledit's suggestions to ruleset syntax improvements
Suggestions to remove action enablers that would never be enabled osdn#41616
Suggestions to remove duplicate requirements osdn#41633
Detection of contradicting requirements in a requirement vector osdn#42100
Stub ruleset is now part of main freeciv distribution osdn#43618

Manual Generator

Output format (html or wiki) can now be selected runtime, by commandline options HRM#657117
Less "false positive" actions get listed as possible for terrain when they actually are available under no circumstances osdn#42106

Tilesets, Art, etc

Extra animal unit sprites added to Amplio2 and to tilesets inheriting its units HRM#721407
Extra unit sprites added to cimpletoon and to tilesets inheriting its units osdn#44853

Help / Documentation

Documentation about the source code generated with Doxygen can be found from https://files.freeciv.org/nightly/weekly/ HRM#699770

Translations

Updated translations: Espernanto, Finnish, French, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese

Build/portability

New Meson based build system introduced, to live in parallel with the existing autotools system for now. Autotools is still the official one in freeciv-3.1 HRM#779742
With meson, sdl2-client can be built using SDL2_gfx files supplied with freeciv, without SDL2_gfx in the system osdn#46320
Windows installer types available for freeciv-3.1
At least Windows 8.1 needed for any freeciv-3.1 installer osdn#44286
win-10 installers, requiring at least Windows 10 osdn#44789
Windows sdl2-client now comes with gtk4 modpack installer osdn#43193
Msys2 environment updated to snapshot from 221223 (23rd of Dec 2022) osdn#46338
Initial support for meson + crosser based Windows build. No installers come out from this, one have to get the build artifacts to the target by some other means. HRM#853475
Minimum Qt5 requirement, for Qt5 using components, is now 5.11 HRM#849444
It's possible to make an emscripten build of server and sdl2-client HRM#869747
C++11 mode selected for the C++ compiler by default, as it's requirement even for the minimum Qt version we now support HRM#880321
Project file can define the default network port that the server will listen osdn#42030
Appdata files renamed as metainfo files osdn#43688
Support scripts added for building appbundle for macOS, using homebrew osdn#44549
For native builds, default is not to use improved tolua version coming with freeciv, instead of system one osdn#46199

See doc/README.packaging for more information.

See ChangeLog in doc/README.AI_modules for list of changes in the AI module API.
Known issues

Here are some of the notable outstanding issues that we already know exist as of 3.1.0-beta1:

The Gtk3 clients' zoom function still has some glitches. HRM#696027
The Gtk3 clients currently don't have animation for moving the map view. HRM#735217
The SDL2 client has no UI for manipulating policies. HRM#657404

See NEWS for older lists of changes.
 
As a fan of the Civilization series, I think it is is great that someone has made this project. And put in all that work to make this playable for people with many different computer configurations.

But I haven't tried this much. I only installed it once and tried it out many years ago, and it didn't hook me. Perhaps it was because I was looking for something like Civ 2, and it wasn't quite that.

But as someone that has access too, and regularly plays all the old entries of Civilization on my current computer, I don't know if there is anything unique about Free Civ that should make me want to try it again, instead of another game in one of the official games? Does it have some unique features that makes people particularly enjoy this interpretation of the series? I know that it gives you an option to play with a huge amount of AI opponents, which is cool. I also know that it allows you to mix and match rules from Civ 1, 2 and 3 (some).
 
You can also try it in the browser, e.g. https://fciv.net/ or https://www.freecivweb.org/ ;).
I think the biggest appeal is that it is kinda like the old games, and it's free. It'll give you the Civ fix, if you need it ;).

(sadly I don't have time to play at all right now :/ )
 
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