The Ancients rule-set is designed to provide Freeciv with a flavour of the
pre-gunpowder era.  The current version focuses on the nations of
Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean, and surrounding regions.


---
Using the rule-set:

For network play, be sure the rule-set is available both on the server and on
all the clients' systems.

Start the server normally, and issue the following commands:

	rulesetdir ancients

These server commands can be used in conjunction with most other server
commands that you want to use.

Start the clients with the command:

	civclient -t ancients

If you do not specify -t, then you will get the default tile-set, which
will not make any sense as a representation for your units.


---
Playing under the rule-set:

It is VERY IMPORTANT to remember that you are not playing the standard
game.  The technology tree is different, and units, technologies, buildings,
and governments all have new characteristics.  Do not assume that things
work as before! Information is available under the Help menu of the
game client.

Certain aspects of maintaining your civilization will be difficult to manage,
and this is deliberate in the Ancients rule-set.  You should often face tough
decisions between progress and survival, and you may find your research forced
to directions you did not want to take.  Learn to enjoy the challenge!  If you
continually feel that your civilization is teetering on the edge of chaos,
then the rule-set is well designed.

If you feel frustrated after playing under the rule-set, start again and
pursue a different tech strategy.  This will often result in a completely
different style of game.  Units that seem worthless in one game will prove
to be quite valuable in the next.

Miscellaneous warnings:

 o The Ancient Democracy represents the government of Athens and its small
   empire during the Peloponnesian War.  This government type is unsuitable
   when you have more than a handful of cities; changing to it after your
   nation has grown large will have disastrous results.

 o The Petty Kingdom and Republic are suitable for medium-sized empires;
   you will need to change to Imperial Monarchy or the Principate to manage
   the largest empires.

 o All naval units in the game risk sinking if they do not end a turn
   adjacent to a shoreline.

 o The percent chance for diplomatic sabotage differs from the standard
   game as follows:
    - Military installations suffer only a 10% chance, since they will
      usually be guarded.
    - The palace and all wonders suffer a 1% chance, just to keep things
      interesting.
    - All others suffer a 50% chance.

 o Settlers can not build roads or irrigate land; you must use Workers to do
    so.

---
ChangeLog

Ancients 2.3-1

* Increased hitpoints to 15 for all military units that used to have 10 hitpoints

Ancients for Freeciv 2.3

* Updated format to be compatible with freeciv 2.3

Ancients for Freeciv r15801

Updated for Freeciv development version (what will be 2.2) revision 15801
* Some ships can leave shoreline
* Calendar speed about halved


Ancients 2.1.0-2 (preview)

Updated for Freeciv 2.1 branch.
Major changes from 2.0.x:
* Updated all rules, governments etc to effects.ruleset
* Now has more nations

An amplio-based tileset for Ancients called ampcients compiled by Daniel Markstedt is available but not (yet) under a bundleable license. See the wiki page[1] for more information.

Report any bugs and/or suggestions to me or Daniel Markstedt

See also the original webpage[2] of Ancients for Freeciv 1.x

[1]: http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/Ancients
[2]: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/bdbryant/freeciv/ancients.html

Updated by
Ulrik Sverdrup <ulrik.sverdrup@gmail.com>
Daniel Markstedt <himasaram@spray.se>

---

The current maintainer of the rule-set:

        Benedict Adamson <badamson@spamcop.net>

The original maintainers of the rule-set:

	Bobby Bryant <bdbryant@mail.utexas.edu>
	Moses Lei    <mlei@symphony.dhs.org>

Additional contributers (alphabetical):
	Armen Carapetian <acarapetian@gmail.com>
	Aho Esen
        Miguel Farah <miguel.farah@gmail.com>
	Daniel Markstedt <himasaram@spray.se>
        William Allen Simpson <wsimpson@greendragon.com>

The rule-set has a Web site at:

	http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/bdbryant/freeciv/ancients.html

Feel free to send feedback to the maintainer, or to discuss the rule-set
on the Freeciv mailing list.
