Welcome to Freeciv 1.7!

This is release 1.7.2.

Thanks again to all our developers, who continue to work so hard.
My extra-special huge steaming thanks to David Pfitzner.  This release
wouldn't have happened were it not for his tireless efforts.  The Freeciv
team salutes you.

For 1.7, a _lot_ of bugs have been fixed, new features added, and thanks
to John Stonebraker, the AI is now a worthy match for most people.
(See the "easy", "normal" and "hard" server commands).

Those who are interested in seeing the detailed changes should check
the ChangeLog file.

WHAT'S CHANGED SINCE 1.7.1:

 - Improvements to the configure script, so it should now work
   properly on all systems.  
 - Ability to configure to use Xaw3d instead of the normal Xaw.
 - New "easy" AI mode, which is now the default.
 - Improved "City Report" dialog, with configurable columns.
 - Improved "Message Options" dialog, with customizable filtering and 
   selection for the different message types.
 - Improved "Messages" dialog, with a scrollbar, and a "Popup City" button.
 - Improved multi-column "Unit Select" dialog when there are lots of units.
 - In city dialog, middle-click unit icons to "activate and close".
 - New client command "t" to show tiles used by city under mouse.
 - New metaserver dialog to make connecting to metaserver games easier.
 - Ability to save and re-load client settings.
 - Clearer Yes/No toggle buttons in various places in the client.
 - Reduced color usage (but looks almost identical), so the client should 
   now work fine on systems with 8 bit color displays.
 - Ability to use "scenarios", that is, pre-designed maps.  Scenarios 
   for Earth and Europe games are included in the data directory.
   (Use them with the server command-line option -f, like savegames.)
 - More city names, so you're less likely to see "City 41" etc.
 - Saving large games is now much faster, and the savefile is smaller.
 - Improvements to the documentation and online help system, including
   a new help section on the "Zones of Control" game concept.
 - Detect repeated log messages and print repeat counts.
 - New server options randseed and aqueductloss.
 - Many other enhancements and bug fixes.
  

WHAT'S CHANGED SINCE 1.7.0:

 - Removed two C++-style comments, the most reported problem with 1.7.0!
 - Tweaks to the configure script for Solaris, although it's still not perfect.
 - Spy and diplomat improvements.
 - Added the "W" command, which Wakes up sentried units, 
 - Added the "scorelog" command, which can be read by a script to generate
   power graphs after the game.
 - Loading games is now MUCH faster.
 - AI improvements from John Stonebraker.
 - Visual improvements to dialogs and the map screen.
 - Settlers may not fortify.
 - Numerous bug fixes.

WHAT'S CHANGED SINCE 1.6.3:

 - Massive AI changes. It plays smarter, and the AI uses seagoing vessels.  
 - The contents of the help system have been improved substantially.
 - Many bugs fixed.
 - We now recommend you use "configure" instead of Imake.
 - Settlers have a new "e"xplore mode.
 - The makefiles now contain auto-generated dependency information.
 - Units within the radius of the city to which they belong no longer
   cause unhappiness.  This will allow much more realistic defense
   scenarios.
 - The tax/lux/sci rates are now limited by your government type.
   Also, they can modified by clicking on the rate status icons.
 - The behaviour of spies and diplomats has been greatly improved.
 - Freeciv now needs to transmit a lot less data (<25%!) when playing
   over the Internet.  This will greatly speed up games.
 - Preliminary support for compiling Freeciv under Windows and OS/2,
   when used in conjunction with the GNU tools.
 - From now on, it will be possible for different Freeciv versions to
   talk to each other if they're able.
 - Tracy Reed (who provides www.freeciv.org) reports that our site is
   getting over 6,000 hits per month.  He was quoted as saying "Cool!
   Now my computer is doing something!"
 - Lots, and Lots, and Lots of donated patches. Thanks guys, keep 'em 
   coming!

REPORTING A BUG:

Freeciv 1.7 is the first stable release since 1.6.3, and is considered
bug-free enough for everyday use.

However if you do find one, please report it (or other problems) to
the freeciv-dev mailing list.  For instructions on how to do this, see:

  http://www.freeciv.org

KNOWN BUGS:

 - The easy AI is not easy enough.  If the AI is beating you up early
   in the game, try setting the "generator" server option to 2 or 3.
 - The hard AI is not hard enough, and still does some stupid things.
   It's particularly susceptible to Diplomat attacks -- this is being
   worked on.
 - If you scroll to the bottom of the map, sometimes the bottom row
   of squares is not fully visible.  As a work-around, try adjusting
   the size of the client window.
 - There may be some cases when the "red squares" in the city dialog
   are not quite right.  (In particular when you first reload a game
   they don't appear straight away.)
 - A new server prompt is unnecessarily displayed for every turn.
 - Possibly problems with tax/trade/science icons.

THINGS TO DO:

 - Alliances, the Space Race, and more!!
