README file for hammurabi, the original kingdom governance game.

DESCRIPTION
===========
You, Hammurabi, the King of Sumeria, rule over your country making the only
decision worth making:  where does this year's grain go?  For the food feeds
the people now, buys land, or goes to planting for a very variable harvest for
next year.

Choose wisely and your country prospers:  people immigrate from foreign lands,
you expand your land-holding, and the grain reserves overflow.  Choose poorly,
however, and you face the consequences of famine, plague, and poverty.

Hammurabi . . .
How will you fare this game?

BACKGROUND
==========
Reading _Snow Crash_ by Neal Stephenson brought me back to the Hammurabi
game I played on my TRS-80 (4K Mod I, Level 2, to be precise).  After digging
for the sources (David Ahl's _BASIC Computer Games_ is unavailable) I came 
across an ftp'd version.  Here is that version in Dylan.

INSTALLATION
============
$ gzip -cd hammurabi-1.0.2.tar.gz | tar xvf -
$ cd hammurabi
$ make
$ echo Now, was that hard?

TODO
====
* Add the year at the annual report, limit the game to 15(?) years.
* Create a scoring mechanism (assign values to grain, land, and people)
* Have the top 10 scorers listed at the end of the program (DOOD?)
* Hey, wasn't there a version with wars and insurgencies?  Add those features.
* As you see, the Dylan sources prove that coding with procedures and global
  variables is the Right Thing(tm) ... dreck!  Well, yes, it works, but a 
  change to the functional style may help a wee bit.
  
SOURCES
=======
Original BASIC source code from anon.
Traceable sources circa _BASIC Computer Games_, by David Ahl (out-of-print)
Included BASIC source ftp'd from:  ftp.rahul.net/pub/rhn/classic.basic.programs

Dylan sources created by Douglas M. Auclair, dauclair@hotmail.com
Dylan sources copyright (c) 2000, Douglas M. Auclair under the GPL 
(www.fsf.org/copyleft/gpl.html)

HINTS
=====
(only a few hints, but it sure beats the welcome message, n'est-ce pas?)
* A bushel of grain provides seed for 2 acres
* People die unless they receive 20 bushels of food per year per person
* People are attracted to Sumeria if you up the 20 bushels/person average