PolyCast Episode 86: "The More You Know" (Part 1)

[DanQ]

The more you forget. The eighty-sixth episode of PolyCast, "The More You Know" (Part 1), features regular co-hosts Daniel "DanQ" Quick, Stephanie "Makahlua", Philip "TheMeInTeam" Bellew and Lisa "qnl" Bang with first-time guest co-hosts Ian "frunobulax" Stonehouse and Gil "kossin". The summary of topics is as follows:

- 02m47s | Research Lab
Turning attention to Civilization IV leader oddities, sea tiles being larger than land tiles, and armies to generally reduce reliance on war.
- 31m59s | Vault (1 of 2)
One's favourite era within the Beyond the Sword expansion (from Episode 83).
- 38m40s | Vault (2 of 2)
On Sid Meier's reasoning behind CivIV unit values, with reference back to a question asked of him in Episode 50 (from Episode 71).

- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
Birthday wishes, and wishing for better barbarian units... to a degree.

PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production in an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice on game strategy; sibling show ModCast focuses on Civ modding and RevCast focuses on Civilization: Revolution.

As always, enjoy.

 

[Camikaze]

Good episode, as usual.

RE: Galleys in oceans. This and this are two recent threads discussing it, if you are interested.

And I'm pretty sure you've discussed supply lines (to some extent, usually tangentially) more than once before...

Question: Why can't I get this episode off iTunes?

Oh, and disclaimer with the BtS era thing: my (limited) answer isn't applicable to BtS, given that I still don't have it...

 

[AlphaShard]

I hated supply lines back in Call To Power, I rather go back to Caravans.

Now I'm going to go and actually listen to the episode lol.

I seem to be having trouble with teh feed again.

 

[DanQ]

For those of you who may be wondering why this episode is the first of a two-parter, it is because there was a planned interruption in our recording schedule due to my unavailability -- both in terms of participation and post-production. At the beginning of this month I started a new job that required a physical relocation on my part, so between that and getting oriented we (the PolyCast regular panel) decided to record material for both Episodes 86 and 87 combined.

It is towards the reason why, for this season of the show, there is a 'lead' in episode production and post-production... and also why the release of this episode in particular was abnormally notably delayed. Thanks to all who continue to tune in, and to new listeners who join in.

 

[DanQ]

The show's RSS feeds are back in operation, including this episode's listing and availability on iTunes. Thanks to Apolyton's Viktor "Gramphos" Griph for the assistance.

 

[DanQ]

Good episode, as usual.

RE: Galleys in oceans. This and this are two recent threads discussing it, if you are interested.

Ah, specific discussion threads on this point... I'm not surprised there's more than one. Appreciate the references.

And I'm pretty sure you've discussed supply lines (to some extent, usually tangentially) more than once before...

That's my thinking as well. I pointed to the second pilot specifically as that was the most concrete relation (at least, to the best of my knowledge and quick reference).

Oh, and disclaimer with the BtS era thing: my (limited) answer isn't applicable to BtS, given that I still don't have it...

I hated supply lines back in Call To Power, I rather go back to Caravans.

I'm unconvinced about a return to Caravans myself -- certainly some tweaking would be required over how they were in CivI/CivII in order for me to support it. As a start of example, in their presence in Civilization: Revolution the civilization that receives the Caravan makes some income in the form of a tax. (Not certain if it's a flat rate or a percentage off the top of my head.)

Now I'm going to go and actually listen to the episode lol.

I seem to be having trouble with teh feed again.

Question: Why can't I get this episode off iTunes?

(As of this writing at least,) see this post above.

 

[AlphaShard]

Ok I listened to the eppy, very good guys. The humor is still strong with the show so that's good.

I guess I like Classical because that's when you get the Catapaults which beat everything when used in tandem with other units. I think you can defend against Praets with Axe with +25% melee promotion. Though I guess it is the AI that can't defend well against Prats I think a human player could do better.

I'm all for making the leaders have a negative quality to them to make them more interesting.

Speaking of better barb units I actually saw a Barb Macemen!

 

[Windsor]

Nice work with this podcast series, but I would be a bit harder on the editing. After 15 seconds you have said welcome and introduced the podcast, hosts and co-hosts/guest. Then there is 2 minutes with another introduction round and a lot of rubbish which should have been left out.

 

[DanQ]

Ok I listened to the eppy, very good guys. The humor is still strong with the show so that's good.

I guess I like Classical because that's when you get the Catapaults which beat everything when used in tandem with other units. I think you can defend against Praets with Axe with +25% melee promotion. Though I guess it is the AI that can't defend well against Prats I think a human player could do better.

Where possible, my preferred approach to defending against Praetorians is cutting off Rome from Iron before they can build many, if any.

Speaking of better barb units I actually saw a Barb Macemen!

Ooo, a rare sighting on Ancient and comparable starts based on my own experience.

Nice work with this podcast series, but I would be a bit harder on the editing. After 15 seconds you have said welcome and introduced the podcast, hosts and co-hosts/guest. Then there is 2 minutes with another introduction round and a lot of rubbish which should have been left out.

As you allude to, the length and content of the introductory banter to include is a subjective call -- just as how one would describe it. (In most episodes, there is also closing banter but not in this case in part given it's the first of a two-parter.) Based on what you have said, I expect you would find jumping to the start of the first segment to be preferable as a general approach. This is one of the primary reasons I have an index of content that accompanies the release of each episode.

It sounds like you're enjoying the overall product though (no pun intended ).

 

[DanQ]

As it was inquired in some replies above, this post is specifically to note that PolyCast's RSS feeds are operational again.