PolyCast Episode 95: "This, That and the Other Thing"

[img=right]http://civcomm.weplayciv.com/polycast/images/polycast_logo.jpg[/img] Keeping tabs may be more bother than it's worth. The ninety-fifth episode of PolyCast, "This, That and the Other Thing", features regular co-hosts Daniel "DanQ" Quick, "Makahlua", Philip "TheMeInTeam" Bellew and Lisa "qnl" Bang with returning guest co-hosts Jon "CanuckSoldier" Ryder and Troy Goodfellow.

The summary of topics is as follows:

- 01m57s | Senate
What the worst Unique Building is, and if -- and when -- to settle in place, in Civilization IV.
- 22m10s | Forum Talk
Is the 'Zero Day' Downloadable Content (DLC) announced for Civilization V disrespecting the customer.

- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
Hiding places, once revisited, and making headlines.

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.

I really enjoyed the polycast, and listened for the dlc part. Good to see it getting attention, let's hope 2k hears it! Good job eeryone!

Personally, DLC is a non-issue for me, so long as people without DLC will be unhampered and not forced to get it to be able to play with thier friends or persons of the Public who did get it.
A good example of this not working out is in Call Of Duty World At War, if you didnt buy the map pack, when ever your lobby decided to play or randomly choosed a map from a map pack you didnt have they all continued without you and you were kicked from the lobby. This is not how to run DLC.

So long as that Issue is wiped away. Then I have no problems with it at all, anyone who wants the DLC and the extra "advantage" they get from buying an extra Civ, which is debateable as to the "worth" of this advantage, Unless the Civ on a DLC is overpowered which it shouldnt if Frix know what they are doing and keep everything balanced. So long as thier is no combaitability problems and new DLC civ's are balanced to fit into the game correctly, then let who ever wants to pay for extra civ's go ahead and do it. I'm not sure what other kind of DLC could be given without compramising fairness unless they allowed everyone who played in the game with the creator have access to it, i.e A DLC Map, you would allow players who didnt pay for the DLC to play the map, they just can't create a game if they want to play it. This means the DLC doesn't get combatability issues. And it will still sell.. who want's to be forced into only joining games with rules others made up. Or another example of this DLC would be mod DLC made by Frix themself, very indepth mods that can loaded if the creator of a game brought it. Allowing all 18 players to play the Mod even if only one person brought it. I can see how this might hamper sales of DLC a bit, but IMO its the best way to ensure combatability.

Tylerryan79 said:

I really enjoyed the polycast, and listened for the dlc part. Good to see it getting attention, let's hope 2k hears it! Good job eeryone!

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Thank you kindly.

12agnar0k said:

Personally, DLC is a non-issue for me, so long as people without DLC will be unhampered and not forced to get it to be able to play with thier friends or persons of the Public who did get it.

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That was more likely than not the circumstance that CivIV players who did not get the Warlords and/or the Beyond the Sword expansion packs experienced. They could continue to play against those who did purchase one or both of them, so long as all ran the same CivIV version (specifically executable). That said, I doubt that happened very often.

I'm not sure what other kind of DLC could be given without compramising fairness unless they allowed everyone who played in the game with the creator have access to it, i.e A DLC Map, you would allow players who didnt pay for the DLC to play the map, they just can't create a game if they want to play it. [..]

Allowing all 18 players to play the Mod even if only one person brought it. I can see how this might hamper sales of DLC a bit, but IMO its the best way to ensure combatability.

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There is a precedent for that in CivIV, at least as it comes to maps from modders. If the host of a game has a particular map, and one or more of those participating in the game of theirs does not, the map data is transmitted to them for that particular outing and that one alone. Admittedly the DLC circumstance does differ in that it is paid-for, official content as compared to free, community content.

As noted on the episode itself in a few instances, unanswered inquiries such as this remain. Hope you enjoyed the show!

Actually the map transfers into a different folder than your "maps" folder, but its not temporary. All you have to do to use it, is copy and paste into your maps folder.

You should make a specific Civ5 podcast when it comes out called "Hexcast".

"Disrespecting the Customer" was a good choice to get an overview of the concerns that have burdened the Civ V forum since the Steam bombshell. Nice overview, and good guest selection.
You really didn't have time for more.

As far as I'm concerned-

DLC- Anything I would pay extra for and download from the internet that I can't buy on a disk from a store.

Core game- Anything that affects gameplay and potential outcomes, scores, etc in a vanilla version of Civilization. Core game consistency makes much of what we know know and enjoy possible.. the variety of multiplayer & Hall of Fame, these forums, Polycast, our wealth of mods. The present marketing model allows everyone to plan the purchase and move to the next expansion relatively easily and in sync. A DLC dribble marketing model is like a continuos patching process... which is aggravating for modders, and anyone who plays more than one kind of long, involved game.. be they mods, succession games, PBEM, multiplayer...you get the idea.

Core game would not include,scenarios, graphics, sound, user interface, Intro movies, tutorials, Elvis and other advisors, Worldbuilder( or other modding and customization tools), wondermovies, leaderheads(not leaders), palaces, throne rooms, combat animations, or victory animations for examples. All of this stuff could have been enhanced or added for a digital deluxe edition without affecting core game.

Come to think of it, if they adopt a DLC marketing model, and it appears that Babylon will be in everybody's game ( to avoid pink blobs, hangs, and crashes), just unplayable... doesn't it follow that we will also have a dribble of patches to preserve MP compatibillity? In fact, wouldn't it be preferable for Steam, so that you would sync up to patch frequently, giving them more advertising opportunities?

Shiggs713 said:

Actually the map transfers into a different folder than your "maps" folder, but its not temporary. All you have to do to use it, is copy and paste into your maps folder.

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Ah -- well, there's another difference between a community and official DLC work then.

Which folder would that be?

Gamemaster77 said:

You should make a specific Civ5 podcast when it comes out called "Hexcast".

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Once CivV is released, it is to be covered on PolyCast alongside CivIV into the immediate future.

Rusty Edge said:

"Disrespecting the Customer" was a good choice to get an overview of the concerns that have burdened the Civ V forum since the Steam bombshell. Nice overview, and good guest selection.
You really didn't have time for more.

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Thank you kindly.

As far as I'm concerned- [..]

Core game consistency makes much of what we know know and enjoy possible.. the variety of multiplayer & Hall of Fame, these forums, Polycast, our wealth of mods.

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DanQ said:

Ah -- well, there's another difference between a community and official DLC work then.

Which folder would that be?

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My Documents/My Games/Beyond the Sword/TransferredMaps

Shiggs713 said:

My Documents/My Games/Beyond the Sword/TransferredMaps

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Ah, indeed -- appreciate that. I realize now that I was looking in the wrong root directory before (d'oh).

Gamemaster77 said:

You should make a specific Civ5 podcast when it comes out called "Hexcast".

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Sounds like the title and theme for the Halloween episode

Rusty Edge said:

Sounds like the title and theme for the Halloween episode

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You're giving me ideas? Oh my...