PolyCast Episode 181: "Poking the Bear"

Carry out at own risk. The one-hundred-and-eighty-first episode of PolyCast, "Poking the Bear", features regular co-hosts Daniel "DanQ" Quick, "Makahlua", Philip "TheMeInTeam" Bellew and "MadDjinn" with a runtime of 59m59s. The summary of topics is as follows:

- 01m56s | News
A hotfix for Civilization V brings it up to version 1.0.3.70 the month after the release of its second expansion pack, Brave New World.
- 09m58s | Senate
Speaking of BNW, continuing the focus on what is new, modified and approaches to engaging with: of existing playable civilizations and the introduction of Indonesia, the return of the Zulu (16m48s) and technology changes (21m08s). Further still, a renewal of Social Policies gets an extended treatment: Tradition, Liberty, Honor and Piety (28m24s); Commerce, Patronage and Rationalism (36m03s); and Aesthetics and Exploration (41m16s).
- 36m03s | Open Mic
On the status of Japan in CivV, start bias reasoning alongside Portuguese Feitoria mechanics, and questioning the outlook of the Moroccans in the game.

- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
Feeling slighted, a less-than-desirable outcome to cosplay and typing overwhelming.

Recording live before a listening audience every other Saturday, PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production in an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice on game strategy; listeners are encouraged to follow the show on Twitter, and check out the YouTube channel for caption capability. Sibling show RevCast focuses on Civilization: Revolution, ModCast on Civ modding, SCivCast on Civ social gaming and TurnCast on Civ multiplay.

A couple of thoughts.

1. It seemed that some of the commentators didn't like trade routes with city states in general; citing both larger gold & some science from major AIs.
The larger gold with major AIs is largely true, however that science leakage is why late in the game none of my routes go to major AIs (and go to city states instead); by then I'm always well ahead in science and don't want the AI getting science bonuses when I wouldn't get any.
(Now that exact policy that discussion was on is a bit on the weak side; if I went for the policy at all it would typically only yield me a total of 5 or 6 GPT after all trade routes get renewed.)

2. The Commerce policy increasing Great Merchant spawn rate: The problem with that policy is that unlike Great Artists/Writers/Musicians/Prophets; Great Engineers, Scientists, and Merchants next spawn value are still shared with G&K. And so adopting this policy would make it difficult to spawn anything other than a Merchant. Even if playing Venice, your puppets would provide plenty of Merchants without this policy.
Also, with regards to Wagon Train, Caravans are a waste of a trade slot given that cargo ships provide 2X the stuff (even if the destination city is on the same landmass as the origin city.) If you want more income, your much better off with left side of Exploration.

joncnunn said:

A couple of thoughts.

1. It seemed that some of the commentators didn't like trade routes with city states in general; citing both larger gold & some science from major AIs.
The larger gold with major AIs is largely true, however that science leakage is why late in the game none of my routes go to major AIs (and go to city states instead); by then I'm always well ahead in science and don't want the AI getting science bonuses when I wouldn't get any.
(Now that exact policy that discussion was on is a bit on the weak side; if I went for the policy at all it would typically only yield me a total of 5 or 6 GPT after all trade routes get renewed.)

Click to expand...

By the stages of the game where you are able to generate considerable double-digit gold incomes from a single trade route with another civilization, the amount of science you -- and typically most if not all AIs -- are generating is considerable enough that any "leakage" of beakers is minimal proportionally speaking.

2. The Commerce policy increasing Great Merchant spawn rate: The problem with that policy is that unlike Great Artists/Writers/Musicians/Prophets; Great Engineers, Scientists, and Merchants next spawn value are still shared with G&K. And so adopting this policy would make it difficult to spawn anything other than a Merchant. Even if playing Venice, your puppets would provide plenty of Merchants without this policy.

Click to expand...

With the Wagon Train policy as a prerequisite no less, to me the then further adopting the policy in question (Entrepreneurship) is part of the path for completing the Commerce tree given the double gold output from trade missions to City States. (Excluding if there are no CS' (left) or otherwise inaccessible to you, of course.)

Also, with regards to Wagon Train, Caravans are a waste of a trade slot given that cargo ships provide 2X the stuff (even if the destination city is on the same landmass as the origin city.) If you want more income, your much better off with left side of Exploration.

Click to expand...

I agree -- exceptions being, of course, not being able to defend sea-based routes (yet, so early(ier) on limitation) and finding oneself landlocked by circumstance or even map type.

Trust you enjoyed the show!