PolyCast Episode 196: "Far to the Side"

Looking that way. The one-hundred-and-ninety-sixth episode of PolyCast, "Far to the Side", features regular co-hosts Daniel "DanQ" Quick, "Makahlua" and "MadDjinn" with returning guest co-host Sal "Thorburne" Serio and first-time guest co-host Trevor "Talcove" Alcove. Carrying a runtime of 59m59s, the summary of topics is as follows:

- 02m58s | Open Mic
A past guests checks-in with a voicemail on a new Civilization V: Brave New World tournament coming together followed by an email from "red" on more specialized versus generalized civilizations (08m05s) and then responding to both feedback on Episode 192 (15m25s; recorded for Episode 193) and then Episode 195 (19m46s).
- 31m04s | Forum Talk
An apparent hangup on using Tank units in CivV and the fork in the road that is settling for Hill and Rilver, Hill and Mountain or River and Mountain (35m14s).
- 40m03s | Miscellaneous
A 'Top 10' of good and bad jokes about Civilization V (recorded for Episode 190) and an update to the Macintosh version of the game to improve performance (44m21s).
- 46m43s | News
Civilizations to be included, and timeline for open beta, on the upcoming Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) title Civilization: Online from developer XL Games and CivV developer Firaxis Games to be at PAX East 2014 and what they're teasing to reveal (51m59s).

- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
Passing one-more-turnitis success onto a loved one, and the show has a cousin in a new audio dramedy series from some known entities.

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.

OMG my thread got into Polycast

Thx for the show, I always find at least one interesting topic (i.e. something to learn and use in my current game) in every episode. Keep the good work!

Am I " the red"? Are you guys mentioning me again? ))

A small comment about MadDjinn's (?) statement about river-based buildings (0:38:38). Maybe I misheard it but it seems he just took farms into account. What I meant by river-based buildings were Water Mill/Floating Gardens, Garden and Hydro Plant - all require your city to be built right next to a river, not just having the river within your workable radius.

Sagax said:

OMG my thread got into Polycast

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Thx for the show, I always find at least one interesting topic (i.e. something to learn and use in my current game) in every episode. Keep the good work!

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You are welcome, and thank you for listening and words of encouragement.

reddishrecue said:

Am I " the red"? Are you guys mentioning me again? ))

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There is no reference to your username in the emails from this individual.

One strategy issue for you guys discuss:

What to do when you discover that your agressive neighbor, lets say Greece, is sea locked in one side and locked by you, his only neighbor on other side?
In this scenario, you already commited 2 or 3 policies in Liberty, have two cities (one very new), brides dont work and he is getting agressive, even if you send some trade routes his way. And you are going the up in the tech tree because you wanted to get Theology for fast Medieval, lowering the cost for other techs.

This happened to me a few times, when I got a very decent start and wanted to expand. But after commiting too much to that plan (expansion and Theology), I realized that my aggro neighbor was isolated and would eventually come after me.
When is too late to say "Gee, I better build a army!" ?

Inquiry noted, wolf.

Episode 197 is to be recorded this Saturday.

DanQ said:

Inquiry noted, wolf.

Episode 197 is to be recorded this Saturday.

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Thanks Dan.
Just to add more info, playing on immortal or deity, what usually happens to me is that I can somehow hold the ground against that unexpected early aggression. But in order to do that, I deviated so much from the original plan that is just not fun anymore.

And when that peace treaty is over, the AI has more cities and more upgraded military units and comes back to harass me. That cripples both my growth and expansion and the game is unwinnable.

So I see myself giving up on games on turn like 100-150, because I know that will happen. Is that too soon or too early to give up?

You are welcome, wolf, and subsequent follow-up noted too.

I would like to express my appreciation for your polycast which I've just discovered in the last week or so, you have been a great help to get me up to speed as I dust off my 3 year old Civ V and get into it after shelving it post purchase and expanding and playing Civ IV. Your excellent run downs on the specific civs in the DLC and expansions instilled me with software lust and I have since purchased the complete edition, spoiled for choice now. Keep up the good work.

Gerg Digitalis said:

I would like to express my appreciation for your polycast which I've just discovered in the last week or so, you have been a great help to get me up to speed as I dust off my 3 year old Civ V and get into it after shelving it post purchase and expanding and playing Civ IV. Your excellent run downs on the specific civs in the DLC and expansions instilled me with software lust and I have since purchased the complete edition, spoiled for choice now. Keep up the good work.

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You are welcome, new listener, and thank you for the kind words about the show.

DanQ said:

You are welcome, new listener, and thank you for the kind words about the show.

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And it just so happened to be on the one I was a guest on.
Coincidence?! Yeah, probably.

Talcove said:

And it just so happened to be on the one I was a guest on.
Coincidence?! Yeah, probably.

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Well said... 'err, typed.