PolyCast Episode 252: "Consistency Is Inconsistency"

Predictably unpredictable. The two-hundred-and-fifty-first episode of PolyCast, "Consistency Is Inconsistency", features regular co-hosts Daniel "DanQ" Quick, Philip "TheMeInTeam" Bellew and "MadDjinn" with returning guest co-host "CanusAlbinus" and first-time guest co-host Matthew "MattZed". It carries a runtime of 59m59s.

The summary of topics is as follows:

- 01m27s | Open Mic
Recognizing and responding to not only feedback from Episode 251, but also from Episode 250 before that (07m41s).
- 13m23s | Forum Talk
Pursuing "settlerless starts" in one extreme, and setting up a game to make a particular civilization "overpowered" (20m32s), both in Civilization V.
- 33m15s | Time Machine
Rewinding two decades and counting since the release of CivII.
- 41m50s | Miscellaneous
Trying to make sense of the list of nominees for 2015 gaming under consideration by an American museum.

- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
Counting co-hosts and that notably awkward moment.

PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production recording live every other Saturday throughout the year, in an ongoing effort to give the Civilization community an interactive voice; sibling show ModCast focuses on Civ modding, TurnCast on Civ multiplay.

I know how it sounds but I'm surprised you guys are... missing the point about problems with story in Civilization.

The problem is not that you don't have specific plot and characters. The problem is game mechanics tell you the story. They tell you that cities are what makes human civilization, you need those cities to research things and defend against uncivilized people and later other civilizations. Civilization describes world in a very specific terms and have defined values. The problem is that practically every 4X has basically the same worldview: you expand for the sake of becoming stronger, you contend with others, you are moving forward by the power of science. Alpha Centauri is praised exactly because it tells a different story, it questions the value of progress and expansion.

I do not agree about 4X stagnation itself, by the way - I think author ignores different games that turned out to be not so good. Another problem may be that the genre itself pushes for this specific story and the games that tell another story are often not accepted as 4X. Like Europa Universalis 4 which lacks clash of civilizations, focus on cities and defined victory conditions.

Your comment above was published as we recording the next PolyCast episode, Ilitarist -- we'll respond on the one after.