PolyCast Christmas Special 2010: "Here Comes Civ Clause"

So be good for Civness sake. The 2010 PolyCast Christmas Special is now netcasting. "Here Comes Civ Clause" features regular co-hosts Daniel "DanQ" Quick, "Makahlua", Philip "TheMeInTeam" Bellew and Lisa "qnl" Bang.

The summary of topics is as follows:

- 03m03s | Infinite City Sprawl (I.C.S.)
Ranking I.C.S. combating systems in the Civilization series to date.
- 09m39s | Social Policies
Delving deep into CivV's Social Policies by Era: Ancient, Classical (16m58s), Medieval (20m21s), Renaissance (25m50s), and Industrial (27m37s).
- 36m16s | Improvements
The most common CivV terrain improvements.
- 38m12s | Highlights
Highlights of the year, and looking ahead to the next, in the Civ community -- official, critical and fan-based -- as well as that of the show itself.

- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
A breaking of one's own rule, leading to a gift that keeps on giving.

PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production in an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice on game strategy; it has one more episode to be released as its season finale. Sibling show ModCast focuses on Civ modding and RevCast focuses on Civilization: Revolution. All three shows have been renewed for a return to production in 2011 which are to be its fifth, fourth and third seasons respectively.

In some cases we got lollerowned by the patch release. Also, my opinion of farms vs trading posts at this point may or may not reflect what was said in this episode ^_^.

TheMeInTeam said:

In some cases we got lollerowned by the patch release.

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Yes, the release of the latest patch to CivV after the recording of this changes some of what we discussed as you note. That said, we alluded to that then-upcoming patch in more than one instance and the "Record Date" in the closing reflects this too. I'm certain that at least the majority of our listeners will be understanding in this respect.

I thought they only listened because of our vocal talent?

TheMeInTeam said:

I thought they only listened because of our vocal talent?

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That's the hook to listen...

Tradition is a very nice tree now IMO.

Nice episode! Would be nice to hear your thoughts on Jon Shafer's departure and the post-patch Civ (including Natural Wonders, and new National Wonders and health/happiness mechanics).

Bezurn said:

Tradition is a very nice tree now IMO.

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From my perspective, I agree within a One City Challenge (OCC) as I noted on this special; otherwise, it has potential for small empires too (where meeting criterion to determine can be quite variable). It's better than no policy at all in the Ancient Era without a doubt, and has merits in its own right, but I don't feel it's as strong now or at anytime since CivV's release as Honour or Liberty in almost any situation.

Morningcalm said:

Nice episode!

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Would be nice to hear your thoughts on Jon Shafer's departure and the post-patch Civ (including Natural Wonders, and new National Wonders and health/happiness mechanics).

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I'm certain that will come about in discussion in the New Year.

The buff to tradition makes it arguably the best possible 1st policy to take, even if you don't continue down further. +50% growth to capitol food surplus makes a big deal when it's set up as your best research city, which in all the Nat. College rush games these days, is almost always. This buff combined with the honor nerf makes tradition 1st very, very strong. You can then transition into a war opening, or use oligarchy (+33% within borders) to easily match/trump an honor rush.

It went from easily the most useless ancient branch to arguably the best one now that it got a significant buff and the other two got nerfed.

In clarifying my own position, I acknowledge the value of Tradition now as the first Social Policy adoption as Phil (TheMeInTeam) argues above. That it the merit of it in its own right. In further consideration of the National College (NC) for its considerable Science boost and needing to have a Library built in all cities, its potential is arguably best and almost if not always most quickly realized in the smallest of empires: having one city, as in your capital. Build the NC here, then expand your reach to subsequent cities (hopefully through at least some peaceful expansion).

After this is said and done, generally speaking take stock of your situation. Thinking myself towards Domination Victory, depending upon whether or not you have found a neighbouring empire nearby to conquer, you may find Liberty more favourable than Honour (at this point).