PolyCast Episode 263: "Come Back to That"

DanQ · Aug 27, 2016

To be expected. The two-hundred-and-sixty-third episode of PolyCast, "Come Back to That", features regular co-hosts Daniel "DanQ" Quick, Stephanie "Makahlua", and "MadDjinn" with returning guest co-host Nick "dino_yoshi13" Boeckman and first-time guest co-host "rastak". It carries a runtime of 59m59s.

The summary of topics is as follows:

- 03m00s | News
The "first look" at Germany in Civilization VI is revealed followed by a first chance for members of the public to play the game in Germany as part of Gamescom 2016 (08m07s); then, revealing more then intended by developer Firaxis Games during a livestream (13m02s), the "first look" at the game's Scythia (28m03s) and a summary of unofficial CivVI gameplay videos (33m06s; recorded for Episode 262).
- 42m47s | Miscellaneous
Priming Civilization VI on its "biggest changes" (recorded for Episode 261) and quantifying changes in improvement changes between it and immediate predecessor CivV (46m12s; recorded for Episode 262).
- 50m13s | Forum Talk
Considering to what degree, if any, playing Civilization V will prepare gamers to play CivVI (recorded for Episode 261).

- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
Replacing, locating and cascading.

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.

bcaiko · Aug 29, 2016

Great episode, folks.

"Mounted" should be the appropriate outgoing message from now on.

DanQ · Aug 29, 2016

bcaiko said:
Great episode, folks.

Thank you kindly -- glad you enjoyed the listen. :king:

"Mounted" should be the appropriate outgoing message from now on.

legalizefreedom · Aug 31, 2016

I believe the concern about instant improvements is real. I would feel better about it if they still took time to build even with charges. Maybe just 1, 2, or 3 turns for everything, but that would put value on the improvement.

I guess they just decided a farm, mine, chop a forest, etc. all would have the same value. I would suggest if nothing else, the terrain would affect the amount of effort required.

DanQ · Aug 31, 2016

legalizefreedom said:
I believe the concern about instant improvements is real. I would feel better about it if they still took time to build even with charges. Maybe just 1, 2, or 3 turns for everything, but that would put value on the improvement.

I guess they just decided a farm, mine, chop a forest, etc. all would have the same value. I would suggest if nothing else, the terrain would affect the amount of effort required.

To me the value on the improvement is rooted not only in their limited charges, but also in the time (or gold) to create them in the first place: you prioritize not only what city improvements you're going to make, and when, but also what you're not going to be building (or buying) instead of or afterwards. It's these investments in time and/or money that I'm beginning to think is the trade-off of having instantaneous improvement completion, not just the limited charge number. This works in further counterbalance: with Workers, they had no such limit but also took varying degrees of time to complete improvements in addition to the effort to create the initially.

Yes in the process the instant completion of an improvement is fully abstracting the comparable time and effort required, but Civ is already abstracting time with respect to how many years it takes to complete something... even when reduced to one turn. (It's not even clear how much 'real world' space a hex is supposed to take up for that matter!)

legalizefreedom · Sep 1, 2016

DanQ said:
To me the value on the improvement is rooted not only in their limited charges, but also in the time (or gold) to create them in the first place: you prioritize not only what city improvements you're going to make, and when, but also what you're not going to be building (or buying) instead of or afterwards. It's these investments in time and/or money that I'm beginning to think is the trade-off of having instantaneous improvement completion, not just the limited charge number. This works in further counterbalance: with Workers, they had no such limit but also took varying degrees of time to complete improvements in addition to the effort to create the initially.

Yes in the process the instant completion of an improvement is fully abstracting the comparable time and effort required, but Civ is already abstracting time with respect to how many years it takes to complete something... even when reduced to one turn. (It's not even clear how much 'real world' space a hex is supposed to take up for that matter!)

Yes, there will be trade-offs and I'm sure they'll be able to balance it, but my fear is we'll see two builders roll up after a city is founded and completely trick it out in 3 turns.

This would seem to take away much of the city building micro which is a big part of the game. And a part I personally enjoy. Now more of the city planning is up front and I'm not sure how much it will be able to evolve during the course of the game.

Maybe they are counting on the fact you have to build districts and buildings in the city, so garden variety improvements comprise less of the micro and are generally less valuable than before. More like early placeholders than permanent improvements.

PolyCast Episode 263: "Come Back to That"

DanQ

Owner, Civilized Communication

bcaiko

Emperor

DanQ

Owner, Civilized Communication

legalizefreedom

Inefficiency Expert

DanQ

Owner, Civilized Communication

legalizefreedom

Inefficiency Expert

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