PolyCast 2016 Christmas Special: "We Wish You a Merry Civmas"

[DanQ]

Much joy. The 2016 PolyCast Christmas Special, "We Wish You a Merry Civmas", is now available for netcasting. Join regular panelists Daniel "DanQ" Quick, "Makahlua" and Philip "TheMeInTeam" Bellew, with Scott "AlphaShard" Dirk and a cameo by Lisa "qnl" Bang, as they give their take on questions and comments received from members of the show's audience and otherwise in this hour-long plus (73m02s) production.

The summary of topics is as follows:

- 05m18s | Forum Post #1
Annoyance over lacking "competent" Artificial Intelligence (AI) following the release of Civilization VI turns to challenges and hopes.
- 17m19s | Forum Post #2A
Speculating as to the timing and content of the first pieces of Downloadable Content (DLC) for CivVI.
- 24m24s | Forum Post #3
The trifecta inquiry of having a human and AI-controlled civilization alliance/friendship lasting an entire Civilization game, why AIs in its sixth iteration seem to end up always hating each other and favourite music from the title.
- 35m25s | Forum Post #4A
For that which each panelist has been "most pleasantly surprised by" in CivVI.
- 43m36s | Forum Post #2B
Symptom, not a cause, in response to a stated "loophole" in the game's District costing.
- 49m45s | Forum Post #5
Hinging views of "rushing" not in Civilization VI, but of its release.
- 59m21s | Forum Post #4B
If the North Pole were a CivVI City State, its unique suzerain bonus is open for consideration.
- 61m28s | Forum Post #6A
Considering what additional mechanic one would (most) like to see added to the game.
- 66m30s | Forum Post #7
On making Gold an in-game resource again in Civ.
- 67m59s | Forum Post #6B
Contemplating what civilization should be added next into the Civilization series, VI in particular.
- 72m27s | Forum Post #8
Would giving CivV City States the Ancient Walls building from the outset be a good thing or a bad thing.
- 76m53s | Forum Post #9
Qualifier quandary to fulfill a musical request.

- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
Presupposing identities, real-life identification and gleeful extrapolation.

PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production in an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice on game strategy; the tenth edition of Evergreen, a side series on selected moments and topics that best represent the show, is set to be released in one week's time. Fellow sibling shows also in production presently are ModCast on Civ modding and TurnCast on Civ multiplay.

 

[kingchris20]

I’d like to see corporations and the satellite layer return together. I have always liked the idea of corporations, and I did like the satellite layer we saw in BE.

One of the corporations (either A: Generated by Great Persons, or B: Produced Wonder Style or C: Mixture, some by GPs and some produced) would be satellite related. The one that builds this corporation may build satellites for the satellite layer, but anyone else in the game can only purchase satellites from the civ that produces this corporation. Possible reduced hammer requirement for spaceport builds, however, since this is a path to victory, maybe not?

Constructing a GPS satellite could make all your trade routes immune to plunder or something of the sorts...

New Espionage ability: Hostile Takeover. The civ that successfully completes the HT mission would gain control of the corporation.

Tradable through diplomacy?

They could even be tiered, similar to unit formations. You can found the business, dump more hammers and partner up, then dump more hammers and incorporate, improving the benefits at each level. Of course this should offset itself a bit by having every other civ gain the ability to leech some of the benefits by being consumers, either through trade route leeching, espionage, or new build availability.

This could also be integrated into the World Congress if that ever makes a return...

 

[legalizefreedom]

In regards to whether Civ VI was rushed, I agree with TheMeInTeam, rushed isn't the right word. I also agree that whatever they decide to include in the release version should be competently functional even if that means they couldn't get something else in.

Having everything there and not competently functional isn't a good option. Unfortunately, that is the option they have chosen for all of their modern releases. In most cases, they end up fixing the major issues, but not always. I still haven't forgotten about the city connected notification in Civ V being the only notification in the game that doesn't take you to the affected location. Of course that was the intention, but it was never implemented. And we still have an unfinished BE with SO much potential. It's sloppy and leaves a big-time impression.

The idea that something the player deals with constantly could be brushed off simply because it was in the UI list shows a lack of perspective. The lack of hotkeys, auto-cycling and the last built item bug come to mind. Those broken elements leave a terrible impression and have kept me away from the game. I don't use auto-cycling, so the missing Next Unit hotkey was a big deal.

I understand there are going to be issues that present themselves as you play and will need to be fixed later, but these are simple to fix issues that impact every game from turn 1. Those shouldn't be shippable issues.

I also liked the suggestions to include an orbital layer and to expand the suzerain status to include military responsibility.

 

[DanQ]

Thanks to both of you for your feedback above -- it is to be covered on the show in January.

 

[megabearsfan]

I agree with the guest host (AlphaShard) that some kind of permanent alliance system would help with diplomacy. I'm not sure if it would need to work the same way as the permanent alliance in Civ IV though.

Specifically, I think that there needs to be some way for civs to share in victories (http://www.megabearsfan.net/post/2016/07/05/Brainstorming-victories-in-Civilization.aspx). No matter what the developers do to encourage cooperation, the truth remains that Civ V and Civ VI are still based on a single civ winning in a zero sum game. This means that any cooperation is always just an ends to a means to achieve a victory at the other cooperator's expense. There's always an element of competition underlying any diplomatic trade deal, friendship, or alliance, and Civs are never truly invested in each other's best interests. I think that if the game had more cooperative systems (including victories), then civs would have a genuine interest in each other's well-being and in sharing resources.

The trick, of course, is to design a system that allows for and encourages cooperation, without making cooperation the optimal path to victory. That would just end with every civ cooperating and sharing victories in every game. The current agenda system could be a good start. If each civ (including human-controlled civs) has some set of objectives that are mutually exclusive with other civs, and these agendas have some mechanical reinforcement, then that could hypothetically ensure at least some conflict. So for example, if failing to achieve your agendas actually causes unhappiness (or some other penalty), and succeeding in achieving agendas causes increased production (or some other bonus(es)), then at least some civs in any given game might have a reason for conflict if their agendas actually conflict. It's a tough balancing act, but I hope that Firaxis can find a way to make it work!

 

[joncnunn]

In regards to whether Civ VI was rushed, I agree with TheMeInTeam, rushed isn't the right word. I also agree that whatever they decide to include in the release version should be competently functional even if that means they couldn't get something else in.

From what I'm seeing, it fells to me like it was released six to eight weeks too early to get out in time for the full Christmas season. (The first shipped version should have included the UI improvements seen in the first two patches.) It's still a major improvement over Civ V vanilla that felt like it was released a full twelve to fifteen months too early.
(There's a still a couple of basic UI things that should have been done that aren't yet, but with a later release we wouldn't have had the first wave of balance changes yet and so presumably the developers would have had time to fix the basic UI things.)

Edit: The top three UI changes I think need made:

1. Make the newly added "alert" button fully functional (e.g. auto-wake unit the unit in this stage if another player's unit comes within its visibility range.)
2. Trade Resources Screen : Eliminate ability of player to when they already have a luxury, importing more of the same luxury / eliminate ability of player to sell a copy of a luxury the AI already has.
3. Trade Caravan Screen: At a minimum when a player selects to show only route by hammers, sort it by hammers. (similar for other options.) Preferred would be for them to just import into the base game the Civ VI mod that includes this.