DanQ
Owner, Civilized Communication
The wait is over. The one-hundred-and-seventy-eighth episode of PolyCast, "Everything You Want to Talk About", is the third of three to be published in as many weeks for the third July in a row... and the one no doubt most anticipated. Featuring regular co-hosts Daniel "DanQ" Quick, "Makahlua" and "MadDjinn", Firaxis Games Senior Producer Dennis Shirk and Principal Programmer Ed Beach join alongside returning guest co-hosts Joel "colonelmustard" Myers and Rob "flitcraftrz" Zacny to celebrate the release of Civilization V: Brave New World. With a runtime of 84m05s, the summary of topics is as follows:- 03m04s | Interview
Diving into celebrating the release of Civilization V: Brave New World in conversation with representatives from its developer, question via email requesting an ability to exclude particular City State types, and from the recording's live chat, about how the developers chose what civilizations to include, leading to a reveal of some that were short-listed but didn't make the cut and why. Then, on making choices with respect to civilization leaders and unique attributes.
- 10m32s | Interview
From varying users in the chat, why the early game gold crunch is "ouch", overseeing and counteracting the financial Venetian empire and revisiting the unique abilities of Germany and Japan with Zulu on the mind.
- 18m05s | Interview
Stemming from the chat still, whether the BNW Artificial Intelligence (AI) considers trade routes when declaring war, the absence of their scaling for map size and a seeming disconnect between the East India Company National Wonder and the Dutch civilization; then, AI considerations for war and a civilization's selection and relations in light of Ideological adoption.
- 31m35s | Interview
Satisfaction level with the new Cultural, and any consideration for introducing a Religious, Victory condition while balancing both as levels in a One City Challenge; further from the chat, why a civilization is able to vote for itself in the introduced World Congress mechanic and City States' peace and war status as it pertains to dispositions between civilizations.
- 42m58s | Interview
Looking for an update on using Modification Packs and Scenarios in multiplayer post-Brave New World; the exclusion of Random Events as seen in Civilization IV's Beyond the Sword expansion, what components were cut if any during development and alternate titles considered for this Civ series expansion as well was where CivV is to go beyond its newest title.
- 56m15s | Review
From industry views and that of users of BNW, a brief look at two of the former followed by a detailed examination of another: "delivering exactly what it promises" through late game importance for end game outcomes. Delving into the experience further, "much more screw your neighbour" given the revamped Culture mechanic and engaging the World Congress (60m51s). The "forest for the trees" considers the changing faces up and down the warmongering avenue (64m40s), and then being "no longer locked in" by civilization uniqueness, secondary systems and victory path (73m09s).
- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
Uncertain topic of conversation, expected fixes for the upcoming fall BNW patch and complimentary ambiguity.
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.
