PolyCast Episode 289: "A Thesis, Be Warned"

[DanQ]

[img=right]http://civcomm.civfanatics.com/polycast/images/polycast_logo.jpg[/img] Incoming. The two-hundred-and-eighty-ninth episode of PolyCast, "A Thesis, Be Warned", features regular Stephanie "Makahlua", Philip "TheMeInTeam" Bellew and "MadDjinn" with returning guest co-host Mike "MikeDoubleU" and first-time guest co-host Kyle "ixnay" Stadler. It carries a runtime of 59m59s.

The summary of topics is as follows:

- 01m18s | Forum Talk
What is the "strategic value" to naval melee units, making tall empires "valid again" (07m16s) and stop requiring units that require resources (25m13s) are followed by rating Great Engineers (35m05s), Great Generals (39m11s) and Great Merchants (44m56) -- all in Civilization VI.
- 50m17s | Research Lab
A call to add a Casus Belli (CB) for "War on Terror" in CivVI leads to a greater examination of the CB system in the game itself.

- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
Refrigerator Tetris, Great Musicians hit flat notes and voluntelling self.
[/URL]
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.

 

[Uberfrog]

Entertaining as always! I especially agree with maddjinn's final assessment!

"Making people want to be play Civ VI again by talking about a better version of Civ VI"

I hope the developers are paying attention

 

[Stringer1313]

This is the first time I've ever listened to a Polycast Episode but I had to stop listening at 20 minutes. I was really happy to see a female guest presence listed on the episode but 20 minutes in, she hadn't said a word. I know that none of this is intentional but I would strongly urge the polycasters to make sure that female guests actually get to talk or speak up every once in a while. Would definitely help attract some new listeners.

 

[kaspergm]

I listened to most of this, and I think it's a good episode. I think you had a very good talk about the tall vs. wide problematics, and things were explained with good arguments presented. That was nice.

 

[DanQ]

Entertaining as always!

I listened to most of this, and I think it's a good episode. I think you had a very good talk about the tall vs. wide problematics, and things were explained with good arguments presented. That was nice.

This is the first time I've ever listened to a Polycast Episode but I had to stop listening at 20 minutes. I was really happy to see a female guest presence listed on the episode but 20 minutes in, she hadn't said a word. I know that none of this is intentional but I would strongly urge the polycasters to make sure that female guests actually get to talk or speak up every once in a while. Would definitely help attract some new listeners.

As it happens, Makahlua was notably late to the recording of this episode which is reflected in the blooper reel at the end of the episode. This is why you do not hear her contributing to topics covered during the time you listened, as what was recorded first is generally presented first. Given this I hope that you will at least re-visit to listen to this episode in its entirety.

 

[MadDjinn]

This is the first time I've ever listened to a Polycast Episode but I had to stop listening at 20 minutes. I was really happy to see a female guest presence listed on the episode but 20 minutes in, she hadn't said a word. I know that none of this is intentional but I would strongly urge the polycasters to make sure that female guests actually get to talk or speak up every once in a while. Would definitely help attract some new listeners.

Yup, check the blooper reel at the very end. She was doing RL fridge Tetris so while I kept trying to toss it to her, it took a few topics before she was back and ready to talk.

 

[stlh2opolo]

Absolutely fantastic discussion at the beginning. Great listen, as always

 

[DanQ]

Absolutely fantastic discussion at the beginning. Great listen, as always

Glad you enjoyed the listen and thank you for the support.

 

[antimony]

Great episode! The suggestion to raise the minimum pop for districts is a simple, effective way to make farms and housing infrastructure matter more. Combined with tying suzerain bonuses to buildings, it would really add depth compared with the small city, 1-2 empty district spamming which is too strong at the moment.

 

[Morgawr]

I also enjoyed the discussion and suggestions about raising min pop for districts, introducing a pop requirement for buildings, and further specialization so that building a commercial district in every city is not a no brainer strategy in every single game. The district adjacency bonuses currently fall short of being too significant because most of the yields come from the buildings anyways, so that land doesn't matter as much as the devs intended to. For example, I'll pop a commercial district whether or not I get the +2 gold for a river, because the benefit of getting a whole trade route far outweighs any adjacency.. need to find a way to make this land/placement matter more by maybe tying building bonuses to that too. Anyway, lots of good ideas in this episode, hope the devs are listening!

 

[UWHabs]

I also enjoyed the discussion and suggestions about raising min pop for districts, introducing a pop requirement for buildings, and further specialization so that building a commercial district in every city is not a no brainer strategy in every single game. The district adjacency bonuses currently fall short of being too significant because most of the yields come from the buildings anyways, so that land doesn't matter as much as the devs intended to. For example, I'll pop a commercial district whether or not I get the +2 gold for a river, because the benefit of getting a whole trade route far outweighs any adjacency.. need to find a way to make this land/placement matter more by maybe tying building bonuses to that too. Anyway, lots of good ideas in this episode, hope the devs are listening!

Yep, I concur. Especially late gate, a +2 bonus for a district really doesn't matter, except for the Harbor, where getting a +4 shipyard actually can make a difference, and maybe the industrial zone. Maybe even if they made specialists get a larger bonus based on the adjacency that would be enough. So if a campus specialist was 2 science + adjacency, then if you have a +4 campus that's now a 6-science specialist. That alone would both make specialists more valuable and also make you care about where you place districts.

 

[kaspergm]

Maybe even if they made specialists get a larger bonus based on the adjacency that would be enough. So if a campus specialist was 2 science + adjacency, then if you have a +4 campus that's now a 6-science specialist. That alone would both make specialists more valuable and also make you care about where you place districts.

That's a really interesting idea, I haven't seen that presented before. This would definitely solve two problems with one stroke.

 

[DanQ]

Glad you enjoyed the episode as well Antimony, oedali, and to you and all elsewise for your contributions to extending its discussions in particular on raising district threshold minimums.

 

[Victoria]

I would strongly urge the polycasters to make sure that female guests actually get to talk or speak up

Makahlua is normally by no means silent nor just a token but a vital cog. A riposte rather than a ramble is more her style.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Makahlua is normally by no means silent nor just a token but a vital cog. A riposte rather than a ramble is more her style.

Not to mention she's no more a "guest" than Dan, Mad, or Me...the only person on the show longer than her is Dan.

It's hard to get someone to speak when he or she is not on the call yet though . If there's anybody who needs more encouragement to speak on average, it's first-time guests.

 

[Whiterussian]

You know what i thought when i listened to the Episode?

Everytime i hear you guys talk about the game it makes me want to play civ again. Everytime i listen to what you say, i remember why i dont...

 

[dino_yoshi13]

If there's anybody who needs more encouragement to speak on average, it's first-time guests.

Unless, of course, your name is Dino and then you instead talk over the regular hosts by accident...

 

[AlphaShard]

You know what i thought when i listened to the Episode?

Everytime i hear you guys talk about the game it makes me want to play civ again. Everytime i listen to what you say, i remember why i dont...

I feel the same way, I haven't had the desire to play Civ in awhile now. I do however enjoy listening to the podcast though.

 

[DanQ]

You know what i thought when i listened to the Episode?

Everytime i hear you guys talk about the game it makes me want to play civ again. Everytime i listen to what you say, i remember why i dont...

An understandable sentiment that is shared by many players, I'm certain.

I do however enjoy listening to the podcast though.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Unless, of course, your name is Dino and then you instead talk over the regular hosts by accident...

It's been a LITTLE while since you've been a "first time guest co-host" ^_^.