PolyCast episode 373: Eureka!

megabearsfan

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The three hundred-and-seventy-third episode of PolyCast, “Eureka!“ is now available for streaming on polycast.civfanatics.com. This episode features regular co-hosts
Stephanie “Makahlua”, Phil "TheMeInTeam", and Jason “MegaBearsFan”. Topics for this episode include:

News
- 00h01m23s | Babylong first look, impressions, and discussion
- 00h29m20s | November 2020 patch, impressions, and discussion

Forum Talk
- 00h36m48s | Tribal Village Spawn Locations
- 00h45m50s | AI Conquering Absent (and yet more complaining about walls)

PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production recording live every other Saturday at 12 Noon US Eastern Time throughout the year, in an ongoing effort to give the Civilization community an interactive voice; sibling show ModCast focuses on Civ modding.

Sorry for the delay on this one, folks. Every time I sat down to work on it on Sunday and Monday, I got pulled away to do something else. But it's an extra-long episode this week, so hopefully that makes up for it :)
 
Man, I don't know about Babylon for me. I was all excited when I heard they'd be the next civ released, but I'm probably in the minority around here as to playstyle. I'm not the type to intentionally seek out eurekas; I choose to just play the game and let things unfold naturally. So I'm going to either need to completely alter my style or I'll be screwed by just relying on hard research.

Just like the Dramatic Age mode. I was all excited for it until I actually tried it. I don't keep track of my Golden Age points, how many I need to get to the next age level, and how many turns until the era ends. Once again, I just let things unfold naturally and, in my 2 attempts to use the mode, I got completely destroyed with city flips. Personally, I think they need to either add a normal age back in or make it so that you don't lose cities unless you get consecutive Dark Ages.

On the (off)topic of old game controls, I still to this day play World of Warcraft using the WASD method aka the dreaded "keyboard turner." I get looked down upon for it, but I can't help it. I've been playing computer games since the early 90's and that's the method you HAD TO use back then, so it just feels natural to me.
 
Man, I don't know about Babylon for me. I was all excited when I heard they'd be the next civ released, but I'm probably in the minority around here as to playstyle. I'm not the type to intentionally seek out eurekas; I choose to just play the game and let things unfold naturally. So I'm going to either need to completely alter my style or I'll be screwed by just relying on hard research.

Just like the Dramatic Age mode. I was all excited for it until I actually tried it. I don't keep track of my Golden Age points, how many I need to get to the next age level, and how many turns until the era ends. Once again, I just let things unfold naturally and, in my 2 attempts to use the mode, I got completely destroyed with city flips. Personally, I think they need to either add a normal age back in or make it so that you don't lose cities unless you get consecutive Dark Ages.
I kind of share this sentiment. On one hand, I think Babylon will be fun to play, on the other hand, it encompasses pretty much everything which I think is gamey and immersion-breaking about Civ 6. And yes, I know that complaining that a game is gamey is silly, but things like doing specific things not because they are particularly beneficial in your current situation, but just to earn the Eureka, really kills immersion for me, in the same way that doing specific things - or holding off from doing specific things - just to earn or postpone earning era score fills artificial.
 
Man, I don't know about Babylon for me. I was all excited when I heard they'd be the next civ released, but I'm probably in the minority around here as to playstyle. I'm not the type to intentionally seek out eurekas; I choose to just play the game and let things unfold naturally. So I'm going to either need to completely alter my style or I'll be screwed by just relying on hard research.

Just like the Dramatic Age mode. I was all excited for it until I actually tried it. I don't keep track of my Golden Age points, how many I need to get to the next age level, and how many turns until the era ends. Once again, I just let things unfold naturally and, in my 2 attempts to use the mode, I got completely destroyed with city flips. Personally, I think they need to either add a normal age back in or make it so that you don't lose cities unless you get consecutive Dark Ages.

On the (off)topic of old game controls, I still to this day play World of Warcraft using the WASD method aka the dreaded "keyboard turner." I get looked down upon for it, but I can't help it. I've been playing computer games since the early 90's and that's the method you HAD TO use back then, so it just feels natural to me.

This is kind of the point though. Having had a week with the Babylonian civ now (and working on my strategy guide, which I hope to post within the week), it is one of the most unique civs in the game, in terms of play-style. I've always, personally, sought after eurekas and inspirations. I would even abandon a tech halfway through and start on another one so that I can try to achieve the eureka to finish off the first tech. So I like Babylon. But even though I always pursued eurekas, my play-style with Babylon has still changed. I much more aggressively try to achieve even more of the eurekas in the early game, and I go for the Great Library every time. One I have the Great Library, however, pursuing the eurekas is less important because the Great Library keeps giving me free techs.

I kind of share this sentiment. On one hand, I think Babylon will be fun to play, on the other hand, it encompasses pretty much everything which I think is gamey and immersion-breaking about Civ 6. And yes, I know that complaining that a game is gamey is silly, but things like doing specific things not because they are particularly beneficial in your current situation, but just to earn the Eureka, really kills immersion for me, in the same way that doing specific things - or holding off from doing specific things - just to earn or postpone earning era score fills artificial.

The above being said, I do agree that the eurekas do make the game kind of same-y. This is mostly due to the fact that the eurekas are the same every game. Even with the tech shuffle mode, the eurekas are the same. So you do the same things every game to unlock the same techs. Perhaps for Civ VII, Firaxis should re-think the eureka system. Maybe each tech / civic has 3-5 different eurekas / inspirations, and the game picks one of those five for each different tech each time a new game is started. That way, each game, there is a different combination of eurekas and inspirations to add more variety. Maybe every civ in the same game even has its own unique set of eurekas / inspirations. Maybe the specific condition is even hidden until you unlock the prereq techs, that way, you're not sure what the specific eureka condition is until you get close to researching the tech. If you trip over the condition and unlock the eureka prior to revealing it, it's a fun little surprise bonus.
 
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