PolyCast Focus: "Civilization: World"

[DanQ]

Reaching but not grasping. "Focus: 'Civilization: World'" features Lisa "qnl" Bang with "Bibor and Jacob "xienwolf" Turner on their experiences to date with the up-and-coming Civilization: World. All three panelists are part of the game's closed beta test currently ongoing.

The summary of topics is as follows:

- 00m25s | Introduction
An introduction to Civilization: World, a strategy/online multiplayer-hybrid game to bring Civ to the Facebook platform.
- 03m19s | Impressions
Panelists share what their initial impressions were upon learning of the game being in development.
- 08m13s | Design
For better and worse, on the design elements of CivWorld.
- 15m09s | Mechanics
Reviewing a number of the game's mechanics that are still very much a work-in-progress.
- 20m55s | Concept
Considering the concept towards what CivWorld is looking to accomplish, and its effectiveness to date.
- 28m49s | Minigames & Maps
What is, and what is not, present within the title's minigames and on its maps to its benefit and detriment.
- 38m34s | Implementation
Assessing the implementation of CivWorld, including whether the means are looking to justify its ends.
- 45m59s | Miscellaneous
The state of the game's Throne Room, Wonder's of the World and reflecting on the involvement of Sid Meier himself.

PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production in an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice on game strategy; sibling show RevCast focuses on Civilization: Revolution, ModCast on Civ modding and TurnCast on Civ multiplay.

[spacechampion]

A few things said in this podcast weren't true.

1. Caravan game doesn't take a week to build up to be worthwhile to do, you have to have gold (several thousand, which is easy to get selling resources) before the caravan game will up the max to 1000 gold, so if you do have gold it will take only a few hours to get to 1000.

2. Tech maze game is cumulative for the civ so that multiple people working on it benefits everyone in the civ. Yes, one person gets the MVP medal, and coordination is important to not waste moves and science. The impression you gave in the podcast was that only the MVP's efforts mattered. Not true, usually the MVP only researches 50-100% of the tech and other people research the remainder.

3. Nothing is lost by not automatically being assigned to another tech to work on while you are offline; your science and harvests and moves still accumulate regardless of whether you are online or off. Not being assigned automatically is a good thing so your moves aren't wasted if somebody else finishes a tech while you are offline. Usually a well-coordinated civ is waiting for an offline player to come online to move to a different tech that the one he/she left themself on.

4. There was mention of a "bug" where your farmers got your both food and production. I doubt this; you probably just are mistaking the regular trickle of all resources (food, production, science, culture and gold) that comes from the palace in a regular trickle, so you do accumulate a small bit of production even if your houses are all farmers.

5. Battle metals are not awarded randomly to one person in the civ; they are rewarded to whomever contributes the most strength to the victory.

6. The game was not in beta for half a year, it was in alpha for that time. It was only about a month ago beta started.

7. Yes, civ-hopping fame-hogs trawling for medals can be annoying, but they won't accumulate as much fame as those staying put in one civ winning eras; eventually the fame-hog figures this out and stop civ-hopping.

8. No you will not be king instantly in a civ right away just because you have the most fame points. King and other ranks are assigned on a short-term basis for recent activity. Only one of the ministers can become king. If you have the most gold and get the finance minister instantly upon joing a civ, then yes you can become king then. So what, you won't hold on to it. Being king only matters during votes and winning eras. A civ-hopper probably won't be around long enough to win an era.

[xienwolf]

Thanks for the corrections. We had tried to get someone far more knowledgeable about the game to join us, but without luck. And as you could tell in the episode, none of us really got hooked well enough to figure out all of the information ourselves. I had attempted to study the things I didn't understand in the days before we recorded, but obviously missed some things and read invalid information on others (like the week buildup for Caravan, King instantly, and random medal assignment in battle wins).


For the tech maze, we meant that the maze itself only rewards the player who walks into the middle of it. It sounds like you are saying the same thing. Yes, your research overall is combined with the civ, but only the maze winner gets that nice bonus. Everyone else (like the guy 1 move from completion) gets nothing but a new maze to look at.

Or are you saying only the winner move to a new map, and everyone else gets to finish when they finish, so long as the tech itself isn't completed?


For being unasigned to a tech while offline, you are saying that lots of science will build up just "in my city" and as soon as I select a tech on the tree dumps to that tech? If so, that's quite nice.

[JingL]

For the tech maze, we meant that the maze itself only rewards the player who walks into the middle of it. It sounds like you are saying the same thing. Yes, your research overall is combined with the civ, but only the maze winner gets that nice bonus. Everyone else (like the guy 1 move from completion) gets nothing but a new maze to look at.

Or are you saying only the winner move to a new map, and everyone else gets to finish when they finish, so long as the tech itself isn't completed?


For being unasigned to a tech while offline, you are saying that lots of science will build up just "in my city" and as soon as I select a tech on the tree dumps to that tech? If so, that's quite nice.

Yes, after 1 person completes a maze, all the moves of others are not lost, they can complete it too on their turn, as long as the tech's not reserched. Not only that, the person finishing a maze actually gifts science and maze moves to anyone on the same tech as them when the maze is completed, so not just the person who completes the maze benefits.

As for the unassigned tech, yes, that too, if you stay on a researched tech, but have accumulated science, you add those when you click onto another tech, nothing is lost.

[xienwolf]

Well bugger. I hate being so horribly wrong on something. I suppose that scores another point in the "We can't tell what is going on" category instead. It seems most people are the same as me, in that the tech mazes are the most enjoyable of the 3 mini-games. My only detractor had been the assumption that I was doomed to complete uselessness except in those rare cases I happened to win a maze.

Suppose I should have realized that if it did work the way I thought it worked I would have NEVER won a maze, and that there would be more than 2 or 3 people in the new maze I move to after I do win.

[DanQ]

To "spacechampion" and "JingL": out of curiosity, was this the first PolyCast production you have listened to?

[spacechampion]

Yes, first time listening. I've been playing the game since the first wave of alpha so I was curious how fresh eyes are seeing it.

[DanQ]

Yes, first time listening. I've been playing the game since the first wave of alpha so I was curious how fresh eyes are seeing it.

Welcome then, first time listener. The points you have raised beside in this thread, hope you enjoyed this production.

Though PolyCast 'proper' has been and continues to focus on both Civilization IV and V, CW news is also being covered on an ongoing basis.

[илко илиев]

Spacechampion 5. Battle metals are not awarded randomly to one person in the civ; they are rewarded to whomever contributes the most strength to the victory. .... As i see it ,you have to be in the start of the battle already on the battlefield . If you join for the second round as i often do ,then the medal is not awardet to me ,although i have tripple units size compare to the medal winner . But also seen the other player units losing their medals during the battle , and me getting them in the seckond half of the same battle . And also been in a battle where my units were strongest from begining to the end and i didn,t get the medal .All 3 examples are from battles in my allyance ,not where i help defend others .

[BoMbaStiXxX]

I can confirm that it's definitely not always the player with most attack or defense. Maybe it is attack PLUS defense, regardless of whether you are attacking or defending, I haven't considered this assumption yet.

I can however confirm that you can get the medal if you put in your troops after the fight has started.

[JingL]

This question had been answered by the develloppers before. It's the total strength of your troops over the whole battle (ie 10h prep + battle), although the later moments (ie battle) do take a bigger proportion. And it takes into account weather bonus, flanking bonus, heroic or fortified.

[Telgard]

*deleted* Answered by JingL. Needs reference link though.

[илко илиев]

Thanks guys and especialy Jing ! Never ever thought that the 10 hours preparation actually count for the battle medals . This ansvers all my questions . And Jing ,this is seckond time you help me ,the other was that units stacks attacs is the total attack of all units ,not the stack itself . This lead to 1 unit of a kind exploit and a powerfull single stuck .

[JingL]

*deleted* Answered by JingL. Needs reference link though.

Wish I could. It was back in the alpha forum, can't access it anymore.

[DanQ]

Lots of discussion here since my last check-in! I haven't played any of CivWorld to date, so I can't relate directly...

A question to those of you 'new' in replying to this thread: whether listening to this was the first PolyCast you had consumed or not, hope that you will continue to do so.