AI Survivor is an annual competition of all Civilization IV AI Leaders by long-time Civilization enthusiast and streamer Sullla.
“Random” is a word that comes to mind when I think of Game 6. A balanced mix of peaceniks and warmongers ended with the Doves dominating. Victoria of England, renowned for being a paper tiger – great traits/pathetic results – won this game with a Space Victory. She sat in her little corner for much of the game focusing on her blazing economy. Meanwhile, heavily favored Stalin of Russia launched an extremely early, shocking, and pyrrhic invasion against Napoleon of France off in the distance while ignoring his expansion, economy, and juicy barbarian cities in his neighborhood. Stalin did not survive Gandhi, our second-place finisher, nor did Nappy. Stalin’s incompetence was startling. His top-tier ranking is likely over. Interestingly, Vicky almost triggered a domination victory the turn her spaceship arrived at Alpha Centauri. No one came close to touching her late-game military. The remnants of Joao’s Portuguese Empire survived for the Wildcard games. Roosevelt of America and Ragnar of the Vikings put up a fight but are now enjoying an early vacation. The Alternate Histories for this one should be fascinating.
Game 7 is absolutely a must-watch match. Suryavarman of the Khmer is favored as the top seed here. Sury is considered an underrated leader both as AI and human player. He possesses a balance of economic traits and killer instincts. However, the real treat of this game is everyone’s favorite nutjob in Montezuma of the Aztecs. Monty rarely wins in AI Survivor, although he did pull off an early-round victory last season. Regardless, he is the most unpredictable leader in Civ 4 except for one certainty – he will always be at war with someone……anyone. Monty’s antics alone are worth the price of admission for this match. Another highlight here is former champion Mehmed of the Ottomans. Second seed Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire, Elizabeth I of England, and zealot Isabel of Spain round out the field. Be sure to make your picks in the picking context.
It seems the recent announcement of Civ7 has not stopped the new challenges! The new Civ6 monthly challenge, going from July 16 until August 14 is: Live Yongle Reaction.
You play as the one and only, obviously, on a tiny fractal map on online speed. As usual you get to choose between Prince and Emperor difficulty, and also between a culture or science victory. For more information please check this thread.
Every civ-fanatic should be interested in the talk on Friday about historical accuracy in strategy games! The talk about procedural generation might be interesting as well, given that’s essentially how the civ maps are generated. For the game showcases, Reus 2, a god game (… probably), is probably also something for civ-fans!
AI Survivor is an annual competition of all Civilization IV AI Leaders by long-time Civilization enthusiast and streamer Sullla.
Game 5 from a week ago saw Ramesses of Egypt pull out a rare Cultural Victory, closing the game with a power-move Great Artist bomb to seal the deal one turn later. On the last turn, Pacal narrowly beat out Hatty for second place. Once again, poor Hatty (score leader most of the game) failed to place though some late-game warfare hindered her from grabbing a cultural victory herself.
Game 6 will feature a balanced mix of aggressive and passive leaders that could lead to some unpredictable results. Stalin of Russia is the top seed, while Gandhi of India is the second seed. Meanwhile, we have two of the most aggressive leaders in CIV IV in Ragnar(Rags) of the Vikings and Napoleon(Nappy) of France. Stalin, Rags, and Nappy surely mean a lot of wars but will the peaceniks hold on? Be sure to make your picks in the picking context.
The official Civilization Twitter account has published the 5th video in the Civ retrospective series, this time looking at Civilization 5. In this video they highlight the change from square to hexagons, that leaders speak their native language, great works and archeology, and some very important trade agreement. Join us for the discussion here.
The Tacticon is a virtual convention about strategy games, organized by the independent publishers FireSquid Games and HoodedHorse, and therefore should contain some things, which are also interesting for us. This year the convention will happen from July 18 to July 22. The lineup normally consists out of various talks, new demos, and some sales, obviously. The list of games which are participaing is not short, and includes for example Old World, Great Houses Of Calderia, Millennia, Terra Invicta, Crusader Kings III or Reus 2. A first showcase is planned on July 18th, 7:30PM CET / 10:30AM PST, on Steam, Youtube and Twitch. For more info follow the hasthag on Twitter, and discuss with us here.
NOTE: This Episode was recorded on April 27, 2024.
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.
