NOTE: This Episode was recorded on August 24, 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.
Our member Henrique3d has made an overview over all the Civ7 wonders! There are quite many, and the look great too! For a high-resolution version of the image, and the discussion, please check here.
In case you want to play as a small-scale dictator before Civ7 gets around, you now have the option with Tropico 4! The island dictatorship simulator is currently for free, for another 1 days and 15h from the time of this post. Get it here, and discuss it with us here.
The Firaxis community manager Gilgamesch has noted today in the forum that tomorrow (August 27), the Civ6 online services (presumably multiplayer and potentially mod workshop) will be shortly offline (2h).
AI Survivor is an annual competition of all Civilization IV AI Leaders by long-time Civilization enthusiast and streamer Sullla.
Surprisingly, Brennus of The Celts won a very rare Diplomatic victory in Wildcard Game 2. In hindsight, the result was not that shocking considering the overwhelming presence of less peaceful leaders in this game. Regardless, Brennus is not renowned for being a successful leader in AI Survivor. Favorite Sury of Khmer was quickly dispatched this time with Brennus gaining most or all of the Khmer spoils leading to an overwhelming advantage he never gave up. The Raging Barbarians were more impactful this round, with Alexander of Greece losing a city to the invasion and DeGaulle of France having some early issues expanding, until he built the Great Wall. Only Brennus advances to the playoff round. Read more about the first wildcard game here.
Playoff Game 1 is here and it is all high stakes for the remaining leaders from now on. The peaceniks and aggressors are evenly matched in this game with three leaders on each side. The field has been whittled down to the strongest performing leaders this season, so predictions may be tougher. This game is highlighted by three strong performers historically in Mansa Musa of Mali, Gilgamesh of Sumeria, and Pacal of The Mayans. Lincoln of America, Hammurabi of Babylon, and Elizabeth I of England round out the field. (Note that the Raging Barbs option is turned off for the Playoffs, as it is only used for the Wildcard games.) Be sure to make your picks in the picking context.
Civilization 7 has been announced, and the whole forum knows (nearly) only 1 topic: Civ switching. In Civ7 you pick a leader, and one civilization from the antiquity to play through the antiquity. When arriving to the age of exploration, you will stay with your leader, but pick another civilization (from a set of exploration age civs), and the same for the modern age. Some of these civs are marked as being the “historical choice”, based on your previous civ.
Our member paisley_trees, a history student and civ enthusiast, has been discussing this in-depth (see video and thread here), in a very balanced way, and made alternative suggestions for the wording. The wording of “historical choice” has also caused issues from a Native American point of view, as there are concerns that colonized people might be replaced by colonizers (there is currently no indication that this will happen). The video and its suggestion addresses this.
AI Survivor is an annual competition of all Civilization IV AI Leaders by long-time Civilization enthusiast and streamer Sullla.
In what I now call “The Year of the Peacemongers” Pericles of Greece won a space victory in Wildcard Game 1. Pericles is the sole leader to advance to the Playoffs from this matchup. The only true warmonger on the map, Catherine of Russia, was quickly dispatched early game. Poor Hatshepsut (Hatty) of Egypt failed once again to score any points this game, despite getting out to a very impressive start. Hatty was eventually excised from this game late by Zara of Ethiopia, who played strong but not enough to overtake Pericles’s tech lead. Hatty remains the only leader never to score a point in AI Survivor. Surprisingly, raging barbarians were not very impactful on this map except for Asoka, who did have some early issues. Read more about the first wildcard game here.
Wildcard Game 2 is a reverse makeup of leaders than the first Wildcard Game. Almost all the leaders are either warmongers or at least aggressive, except for Washington of America. Suryavaram of Khmer is the most decorated in this matchup, but this appears to be anyone’s game. Raging Barbarians are again online for this matchup so expect some earlier shenanigans from those uncivilized brutes. Be sure to make your picks in the picking context.
