As you know, we like a game called “Civilization”. Sometimes we also like some other games, but even better if they also have a “civ” in it! Recently we stumbled upon the game “PocketCiv“, thanks to their Twitter account. As you can guess from the title, it’s a neat and small civ-like game, staying more in the ancient setting and based on the boardgame of the same name. It’s overall not as big as our beloved Civilization, but more focused. It’s a pocket version, if you like 
.
BMCGames, the devs of PocketCiv, noticed that we noticed them, so they came over to CFC and offered us a few keys to hand out to our members.
We are therefore doing a small raffle, but you need to tell us one thing:
We know that you like adding things to Civ, like more nations, leaders, wonders, etc. Now tell us one thing, which you would like to have less of in Civ, and win one out of 3 copies of PocketCiv. Let us know here.
The raffle runs for 7 days, afterwards the winners will be determined by a random roll.
Please note that the game is in early access and might still change. Please also note that the guys bribed us with a few steam keys for the CFC staff too.
PolyCast 413: Christmas Special?
The four-hundred-and-thirteenth episode of PolyCast, “Christmas Special?“ is now available for streaming on ThePolyCast.net. This episode features regular co-hosts CanusAlbinus. Stephanie “Makahlua”, Phil “TheMeInTeam”, and Jason “MegaBearsFan”. Topics for this episode include:
News
– 00h02m57s | The Release of Leader Pack 1
– 00h17m18s | The Civ Give 2022
– 00h22m13s | Ed Beach Interview with wccftech
– 00h31m51s | Ara-History Untold Dev Diaries Released.
– 00h49m28s | Master of Magic Remake Released.
– 00h54m58s | Leader Pack 2 Leaders Previewed
– 01h02m56s | Leader Pack 2 Developer Livestream and Patch Notes Discussion
NOTE: This Episode was recorded on December 17, 2022.
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.
Humankind: New Parabellum wonder pack for free until May 10, and Vauban update out
Today Amplitude has released a new DLC for Humankind! This new DLC contains 6 new wonders, like the Colosseum or the Pentagon, and is free until May 10!
At the same time Humankind is on sale, with a 80% discount down to 9.99!
Today you also get the next update for Humankind, the Vauban update. This update adds the Steam workshop, gives adjacency bonuses to cultural wonders, a new cultural wonder, and AI improvements.
Come to discuss these news in our thread here.
Thanks to Saxo Grammaticus for these news :).
Play the new Civ3 “Game Of The Month” #163 and #190
Thanks to our Civ3 veterans we are also still running the “Game Of The Month” for Civ3! As usual, you get 2 GOTMs, one for the expansion “Play The World”, and one for “Conquests”.
In the GOTM #190 for “Play The World” you play as Babylon on a standard size map on Monarch level. Everything is a secret, besides the raging barbarians, that will be clear to you. You have until June 30 to finish this game, and you can find all the details here.
For the GOTM #163 for “Conquests” you play as Japan on a standard size continents map with 70% ocean on Emperor level. The barbarians are calm, but your enemies are already known. Also here you can take the challenge until June 30, and all the remaining information is in this thread.
Sid Meier’s Civilisation VI: The Kotaku Re-Review
Luke Plunkett from Kotaku posted a new article: His Civ6 Re-Review.
He reviewed Civ6 for the initial release, and now he went back to have a look at it again.
While he still likes Civ6, in his opinion it’s the worst of the main games (not counting expansions). He likes the happiness system, as well as controling archeologists and rockbands, but his main gripe is that the game gets in some way too board-gamey with the district system. He would like Civ to be more abstract, farer away from the numbers, to not micromanage the in his opinion to complicated system.
2 excerpts:
Civilisation VI takes a similar approach. It burdens the game with numbers, numbers everywhere, expressed in their rawest and least immersive form, and after seven years those numbers have buried many of the things I enjoy the most about Civilisation.
The defining aspect of Civilisation VI, the thing we will remember it for the most, is its district system. It’s a huge part of the game, based around the idea that after you build a city — which occupies a single one of the world’s tiles — you can then strategically expand it across the map, placing “districts” based on things like science or entertainment or the military, and these provide adjacency bonuses based on things like their proximity to other districts, or which natural resources they contain. It’s a system that is absolutely essential to getting the most out of your empire, and you can’t play Civilisation VI without at least trying to master it.
I love the way Civilisation VI — again, in contrast to a lot of other its other, less successful ideas — makes the game’s culture such a tangible force. Watching your borders spread like a virus in earlier games was one thing, but manually controlling archaeologists and artists and rock bands in the field is a blast. It’s these areas, where the game asks you to get down on the ground and shape your Civilisation directly, that it’s at its strongest. Where the numbers — which are always there, in every video game, I know — fade into the background.
You can read the whole article here and discuss it with us here.
Atari buys Microprose games from 1980s and 1990s – Are Civ1 and Civ2 among them?
Today Atari announced that it has acquired more than 100 retro titles from the 80s and 90s, from Accolade, Infogrames, and most importantly Microprose. A few names of titles are in the article, but neither Civ1 nor Civ2 are among them, but according to the article this deal “includes groundbreaking and award-winning titles from Accolade, Infogrames, and Microprose”. Can we now have hope that we get Civ1 and Civ2 on digitial platforms? There might be a chance. Discuss with us here.
Civ6 music bug fixed
Firaxis has released a new Civ6 patch to fix the music bug. Please report here if it is indeed fixed.
Play the new Civ4 “Game Of The Month” #250
This GOTM has already started last month during Women’s History Month, so you’re playing as Boudica of the Celts. You may conquer other tribes on a small highlands map on Monarch level. You have until May 1 to defeat the other powerful women on this map, and the minor nations lead by men. For all other information please see here.