History Respawned podcast: History Games at Not E3 2023

By | June 19, 2023

Robert Whitaker has released another episode of his History Respawned podcast. He is discussing with his co-host John Harney about VR, but more critical the most interesting games, which were not mentioned at the E3 (which was a lot). Besides obvious candidates like the next Assassin’s Creed and the most recent Zelda, they also talk about Civ7!
You can find the new episode here, and discuss it with us here.

TurnBasedLovers: Best 10 Turn-Based Strategy Games of the Last Two (And a Bit) Years (with Old World!)

By | June 18, 2023

TurnBasedLovers, obviously a website dedicated to turn-based games, has published a new article: Best 10 Turn-Based Strategy Games of the Last Two (And a Bit) Years.
The list contains 10 turn-based games from the last 2+ years, which should be of special interst to the community which is interested in turn-based games (again, obviously). The list includes the very recently published “Age Of Wonders 4“, the historic 4X game “Ozymandias”, and also Old World, which is of special relevance for us here. The author used as criteria for the inclusion besides the theme of the game also UI and AI, among others.
A short excerpt from the Old World entry:

Old World is not a simple game, with a lot of interlocking systems but it benefits from a lovely, easy to understand UI, clean graphics and strong gameplay. Whilst it doesn’t cover the sweep of millenia the same way as Civ, I often felt far more connected to my Empire in Old-World than I ever did in Civ.

You can read the whole article here, and discuss it with us here.

TheCivShow podcast with Andrew Johnson

By | June 17, 2023

Besides the regular civ-fanatics-hosted podcast “The PolyCast“, there is also the podcast from TheCivShow, a 3-person team who also regulary streams Civ6.
Their last episode features @Andrew Johnson [FXS] , and they talk about his work on Civ, what a historian and writer does for Civ6.
The description from Spotify is the following:

2 history buffs and 1 tech guy, all with a singular purpose to entertain you with Civilization content. MoySauce, Nystagmus, and Razing Zozo are filled with information and entertainment as the 3 hosts talk about which Civilization Leader they would bring to Prom, why Gilgamesh is so darn handsome, and who put that Spy in my land? As the three talk about strategies used in their Sunday games, they are open to light hearted conversations and deep dive into some history facts!

You can listen to the podcast here, follow the CivShow on Twitter here, and discuss this podcast with us here.

Play the new Civ5 “Game Of The Month” #223

By | June 15, 2023

With this Civ5 “Game Of The Month” we’re giving you a vacation on a nice island during the sunny summer days! You play as Suleiman of the Ottomans on a standard-size islands map on Emperor level. You need to go for a domination victory, and prevent all other civs from achieving one of the other victories as well. You have until July 15 to control the Aegean Sea and more! For all information please see this thread.

Crusader Kings II: Right now for free on GOG

By | June 14, 2023

Most people here probably already know the grand strategy games from Paradox.
These games are real-time strategy games where you manage your empire, build armies and conduct diplomacy.
One of them, the 11 years old Crusader Kings II is currently free on GOG, so if you feel the urge for more 4X, then go and download it right now.

Discuss the game with us here.

Playtesters needed: USC: Counterforce, Reus 2, Great House of Calderia

By | June 13, 2023

Firesquid Games, an indy publisher focused on strategy games, is currently looking for playtesters for 3 of their upcoming games, and all 3 are of interest to the Civ-Fanatics audience!

  • Game #1 is Reus 2, which is a strategy game with a similar concept to Black & White: You control giants on a planet with a civilization, and you try to influence this civilization with your actions.
  • Game #2 is USC: Counterfoce, a turn-based tactics game in similar spirit to XCOM. It is a turn-based game where you control a squad of customizable soldiers to fight against all kind of monstrosities.
  • Game #3 is Great House Of Calderia, a grand strategy game set in a fantasy renaissance setting. You need to control your lands, your wealth, and your family and defeat other families.

This announcement was posted via the FireSquid Twitter account, and you can sign up here to be selected as a playtester. You can discuss this playtest with us here.

TechSpot: 30 Years of Civilization – Over 51 Million Units Sold and a Billion Hours Played

By | June 12, 2023

TechSpot has today published an article about the last 30 years of Civilization (which should be 32 years…).
In this article, the author goes through the history of the Civilization franchise, how the first people playtested Civ1 for hours, the addition of modding in Civ2, Baba Yetu, and many other things. The author also doesn’t forget all the other important games related to Civilization, like Alpha Centaur, Beyond Earth, FreeCiv and FreeCol.

An excerpt:

“Just one more turn,” an expression that’s become synonymous with the game Civilization. It’s a feeling of becoming so swept up, immersed, and engrossed in a game that hours, even days, pass by in a single gaming session without you noticing. Meals are missed. Showers become an afterthought. These simple routines are cast aside in the relentless pursuit of just one more turn.

Thanks to Christopher Tin for pointing out this article.
You can read the whole article here, and discuss it with us here.

PolyCast 417: Strategy Game Nostalgia

By | June 11, 2023
PolyCast Logo

The four-hundred-and-seventeenth episode of PolyCast, “Strategy Game Nostalgia“ 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:

Intro
00h01m00s | Wing Dings, Dingbats, and Dinkuses
News
00h04m48s | Firaxis Games Studio News and Civilization 7 Soft Reveal
00h12m22s | Leaders of the Sahara Developer Livestream and Forum Discussion
00h17m30s | Leaders of the Sahara Release
00h35m42s | Rock, Paper, Shotgun’s Voted List of readers’ 50 Favorite Strategy Games of All Time and Forum Discussion


NOTE: This Episode was recorded on February 25, 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.