Robert Houghton: ‘Sid Meier’s Civilization’: Breaking Genres for Better Histories

By | March 8, 2022

Robert Houghton from Winchester University has given an online presentation about Civ, and talks about many things, including how to improve the game with mechanics from other games. It’s long, but have a watch!

Discuss this video in our forum here: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/robert-houghton-%E2%80%98sid-meier%E2%80%99s-civilization%E2%80%99-breaking-genres-for-better-histories.675763/

Play the new Civ4 “Game Of The Month” #232

By | March 7, 2022

And the challenge continues also for Civ4! In this month’s “Game Of The Month” you play as Justinian on a standard size continents map on Monarch level. This game has goody huts enabled, and you get 2 starting scouts to have a change to get them! You have until April 5 to finish this game.

All the details can be found in the thread about the game: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/news-botm-232-justinian-monarch-starts-5-mar.675673/

New Scientist: Stonehenge may have been a giant calendar and now we know how it works

By | March 7, 2022

The New Scientist has reported about a new study trying to unravel the meaning of Stonehenge. The scientists assume the constellation of the stones indicate an ancient form of calendar.

Their explanation:

““All except two of the sarsens at Stonehenge come from that single source, so the message to me was that they’ve got a unity to them,” says Darvill. To him, this indicated that they were intended for a common purpose. To find out what, he looked for clues in the numbers.

The sarsens were arranged in three different formations at Stonehenge around 2500 BC: 30 formed the large stone circle that dominates the monument, four “station stones” were placed in a rectangular formation outside this circle, and the rest were constructed into five trilithons – consisting of two vertical stones with a third stone laid horizontally across the top like a lintel – located inside the stone circle.

“Thirty, 5 and 4 are interesting numbers in a calendrical kind of sense,” says Darvill. “Those 30 uprights around the main sarsen ring at Stonehenge would fit very nicely as days of the month,” he says. “Multiply that by 12 and you get 360, add on another 5 from the central trilithons you get 365.” To adjust the calendar to match a solar year, the addition of one extra leap day every four years is needed, and Darvill thinks that the four station stones may have been used to keep track of this. In this system, the summer and winter solstice would be framed every year by the same pair of stones.”

You can read the whole article here, or discuss it in our forum here.

Play the new Civ6 “Game Of The Month” #130

By | March 6, 2022

Another month, another “Game Of The Month”!

This time you play as Robert The Bruce on a standard-size tilted-axis map on Prince level. Your goal is the science victory, and you must prevent all other 7 civs from reaching any of the other victory conditions. You have until April 1st to finish this game.

You can find all the details for this month’s GOTM here: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/6otm130-announcement.675653/

History Respawned Podcast: Leyla and Soren Johnson on Old World

By | March 5, 2022

History Respawned has made an interview Leyla and Soren Johnson about Old World.
They interview is about the research which the devs do before they implement something into the game, the focus of games on only certain civilizations, the future plans and more.

Listen to the whole podcast here, and discuss this podcast in our forum here.

Old World Patch #85

By | March 4, 2022

Mohawk Games, the creators of Old World, have released the latest patch for their game. Besides balance changes, this update also includes some world maps!

Read the full patch log here, and discuss the patch in our forum here.

Thanks to our member PiR for noticing this update :).

Plough.com – Interview with Christoper Tin – The Tapestry of Sound

By | March 3, 2022

Plough, an independent book publisher with Christian background, has publised an interview with Christopher Tin in their quarterly culture-focused magazine.
In the interview they talk about the inspiration for Christopher’s music, the historical references used in his songs, and the various themes in his songs.

An excerpt:
“My first album, Calling All Dawns, contains twelve songs in twelve different languages. It is all about life, death, and rebirth. The source texts pull on everything from ancient myths, to prayers, to some original texts. The album weaves all these together to create a story, a monomyth as Joseph Campbell would call it. It’s a monomyth about how we are all connected by a common human experience that sort of winds through each of our lives like a thread. Taken together, all of our experiences around the world form this elaborate tapestry of humanity.”

You can read the full interview here: https://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/music/the-tapestry-of-sound

Visit our forum to discuss this news article: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/plough-com-interview-with-christoper-tin-the-tapestry-of-sound.675664/

Play the new Civ5 “Game Of The Month” #211

By | March 2, 2022

After a short break, we now have our Civ5 “Game Of The Month” back. This is thanks to our user zxcvbob, who volunteered to create this game!

This time you play Pacal of the Maya on a standard-size Great Plains Plus map on Prince difficulty. You have to go for the diplomatic victory, and at the same time you need to prevent the other civs from achieving any other type of victory. You have until March 31st to finish this game.

You can find all details here: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/news-tsg211-announcement.675510/