PolyCast Episode 18: "The More The Better" (Part 1)

[DanQ]

The official podcast of Apolyton Civilization Site (ACS) has shifted into first gear as the release of the Civilization IV expansion pack Beyond the Sword draws ever nearer. Over this and the next two weeks, not two but three new PolyCast episodes will be released back-to-back-to-back! The first couple can be considered rightly a two-parter as they were both recorded this past weekend.

Part One comes in the form of the show's eighteenth installment, "The More The Better", and is understandably predominated by 'News' with a 'Mailbag' segment accompanying it. First-time guest co-host Dale "Dale" Kent is the author of "The Road to War" scenario included in BtS, and offers listeners exclusive details on this work! Rounding out the panel are regular co-hosts Daniel "DanQ" Quick, Wouter "Locutus" Snijders and Makahlua. Total runtime is 59m:59s (28.7MB).

PolyCast is a regularly bi-weekly, one-hour production in an effort to give the Civ community now an interactive voice. ACS is the first and to date only known Civ fansite to produce its own podcast.

[DanQ]

Summary of Topics

NEWS (02m42s)
Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword information overload! Leading the way is an exclusive discussion on the included scenario "World War II: Road to War", a profile on the "Fall from Heaven" scenario (12m33s) and scattered details on other like works (15m29s); a BtS feature and not one but two previews follow with a developer chat (CFC) and developer podcast particulars mixed in. Beyond scenarios, portions by topic: new civilizations (18m19s), new leaders (30m01s), units (31m40s), buildings (38m36s), espionage (41m41s), Wonders (45m48s) and a highlight of the Apostolic Palace (49m38s) are covered.

MAILBAG (53m24s)
Episode 17 listener 'kniteowl' responds in detail to topics covered on that show, and 'Nugog' follows suit.

[Will9]

Locutus, what do mean that you can't have a large army with Pacifism? I once had the largest army in the world while running 100% science and still gaining +100 gold a turn when I had Pacifism.

[Nugog]

Was great to hear from Dale - and that 'Poly is going to be the public host for the Road to War mod.

Take that CFC!



Sound quality wise - Dan you seemed to drop out through the middle of the polycast - particularly during the discussion re the new civs.

That was at work - I'll check it on the ipod at home later and see if it is just my cruddy pc at work......

[DanQ]

Originally posted by Nugog
Was great to hear from Dale - and that 'Poly is going to be the public host for the Road to War mod.

Absolutely.

To clarify, we will host the add-ons -- and new scenarios -- for the RtW Mod found in BtS and not the Mod itself; for that, you'll need the expansion.

Sound quality wise - Dan you seemed to drop out through the middle of the polycast - particularly during the discussion re the new civs.

The volume of my audio does drop notably, starting with the section you note as well as when we talk about new buildings. I'm using a new microphone as of this recording, and I'm still getting used to its primary advantage (less background noise) and disadvantage (lower volume) quality-wise.

All audio is boosted relatively to one another, and those segments identified where I'm more quiet than otherwise were recorded first. I have manually amplified my audio in these sections and re-encoded the episode; this 'revised' version is now in place of the 'original'. Hopefully you will find it improved technically as I do.

As for your comment, Will9, indeed Locutus will need to address it.

[Dale]

Yeah as Dan says, it's the add-ons and stuff to be hosted. You'll still need BtS to play RtW.

[Nugog]

Originally posted by DanQ

Absolutely.

To clarify, we will host the add-ons -- and new scenarios -- for the RtW Mod found in BtS and not the Mod itself; for that, you'll need the expansion.

Yep - noted that.

[EPW]

I liked the semi-new information

[DanQ]

Originally posted by EPW
I liked the semi-new information

Glad you liked it ... what part(s) were "semi-new"?

[EPW]

mostly the stuff you found in the screenshots that no one else would bother looking through.....

[DanQ]

Originally posted by EPW
mostly the stuff you found in the screenshots that no one else would bother looking through.....

Ahhhhhh. Well put!

[DanQ]

Re-Release

I've added a new utility to my post-production arsenal and believe I have effectively neutralized much if not all of the understandable concern surrounding the varying volumes of the co-hosts in this episode. (We shared them!) As such, I've re-released it. The only very minor issue is a few "dips" with the intro and the end theme, but this should not be an issue in future episodes -- certainly, it's well worth the improvements in the 'content' areas in my opinion.

Try for yourself , particularly if you listened to even parts of this episode previously and/or you've listened to earlier shows in this series.

I plan to give a similar treatment to our earlier productions in the coming days.

[Methos]

I just noticed the podcasts had discussion threads.

Originally posted by EPW
mostly the stuff you found in the screenshots that no one else would bother looking through.....

I hate to say it, but I still haven't listened past Dale's interview and I've listened to that twice! The above quoted statement has me realizing what I'm missing.

I agree that the audio wasn't the best, but it was still pretty good. I must say, it took me a while getting used to the "relaxed" environment. I was expecting a more professional outlook, but considering it's gamers, that was a rather foolish notion.

Dale's interview was great, I really enjoyed it. As I mentioned on CFC it took me almost an hour just to listen to his interview due to all the pausing and taking notes I was doing. Great work Dale! I'm really looking forward to playing your mod.

Oh yeah, one final thought. Why on earth wouldn't you want to host it at CFC? runs for the door

[Nugog]

Originally posted by Methos from CFC I was expecting a more professional outlook,

Hey - this is Apolyton!

Why on earth wouldn't you want to host it at CFC?

[DanQ]

Originally posted by Nugog
Hey - this is Apolyton!

Originally posted by Methos from CFC
I hate to say it, but I still haven't listened past Dale's interview and I've listened to that twice! The above quoted statement has me realizing what I'm missing.

I must say, it took me a while getting used to the "relaxed" environment. I was expecting a more professional outlook, but considering it's gamers, that was a rather foolish notion.

Must have been quite an adjustment as far I as go especially given I'm such a hard-ass.

Dale's interview was great, I really enjoyed it. As I mentioned on CFC it took me almost an hour just to listen to his interview due to all the pausing and taking notes I was doing.

Great work Dale! I'm really looking forward to playing your mod.

And great work PolyCast team for convincing him to be on the show...

Oh yeah, one final thought. Why on earth wouldn't you want to host it at CFC? runs for the door