Storypost | 2016.10.30

Civ VI

Civilization VI screenshot flight Wright brothers

I'm just over a week/4000 years into Civ VI. It's about what you'd expect - iterative improvements over its predecessor. Here's the downlow:

Civilization VI government choices Chiefdom Civilization VI government policies monarchy

The governing system has become more and less complicated. Your chosen government is pretty straightforward, but that dicates your available policy slots. Policies allow you to emphasize bonuses, e.g. build settlers faster or gain culture from trade routes. This is the biggest user-facing innovation. It lets you rule with your own style, but also react to the civilization lifecycle - growth, war, science.

Civilization VI screenshot districts Washington

Number two on the change list is the addition of districts. These are geographical tiles you set aside for certain types of buildings. E.g. an entertainment district allows you to build an arena or zoo, you need a harbor district for a shipyard. In effect, it primarily creates a dependency tree for buildings that that were just a flat list in previous games. It's deeper than that, of course, but not too significant. I'm mostly curious what the modding community will do with this.

Civilization VI screenshot religion pantheon

Religion takes a page out of the policies book - each religion can choose to emphasize certain bonuses. Also you can name it. I went with Zoidbergism.

Civilization VI espionage mission Civilization VI Gorgo deal

I don't remember if espionage worked this way last game, but in Civ VI spies are regular units (they've historically been consumed by their actions). Their repertoire has expanded and their experience system is the most unique of any unit. On the minus side, I haven't found a way to automate their behavior and you can accrue quite a few units.

Civilization VI screenshot city states

City-states are back. They're much the same: non-competing factions for you to woo or conquer.

Civilization VI screenshot great people

Great people are back, with a considerably more varied list of benefits.

Civilization VI screenshot research

Another minor change is research boosting. Basically an in-game event (positive or negative) will decrease the time required to research techonology. E.g. defeat three barbarians or find a natural wonder. This gives you a set of minor, short term objectives to go after.

Civilization VI screenshot artifact

Artifacts, museums, and galleries are a new way to get culture and money. There isn't too much to it, but it's fun to dig up relics of your own civilization.

Civilization VI screenshot wonder Colosseum

Wonders are much harder to come by. For one, they take a hex in cities that (thankfully) can occupy more territory. And with the addition of districts, there's so much to build that you'll never have a city that's built everything and can just crank out wonders. Sure it was nice to have the Pyramids, Hanging Gardens, Colossus, (...) all in Athens, but that's probably not how it should be.

Civilization VI archers trade caravan Civilization VI trade route destination

Roads are automatically produced from establishing trade routes. This significantly reduces the time spent managing workers, but also limits access to areas outside the shortest path.

thumbnail Civilization VI German bomber fighter cinematic thumbnail Civilization VI Hanging Gardens wonder thumbnail Civilization VI combat melee
thumbnail Civilization VI bombard Kyoto colosseum
thumbnail Civilization VI construction research four building blocks of universe thumbnail Civilization VI Galapagos Islands discovery natural wonder thumbnail Civilization VI archer ranged combat
thumbnail Civilization VI galley thumbnail Civilization VI Portala Palace wonder thumbnail Civilization VI space capsule cinematic

Of course all the classic and neoclassic elements are there: self-defending cities, research, exploration, battle, natural wonders, ranged/melee units, blackmailing other leaders, and the space race. Workers have a handful of uses then disappear. This may seem bad, but I expect in the 20th century and beyond it'll be nice not to have a bunch around just because.

The game takes quite some time computing AI moves between turns. I'm hoping this is the sign of a well-developed NPC system, but cannot tell at this point. Thankfully you can still click around between turns, or watch football or whatever.
Deck

Deck demo old planks

So it turns out even planing, sanding, and restaining the deck planks wasn't sufficient.

Trex deck weimaraner job site manager

I wanted a permanent solution, so I threw down the extra bones for synthetic. The hidden fasteners are great and go in pretty easy.

Deck reinforcement additional supports

I did a bunch of reinforcement, replacing the last of the wood-on-ground posts and adding supports where the thing was held up only by lag bolts into the house.

Deck renovation Trex cauk roofing felt to beams

I left most of the frame in but was wary about just painting the tops of the joists.
Arthur recommended throwing a layer of caulk on it to take the brunt of the heat and rain (what passes between the planks, anyway). Worried about even the caulk delaminating, I went one further and did 2x8-wide strips of roofing felt + caulk between each plank and joist.


I redid the step. Everything is redwood or pressure treated.

Deck plank installation gray Trex retrofit Deck plank installation gray Trex retrofit dog helping Deck plank installation gray Trex retrofit dogs approve Deck plank installation gray Trex retrofit dog shop vac

It looks pretty good and should be zero maintenance for quite some time.
Vball

Courtney brought her camera out to vball, so we switched off taking photos.

thumbnail Volleyball kick save thumbnail Volleyball swing thumbnail Beach volleyball
thumbnail Volleyball serve
thumbnail Beach volleyball hit thumbnail Beach volleyball
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thumbnail Beach volleyball thumbnail Beach volleyball thumbnail Beach volleyball bump thumbnail Beach volleyball save thumbnail Beach volleyball save
thumbnail Beach volleyball thumbnail Beach volleyball thumbnail Beach volleyball block motion blur
thumbnail Beach volleyball hit front curtain flash thumbnail Beach volleyball block low light thumbnail Beach volleyball block night flash
thumbnail Beach volleyball hit
Shower

Same thing for the baby shower/bbq.

thumbnail Pool floaties thumbnail Pool floaties moon door thumbnail Pool floaties moon door thumbnail Pool floaties moon door thumbnail Pool party conversation
thumbnail Pool floaties moon door thumbnail Pool floaties moon door thumbnail Pool floaties moon door
thumbnail Pool party flamingo floatie thumbnail Pool party baby shower group thumbnail Fire pit
thumbnail Pool bubbles night
Work/leisure

Magic figures board tabletop game Risk Legacy board

Morning game crew played a few rounds of a Magic figures game. It's pretty good although some combinations are gamebreakers. Derrick picked up Risk Legacy. It's a great variation of the franchise. It has some of the uniqueness that Star Wars and Halo Risk have, but making permanent modifications to the gameboard is fantastic.


Saw some cool weather in Idaho.


The work party downtown was... clubby.

La Jolla Cove coast walk view

Snapped a quick one of my girl Asuna at the best parking spot in La Jolla.

Karl Strauss President Scroobs IPA Spaceballs

Strauss has a well-named experimental beer.
Witcher


Still meandering through Witcher.

thumbnail Witcher obese devil npc thumbnail Witcher 3 thumbnail Witcher 3 fire Novigrad harbor thumbnail Witcher 3 dead women bath tub murderer
thumbnail Witcher 3 pillow talk
thumbnail Witcher 3 Ciri Dandelion thumbnail Witcher 3 masquerade party juggler fountain estate thumbnail Witcher 3 shipwreck Velen
thumbnail Witcher 3 shipwreck Velen
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thumbnail Witcher 3 statues Velen
Planetside 2nd wind

Planetside 2 flying night moon planet Eisa Tech Plant

With J out on paternity, I've mostly been playing Witcher. But since Sony sucks, my PS4 likes to barf game discs. This is how you ragequit a single player game. Planetside is still there for me.


Some nighttime gunship action.



Having fun in the zerg.



A lucky mosquito kill.



An interesting Galaxy park job.



The saron antitank gun against infantry. Spoiler: it's(/I'm) not very good.


thumbnail Planetside 2 Liberator Crater Firing Range thumbnail Planetside 2 Vanu Bastion sniping thumbnail Planetside 2 Vanu death stats SudogNorthmead
thumbnail Planetside 2 Vanu Auraxiom Network Hub Sunderer zerg
thumbnail Planetside 2 Vanu  tank spawnpoint thumbnail Planetside 2 Vanu canyon night Sunderer
thumbnail Planetside 2 Vanu Traverse bridge sunderer parking
Broforce fin

Broforce all the bros

While waiting for some updates to download, J and I played a bit more Broforce. Turns out we were spitting distance from the final boss.


The final boss.



The ending cinema.


Broforce pissing on Satan grave
Warframe

Warframe Nyx Prime bastille killermaze10

Digital Extremes keeps kicking down new stuff for Warframe. It's nice to see.

Warframe giant blue laser Warframe Lieutenant Kril ads Warframe Sedna planet map Warframe Orokin power core Nyx Prime MidnightStorm15 Hueingua

Dog weimaraner Alpinestars motorcycle jacket



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