Assorted Rantings

I spent a lot of time playing Civilisation back in the day and it's an amazing game; Civilisation II was a definite improvement, but one of the rare times I actually feel old is trying to decipher the new games:

With the big update to how victories worked, I actually feel engaged playing the game again, and have been pretty regularly since that update (Mainly, that it's no longer *only* 4 specific things that contribute to victories each age - You're actually rewarded throughout the game for building a proper empire, while being steered to specific actions to help get you to a victory condition).

Since playing more, I actually appreciate their biggest, most controversial swings of leaders being completely decoupled from civs and switching civs at each era change (though, I'm glad that they figured out a way to make playing as the same civ the whole game viable for people who want to do that).

Most of my ongoing issues with the game center around them trading some of the "board-gamey" aspects that people complained about in Civ6 for more "realistic" things - Mechanically or aesthetically - But at a cost of clarity as to what the hell's actually going on at any given time. As you said, there's value in using symbolic representations rather than true-to-life models of everything.

Part of that too is that their UI is abysmal. The game has so many opportunities to provide you with relevant information that it just ...chooses not to give you. Or pop-ups and screens that are just utterly useless or janky.

If it weren't for the modding community's hard work, I'd have no clue how certain things were even supposed to work, based on the game's own UI.

Hopefully, they continue to integrate some of the more popular UI improvements that the modders have been making, as the game updates.

This was kind of the case for Civ6 too, tbh. It's felt like in both cases, whoever was in charge of management screens was incapable of considering the perspective of someone who hadn't been neck-deep in the game's development for however long.

And, I mean, heck, they even hired one of the top modders from Civ6 to be an official dev this time around. So, it's clear (and good) that they do look to the modding community to find ideas and talent.

I spent a lot of time playing Civilisation back in the day and it's an amazing game; Civilisation II was a definite improvement, but one of the rare times I actually feel old is trying to decipher the new games:

With the big update to how victories worked, I actually feel engaged playing the game again, and have been pretty regularly since that update (Mainly, that it's no longer *only* 4 specific things that contribute to victories each age - You're actually rewarded throughout the game for building a proper empire, while being steered to specific actions to help get you to a victory condition).

Since playing more, I actually appreciate their biggest, most controversial swings of leaders being completely decoupled from civs and switching civs at each era change (though, I'm glad that they figured out a way to make playing as the same civ the whole game viable for people who want to do that).

Most of my ongoing issues with the game center around them trading some of the "board-gamey" aspects that people complained about in Civ6 for more "realistic" things - Mechanically or aesthetically - But at a cost of clarity as to what the hell's actually going on at any given time. As you said, there's value in using symbolic representations rather than true-to-life models of everything.

Part of that too is that their UI is abysmal. The game has so many opportunities to provide you with relevant information that it just ...chooses not to give you. Or pop-ups and screens that are just utterly useless or janky.

If it weren't for the modding community's hard work, I'd have no clue how certain things were even supposed to work, based on the game's own UI.

Hopefully, they continue to integrate some of the more popular UI improvements that the modders have been making, as the game updates.

This was kind of the case for Civ6 too, tbh. It's felt like in both cases, whoever was in charge of management screens was incapable of considering the perspective of someone who hadn't been neck-deep in the game's development for however long.

And, I mean, heck, they even hired one of the top modders from Civ6 to be an official dev this time around. So, it's clear (and good) that they do look to the modding community to find ideas and talent.

Sorted into heaps in order to do the previous "just this die-type" shots

The long process of sorting them all back into their sets begins in earnest

Hoardscape* of the Day - Behind the scenes: Re-sorting and cleaning up

I haven't done new hoardscapes in a long time.

Partly because we moved and I don't have the space, time, or same opportunities to temporarily take over a whole room where I know nobody (and no pets) will potentially knock dice into the void, never to be seen again.

But also partly because even just looking at these images reminds me of the several days of neck, back, and shoulder pain I had from sitting hunched over the tables sorting dice back into their proper sets.

This is not metaphorical. I mean actual, literal pieces of paper/plastic/metal/whatever explicitly erected to inform the public.

“How did you know this was the right trail?” I read the sign.

“Wow, how did you know what that flower is?” There’s a SIGN.

“How did you know we needed to use the side door?” THERE IS A SIGN POSTED ON THE FRONT DOOR.

Just…why are we having such different experiences of the world? People can read. I KNOW they can read. There’s nothing wrong with their vision.

Just. READ. THE. GOD. DAMN. SIGN.

This also applies to:

Syllabi