Sid Meier and the meaning of ‘Civilization’ • Hacker News Board

Re: Sid Meier and the meaning of ‘Civilization’

#91

Post by flyingfences » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 1:02 PM UTC

29athrowaway wrote: post #11

Civ 4 was the last true Civ to have a gameplay similar to the the originals. Civ 5 and 6 introduced unit stacking constraints that completely change the way the game is played. If WW2 happened in Civ 5 or 6, the Normandy landings would not have been possible because you would not be able to stack large number of units in one tile. Those landings were "a death stack". But even if every large battle in history could be…

Call me strange, but I actually really enjoyed the minutiae of managing unit deployments across the map, engulfing an enemy city, in Civ 5. It felt more like an actual assault than the stacks of doom in Civ 4.

Re: Sid Meier and the meaning of ‘Civilization’

#92

Post by fourtrees » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 1:04 PM UTC

I've always enjoyed 4x games and some of the Civs have been the best among them. It's ultimately a minor gripe and sort of needed for the game to function, but I don't like how they represent history as a linear progression from the Neolithic to the present in the sense that technology A necessarily proceeds to technology C via tech B. The history of technology, as I understand it, has not normally progressed in such a simple way. Technologies are lost and regained and lost (look at the Maya or the Rappa-Nui) again in what seems like a some random movement towards an unknowable and not necessarily pleasant future. It's the one simplification in the game that irks me because some people really do believe, contrary to the evidence, in humanity's direct, unstoppable progression towards a utopian future. I find that degree of optimism dangerously blind to the threats that could be posed by innovation.

Re: Sid Meier and the meaning of ‘Civilization’

#93

Post by toyg » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 1:11 PM UTC

hef19898 wrote: post #81

TeMPOraL wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love Lower Decks. It's definitely mocking and lampshading plenty of Star Trek tropes, but it does that in a playful and positive way. It laughs, but doesn't trivialize - and unlike the other new shows (Discovery, Picard), it doesn't paint the future as grimdark and everyone as untrustworthy and bloodthirsty.

Picard wasn't too bad actually, I think. Maybe a tad to gritty / realistic when compared to TNG. It did offer a plausible universe development so, incl. Picard sacrificing his career for principle.

Picard was aimed at people who were teenagers or twentysomethings at the time of TNG, and 30 years later are now disillusioned adults. It had to be "all grown up and shit". I found it pretty good, if occasionally predictable.

Re: Sid Meier and the meaning of ‘Civilization’

#94

Post by hef19898 » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 1:38 PM UTC

toyg wrote: post #93

hef19898 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Picard wasn't too bad actually, I think. Maybe a tad to gritty / realistic when compared to TNG. It did offer a plausible universe development so, incl. Picard sacrificing his career for principle.

Picard was aimed at people who were teenagers or twentysomethings at the time of TNG, and 30 years later are now disillusioned adults. It had to be "all grown up and shit". I found it pretty good, if occasionally predictable.

So I am the target audiance then. Especially since I consideres TNG to be too optimistic already as a teenager.

Re: Sid Meier and the meaning of ‘Civilization’

#95

Post by toyg » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 1:50 PM UTC

hef19898 wrote: post #94

toyg wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Picard was aimed at people who were teenagers or twentysomethings at the time of TNG, and 30 years later are now disillusioned adults. It had to be "all grown up and shit". I found it pretty good, if occasionally predictable.

So I am the target audiance then. Especially since I consideres TNG to be too optimistic already as a teenager.

And you didn't hate it, so - job done :)

Re: Sid Meier and the meaning of ‘Civilization’

#96

Post by hef19898 » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 1:52 PM UTC

toyg wrote: post #95

hef19898 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I am the target audiance then. Especially since I consideres TNG to be too optimistic already as a teenager.

And you didn't hate it, so - job done :)

Yeah, funny isn't it? Not that I'll complain, so. Give me more content like that!

Re: Sid Meier and the meaning of ‘Civilization’

#97

Post by bitxbitxbitcoin » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:17 PM UTC

rkagerer wrote: post #74

Absolutely loved this series, but never acclimated to the 3D maps they switched to after Civ 3. You couldn't see as much of the world at once, and units and terrain became more difficult to discern. I wound up playing in the strategic overlay, with mods that relieved some of the claustrophobia, but it never felt as slick as the earlier 2D / isomorphic view. Other classic strategy games from that era followed the tren…

Battle for Wesnoth is my go to 2D turn-based strategy game. It isn’t anywhere near as advanced as Civ but it scratches my itch.

Re: Sid Meier and the meaning of ‘Civilization’

#98

Post by UncleMeat » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:18 PM UTC

torstenvl wrote: post #89

UncleMeat wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Referring to abstract actors as "she" and "her" only alienates a very specific kind of reader. Consciously using female pronouns in these contexts is a very small way of pushing against the norm of everything being male, which is commendable. You'll see it more and more in CS papers nowadays. I cannot possibly imagine being upset by this.

It alienates everyone who cares about accuracy and everyone who is sick of politics infiltrating every last corner of our lives. You may not fall into either of those two camps, but let me assure you, it's a lot of people. For reference, the gender-neutral singular in English is "they/them/their" they /T͟Hā/ pronoun 2. used to refer to a person of unspecified gender.

I think you'll find that the set of people who complain about using "she/her" in abstract contexts also complain about using "they".

Re: Sid Meier and the meaning of ‘Civilization’

#99

Post by TeMPOraL » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:28 PM UTC

hef19898 wrote: post #94

toyg wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Picard was aimed at people who were teenagers or twentysomethings at the time of TNG, and 30 years later are now disillusioned adults. It had to be "all grown up and shit". I found it pretty good, if occasionally predictable.

So I am the target audiance then. Especially since I consideres TNG to be too optimistic already as a teenager.

I guess I'm not the target audience then - I was a kid when TNG was created, and on the lower end of teenage years when it aired in my country. I bought the optimism wholesale - hook, line and sinker. It had significant influence on my development as a person. As much as I'm disillusioned about the real world, TNG is in my heart a reminder that we could do better. And I feel the first step to do better is for the idea to be out there.

So here's me hoping that in 5-10 years time, I'll fall into their "target audience" window and they'll make an inspiring, positive show for people like me.

Re: Sid Meier and the meaning of ‘Civilization’

#100

Post by ACS_Solver » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:36 PM UTC

rufus_foreman wrote: post #88

ACS_Solver wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To anyone who enjoyed Civ4 especially, I would strongly recommend Old World, a classical antiquity period game that in many ways feels like a sequel to Civ4, and does a far better job with 1UPT than Civ5 or Civ6 did. Old World is designed by Soren Johnson, and multiple people on the team are straight from Civ4 days. (Disclaimer: I'm one of the game's developers)

The product page says it is Windows/Mac, is there any way to play it on Linux?

Not officially right now (the game's sold on Epic, which has no Linux support) but the game works perfectly with Proton, it's easiest to just run it with Lutris or the Heroic Launcher.

I'm the Linux nerd on the team and try to keep an eye out on Linux-specific issues, and maintain a native Linux build as well, which isn't too hard because the game is built on Unity anyway, it has good cross-platform support.