Civ VI: Conducting Holy Wars for Fun and Profit

In Civ VI, if certain apostles die in holy battle, a relic is created.

But how can there not be an Achievement Unlocked for the way I did it? I took over a different Civ's apostle, following a different religion from mine, and then I got it killed by attacking a third Civ's apostle (from yet another religion).

Well, at least I get to keep the relic and earn some tourism points.

One More Turn (Again): Civilization VI

The Mac version of Civilization VI came out today, three days after the Windows release. I need to get used to the new mechanics.

I am playing as Gorgo (Greece, Spartans). My second city is Rhodes, though when my slinger covered the "RH", it looked like "ODES" rather than "RHODES". I wanted to change the city name to "ODEs", but I couldn't figure out how to do it. (I have also been having some trouble picking up some of the commands for simple things.) Given the set of leaders and civs, clearly there are now going to be multiple leaders within a given civ. Two examples of this were available so far, but given these examples and other descriptions (e.g., of the Americans), there will be more. Given the "Selfie" achievement, one's opponents can also include the same leader.

Thus far, I have picked up the "Escort Service" achievement (unsurprisingly). Two achievements that I want to acquire are "Luftballons" and "Missed That Day in History Class" — the former because it's a gratuitous Nena reference (with an associated nice combination of things to get it) and the latter simply because it's highly amusing. Other cultural references in the achievement list so far include the B-52's song "Roam" and the Lego movie.

I'm not yet sure what I think about the Civ VI way of doing things. Clearly I'll need to play more and find out. (It will probably also be beneficial to do a multiplayer game to accelerate learning, but I don't know if the Mac and Windows are ready to interface with each other yet.) I also need to get work done, and I have a very large backlog of papers to finish and other things with hard deadlines to do. And I have a couple of novels I really want to read, and the World Series starts tomorrow. :)

Update (10/27/16): Also, I really hope that Civ VI is still making fun of Dan Quayle. :) This is having a significant effect on his legacy in history. If not for Civ, many people would never have heard of him and he'd be all but forgotten by many others by now. Civ may actually help give him a more "permanent" legacy!

Update (11/06/16): I won a Culture Victory and achieved the level of Emperor Nero. I can also confirm that Civ is still making fun of Dan Quayle (25 years later...), which is again the lowest level of achievement in the game. Eventually, people playing this series of games will probably wonder if he was ever a real person. :)

Civilization VI: How University of Oxford was Actually Built

The video below from Civ VI shows how University of Oxford was actually built in real life. :)

Strangely, this version is missing both the Andrew Wiles Building and Somerville College.

Also: We built this University on Rock & Roll!

British Isles with 41 City-States, Raging Barbarians, and Mega Luxuries

Civilization VI!!!

Oh, Hell yes!!!!

Just. One. More. Turn.

(Tip of the cap to Louis Wang.)

Your Citizens Demand Whales

Then they shall have whales.

You Know What Comes Next: Civilization Edition

I braced myself when I saw this, because I knew what was coming...

Garden Well Hung

One of my Somerville College colleagues has done some really cool research about the Hanging Gardens. Mmmm... mysteries.

Instabul (Not Constantinople)

Fun Fact: I am playing as the Byzantines in Civ V, so the default city is Constantinople (which I of course renamed "Instabul" because it had to be done). I just got my second city, which now has the default name of "Constantinople" because I wasn't using that name. :)

When I conquer the Ottomans' "Instanbul" (or if I play as them), I do the analogous renaming, of course. It simply must be done.

Just. One. More. Turn.

Somebody played Civ II for 10 years and has ended up with quite an apocalyptic world.

(Tip of the cap to Josie Messa, who mentioned this at tonight's math leavers party, as well as whoever does the Facebook posts for Civilization.)

Just... One... More... Turn...

I started playing Civ V last night.

I Have Civ V

My copy of Civilization V, which I ordered through Amazon last Saturday, was waiting for me in my Somerville mailbox when I checked it today (I just got back just over 3 hours ago). Now the question is how long I will be able to resist playing it. This might have a substantial influence on my productivity this term. :)

Just... one... more... turn.

Life imitates Civilization?

The title of this article is making me think of the game Civilization (and its sequels). Maybe Bush II thinks he's playing a live-action version of this game? (Can we just stick to trying for the cultural victory? Pretty please!)

I can no longer take your vile provocations. Prepare for WAR!

Time zone adventures

We just fell back over in the UK, so I am temporarily only 7 hours ahead of the Pacific time zone from whence I came.

Do you know what this means? It means it's only about 1:10 am, so I haven't stayed up too late playing Civ IV tonight (though my body and eyes would tell you otherwise, except for the fact that they're mute).

How many World Wonders can I get in one city?

In my current game of Civ IV, I have 10 World Wonders (+ various National Wonders, special buildings from Great People, etc.) in one city. I'm currently working on my 11th Wonder for that city. What's everybody else's record in this extremely important statistic?

Just...one...more...turn.

Civ IV arrived in the mail today, bringing with it familiar feelings and addiction.

In the absence of companionship, one can spend more time with one's Wii. And in the absence of a Wii (because I have not yet been able to procure one and I am unwilling to spend tons of money or tons of time in the process), one can have a few more turns. (I'll also get some more work done, but now is definitely a good time for me to get Civ IV and I finally have a computer at home that can handle it. I wasn't going to install it on my office computer... I know what this series of games can do.)

Anyway, I stopped for tonight because I'm eager to read a chapter or two of a book with which I'm almost done. I also want to blog about a movie that I recently saw. (I think there are something like 5 movies I still want to review, and I'm pretty sure I have more Oxford stuff about which I want to blog---though my memory is starting to get hazy about specifics I may have wanted to mention. Maybe they'll come back to me.)

I used shuffle settings in my first Civ IV game, and I believe there may only be two civilizations. I finished exploring my island and there aren't too many other good places to found a city, so I'm quickly advancing my naval capabilities so I can go take over other continents.