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This is a free preview of this month's Patreon episode. Check out the extended version at Patreon.com/3ma!

Len, Lambert, and Lorris are here to explore the question of how long a podcast about an unreleased game can be before someone in our lives physically intervenes. We not only have Tinto Talks and the Johan Files to cover, but now Tinto Maps, Saturday Buildings, and the Pavía Papers. There was actually more news about EU5 this month than there ever has been in a 30-day period about any previous Paradox game.

Len and Rowan are joined by Nathan from the YouTube channel The Great Book of Grudges to discuss the Thrones of Decay patch, Creative Assembly's apology tour, and the state of Immortal Empires in 2024. Rowan grapples with why Warhammer 3 just isn't doing it for her, Nathan marvels at the current contentment of the community, and Len chews a hole in a shirt.

In this episode, Soren interviews noted game investor Mitch Lasky, best known for his work as a venture capitalist at Benchmark, as the CEO of JAMDAT, and as an executive at Activision and Electronic Arts. They discuss how the Doom shareware model was a preview of free-to-play, why a console transition led to EA buying Maxis, and how Jamdat pioneered paying for visibility on mobile. This episode was recorded on October 23, 2023.

Games discussed: Pong, Computer Space, Robotron, Seven Cities of Gold, Secret of Monkey Island, Civilization: Call to Power, The Lion King, Aladdin, Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom, Quake III Arena, Doom, Spore, Journey, Sky, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Deer Hunter, Doom RPG, Half-Life, Team Fortress, Counter-Strike, League of Legends

Len, Ian, and Jon are joined by our official unofficial historical consultant, Dr. Bret Devereaux, to discuss Manor Lords. We clear up what it is and what it isn't, how it portrays the historical realities of medieval burgage, and how Early of an Early Access game it really is.

This is a free preview of this month's Patreon episode. Check out the extended version at Patreon.com/3ma!

Len, Lambert, and Lorris are back to discuss the next four Europa Universalis V dev diaries and The Johan Files, an edited compilation of all of Johan's relevant forum posts that has more than doubled in size since we last talked. We decided to call it at four hours, but still had plenty more to talk about, so it seems like the Megacast format isn't going anywhere any time soon...

In this episode, Soren interviews veteran game developer Jake Solomon, best known for the XCOM reboot and Midnight Suns. They discuss his first, failed attempt at XCOM, why 75% does not mean 75%, and how many copies of XCOM he sold at Power Gamer in Glen Burnie, MD. This episode was recorded on April 26, 2023.

Games discussed: Civilization Revolution, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Rocket League, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Old World, the Civilization series, XCOM 2, Slay the Spire, Offworld Trading Company, Into the Breach, Pandemic, Covert Action

It's a full house this week, as Len is joined by Ian Boudreau, Luke Plunkett, Mike Williams, and Ruth Cassidy to perform a bit of an autopsy on Millennia, C Prompt and Paradox's take at a Civ-like historical 4X. We all came away with a bit of a bad taste in our mouths about it, to varying degrees, and we spend a fair bit of time trying to explain why – and set aside some time to talk about what we did like.

This is a preview of this month's Patreon episode. Check out the extended version at Patreon.com/3ma!

Join Len, FatherLorris, and Lord Lambert as we get the NoCB Cast band back together to talk for 3.5 hours about Paradox Tinto's "Project Caesar," which is probably Europa Universalis 5. Okay, let's be real: it's definitely Europa Universalis 5. We break down the first four dev diaries, everything Johan has ever said about the project on the forums, and talk a bit about the year 1337 – which was not confirmed as the new start date when we recorded this, but has been at this point. So we nailed it. We're very smart. Please clap.

Len, Jon, and Mike Williams deal out a hand or two of Balatro. It's poker? Sort of? Not really? Poker with boss battles. Poker with booster packs. Poker with tarot cards? We don't hold our opinions close to our chest as we try to apply some kind of taxonomy to this indie surprise hit.

Len, Jon, and Mike Williams sit down to discuss the strategy and strategy-adjacent demos that caught our eyes in Steam Next Fest. Jon played 50 (!) of them, and several were actually good! Also like, where are all the aliens, for real though?