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Activision sent us the following statement in response to the various discussions here.
quote:
There are a lot of questions and speculation on the Apolyton message boards about Call to Power II, so we have decided to issue the following statement to clear some of them up.
When we began the design process on Call to Power II, we spent a good deal of time querying our Call to Power owners about what changes or additions they wanted to see in a sequel. Of course, there were thousands of suggestions from formal research surveys, informal message board posts, and one-on-one chats with gamers. But the majority of the requests centered around the following areas: diplomacy, combat, interface, customizability, and empire management. Our team set out to make a sequel that would address all of these features, yet would still remain true to the gameplay from the first game. We intentionally kept the graphics engine mostly the same because we felt that our graphics were, and still are, the best offered in a turn-based empire building game. We kept the setting the same because we felt that an actual historical basis would have more appeal than a fantastic or science-fiction setting. Many of the programming changes to Call to Power II may not be readily visible to the user, but in reality, most of the major engines were rewritten to accept the changes to the diplomatic, combat and empire management systems. Opening up the extensive customizability options required a level of complex code changes as well. As in all software development projects, some features from Call to Power were dropped or cut as the project unfolded, including PBEM and Hot Seat.
We have been reviewing the posts by various forum members calling for additional patches to make the AI more challenging for them, to add PBEM and Hotseat back in, and various other requests. These requests, which sound simple, are actually long, complex feature additions that would require up to 3-4 months of programming and testing time. This is not feasible, as the Call to Power II team is moving on to other projects. So there will be no additional patches, enhancements or scenarios coming from Activision. Additionally, there are no immediate plans to make an expansion or sequel.
None of these decisions were taken lightly, however, we feel that in the end, we have delivered a game that met the design goals of the project: an empire-building game that delivers new diplomatic features, more realistic combat, better empire management options, a new interface, and a customizable gaming engine to extend the life of the game. We thank all of you for your dedicated support and enthusiasm over the last four years. We look forward to seeing the results of the various mods and scenarios that the community is working on.
Activision
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I guess this means goodbye.
I would personally like to thank the CTP1/2 team members for their cooperation and help over the last years, from the last days of TFGC2S(and the first of Apolyton) until today.
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Markos, Apolyton Civilization Site
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GreatDane
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Well, I am dissapointed but not surprised. This game still has some major bugs left which are were hard if not impossible for us gamers to solve. It is sad because this game has so much potential but the bugs just ruin the experience. Hopefully people on this forum will keep on improving the game. I already enjoy the game much more now than when I first got it.
GreatDane
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Harlan
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Berkeley, CA, USA
Aug 2005
time: 21:14
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Man, this is utter B.S. Not providing PBEM and Hot Seat, while lame, is at least understandable. Not every game can have everything, and some people will be disappointed. But to not even fix the most obvious and debilitating bugs is completely reprehensible and inexplicable. And the way it is justified, pretending as if the game doesn't have crippling bugs, just makes it worse.
I don't own a lot of computer games, but this surely must represent some new kind of low in terms of post-release support. Activision didn't really even release one patch, but more like half a patch. Their first patch was billed as a rush job to take care of some serious multiplayer problems only, with a more complete patch to come later.
The sad thing is, the game has so much going for it, with its virtually unlimited potential to change and add things to the game. I think once Wes is done with his mod, and other people finish mods and scenarios, this game is going to blow away any civ-type game that's come before (Wes is doing the work Activision should have done in the first place, BTW). But such mods will always be hobbled by serious bugs in the game that no amount of text file editing can ever fix, cos we can't go there.
If Activision is too cheap to properly follow through on this game, they should at least have the balls to release some or all of the coding to allow others to make the fixes they should have done. Even without having any inside clues, someone already had to make an unoffical patch to fix some things Activision should have done in CTP1. If Activision were to do this, it could only boost sales, since eventually a working game could be made out of this. If not, then its just adding insult to insult.
I'm actually not so pissed off as I should be, cos I've had a good lead that this was coming for some time now, from someone inside Activision. And from all the changes I've been making to my Alexander scenario, I get more and more excited, as I start to realize the potential this game provides to those who take the time to make the changes. So I'm not just gonna walk away from the game at this point anyways, like I'm sure many are (Civ3 is still a long time off, unfortunately). But I can completely understand those who do. Maybe I'm just a sucker or a glutton for punishment.
Harlan
PS- Its true computer games are all about money for the companies that make them, but Activision could have made SO much more money if they spent more time to make a good game. Look at the Age of Empires series as a cash cow for a company that follows through properly (too bad for me I don't like RTS). Obviously sales for CTP2 were disappointing (thus leading to this announcement), because people were burned already by the poor follow through and incomplete nature of CTP1. Duh. I guess Activsion is a shoot em up type company that doesn't understand this genre.
One last thought: Wes is going to release the beta version of his mod in a few days I believe, and I have high confidence in it. I find playing it really fun, despite the bugs. The AI is definitely fixable- someone has already made an AI that's completely unbeatable, even. But by the time these mods like Wes's are finished in a few months, there may be no one left to play them, since most everyone will leave after this announcement from Activsion. So there will be this really great game, best of the civ-genre, that hardly anyone will know about or play. Very ironic and sad.
[This message has been edited by Harlan (edited January 20, 2001).]
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Radical_Manuvr
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Maryland, USA
Dec 2000
time: 05:14
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The next Activision title will have unprecedented sales. Not! If Activision can't support games they've already released, who do they think is going to buy the next one?
I've been pretty satisfied with CTP2. Few bugs in the regular game, probably the most stable game I have (SMAC may have that title, I haven't played it in a while), though CTP2 is very slow on the larger maps after a certain number of turns, capability to make more changes than I will ever have time for. The Alex scenario was great but as released had a lot of problems. The others could have been much better in my opinion.
I've only found a few bugs with the regular game though I haven't played as much as I would like to so I'm probably not aware of all of them. True bugs should be fixed. It's just the right thing to do, even if it costs them some money. When I buy software, I expect it to work properly. Okay, you can stop laughing now. I know things can slip though, but if you're aware of bugs, you fix them. Design issues are another matter. A design change that pleases me may not please the next person. So I can live with no future design changes. To say they won't fix the bugs really makes me angry.
I finally got my saved scenario games to load. I'm not even sure how. There are many who still cannot load saved scenarios. There goes their ability to customize the game through scenarios or play scenarios others have created unless they leave CTP2 running for a few days.
I hope they will at least provide someone to answer questions and help us help ourselves.
If this is the final word from Activision (meaning no help, period), they can count me out as a paying customer if they ever decide to make an expansion or sequel.
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RayvenWolfe
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Westfield, IN, USA
Dec 2000
time: 05:14
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I am not surprised by this response, nor have I ever asked for anything concerning nasic design concepts of the game. However, the patch they did release did not fix the multiplayer problems and I believe this was well reported.
Shame on them for washing their hands of us like this. Design issues are one thing, but they're not even addressing bugs anymore.
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herwin
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Sunderland, UK
Jan 2001
time: 05:14
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A pity.
I'm running CTP II under Virtual PC 4.0 on a Mac PowerBook G3 400. VPC simulates an Intel Pentium II running on the Triton chipset with an MR BIOS. The major limitations are that the simulated machine runs at about 200-250 MHz, and the simulated video card is the S3 Trio 32/64 PCI video card with 4 MB of emulated VRAM. In other words, minimalistic but vanilla-flavored. CTP II with the 1.11 patch still crashes frequently, apparently due to memory management problems. I have autosave turned on, but still...
Remember the Victory at Sea fiasco, where the game was released with limited testing and then orphaned? It looks like Activision is repeating that.
Cheers,
Harry Erwin
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D4everman
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Fort Dix, New Jersey
Jun 2000
time: 05:14
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Well, Activision shows its true colors. I guess they're happy since they got my 40 bucks. I hope they spend it well since it will be the last cent they ever see from me.
I'm sure it doesn't matter to them too much, but I'll be sure to write a letter to AAFES about activision's lack of consumer support. I'm sure they won't pull the games from the shelf, but it'll make me feel better.
D4
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D4everman
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Fort Dix, New Jersey
Jun 2000
time: 05:14
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Well, Activision shows its true colors. I guess they're happy since they got my 40 bucks. I hope they spend it well since it will be the last cent they ever see from me.
I'm sure it doesn't matter to them too much, but I'll be sure to write a letter to AAFES about activision's lack of consumer support. I'm sure they won't pull the games from the shelf, but it'll make me feel better.
D4
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Chronus
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Hmmm ... I guess there's no more reason to be visiting this forum. I was really hoping that Activision would somehow fix all (or any) of this.
Well ... to those who like the game ... enjoy! To the rest of you folks ... see ya in the Civ 3 forum!
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joe77
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Seattle, Washington US of A
Jan 2001
time: 05:14
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like we needed to be told that they really dont care about the quality of what they produce ...like we couldnt guess they were not gunna even make an effort to help...hah this is what the fans want is it ? BS We are the fans..and the rest of them just dont utilize web message boards or the internet at all to voice their opinion. We are the come back fans that care enough about the vidoe games we play to get in knee deep and debate the various aspects...
half ass job doing acivition employees..I hope you are proud of yourselves...and sins of the father..you kids are gunna learn this behavior from yu and turn out the same way..unless you lie to them and say "daddy worked hard today and brought positive change to the world"...which is another problem entirly..
bah I'll never by a product from you nor will any of my friends..I'll be sure to see to that...
-joe
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jkadabomb
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Alright Activision, I have been defending you from the start, but now I am totally pissed off after the work Ive seen other companies put into their games.
1. Look at valve. They fully supported HalfLife and spent many a month creating the free addon of Team Fortress Classic for it. In fact this was a very awsome mod. Along with that from the original halflife they added multiplayer support, and tons of customization ability. HalfLife has also been followed up with many patches and fixes. How long do you think it took them to create this?
2. Sierra created a free EXPANSION PACK for its great game of Ground Control. This aint no little scenario folkes.
These are only too examples but you can also look at plenty of other games. I have never seen a company so recklessly abandon one of there games. If you put in as much work as Sierra and Valve did, I will gaurantee sales of CTP2 would triple. You are probably abandoning CTP2 because it isnt making sales requirements. Well go ahead and abandon your ****ty game. Right now I am too pissed to say anything else, I will think 1,000,000,000 times before I buy another Activision title, especially when there are a lot of other great companies out their.
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I just signed on to check the forum....And I can't believe it!
Activision MARKETS and SELLS a MULTIPLAYER compatible game - CTP2 - which turns out NOT to be Multiplayer compatable AT ALL. We gripe, we complain, we report the problems/bugs....and their answer? Tough Titties, we're through with this game and we're moveing on to other horizons.
I've just gone through my "collection" of computer games, and guess what? I actually own 22 different games by Activision!!!
Well NO MORE.
Activision, you ROYALLY SCREWED the customers that have in the past flocked to the Activision name - I realize that I have been one of your flock...until now.
How do you expect to get away with this type of criminal activity - False advertisement for one? You are not actually expecting your sales revenues to increase in the near future?!?!
Mark my word Activision, Firaxis/Hasbro is taking note. Let's see how well they will treat their customers with the eventual release of CIV3...I have every confidence that we will not be treated the same them!!
So, on a last note, let's all move on over to the APOLYTON CIV3 Site forum, since the CTP2 is just a waste of time! 
PS: Apolyton, you have done a great job cutting through the BS and for that I'm thankful and will remain a avid follower of your site 
Ciao!
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It figures. Let me say that CTP 2 is the best of the Civ games so far. But its very dissapointing that Activision has chosen to orphan such a worthy project. I will not be buying anymore of their products in the future either. Are a few AI tweaks to toughen the damn thing that difficult?
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Mike the Nuke
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Oakdale
Oct 2000
time: 05:14
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quote:
Originally posted by Darkknight on 01-20-2001 07:49 PM
i'd just like to mention you can have PBEM and Hotseat if you want as said by noone from activision 
There's a secret hidden in english/uidata/layouts/spnewgame.ldl. If you search for two buttons whose ypix value
are -490, and take the - sign off, two much requested features will become visible on the main screen.
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It may be there and it may or may not work properly. I see no reason for myself or anyone else to 'barf' up $50 for a game that "officially" does not have the options (PBEM/Hot Seat, or other such items) they want. I and others do appreciate your efforts to reminds us of these hidden features that Ogre posted sevearl weeks back.
Thanks, but they are not support by Activision, so may not work properly. Therefor, I will save my money for something better.
This is typical of todays big business monguls. Sell you crap, pretend to be concerned, then 'piss on you' and claim they don't have the time to correct THEIR mistakes. It's plain and simple, they do not give a s__t about their customers. Therefor, they shouldn't have any customers. We should all join together and BOYCOTT all of their crap!
One thing I can be happy about. I DIDN'T WASTE MY MONEY ON THIS LOUSY GAME. IT DIDN'T HAVE WHAT I WANTED (Hot Seat), so I didn't waste cash on it in hopes that this thoughtless company would ever upgrade the game with the required patches. I saw through their EXCUSSES from the get go.
From what I read in these forums on CTP2 and saw in CTP1 (played it all the time with the family), this game had lots of possibilites. Instead they created a flop, that was rated a flop, and therefor fell off the sales charts. Thus, they feel they cannot make any economic recovery worth the time it would take to correct the game and add the desired features, now. They probably could have done them, if they hadn't let the 'bean counter mentality' force them to rush the game out before Christmas. I sure hope that the folks making CIV3 are following the posts on this site and are learning something.
[This message has been edited by Mike the Nuke (edited January 20, 2001).]
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Alpha Wolf
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Prince of the Barbarians
Feb 2001
time: 05:14
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For all of those that know the game has bugs, I'd return it to the store with the valid claim that the game has bugs that activision does not intend to fix and as such you want a refund. I thought it was strange that I didnt see the game in some local software stores. Guess some stores were smart and didnt want the hassle of dealing with a defective game. As I suspected all along, the problems with this game had less to do with bad programming and more to do with horrid management. It amazes me that putting out defective software has become the norm because its so hard to return opened software.
To activision, as the song says "kiss this!!!!!!"
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History is written by the victor.
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20-01-2001 14:21
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