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 16-02-2000 10:29
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#1
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Activision announces follow-up game to best-selling civilization: call to power
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Support Apolyton
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ACTIVISION ANNOUNCES FOLLOW-UP GAME TO
BEST-SELLING CIVILIZATION®: CALL TO POWER™
Call to Power II Prepares to Conquer the PC Landscape
Santa Monica, CA – February 15, 2000 – This fall armies clash, empires crumble and the balance of power shifts -- all with the click of a mouse in Activision, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: ATVI) empire building game, Call to Power II. From the makers of the best-selling Civilization: Call to Power, Call to Power II puts players in total control of a civilization spanning more than six millennia.
Call to Power II gives players control over an empire from primitive beginnings into the sci-fi future of 2300AD. Gamers will command powerful armies and employ 6300 years’ worth of weaponry, politics, exploration and cultural evolution to defend their empire and defeat enemies as they strive for supremacy.
Expanding upon the well-established gameplay of Civilization: Call to Power and other games in the genre, Call to Power II offers players several new governing tools, diplomatic options and trade features. The player’s diplomatic strategy will play a large role in the development of their civilization, as enemy states will survey the diplomatic landscape before attacking or forming their own alliances. A robust diplomacy interface will assist players in choosing their political stance, and allow counter proposals when dealing with other civilizations. Players who are inexperienced in managing an entire civilization may consult their ministers and advisors who will offer advice and make recommendations.
Visually, Call to Power II makes use of the same eye-popping engine as its predecessor, but with a number of innovative features and enhancements. Cities’ influence over the surrounding landscape increases as their populations grow. Borders between neighboring states are clearly defined to help prevent inadvertent skirmishes or international incidents. A historical timeline gives players a holistic perspective on their civilization’s achievements over the centuries, and many units are presented with new graphics and animations.
Combat in Call to Power II has been refined and rebalanced for more realistic outcomes. Distinct AI personalities take the challenge to new levels and give computer opponents more realism when negotiating treaties or on the field of battle. Elite modern units like marines will have a clear tactical superiority over more primitive units like warriors and hoplites. Unconventional warfare rules have also been revised to give players more options for strategic decisions. Players who prefer a more passive approach to empire building can focus their civilization’s resources on higher goals such as developing the principles of law, technology or science and can attain glory by constructing wonders.
The interfaces and menus in Call to Power II have also been improved to simplify gameplay. The enhanced city management screen features automated mayors that help administrate the day-to-day operations of individual cities, and the game’s improved build queue menus allow players to amass armies or build their cities’ infrastructure with ease.
Call to Power II features more ways to win to appeal to different styles of play. Players who choose to develop an aggressive civilization can achieve victory through military conquest. Conversely, gamers who prefer a more subtle approach can achieve dominance through scientific means.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Founded in 1979, Activision posted revenues of $436 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1999.
Activision maintains operations in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, The Netherlands and Belgium. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's World Wide Web site, which is located at http://www.activision.com.
The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements." The company cautions readers of this press release that a number of important factors could cause Activision's actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements. These important factors, and other factors that could affect Activision, are described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1999, which was filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers of this press release are referred to such filings.
# # #
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thanks to Ata who notified us about the official press release(we were waiting for it from Activision, but it was posted first on the official german site  )
[This message has been edited by MarkG (edited February 15, 2000).]
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for the lazy ones, the most important stuff
- improved diplomacy
- same graphics engine with improvements
- borders
- "historical timeline" feature
- improved(more realistic) combat
- city "mayors"(ala civ2/smac advisors I guess)
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I've always thought that diplomacy could be enhanced enormously just by importing the Egyptian emissary from Civ II.
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Now, I don't mean to make an OFF-TOPIC post, but can Activision really claim CtP is the best selling civilization? Perhaps the most returned civilization, but that's another matter...
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I wonder if it is too late to ask for the following technical changes:
1) Initialize all memory structures at run time, not compile time (no hard coded array limits).
2) Build all indices which link array structures at run time, not compile time. For example, references to phalanxes should not be hard coded to array[2] (or some other hard coded number).
3) Use algorithms which scale by order N whenever possible (i.e. use binary trees or hash tables and not linked lists or bubble sorts).
Currently, there appear to be hard coded limits to the number of units, advance requirements, etc. you can have (item number 1). Terrain types also appear to be fixed (item number 2). And lastly, when you increase the size of the game by a factor of 2, it seems to take 4 times as long to run (item number 3).
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Slingshot
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Alberta, Canada
Jun 1999
time: 05:12
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Burned by CTP, but ever optimistic about the future, I am happy to hear about CTP II!
I mean, you can't help but feel for Activision. Reading the press release made me think about the HUGE fire under their butts (heh heh, hoo hoo!). Nothing screams performance like stiff competition and a hurt ego.
The return of the advisors is appealing as well. In fact, I think that all interaction should be via "talking characters."
pchang65: What do you mean by those suggestions? Do you want more flexibility for scenarios?
[This message has been edited by Slingshot (edited February 15, 2000).]
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Daniel Frappier
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Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Jan 1970
time: 05:12
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I am pretty optimistic, of course personnaly I loved CTP even if it was flawed in many ways. They apparently completely re-write the Diplomacy like they said they would and looks like they invested a lot of effort into the game.
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pris
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Any news of a Linux version? If it was on Linux I'd buy it but if it's crippled so that it only works for Windows they can go & jump.
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• Is this one going to have scenario support?
• And any possibility of backwards compatiablity with CTP1... or have I still no use for it...
• Sigh ACTivision and their incompetance (not to mention phalse advertising) brought me here... they can so easily drive me away!
[This message has been edited by Evan von Christoph (edited February 15, 2000).]
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To Slingshot:
The things I requested are technical C++ programming changes. However, if implemented, they will have the following beneficial results:
1) The game will crash less, because there will be less chance for memory conflicts.
2) The game will be able handle more types of modifications. This should allow for more types of scenarios and mods and more complex scenarios and mods.
3) The run time performance of the game will improve a bit.
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JimMac
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Belfast, N.Ireland
Mar 1999
time: 05:12
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Its great to see some of the critics back on the forum. 
I can understand that so many were disappointed with the release version of CTP,- it sat on my shelf gathering dust for the first few months after release. But, once you have the patch and mods that are available from this site AND spend some time getting used to the interface, it turns into a damn fine game. In fact, for some time now it has been my favourite multiplayer turn-based strategy game.
The new/improved features indicated for CTP II, suggests that there might be great improvements to the single player game, where good diplomacy (and personalities?) are much more important in adding atmosphere to what, at times, can seem a rather "cold" game.
Markos,-2 other things I would suggest adding to your list of "important stuff"-
1. Improved interfaces and menus (could help more people appreciate the game without having to get used to the mechanics)
2. More ways to win. ( I may be in a minority here, but I prefer to run a peaceful civ. I think strategy in the game could be improved enormously if I had more options to consider that the Alien stuff)
So… I am really looking forward to CTP II.
Jim
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So this will be competing with CivIII? That would be interesting....
------------------
stodlum
Secretary-General of The Republic of Ceres
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skorpion59
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Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
May 1999
time: 23:12
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I like the color scheme but then again I am not much of a fan of 'dark' sites.
CTP2 sounds like a great start on everything we have been wanting. If they get it right, it should help push CTP back up to the top, where it should be.
It will, of course, wipe out all the work that everybody has been doing. Diplomacy, CD, Med & Mod mod, Borders, probably all gone. Maps, in general and flat-map in particular, don't know yet. But, being the game fixers we are, we will all start over on what needs to be fixed with CTP2. Or modify the existing work to reflect the new needs of CTP2. Why was this work done in the first place? Because it needed addressing and Activision addressed it. How bad can that really be.
Also, seeing the code from CTP1, you have to make sure you see and understand the CTP2 part of the info/release that states:
"While we have all this new, cool stuff planned, what we actually release may be all together different and not have any of this new, cool stuff working." Just got to love those disclaimers.
Regardless of that, I look forward to CTP2. It should make the CTP'ing much more enjoyable. It has already brought a little life back to CTP.
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moved to the new ctp2-general forum
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