| Also on this issue: Alt.Civs Attack , GURPS Alpha Centauri | |||||||||
CTP2 PREVIEWED
(27 June 2000, 21:16 EST) It's been six weeks since the first installment, but today IGN updated their preview of Call To Power II, and it is paying for itself in dividends. With so much information to assimilate, we've broken it down into sub-sections which are but bottom-line excerpts from the extensive writeup. In each instance, IGN's Stephen Butts reports... EMPIRE MANAGEMENT SCREEN "The new game offers a revamped empire management screen. Here you can see your city influence spread out as you gain more and more people and put them to work more efficiently. The empire management screen also offers a detailed look at where your money is going". SCIENCE MANAGEMENT SCREEN "The science management screen offers data on your current research project. You can come here to see just how much is being spent on your own projects and, as long as you have the right embassies, you can see what each of your enemies is working on". WONDERS "The game will also include new Wonders of the World as well as new Feats of Wonder. These are one time, temporary bonuses that you get for performing certain actions. For instance, if you're the first person to circumnavigate the globe, you get a sea movement bonus for a few turns". TERRAIN "The terrain for the game is all new and does not include the space levels from the original. There's much more of a focus on land and sea warfare -- especially submarine warfare. There are lots of new undersea units in the game -- like the Moray and the Kraken -- that are sure to have your enemies guarding their coasts". DIPLOMACY "If you find your attacks failing, you may want to try out Call to Power II's improved diplomacy options. There's a new proposal interface that allows you to form compound proposals and counter offers. This open-ended sort of negotiation is a very welcome addition to the game". BORDERS "The concept of borders, one of the better innovations in CTP, has been improved on here as well. CTP2 allows you to ignore zones of influence and control but callous disregard for national boundaries will negatively affect your standing among other civilizations". SCENARIOS "CTP2 will ship with several historical and fictional scenarios. If that's not good enough for you, you can use the scenario editor to create your own". And if multimedia is what you are dying for, you needn't look any further. The end of the preview page contains a collection of current and archived media: 10 and 14 screenshots respectively. Again, above is just a sampling of what awaits you on IGN's website. Well worth a visit (and perhaps even a bookmarking)! -DanQ
(30 June 2000, 8:55 EST/CtP2) TGIF! Members of Activision's Call To Power II team, in particular Mr. Ogre (J. Rumsey) and St. Swithin (W. Lee), have been busy answering a slew of questions about the game thrown at them in our forums. Wheathin is curious about the "expanding city radius" referred to the most recent previews of CTPII. He asks, and Mr. Ogre explains: Will players still try to space their initial cities so that when they grow they won't overlap? "Cities don't overlap any more, whichever one of your cities expands to a tile first, keeps it for itself. So yes, you'll still want to space them out so as to maximize their potential radius. The ideal distance will be a bit farther than you're used to". Will cities have a set radius or a set number of surrounding tiles? "There is a maximum size (can be changed in the text file I'm about to mention)". Will this be open to SLIC or mods? "There is a text database that sets the relation of population to radius". Will this also extend the PW/vision radius of the cities? "PW are buildable anywhere within your national borders, city borders don't affect it. A city's radius is also its vision radius". Thanks (again), Joe, for your clarifications! -DanQ
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