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Date: Sep 03 1999 15:11:26 EDT
From: "Apolyton Announcements (Apolyton Civilization Site)"
Subject: Apolyton&Friends News 26/August-2/September/99


Greetings everyone,
these are the news of the week(26/August-2/September)

On Apolyton we had rather interesting week. We had the exclusive CCTP
Patch 1.2, the end of our "The Last Civ II"
Contest with some 1000 entries in the nine days of it's
duration, the new SMAC
Modification pages and the
expansion of The Column to two articles per
week. Good enough? :)

In the "Friends" part of the newsletter, news from MJ's Civilization
Empire, Mr Temba's Civilization and Jorrit's Civilization Site. If you
have a civ2, ctp or smac site and want your news included here, mail your
news to Dustin Dunn at dustind@home.com


And now, in detail
=========The news from Apolyton=========
----------------------------
**Civilization: Call to Power Section

ENTRY 69
(August 31) In the database that is. 10 new or updated files today,
including PowerSlics 1.8(patch 1.2 compliant), 2 mods wy WesW and 2
Mofication files. Links to all these can be found in the Downloads pages.
Also, we have some unofficial hacks of the english Patch 1.2 which allow
it to be used with the localized versions. More info and links can be
found here.

PATCH 1.2 IS HERE!
(August 28) "Good things take time" says a old greek saying :) So, here
is(only on Apolyton at the time of this writing), the CCTP Updater 1.2!
Instructions: The update will work for all Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT
English CD-ROM versions of Call to Power.
It will upgrade Call to Power from the release version, or version 1.1, to
version 1.2. If upgrading from 1.1 to 1.2 you will need to consult the
advanced User Notes in the 1.2 Readme for saving a scenario/map while in
the Map Editor.
New Features:
Hot Seat Play
Play By Email
Hotseat/PBEM Interface Screen
Scenario Pack Interface (description, test plan)
New Scenario Options
New suite of build queue messages
Turns-to-next-pop display on City Screen instead of a food readout
Trade routes can be toggled on and off
Message Eyepoints can be activated from the keyboard
Message indicating what city slaves were sent to after successful
enslavement was added
Tile Improvement placement precision increased
Bug Fixes:
Graphics freeze from double-clicking an advance to research.
Trading with AI Bug Fixed.
Captured cities get selected.
Fixed eyepoint click centering AND selecting the city in some messages
Fixed CD-check requirement that each player have a CD in multiplayer
saved games.
Fixed hardcoded "Reset Trade Route" string
AI stop-trespassing behavior is improved
Boats/Undersea Tunnels pathing problem fixed
Can continue play when someone wins the alien endgame
Autocentering on special attacks now happens correctly
Chat window scrolling bug fixed
So, what do you think of the second patch? Tell us on our new poll!

MULTIPLAYER? NOT MUCH...
(August 28) After 913 votes, our Do you play multiplayer games? poll is
over iwth a bit negative results for CTP's multiplayer. A total of 55%
doesnt play multiplayer games for verious reasons, more important being
that they just dont play multiplayer at all(24%)! A big problem is also
that there is therent many people out there to play with(18%), and the
other problem is time(13%). However there is quit big 14% that plays
"whenever possible", and another 18% "from time to time". Plus a 6% which
is waiting for PBEM(which has finally arrived on the 1.2 Patch). An
overall 38% of positive votes. Well, it's not such a big diffrence, isn't
it?

2+2 FILES
(August 26) 2 New and 2 updated files today. These are Lee Water's LW1
Standalone mod(replaced older mod of LW), Really Play CTP Add-on for CD's
mod is now in version 1.1 and also new Fantasy Units for Littlewing and
Wonders&Buildings Artwork from Harlan Thompson.


----------------------------
**Civilization III Section
GRAPHICS: THE THIRD WAY
(September 2nd, 1999) Our "Graphics: Beauty or Ease & Speed?" poll is over
with 414 votes, and the results are interesting. Only a 17% prefers a
beautifull 3d animated graphics, no matter what. On the other hand, 41%
wants simple, fast and easy to modify graphics. Still, a more important
39% believes that the best of both choices can be achieved. Hey, this is
2000 game we are talking about! :) Why not?
On our new poll, we ask you opinion on CTP's Public Works system which
replaced settlers. Should Firaxis use something like that? Thanks to
M@ni@c for the idea.


----------------------------
**Civilization II Section

PRIZES AWAY
(September 1, 1999) Winners of both copies of Civilization II: Test of
Time and the various consolation prizes should be receiving their parcels
sometime in the next 1-2 weeks, depending upon where you live on the North
American continent. They have been sent via the postal service over
ground just today! As mentioned before, all shipping charges have been
handled by us at ACS.

When you receive your prize, please notify us as soon as possible. This
way we can keep a running tally on how many more folks we have to hear
back from regarding their prizes, saying that it arrived safely etc. etc.

The following are specific notes to both "sets" of winners:
To ToT recipients: it has been decided to have the letter of
authenticity sent via email as opposed to "snail mail"; the reasoning
behind this is primarily based on the majority of you who would prefer to
receive it electronically.
To consolation prize winners: there will be no exchanges on the
product title that you receive, so don't think of sending it back to the
return address on the package... if you do, it will not be shipped again,
nor will a replacement title be sent in its place.

Finally, if you experience any technical problems with installing/running
your game, first and foremost consult your manual. If problems persist,
contact MicroProse (ToT copies only) or Hasbro Interactive (consolation
prizes) directly. Our support is limited in this department -- of course,
if you are a ToT winner you can always consult our ToT forum where you
talk to not only other Civer's but members of the actual ToT team.

Thanks once again to all of those who participated, and Hasbro
Interactive/MicroProse for making the contest possible in the first place!

A COLUMN ON WEDNESDAY?
(September 1, 1999) Yes, why not? As we explain in out note in the 57th
Column, today begins a new era for the Column, as we will hopefully have
two articles each week, one on Wednesday and one Saturday. The extra
articles will come from the people of Apolyton but we hope that the great
majority will be from you. Since last week we have a new page which you
can use to submit an article as easily as possible. As for today, a series
of articles called "A Bubba's Eye View" starts, written by Roger Oepkes.
Check it out!

NAME THAT PRICE
(August 29, 1999) To those of you who have submitted reports on ToT
pricing and availability in the last week or so, thank you for doing so
and being patient in seeing your tips appear in this section!
News from down under! Nick Hall has told us that ToT has been
"advertised in Propellor Head for $79.95AU and in Cyber Space Computer
Store for $89.95AU. Both of these have a $10.00AU rebate and both of these
stores are in Melbourne". Tim Taylor out of Britain informs us that "Test
of Time costs £34.99 in "game" stores throughout Britain, but a £5 off
voucher is available in every shop so the actual cost of the game is
£29.99".
If anyone can expand on the coverage we have started, we would love to
hear from you! This includes everything from pricing, to stock, to the
official strategy guide, anywhere around the globe!
Full Article

WIN A COPY OF Test of Time!
(August 29, 1999) The contest is over! Thanks to everyone who participated
in making it a success. Day Nine winners have been announced!

ROTTEN EGGS
(August 28, 1999) Not all is happily ever after in the land of Civ: some
gamers are simply not satisifed with the quirks and quarks offered in
Civilization II: Test of Time.
Case in point, GameSpot's spin on the game. Reviewer Elliot Chin is
unapologetic:
"The worst part about this game is that you simply cannot play any of the
nontraditional games without always having the massive technology poster
open and at hand. The designers renamed practically everything, and
nothing makes sense anymore.
Why rename the granary, such a vital structure in the early game, to a
storehouse [one of several examples provided]? Why screw around with what
gamers already know? I understand the desire to change things around in
the interest of surprise and variety, but all that this effort achieves is
needless frustration.
Call to Power at least tried to create brand-new units and new wonders and
even made new movies for the wonders. Here, the designers didn't even do
that.
... excluding Midgard, there aren't even any new scenarios in Test of
Time. So what did we wait for? New graphics and new names. That's just not
worth $40 and two years' time".
Chin's personal tilt on the game? An abysmal 1 (10%), contributing greatly
to the overall 4.2 score that ToT was given.

Don't look for any happy faces over at GamePen either. Peter Suciu grows
downright bitter as the review progresses.
"If you’ve played Civilization II in any previous form, or even dabbled in
original Civilization, then you know all you need to know about Test of
Time. Nothing has really been added.
Visually the game has never looked better. At first it is hard to believe
that this is the same game since the designers really did wonders making
the game look more dynamic. The units now have more dimension to them and
are fully animated as they move across the map. The map has also been
updated and appears with a bit more detail.
... the biggest problem with ToT is that it simply tries to be too much,
but offers too little. None of the previous versions’ scenarios work with
ToT, something that made the Multiplayer Gold version a must buy for those
who missed the scenario packs. ToT added the fantasy and science fiction
games, but neither is as well developed as the some of the excellent
scenarios.
It should also be mentioned that the diplomacy in Test of Time hasn’t been
improved noticeably so anyone who has had played AC, Call to Power or even
Master of Orion II will be in for a rude reminder of how far we’ve come,
and how far this series needs to come".
Here comes the final blow...
"... it just seems like Microprose is sucking every last breath out of a
classic – and classics deserve better".

WRITE FOR THE COLUMN!
(August 26, 1999) In an effort to make things easier for you to submit an
article for the Column and make it as open as possible to everyone, we've
created a submission page, where you can write your article and just send
it to us. Beyond that we are working on bringing the Column to a "second
age" so to speak. Stay tuned, and write a column! :)

OFFICIAL SITE&FORUMS
(August 26, 1999) It's open for several days now, but Microprose has come
with a very nice looking official site for Civ2:ToT. The site includes a
quite large faq, but more important are the new official Civ2 forums on
Delphi. The forum system is not as good as ours but it's almost certain
that you'll get an answer to our question directly from the developing
team!


THE COLUMN: GAMERS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN
Like an empire, Frank Johnson strikes back on behalf of the gaming public.
file:///d%7C/Archive/Html/APOLYTON/civ2/column/56_fun.shtml">

THE COLUMN: A BUBBA'S EYE VIEW: INTRODUCTION
Roger Oepkes introduces a new series of articles for the Column


----------------------------
**Alpha Centauri Section

Modification Section!
--(September 1 1999) Trying to serve the community better, today we start
a subsection for the Modification of SMAC. We hope to gather the best
information and help files for creating smac files. Thanks to Marian
Hartel of AC Zone, we've made a decent(if not good) start with three
guides and several short tips. We hope that you will help us build these
pages to something great, by posting creation tips or sending us full
modification guides!

Chat Page
--(September 1 1999) Well, all the other sections have a chat page, this
one should to. Our SMAC Chat Page is here, using a java applet you can
connect to our #apolyton irc channel on irc.dreamnet.org. You will also
find a link to the reposted trancript of our Brian Reynolds chat. Beware
that you mind some ctpers in the room, but we think it's a good chance to
teach them the glory of SMAC ;)

Episode 4
--(August 31 1999) In case you didn't notice, SMACx Episode 4 was posted
on August 27th: "Bortniansky stood and watched as his technicians...".
MikeH and Snowfire made it into the story, two more smacer who will now be
remembered forever... :) Hey, Mike, a Morgan(personal favorite) base named
Apolyton, perhaps? :D

Fan Site Of The Month!
--(August 31 1999) Thanks to all of you who voted for us, Apolyton is the
first Firaxis Fan Site Of The Month for the month of September! If you
watched it as closely as I(reload every 15 minutes :)), it was quite a
tough fight for several days. In the last couple of days though we gained
a clear difference from AC Nexus, who also deserves a big applaud for
being voted one of the two top smac sites with a huge difference from all
the others. Firaxis now has a TBS vs RTS poll, our suggestion of course is
TBS!

6 New Files
--(August 26 1999) 6 New files were just added for a total of 116 files.
My smac mail folder is now sad and empty :) please send some files! The
new files are: Welfare State, Borg, Eight Faction/Natives(factions), Heavy
Terrain(scenario), Base Architecture I: Conical Spires and Pyramidal Base
Architecture(base icons to be used in faction making)

(September 1) Silver Fleece Medal for August announced


----------------------------
**Civilization Scenario Collection(hosted site)

(Aug 30) New scenario in Middle Ages: Timur Khan, by Markus
Eklund(Scenario #20 in this section, #90 in the site)

(Aug 29) New scenario in XVI Century: The European World, by Guillermo
L?pez(Scenario #10 in this section, #89 in the site)


=========Apolyton's Friends News=========
--------------------------
MJ's Civilization Empire

Alpha Centauri Section:
8/30/1999
I have a host of new files in the scenario, Trek vs Wars, and utilities
sections.


--------------------------
Mr Temba's Civilization

8/27/99
- A new scenario West US, is up in the Hosted Scenarios section, a new occ
saved game from Carolus Rex is up in One City Challenge page, and a saved
game from Geofelt is up on the All Wonders Challenge page. And the Test of
Time survey is nearing 100 votes! Also a correction has been made to the
Prince of Darkness Challenge page, it should have been Nicolas Wauthoz,
not Nicholas. Sorry.


--------------------------
Jorrit's Civilization Site

My site recently moved to SidGames.Com, so please update your bookmarks
and links (webmasters!) to the new URL . Now for
the more interesting news: With my move I completed the Map Database (and
fixed some bugs with it). The total amount of maps on my site is now 435,
and I'm working on some 5 other maps myself...




That was all for this week ladies and gentlemen,

Until next time
Markos Giannopoulos - markg@apolyton.net
Apolyton Civilization Site - apolyton.net