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Date: Dec 04 1999 16:22:55 EST
From: "Apolyton Announcements (Apolyton Civilization Site)"
Subject: Apolyton News 26/November-3/December/99


Greetings everyone,
these are the news of the week(26/November-3/December)

What happened these week? First of all, Firaxis announced that they are
about to announce something. :) No joking, check our Civ3
section(). We opened the Apolyton Links Directory
(). Finally, GameLeague is organizing the
Dream Team Tourney, check it out()

In the "Friends" part of the newsletter, nothing. NO news were sent to us
by other sites :( If you have a civ2, ctp or smac site and want your news
included here, mail Dustin Dunn at dustind@home.com


And now, in detail
=========The news from Apolyton=========
----------------------------
**Civilization II Section

TOT REVIEWS AND FILES
(November 29, 1999) Our Test of Time page was updated with a full archive
of all ToT related news, and two lists. One with files for tot players and
one with all the reviews for it. Seems like the average rating is
somewhere between 7 and 8...

THE COLUMN: #80 HAVE THE FORUMS TAKEN OVER APOLYTON?
Iain discusses the significance of the apolyton forums to the admins but
also to the site.

THE COLUMN: #81 THE FORUMS HAVEN'T TAKEN OVER APOLYTON, BUT...
In response to Iain's article, Markos wants a chance at a rebuttal.

THE COLUMN: SUBMIT AN ARTICLE


----------------------------
**Civilization III Section

A TALK WITH SID MEIER
(December 2nd, 1999) Just what has Sid Meier been brainstorming behind the
scenes at Firaxis Games for his next game? We're a little step closer to
understanding that with a news item posted at the Fastest Game News (FGN)
Online website.
Yesterday we reported about the nest egg presently residing on Firaxis'
site, but FGN was lucky enough to have the opportunity to talk to Sid
Meier earlier in the week. While Sid did not give away any secrets, the
word is spreading that we can expect something big to be announced in the
coming weeks, and what Sid DID say almost for certain confirms the
suspicion.
Speaking of the egg, don't forget to signup for its mailing list so you
can be informed of any breaking developments on this hot topic.

SID'S NEXT BIG THING!
(December 1st, 1999) Nice egg, huh? Imran Siddiqui (who else?) saw it
first on the official Firaxis site. What it is? Well, beyond the nice
image of what looks like a dinosaur egg, there is only a sign-up form for
a mailing list to get notices about the... evolution of "Sid's Next Big
Game". The page also announces that "Sid's Designer Dairies begin in
January 2000". There is also a date, "12-17-99", without any explanations.
Now, what's "sids' next big thing"? The choices are two: CivIII or the so
called "Sid's Secret Project". One could easily say it's CivIII, but since
Brian Reynolds is supposed to be the designer of Civ3 while Sid is working
on his project (that's the impression we had until now), what will "Sid's
Designer Diaries" be about? Anyway, we are a bit confused as you can
understand, if we get more info about Firaxis' cryptic messages to the Civ
community, we'll post them...

MICROPROSE'S CIV3?
(November 30th, 1999) Icedan(you've probably seen him on the forums)
discovered an interview of Wendy White, a programmer at Microprose. The
interview is about a year and a half old, as Aurora of GameGirlz told us.
In the question on which project she was working at that moment, she
replied "...Civilization III that is just starting up at the moment" Huh?
Unfortunately the interview was more about her and generally women in the
gaming industry, so there aren't any other references on Civ3 (we always
said that women dont know how to ask the right questions... don't shoot us
Rora!) :))


----------------------------
**Civilization: Call to Power Section

ANYDAY NOW...
(December 3) Good news for would-be Mac CTPer's out there! Westlake
Interactive is reporting that their port of Civilization: Call To Power is
now in the "final candidate stage, and that its estimated ship date is,
quote, "anyday now". Our thanks to StantonMac for the note. We will pass
along more information as it becomes available.


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

Brenesal on SMAC-X, Part II
--December 2 1999-- Last month we talked to Barry Brenesal with some of
this afterthoughts to his GameProWorld review on Sid Meier's Alien
Crossfire, aka SMAC-X. Barry was kind enough to time out of his often busy
schedule to answer some further questions from us in regards to the game.
1) How would you rate the new factions of SMAC-X?
"Overall, positively -- though I'd rather more time had been spent
on decision-making AI (the pirates build plenty of colony pods, but damn
few ships, in my experience); and AI that permitted computer-driven
opponents to expand their land mass via formers".

2) The two alien factions are powerful, but they are always at war
with the other, "balancing the game" according to Firaxis. Your view?
"Nice idea, except that the current code permits you to have only
one of the two alien races in the game, without the other. I think even
with both present, each may be a bit overly powerful, given their starting
units. If they're not in proximity to one another, they tend to overrun
their more humanoid neighbors quickly".

3) Your experience from mixed games (in other words, with old
factions, new factions)?
"Reasonably balanced, and fun to play. It certainly wouldn't
surprise me if Bruce, Sid & Company devised all the races at the same
time, and held half of 'em back to throw at players in an add-on module--
in short, they feel well-integrated".

4) Do you see any changes/improvements in the AI? If so, like what?
"Regrettably, no. I'm not saying the AI plays like an idiot (it
doesn't), but I don't get any sense of improvement in combat or building--
and you can easily check on the latter, as soon as you become Planetary
Governor, by peeking into what they're doing. No, I think the add-on was
largely concerned with rules repair and improvement, rather than markedly
better AI".

5) Overall, how would you rate SMAC-X? Is it a good buy and, if so,
for whom?
"It's an excellent buy: the basic game is so complex, that there
were bound to be plenty of rules that needed fixing and tweaking after
release (and that's no aspersion cast on the creators, either). The new
factions, buildings, etc, are nicely done. If you liked SMAC, I think
SMAC-X is mandatory.
I also think that Sid and Bruce should hire a graphics designer away
from Triumph (who did Age of Wonders) for their next game...but that's
another issue, entirely {grin}".

October US 20: No X
--November 27 1999-- We got PC Data's hits list for top-selling software
for the month of October for a few days now, but it's never late to post
about it. Well, most probably cause Alien Crossfire was on the market for
only 10 days of October, it doesn't appear in the top 20 at all. On the
other hand we didnt see it in the top 10 weekly listings of late October
and early November... I guess we'll see in the November top 20. Top
selling games for October were Age of Kings(which was also the best
selling piece of software of all categories), Deer Hunter III, Rainbow
Six: Rogue Spear and Roller Coaster Tycoon.

Good Follow-Up
--November 26 1999-- GameSpot (US) has given Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire,
aka SMAC-X, a 8.3 rating. In their review, author Elliott Chin says that
fans of the original SMAC will want to get this expansion pack for all the
goodies it contains. The review sticks to primarily discussing, in brief,
the facts about the numerous features that SMAC-X offers. One may begin to
wonder whether it is a review or simply a book report. However, Chin does
not disappoint:
"Usually, expansion packs for such games simply add new scenarios (as
with the Civilization II packs) without really expanding the gameplay, but
Alien Crossfire adds a great deal to the original game. While Alien
Crossfire's core game is still very much the same as its predecessor's,
the new factions, technologies, and projects increase that core game's
depth".
All but one of the five areas Chin looked at to come to his final verdict
received 80% or above -- what was the lone dissenter? Graphics, which may
come as a surprise to many as it had been SMAC-X's poorly received Sound
Effects that has been hardest hit in previously known reviews of the game.
Players are welcome to submit their own reviews of Alien Crossfire to
GameSpot here.


----------------------------
**GameLeague(hosted site)

Dream Team Rules Update 12.02
The rules for the Dream Team Tourney have been updated to make things a
little more clear. Please read the updates.


Bracket and Rules Up 11.29
The Dream Team Tourney bracket and rules are up. Read the rules and
contact the players in your game to start the fun.

Dream Team Tourney Starts 11.28
The Dream Tourney bracket will be posted in just under 24 hours (at
about 10pm mon. GL time) so if you have signed up get ready to play. If
you haven't signed up you better hurry.


----------------------------
**Spanish Civ II Site(hosted site)

[Dec 3] Sounds for Cuba now available for download

[Dec 1] Hall of Fame updated (Visigoths #1, Spanish Pride #2)

[Nov 28] Units Section is back up


----------------------------
**Scenario League(hosted site)

[December 1, 1999]
One more scenario up for review.


New Review: Hypoboria [Fantasy, 5/30]


[November 28, 1999]
A few more scenarios up for review.

New Review: Charlemagne [Historical, 26/30]

Updated Design Tip: The Barbarian Paper [Advanced Tip]
{link fixed 11/28/99}


That was all for this week ladies and gentlemen,

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