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Date: Apr 05 1999 19:01:50 EDT
From: Apolyton Announcements (Apolyton Civilization Site)
Subject: Apolyton News 10/Mar-4/Apr/99(Part 1)


Greetings to all
Some old now, some new, here are the news of the civ world for the period
of March 10 to April 4

Listbot is supposed to allow up to 100K long messages but I can't go more
than 29.2K so this is Part 1. SMAC and CivLeague news will be in Part 2.
In the future we wont have this problem of course...

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

*News

CivII: ToT IS A GO
(April 3, 1999) Two more ToT screenshots have arrived, thanks again to the
gang over at Strategy Gaming Online. Both are "sci-fi" in nature: here's
the first, and here's the other.
(March 30, 1999) Confirmation from Hasbro/MicroProse has arrived in a
timely fashion! As first reported by SG Online (thanks for the mail Tom),
Civilization II: Test Of Time has a set release date for August 1 of this
year. Also courtesy of SG Online are six new, never-before-seen
screenshots from the game. It is clear from these that the interface has
been considerably upgraded since we last looked in on it almost 11 months
ago. Here they are, in no particular order: what loooks to be An allien
attack (167k); your foreign minister's report (140k); flying around in the
sky (151k); your Civ "in space" (114k); gaining tribute from a village hut
(128k) and, last but not least, your Civ on Earth (135k). Tom also informs
us that they will be having a full preview of ToT in the coming weeks!

CIVILIZATION2.COM
(April 2, 1999) Tired of trying to remember the IP address for
MicroProse's official CivII site or clicking on the bookmark? Well, here's
something that has gone relatively unnoticed: you can now access it all by
typing civilization2.com in the Address field of your browser of choice.
Since the IP still takes you to the same place, a reasonable guess is that
MPS used it while the domain was being processed by Network Solutions,
formerly InterNIC. Unfortunately, this is the only update (can we really
call it that?) that's been made to the site in a long while. The proof?
Visit the "Enhancements" section for CivII: MGE -- it lists the current
Gold edition as being v1.1, released at the beginning of this year. A
quick visit to MPS' Tech Support presently hosts patch v1.2, now more than
five weeks old...

MGE MAC PORT RELEASED
(March 30, 1999) Macsofthas released the long-awaited Macintosh version of
Civilization II: Multiplayer Gold Edition. The game is expected to be
available nationwide (United States) in April with a suggested retail
price of $49.99. Read more from MacCentral.

ALL 82% OF IT
(March 30, 1999) Tom Cheng of Strategy Gaming Online sent us a mail
regarding our article telling us why their final scores are, in fact, not
based on averages. "Our rating isn't about averages, because if it was,
just about every turn-based game would never get above 8.0. Why? Because
turn-based games aren't about graphics or audio, it's more about the
gameplay therefore gameplay gets more consideration in the overall
rating". That we can appreciate, and we thank him for the clarification.
(March 29, 1999) Strategy Gaming Online has given Civ II: Multiplayer Gold
Edition an over 82% rating. The high point as the reviewer saw it?
Gameplay (10/10). The lows? Three way tie at 6 marks a piece: interface,
audio and graphics. Mutiplayer was 7. The overall average seemed a little
high to DanQ based on those scores, so he calculated it himself and got 7:
a 70% equivalent. Well, guess there are just some things that conventional
mathematics just can't measure.

CAN IT BE?
(March 29, 1999) According to Strategy Gaming Online, Civilization II:
Test Of Time is set to be released by MicroProse this May. Since it's been
a while, we have in our archives the only four known screenshots from the
product for viewing.

LOUIE, LOUIE: WHAT OF CivIII?
(March 24, 1999) GameCenter's Mark Asher had a talk with Gilman Louie,
chief creative officer (if you don't know what this means, you're not the
only one) of MicroProse -- as a point of reference, he was MPS' CEO until
it was bought by Hasbro Interactive last summer. In the interview, posted
today, Asher asked Louie if any ambitions were stirring within his company
to produce a new Civilization title. "There's been a lot of discussion and
design work done," he said. "It needs to be more than an evolution of Civ
II. We don't want a new formula, but we want it to feel like a Civ III and
not a Civ II with enhancements".
At last year's E3 Conference in Atlanta, MPS announced that both
Civilization II: Test Of Time and Civilization II: Multiplayer Gold
Edition were in development; yet, we have heard nothing more about the
former since. When Louie mentioned that "... design work [was being]
done", could this be perhaps a vague reference to it? This is speculation
at best, but a reasonable assumption all things considered.

MULTIPLAYER FOR £14.99!
(March 19, 1999) GAME UK, the one of the bigest game retailers in the UK,
now offers a special edition of Civ2:UCC(UCC is the european equivalent of
MGE). The edition does not include the CiC and FW add-ons, and costs only
£14.99! Our thanks to Derek Lande for the note.

CIVLEAGUE TRIBES
(March 19, 1999) CivLeague, takes a setp forward and presents the tribes
ladder. Tribes are teams of players, competing for the #1 spot. The ladder
is not based on a points system but on a levels system. Check it out now!

*Site Updates
3.Apr Column #35; By Dracon
2.Apr Links updated
27.Mar Column #34, by DanQ
20.Mar Column #33 by MarkG
13.Mar DanQ writes the 32nd Column


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

LINUX PORT IS COMING ALONG
(Apr. 4) Thanks to the thoughtfulness of Loki Entertainment, we have had
the opportunity to see how the Linux CTP port is coming along. It looks
pretty stable and is 100% identical to the PC version. More details to
come as we rapidly approach its release.

MAP EDITOR BETA
(Apr. 2) On behalf of the CTP Map Editor Team, Vahn has publicly released
the beta of the CTP Map Editor. Visit our Downloads section to grab a
copy. Instructions on how to use the Editor and other useful information
is in the EDITOR README file; Activision highly recommends you read it.
Since this is beta and not code-released, please do not contact Activision
technical support with questions about it. Rather, send any questions,
commments, problems, thoughts, bugs, etc. to ctpbuilder@activision.com.

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT
(Apr. 2) Thanks to Vahn, CTP hackers now have the start of a bible for
this speciality. This piece of writing includes how to successfully modify
the sound, unit sprites and the Great Library. Before engaging in this, be
sure to back-up any files you are replacing otherwise you may be forced to
re-install the game from the CD. As always, editing text files is done at
your own risk and is not supported by Activision.

NOT OF THE FOOL'S VARIETY
(Apr. 2) Designer James Farley writes: ""The strategy I found most
effective is going for GOLD". This is only the beginning! It's Day 3 of 8
of Activision's desinger strategies. Check 'em out! #3

IT'S ACTIVISION CALLING...
(Apr. 1) "If you think you're a Call to Power afficionado, then it's time
to test your knowledge"! This is what Activision is today proclaiming:
they've teamed up with Intel (win 1 of 10 of an unannounced Intel®
Graphics Technology product), Popular Science (1 of 10 one-year
subscriptions up for grabs) and Earthlink (1 of 5 FREE 6-month
subscriptions to be won), just to name a few. In total, 65 lucky
contestants will be chosen to receieve these great prizes! "All you'll
need to prove yourself is to fill out our entry form and answer four (4)
C:CTP questions", reads the official contest page. All electronic
correspondence must be received by April 30th, and all snail mail
postmarked by the same date. Winners will be selected via a random drawing
from all correct entries on or about May 17, 1999 and will be notified by
mail and telephone. On a final note, this contest is open to legal
residents of the United States and Canada (excluding the province of
Quebec) only.

NUMERO DOS
(Apr. 1) ""Until the Modern age, it's generally easier to play with a
defensive strategy, because the greatest strength of most of the early
units is in defense..." Winnie Lee's got the insider tips on how to
successfully gain a competitive edge from the get-go.

MAPS AND MAP EDITOR VERY SOON
(Mar. 31) In case you didn't notice, C:CTP has shipped without a
map/scenario editor and any pre-made maps and scenarios. Those will be
available on the internet soon. Especially a package with the maps and the
map editor is only a couple days away. The equivalent scenario package
will follow soon, and the demo shouldn't be far away. In the meantime play
some random games and read yesterday's chat transcript...

STRATEGIES & F.A.Q. FROM THE SOURCE
(Mar. 31) Starting today for the next eight days, Activision is posting
new and exclusive strategies from Designers Winnie Lee, James Farley, and
Brad Santos, along with Production Tester Ian Stevens. Today's
installment: "The Early Game" by Lee. Turing to other news now... On the
heels of CTP's release, Activision has started their official CTP
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file. Presently, it discusses topics such
as resolution difficulties and how to load units onto your Space Planes.

PREVIEW: PART 2 POSTED (Mar. 30)
"PART 2: PLAYING THE GAME, THE REAL THING" is finally finished. Read on
and give us your comments!

CIV: CTP SHIPS (Mar. 29-30)
(Mar. 30) CTP has start appearing in stores! If you find it somewhere,
please post on this thread.
(Mar.29) Activision, Inc. announced today that the eagerly awaited
Civilization: Call to Power is in manufacturing and will begin shipping to
stores March 30, 1999. The game is expected to reach full distribution
throughout the United States and Canada the week of April 5, 1999.

EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW: PART 1 (Mar. 1-28)
(Mar. 28) To help tide you over until the second part of our preview
arrives, Markos wrote down his first impressions of modifying the ways in
which CTP 'works'. Attention would-be scenario creators: this is for you!
This concludes Part 1, so you can probably guess what's next!
(Mar. 26) Over the past 10 days, we've been hard at work on Part 2 of our
preview, amongst other things, especially Markos! Brief as it was, we were
able to get a multiplayer game going a little while back. Dan captured a
couple of screens in the process. There's a shot of what Dan saw in the
pregame setup (184k) and the very moment that the game started (134k). Oh,
and there was no winner... :)
(Mar. 16) We bring you the last in our series on the interesting portions
found in the manual.
(Mar. 13) Stills from each of the three end game sequences are now
available for viewing: conquering the world, the Alien Life Project and,
the one which we're certain not many would welcome in a game, bitter
defeat.
(Mar. 11) More parts of the manual and new impressions from MarkG.

PRE-GAME STRATEGY (Mar. 26-28)
(Mar. 28) Dan updated the Terrain Reference Sheet with additional
information on where each one of the 17 "special resources" appear in the
game (more details still to come).
(Mar. 26) BradyGames has published the official strategy guide to CTP (see
box at right). It was written by two staffers at Computer Gaming World.
Activision has stated on its site that it is "filled with great
information", and that it is a "whopping 340 pages long" -- yet, a quick
visit to the ordering page for the guide lists its page count as 'only'
216. Hmmmm! Released only three days ago with a retail price of $19.99US,
its online distributor, Macmillian Publishing, is already out of stock!
Feel free at anytime to browse their catalog to see if more copies have
arrived. We also recommend that you check with your nearby computer dealer
for more localized availability.
At the same time, we noticed that BradyGames has its own "mini-site" for
CTP. A lot of the information contained is specific to the guide, or
reiterations from before, but it does include some handy charts for
various aspects of the game. We have mirrored them here, which you browse
directly off of our Features page.

EUROPEAN AVAILABILITY (Mar. 27)
The UK branch of Game Ltd. has included a listing for CTP under their
"Releases" Section. The date? April 1st (no fooling :)). The price?
£34.99. From this site, you can not only buy but also reserve a copy --
all you have to do is fill out some general information about yourself
(postal address, telephone, email address) and indicate where you could
like to pick it up! (Thanks for the note Nick).
In addition, just a few days ago Peter Karpas, Activision's Senior Product
Manager, posted the following note about international CTP shipping dates
to various Usenet newsgroups:
I had thought that April 2nd was the ship date for Europe and
Australia/New Zealand. Actually, it's their STREET date (meaning, the day
it's actually in stores). What I learned: in N. America we talk SHIP date
(March 30th, so it will be in some stores on the 31st and in wide
distribution until days later) whereas everywhere else it's STREET date
(April 2nd in Europe and Australia/New Zealand).

LINUX RELEASE DATE SET (Mar. 26)
Loki Entertainment Software has announced its CTP Linux port will be
released April 26. Loki wants the time to incorporate all of the last
minute changes that went into the final Windows version, which was delayed
until the end of this month by Activision. Consequently, the beta test
which was originally due to end today has been extended to an indefinite
future date before this port of CTP goes gold.

BETA IMPRESSIONS & BUGS (Mar. 24)
Crusader posted his inital impressions of the Linux CTP beta over at
linuxgames.com. They are as follows:
After installing the most recent patch, the beta appears rock-solid (i.e.
no crashes or show-stopping bugs after 4 hours or so of play).
Fog-of-war in Civ... I'm of the opinion that warriors from the
7th-century BC should not have an omniscient view of all explored
territory... in other words, this is a welcome tactical change for me.
Looking through the Great Library (which is now the game encyclopedia as
opposed to a Wonder of the World), CTP offers some radical unit, tech, and
wonder changes from the previous Civ titles (slavery, future technologies
such as plutonium-consuming nanites, and non-Western wonders like the
Forbidden City) that effectively destroy all my time-tested FreeCiv
strategies :)
The unit animations/sounds are amusing (shades of Warcraft's venerable
orcs); i.e. the phalanx unit declaring "shields up!" before entering
battle.
To give a better idea of what one can expect interface-wise in the final
release, Crusader also took the liberty of capturing some screenshots. Not
surprisingly, it is remarkably similar to that sported in the Windows
version. standard map view (122k); opening menu screen (191k); race
selection screen (148k); research dialog (136k); civilization status
dialog (137k); technology listing in the Great Library (140k) and units
listing in the Great Library (143k).
If you're one of those lucky enough to have a copy and you're having
difficulties with the beta, visit Lokisoft's Beta page. Included for
product support are two updates: one released a week ago (90k), and
another just yesterday (5MB). From here you can also submit a bug report,
but be certain to carefully examine the Known Issues documented
beforehand.

RELEASE PARTY MARCH 30TH! (Mar. 23)
Guess what you will be doing on March 30th? Well, beyond buying C:CTP
(well not anyone, Americans only), you could be chating with members of
the C:CTP development team. The place: our irc channel, the date: March
30th, 1PM PT(4PM EST, 9PM GMT). See the chat page for details, and be
there!

GONE GOLD! (Mar. 22)
At long last, CTP has gone gold! The notice was posted in our CTP forums
by Lt. John, Activision's Associate Product Manager, earlier today.
"Yes, both our US and international versions are gold! Congrats to the
team for all of their hard work! The game will ship from manufacturing on
March 30th, and will be in some stores as early as the 31st! Here's the
official announcement: Activision would like to announce that
Civilization: Call to Power has code released and a gold master of the
game has been sent out for manufacturing. Product is expected to be in
full distribution the week of April 5.".
Hours later, he also released the final minimum system requirements for
CTP labelled on the box, which you can find in the FAQ table to your
right.
On behalf of the Apolyton team, GameStats and anxious Civ fans around the
world, congratulations Activision! With all those late, sleepless nights
down the road, be sure to stock up on the coffee and soda pop!

BETTER THAN CIV2?? (Mar. 19)
Thomas van Kooten reports that German computer magazine POWERPLAY, has a
review of C:CTP. They rated it 89% for solo play and 93% for multiplayer.
The rating for SMAC in a previous review were 84% for solo and around 87%
for multi, but the suprise is that back in the May 1996 issue(Thomas keeps
an archive, and he checked it, isn't he a great visitor? :)) Civ2 got
88%!! Part of the preview(in German) is posted on the magazine's site. Our
big thanks to Thomas.

ALMOST GOLD! (Mar. 18)
Peter Karpas posted this on the newsgroups yesterday:
"I wanted to let everyone know that the team submitted the "final" gold
candidate to QA. This means that unless QA finds something over the next
few days, we will officially go gold and code release the game."

IN THE MAIL (Mar. 16)
Loki Entertainment has shipped the beta copies of CTP for the Linux
platform. In the end, they ended up sending them out to more than 300
recipients in 50 countries. They have also promised that international
pre-orders for this product, historical due to the fact it is the first
game to be ported to the alternative platform, will be available soon. For
those who have occassionally been unable to access their site, Loki has
moved to a new ISP and has had a mirror site setup, courtesy of a
prominent Linux gaming site.

DIFFERENT PROSPECTIVE (Mar. 16)
GamePen takes a different on a different perspective of CTP in their
8-page preview than other ones in recent memory have. Excerpts from it
include "…this game is clearly something different", "...the developers
have added a waypoint system that allows units to move on their own…", and
"…the balance is harder and the diplomacy more important...". The 'fresh'
screenshots round out a preview worth a glance.

JUST AROUND THE CORNER (Mar. 13)
The 200 x86 beta testers for the Linux-flavoured CTP have been chosen,
half of whom were chosen by testing experience/hardware and the remainder
at random. These l ucky recipients are having their beta copies shipped
within the next few days. Its public release, scheduled for April 1, is
priced at $49.95. Yes, several sites are still accepting pre-orders and at
discounted prices -- 10% off at GameCellar for example
(U.S. residents only). Loki Entertainment, the developers of the port,
admits that while they don't have any control over what retailers charge
for our games, their suggested retail prices and wholesale prices are
identical in the US and Europe. Loki also posted additional information
and a few screenshots(one, two, three, four) from the game earlier this
week. The Linux version will ship with support for X. Loki may support
SVGALIB in the future and possibly GGI and MGL as well and, if so, a free
upgrade will be made available for download. The hardware requirements for
the Linux version, such as processor speed, will be the same as in the
Windows version (see menu at right). And yes, the manual and box will both
be specific to the Linux version. One final bit of news: additional
testers for the PowerPC and Alpha CPU ports will be chosen later.

*Site Updates
3.Apr Alternate cursor posted
2.Apr Map Editor beta has arrived
31.Mar Chat transcript posted
30.Mar Part 2 posted!
28.Mar Modification impressions; special resources info
26.Mar Preview multiplayer game screens posted!
18.Mar New poll
17.Mar Two new unit animations; overhauled units section
13.Mar End game sequence stills; Archived older news
11.Mar More info, more impressions


----------------------------
**Alternative Civs Section

MD DEMO UPDATED
(Mar. 30) An update to the Manifest Destiny 3 demo has been released by
R&J Cyberware. You can download it by clicking here (390k). It is a direct
result of a discussion on the newsgroup (alt.games.mdestiny) about the
relationship between the main map and theglobe. As stated on the MD
website:
"For those of you with Demo version #3, it is not really necessary to
download version 3.1, unless you are interested in seeing an icon of the
main map viewport displayed on the globe texture maps. Otherwise, very
little has changed since Demo #3, other than some very minor cosmetic
changes. For those of you with neither version, we recommend version 3.1
over version 3".
Naturally, no? :) The release notes have not changed, which you can still
browse in our News Archive (link below). Again, tosubmit feedback, you can
do so by emailing Ron Hiler or posting a message to their newsgroup.

NEW MANIFEST DESTINY DEMO
(Mar. 16) R&J Cyberware have released the third demo (397k) for Manifest
Destiny. Its release notes are virtually identical to what was included in
the second demo, which you read about in our News Archive. You can send
bug reports, feedback, or anything else you like by directing email to Ron
Hiler or posting a message in their official newsgroup at
alt.games.mdestiny.

STELLAR CIV SPLASHSCREEN
(Mar. 16) Jason Kozack, one of the masterminds behind the development of
Stellar Civilizations, has submitted to us the splashscreen for the
product, which we have thumbnailed at your right. Click on the image or
here to view the full 800x600 version (59k).

Looking Back, Looking Ahead
-(April 02) The end of April will mark the six month anniversary of the
Civilization II Scenario League. As we enter that sixth month, it seems
like an
appropriate time to begin looking back at how far we have come, and to
start looking ahead at the shape of the League for the rest of 1999.

Design Contest Survey
-(March 26/Update April 02) SLeague and HAC are co-hosting the second
scenario design competition and we are requesting feedback about the
proposed topics. The topic with the most popular support will be selected
for the contest and developed in detail. We also accept write-in votes.
Please vote before the end of Sunday, April 4th if you intend to enter.

Review a Scenario Before Call to Power!
-(March 19[Altered April 02, 1999]) Activision's Call to Power (or CtP) is
out! For the full scoop, see the preview on Apolyton's CtP site. If you
don't have it yet, why not download and review one of our Civ2 scenario
picks?

*New Content*
02 April, 1999
Reviews of Historical Scenarios:
--Pelloponesian Wars
--Spartacus (#2)
--The Defense of Madrid: Spanish Civil War
Review of Fantasy Scenario:
--Underdark

30 March, 1999
New Design Tip:
--Instant Advice: What It's Worth
Reviews of Historical Scenarios:
--Spartacus
--The Dutch Republic

26 March, 1999
Reviews of Historical Scenarios:
--Quebec
--The "New" Germany

19 March, 1999
New Design Tips:
--Governments
--Domain 3 Units
Review of Historical Scenario:
--El Dorado

16 March, 1999
New Design Tip:
--Map of Unit Sounds


----------------------------
**Allard&Andrew's Site (hosted site)

3/29/99: Four new maps by Mike Daumen. I uploaded El Dorado by Jesús
Balsinde, and Kosovo Crisis by bba@gni1653.kcn.ru I also upgraded my
scenario The Golden Age of the Republic with all new terrains and cities,
so that the map now looks like a real 16th century map. More will follow
later, but now I'm going on holiday for a week. Andrew Hoekzema, who has
risen again from death, so it seems :-) also says he will be able again to
update. Oh, and the Guestbook is working again ! Please leave some
comments behind, we would really appreciate it !

3/26/99: After a terrible long time without updates, of which I'm terribly
sorry, but I really did not have time or even FTP access, (and Hoek has
"disappeared") I have finally updated the page. Some fixed links, some
changes in format (see the forum for more information) and a new scenario
(Vikings by Alex the Magnificent) are the results of the newest update.
Since Andrew has been "dead" for a while, and I suspect all new scenarios
having been sent to him, please resend them to me (ahofelt@hotmail.com),
and I'll upload them. I will be away on holiday from 30th March to 5th
April, by the way, after which I will fully be active once again.
As soon as Civ: Call to Power will be out, a new section will open
featuring guides for editing, scenarios, maps etc.

Continued in Part 2