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Date: Mar 15 1999 04:43:03 EST
From: Apolyton Announcements (Apolyton Civilization Site)
Subject: Apolyton News 6-9/Mar/99

And for the last mail for today, news of 6-9/Mar/99(yes only for four days
due to the big amount of smac news)

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**Civilization II Section

*Site News
6.Mar 31st Column by Stewart Spink


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**Civilization: Call to Power Section

EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW: PART 1 (Mar. 1-13)
(Mar. 9) Another day, another page with info, from the manual this time.
(Mar. 7) DanQ keeps the ball rolling by reporting on his busy Day Two.
(Mar. 6) MarkG continues to explore the CTP world... Days Three and Four.

MARCH 30TH, OFFICIALLY (Mar. 9)
Peter Karpas posted on the newsgroups that the release date has moved to
March 30th.
"The reason is simple -- we received some really good feedback from the
beta testers, and wanted to integrate it. This is Civilization, after all,
so we figured it was worth 2 weeks to add that extra bit of polish."
Also, according to him, this delay will "make more likely a simultaneous
ship across more countries" in his own words.

CTP NEWSGROUP IS BORN (Mar. 8)
Usenet groups come and go everday, but today is special. We are happy to
pass along that alt.games.civ-call-to-power has been born. Fire up the ol'
newsreader or head over to Dejanews to read up on all the buzz... but
that's no excuse to stop coming 'round here! {grin}

PRE-ORDER FOR PC AND LINUX (Mar. 6)
If you're convinced that you'll get CTP, you can pre-order to pc version
at EB World and the linux version at Game Cellar(thank to John Kramer for
the news tip). Meanwhile, and this is a bit worrying, EB has March 31 as
the release date for the PC, while GC April 1 for Linux. As soon as we
have something from Activision we'll let you know.


----------------------------
**Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Section

Reviewer's Choice - 9 March 1999
--Adrenaline Vault is just the latest in a string of gaming news sources
to give SMAC an enthusiastic "thumbs up" with an overall 4.5/5 stars and
awarded it, as the title suggests, their "Reviewer's Choice" distinction.
Because it is extensively comprehensive, we thought we'd share with you
some of the positive points discussed:
Graphics (3.5/5): "SMAC did a good job of carrying the look and feel of
CivI and CivII into outer space. Each facet of the game worked well
together for the overall presentation. However, even for a turn-based
strategy game SMAC didn't bring a whole lot to the table".
Interface (4.5/5): "I [reviewer] have no reservations in saying that SMAC
had one of the better manuals ever written for any game. [Also] SMAC did a
nice job of providing a lot of info in digestible pieces so that I
[reviewer] could easily view basic things, like what actions happened
during the current turn"...
Gameplay (4.5/5): "SMAC's greatest strength was being able to replay the
game in many different ways. The multiplayer portion was very well done
and, just like the single player, allowed me to set up customized games
with certain variables turned on/off or simply try a randomized world.".
Sound Effects/Music Score (Both 4/5): "The FX in the game were pretty good
and worked well with the gameplay. The voices and commentary in particular
were well done and of very good quality. I [reviewer] thought the music
nicely blended with the FX and worked well. On the whole I [reviwer]
thought the music worked well, wasn't annoying or distracting, and fit in
well.".
Intelligence & Difficulty (4.5/5): "From an AI standpoint, the game did
pretty well. The computer opponents were worthy adversaries and pretty
balanced at each of the difficulty levels. The computer opponents put up
good fights and seemed to understand the importance of key locations on
the map.".
Three other reviews that might have passed you by are the ones over at
GamesDomain, an 87% rating from Game-Over Magazine and GameCenter
(remember their Sneak Peek?) ?st.gc.fd.si.re

We Want Your Creations - 9 March 1999
--We promise not to keep them to hog them all to ourselves or take the
credit, but we really want your personal SMAC creations to post! Just
today, we added another map, the latest in a lineup of regular additions
to our archive over the past couple of weeks. We're more than happy to
give your talent and efforts the recognition they deserve. Lights please!

Improved Showing - 8 March 1999
--For the week of February 14-20, Alpha Centauri notched up two to grab
the #3 spot from last (Half-Life was #2 and SimCity 3000, also published
by Electronic Arts, holds #1). Nonetheless, a respectable showing thats
heading in the right direction! :-)

Your Very Own Faction - 8 March 1999
--We know some of you have been asking for it, and someone listened! A
couple of days ago, a freeware utility called ACEdit was released. It is
available now in our Files section, along with the Visual Basic runtime
files needed for it to run (if you don't already have them). So, if and
when you have a faction to submit, please do!

Wired For Praise - 8 March 1999
--SMAC has already been reviewed in Newsweek (check out the blurb in their
Feb 15 edition, citing it as setting "the gold standard for strategy") and
CNN --- now it can chalk up a plug in WIRED magazine in its name! Yes, the
April 1999 issue of WIRED features SMAC on page 164 in an article by
Wagner James Au, entitled "A World for the Taking". One of the more
memorable quotes is that "this is a game that turns conquest into a form
of interactive literature". Our thanks to AC Heaven for this tidbit.

Get Your Maps Here - 6 March 1999
--The first batch of maps for SMAC have arrived: two fictional and one
historic. Visit our Files section to download them. From there, you can
also obtain information on how to submit a file of your own!

Not CivII In Disguise - 6 March 1999
--GamerZone was not only pleased overall with SMAC's performance (4/5
starts), but even happier that it was not just 'another' CivII. "Anyone
who enjoyed Civilization or similar games, will feel right at home and
will love the new additions", reviewer Tim Tucholka wrote. Click for it
all!

Planet Buster To Be Fixed - 6 March 1999
--BR (Brian Reynolds) has said that he will fix the Planet Buster computer
player range problem in the next patch, thus confirming that there will be
a next patch.


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

YOUR SOURCE FOR STELLAR CIV!
(Mar.8) (A news item with lots of news on Stellar Civilizations which
can't be posted here. Check it out!)



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

9 March, 1999
-Review of Historical Scenario: Toussaint L'Ouverture
-Reviews of Fantasy Scenarios: Dungeon: Heroes of Beckhorn (#2) and
History of Mythology
-Review of Fictional Scenario: Europe: 2020 (#2)


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**CivLeague (hosted site)

Opinion Poll - March 07
--Members may now login and express their opinions regarding member
account expiration. We will also be presenting users with other topics in
the future.


Well, I hope that about 30K of news were enough for you :)
Markos, Apolyton CS