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Date: Feb 17 1999 10:40:09 EST
From: Apolyton Announcements (Apolyton Civilization Site)
Subject: Apolyton News 8-11/Feb/99


Greetings to everyone. Sorry for the delay, it wont happen again(probably
:)). Due to the fact that Listbot limits our messages to 10KBs here's the
news not of the all the last week but for 8-11/Feb/99.

The big news of those days was the release of SMAC in the US(did you get
your copy??)

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

Site Updates
11.Feb Small update on tournament page

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

*News
MORE KARPAS (Feb. 11)
Peter Karpas gave some info on couple things. Regarding the number of cd's
for LAN play:
"For LAN play, we originally intended to do it the Warcraft II way -- 1 CD
for 3 players, 2 CD's for 6 players, and 3 CD's for 8 players. However, it
currently stands at 1 CD for 8 players, and we may in fact leave it that
way.".
About the requirement of the cd in order for the game to play
"We have not yet decided whether to require the CD. That will be a last
minute decision".
Finally on the possible resolutions:
"Civ:CTP looks best at 1024x768 (higher resolutions are almost always
better). We also have 800x600 and 640x480 resolutions to provide the
broadest range of support and gamer choice (some people prefer lower
resolutions because it makes everything bigger)."

KARPAS ON LAWYERS (Feb. 9)
If you find the lawyer units a bit unrealistic or funny, Peter Karpas of
Activision has the answer:
Lawyer's don't kill units in Civilization: Call to Power. They, like the
other unconventional warfare units, are non-militaristic and are easily
killed by anything that is militaristic. If you're at war, lawyers may be
helpful, but probably won't be.
History has shown quite clearly that not all wars are fought on the
battlefield. Let's just look at modern times. Radio Free Europe is an
example of propaganda warfare the West used against the Communist Bloc.
Economic warfare happens all the time amon g modern day countries -- in
the form of treaties, taxes on imported goods, etc. Ever read articles on
the difficulties some American companies have in setting up businesses in
Japan, most of which end up in the courts, and all of which significantly
slow their entry (and therefore their production) into that market?
In the end, the purpose of the unconventional warfare units is to try to
fill in some of the gray area between "I'm at war with you" and "I'm not
at war with you." In a post I made a while ago I said this, and it still
holds true: "The point of the cler ic and lawyer units and all the other
unconventional warfare units isn't to be clever -- it's to provide the
player with new strategies, better strategies, more flexibility in
weakening opponents, and, overall, allow for greater creativity and fun in
how you play."


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

*News
More Reviews - 11 February 1999
--It seems like everyone is reviewing SMAC! Computer Games Online gives
4/5, Gamepower 4/4, Gamesmania 9/10 and finally, PCGamer UK in the latest
issue gave SMAC a 91%(Civ2 had scored 96%). ?article=/articles/017/164/alpha_centauri_review.html">

SMAC in the US! - 9 February 1999
--SMAC is starting to ship in the US! According to Adrenaline Vault it has
shipped tonight. EBWorld now lists SMAC as "ships withing 24 hours".
According to Andrew Solovay, who've sent us a note about it, his local EBX
says they'll have it in stock tomorrow. Check your local computer stores!
Alpha HQ goes live - 9 February 1999
--As SMAC is reaching the hands of people, Alpha HQ has gone online. Alpha
HQ is Firaxis' free matchmaking service which allows to meet, chat and
engage other Alpha Centauri players from all over the world. If you
already have SMAC you should be there...

Usenet Mania - 9 February 1999
--Brian Reynolds is back on the newsgroups, and we've gathered several
post of his. BR talks about the difficulty levels, diplomacy, the score
formula, and much more. Check it out.

Tim's interviews - 9 February 1999
--Tim Train gave an interview on Stratics.com, dont miss it. ACN also had
an interview of Tim Train a couple days ago, check it out.

Story Episode 35 - 9 February 1999
--Story episode 35 is posted. It is 9 pages long(!) and concludes the
story since the release time of the game has come. "Pria! Pravin saw her,
haloed in soft blue light..."

SMAC in Australia! - 8 February 1999
--While Americans and Europeans still wait for the release of SMAC, the
Australians have it now! :) Mishra reported to us that he is one of the
first happy owners of SMAC. The game comes with a large manual, about the
size of the Civ2 one, a poster with the technology tree, an installation
guide and 1 CD. As far as Europe is concerned, Michael Bradley has been
told that that SMAC will be available in the UK on Feb 19th. So, unless
you have a friend in Australia...

Leagues and ladders - 8 February 1999
--SMACleague v. 1.0 is on at the Alpha Centauri Zone. More features will
be added as time permits. SMACleague will rank players of all types of
SMAC games, including hotseat, pbem and even single-player. 80 people
registered so far. On another note, CivLeague is planning to create a
ladder and host tournaments once the game is out. CivLeague now does the
same for Civ2:MGE and has almost 500 members.

*Site Updates
8 February 1999: 10,000 SMAC visitors in our first 24 days on Apolyton.
Thank you!


----------------------------
**Civ2 for Mac Section /mac
Maintained by Romulo Romero

2/11 Civ II Gold Beta released! Civ II gold v1.0a5 has gone out to the
beta testers! The game looks great! Multiplayer is in but I have not tried
it yet. I'll try to have some screenshots and some details ASAP.


----------------------------
**CivLeague (hosted site)

Report Win - February 10
--I was sitting at my computer wondering why no one had reported any wins
in the tournament. Then it struck me "You idiot," I said, "You never
turned on the tournament option on the report win page." So it will be
turned on some time tonight. Because of this and other problems, we are
going to extend the first round until this Monday (so you MUST report by
Monday the 15th at 3:00 pm cst), however as second round games are posted
(some should be posted tomorrow) you may go ahead and play those. Second
round games need to be reported by Monday the 22nd. Sorry.


----------------------------
**A&A's Site. (hosted site)

2/9/99: I have finally been able to update. I have fixed all of the errors
in the scenario pages (there were quite a few, I found). If you find any
others, please notify me right away so I can fix it. I have also put up
John Petroski's "Up the Deadly Boot" scenario, and a brand new scenario
preview page for our Operation Barbarossa scenario. Two great new
scenarios have been released, which I will upload tommorow along with the
scenario contest entries. One scenario is on the Haitian revolution, the
other is on the 100 years war. I am sorry if I am a little slow to update
this month, but I have an excessive workload (I have to read 6 books in 5
weeks!), and will update when I can, but won't be able to do so as often
as before. I suggest everyone vote for their favorite contest entry at
the Scenario League Forums. And on a last, and quite upbeat note, I have
gladly
accepted the Silver Fleece Award from the good people at the Spanish Civ
2 site.



That was all for now, ladies and gentlemen.
Depending on the amount of the last few days' news we might send our next
annoucenement before the weekend. Check out today an interview with Tim
Train on the SMAC section(not posted in the time of writing) and some news
CTP screens....

Markos Giannopoulos
Apolyton Civilization Site