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Date: May 13 1999 08:42:24 EDT
From: Apolyton Announcements (Apolyton Civilization Site)
Subject: Apolyton&Friends News 6-12/May/99


Grettings everyone,

it seems that the title "Apolyton&Friends News" is here to stay(we're
still accepting ideas for something else though).
This week, beyond Apoylton and it's hosted sites, we also have news from
Historic Civilization II Scenarios, Mr Temba's site, Ultimate Civilization
II Scenarios and Maps Site, Mike Johnson's Civilization Empire, Dan-717's
Civ 2 Site, Historical Civilization II Site and Mike's Civ2 Site.

If you want to have your news included on this newsletter, contact Dustin
Dunn at dustind@concentric.net. For those who are interested in
knowing why the order is as it is, Dustin lists the sites in the order of
earliest to send him the update info for this week.

Bigest news of this week: Firaxis and Hasbro are teaming up, most possibly
for a civ3(more details will most likely be announced tomorrow), more info
on Civ2:ToT, CTP will probably be released for the BeOs platform and we're
still waiting for the first ctp patch...

If you have a civ2 site, be sure to enter in our Top Civ2 Sites list


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

ANOTHER LOOK AT ToT
(May 12, 1999) Dave Fisher of Gone Gold had the recent opportunity to test
drive Civilization: Test Of Time, by publisher Hasbro Interactive.
Apparently up until a few weeks ago, this product was a sleeping lion in
the gaming industry, announced almost one year ago at last year's E3. It
has awakened.
"... we received this build labeled "0.12.0," and dated March 30. This
appears to be close to the final release and, except for the absence of a
manual and main readme, was quite playable and enjoyable".
The design team is being spearheaded by Mick Uhl, whom you may recall was
also in charge of Conflicts In Civilization, the first add-on for CivII
produced by MicroProse, then apart of Spectrum-Holobyte, which was
released in December of '96.
Multiplayer options are, as of this build, as follows: Hot Seat; Network
(TCP/IP or IPX/SPX); Internet (TCP/IP), and Two Player DUN (Dial-Up
Networking). For those of you looking for PBEM, you're out of luck. As for
Single Play, these items are available: Original Civilization 2 (v. 1.11);
Science Fiction Game Fantasy Game; Alpha Centauri Extended Game; Begin the
Midguard Scenario, and Begin a Scenario.

Now, in brief, a quick run down on some the game's main elements, as
reported by previwer Fisher. Since we have not included all of them in
this writeup (would be too long), we invite you to read the full preview
by clicking the link above.

INTERFACE. "From game set-up to pull-down menus, the Interface look and
efficiency reflects a noticeable improvement over Civ II. Controls, hot
keys, orders and movement are essentially the same. However, graphics and
animation show a considerable leap from Civ II, and remind me of Call to
Power, or even SMAC. Sixteen-bit color brings a clarity and depth to the
worlds, along with individual unit animation. This includes troops
marching, trees blowing, fish jumping, sheat lizards grazing, fiery lava
pits, chariots, and dozens of others helping to bring vitality to the
maps. The graphical precision does suffer though, at least at this point,
in extreme close-up".

GAMEPLAY. "Of note here in 25 hours of actual play, is that there were no
crashes, glitches or bugs in evidence. Further, I found the A.I. to be
increasingly aggressive and effective on higher difficulty settings, more
so than I remembered with Civ II".

THE FANTASY GAME. "Yes, there are levels of sea floor and clouds, as well
as earth, with movement between via portals, and responsibilities for all
with each turn. The complexity is increased, but also the impressiveness
factor is enhanced with this variation".

SCIENCE-FICTION GAME. "There is a quite different twist here, in addition
to SMAC-type units and the multi-layered maps, and that is the game goal.
You win this game by developing "Earthgate Technology." To do so, you need
to engage in pure research, only fully available by way of trade with
other human and/or alien tribes".

Finally, the burning question on all our minds: should be buy this in
August (or, if delayed, whenever it comes out)? Fisher comments: "YES, if
it ships with a good manual, chart, the 10 to 15% game proper completed,
*and* is reasonably priced ($29.99, or under). This appears to be much
more than a simple add-on pack, although some will see it that way.
Earlier I spoke of "tried and true." Activision's Call to Power
disappointed in part because it strayed too far from the Meier's/Reynolds
formula for gameplay balance and ultimate impressiveness. Microprose
appears to have maintained all of that, while adding graphical
enhancements, animation, and two fabulous "new" world games - Fantasy and
Science-Fiction. I, for one, am looking forward to the final version".

Our thanks to SYLBON@aol.com for contacting us with this news item.

BETTER DAYS FOR OUR DB
(May 12, 1999) Today, after a long time, 10 not new files were in our
files database. In the following days, over 50 files, both new and
existing ones, will be added. This means that we will very soon have more
than 200 files in our database! All this is the result of the work of our
Civ2 Database Manager, Sven Muencheberg, and our helpers (Cam Hills and
Dustin Dunn in the case of the pre-mentioned files). More new files are
coming after all these, as Sven has a bit long list of files waiting to be
processed, as we say in the apolyton db language...
If you have sent us a file and haven't recieved a response, it doesn't
mean that the file hasn't been posted, or that it wont be posted. Also, it
is most probable that we wont send you a notice when we post your file, to
save time for posting other files. All requests concerning the civ2
database, new or updated files, should be send to Sven Muencheberg, at
svenm@apolyton.net.
Finally, if you would like to help us in gathering visitor ratings for
files in our database, please contact Dan or Mark.

FIRAXIS & HASBRO TEAM UP!
(May 6, 1999) Seems like dreams come true. According to CGO, Firaxis and
Hasbro(owner of Microprose) are joining forces for a new title! Nothing
else is yet known, but suddenly the name "Civilization III", came to our
mind for an unexplained reason. From the article the agreement seems
definite but nothing is being said officially yet. Our big thanks to Jimbo
for the news tip

*Site Updates
12.May 10 Existing files in Database
10.May Our links page is now a Top Sites list!
8.May Column #40; By R. Plump

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

Borehole Cluster Scenario
--(12 May) Firaxis released a new scenario for smac, the Borehole Cluster
Scenario. According to the description
"On a distant continent, expeditionary forces of four factions have
established toeholds surrounding the mysterious alien artifact known as
The Borehole Cluster. The Believers and the Hive have joined forces to
control the artifact; the Spartans and the Gaians have teamed up to wrest
control of this important objective. Your goal is to work with your ally
to control Blessed Saviour and Song of Planet."
Also, view the readme file. Finally, for all things concerning our files
archive, contact Pythagoras, our SMAC Database Manager, at
pythagoras@apolyton.net.

No Explanation Necessary
--(12 May) Nothing says it better then an --- ace. strategyXtreme.com has
given SMAC a perfect score in its review. Despite they find that it is
difficult to get into, everything else is right on target.
"Alpha Centauri is one small step for strategy gamers, and one huge time
sink for mankind. While the game is arguably "more of the same," the
turn-based strategy market isn't overwhelmed like the real-time strategy
or first person shooter markets. While Firaxis takes small steps forward
with RT, sound and design, this game was crying for a huge leap in AI and
interface to solve the end-game slowdown. Still, many argue the end game
slow down is a part of genre and it can't be solved without perilously
altering the game. If you even think you'd enjoy strategy games, buy this
game".

That's The Stuff
--(12 May) Yeah, you could say the title used in the headline is the
"all-purpose" statement of the 90's. This is how I felt after checking out
a website with a "run" of cartoons with SMAC front and center, after
reading an email from site visitor Christopher Nice. The comic is entitled
"User Friendly", written by Illaid. To date, two comics have been produced
and we'll be updating this article as more are posted on this
publication's official website.

Sixty-Six Pages Of Tips
--(11 May) That's the size you can expect PC Gamer (UK)'s free Hints &
Tips book for SMAC with their June '99 issue. It explains things such as
the Factions System, Base Management, Resources and Diplomacy. There are
also technology trees for all the factions! Our thanks to fellow affliate
Matt Lowe, aka Agent Reckless, from Caesar 3 Heaven for the note.

Legendary Production
--(10 May) What's seven + eight + nine + nine + ten + seven + seven and a
half? Mathematically it's 57.5, but that's not what it means in Games
Overdose's John Kanellopoulos in his review of SMAC. He writes that "Alpha
Centauri was characterised as the sequel to Civilization II and I can not
but agree. AC is an enhanced Civilization II. There are a lot of new
features and old ones renamed, all of them supported by a strong and solid
scenario that starts where Civ II ended".
Now, let's examine the first four categories respectively. One-liners are
key indicators in this review!
Graphics: "The graphics of the game are satisfactory. Nothing special or
worth mentioning".
Sound? "The music themes are nice and something to the overall atmosphere
of the game which is rather depressing and unearthly naturaly speaking.
The sound effects are very
poor and are event triggered (an explosion, bombardment etc)".
Interface... "The interface is really good. If you have played
Civilization you will not need more than an hour to become accustomed to
the changes".
Last but not least, the literature. "The documentation of the manual is a
small wonder. The manual is 250 pages and contains everything".
So, what advise does Kanellopoulos offer in closing? "If you are a fan of
the area and experienced enough go and get it. Novice gamers should better
start with a game with less options".

Firaxis Conrfims
--(9 May) We contacted Lindsay Riehl, Firaxis' PR, on the "Firaxis-Hasbro
join forces" story, and she confirmed it!
"Firaxis is excited to be in the unique position to be able to work with
Hasbro and Electronic Arts, two of the most talented and powerful
publishers in the industry. We'll be making a full announcement at E3 and
will be able to provide more details on our partnership with Hasbro at
that time. "
According to Gamecenter, the announcement should be made on the 14th.

Firaxis & Hasbro Team up!
--(6 May) Seems like dreams come true. According to CGO, Firaxis and
Hasbro(owner of Microprose) are joining forces for a new title! Nothing
else is yet known, but suddenly the name "Civilization III", came to our
mind for an unexplained reason. From the article the agreement seems
definite but nothing is being said officially yet. Our big thanks to Jimbo
for the news tip

*Site Updates
12 May 1999: Borehole Cluster Scenario posted. News archived
6 May 1999: ACEdit 2 and Eden map in the Database.


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

GET IT. IT'S WORTH IT.
(May 12) What better way(for Activision) to close a review. Slashdot, one
of the best linux sites, reviewed the linux port of CTP. The reviewer, a
old-time civ fan ends the review with a comparison(in his opinion always)
with smac: "Alpha Centauri is truly revolutionary, but Civ:CTP is
incredible. Alpha Centauri is the Shakespeare to Civ:CTP's Ben Jonson. My
bottom line: Get it. It's worth. I give it a 29 on a scale of 13-32."

STILL ON THE TOP 3...
(May 12) On the PC Data weekly sales listing, CTP is surpassed by SC3000,
but keeps the third position for a second week. On the first position,
Disney's "Bugs Life: Active Play"(at a price of $19). As usual, the list
is based on number of units sold in the US.

WINNING CTP
(May 11) If there is one man who can help you win a game, it surely is
its' designer! William Westwater gives his strategy combined in the words
"river, ocean, mountain, stack, bombard". Check it out in the second
article of the Developer's Corner.

ONE MORE REVIEW
(May 11) If you though the ctp reviews are over, you're wrong. The latest
was from "Rainbow-PCM Reviews On-Line". The reviewer had mixed feelings
from the beggining. "There are so many things we like about this latest
version of what is probably the greatest turn-based strategy game ever
made that its almost a sin to nit-pick . . . but maybe, just maybe, it
isn't nit-picking after all.", to the end "Why aren't we wild about C:CTP?
I don't know, but it needs something. Perhaps the patches will fix some of
the problems. In the meantime, for all these complaints, I am happily
playing the game. I just wish it had a better feel." Let's see how the
patch will affect critics' opinions...

HANDEYE LIKES IT
(May 11) Reviewer James Brief of HandyEye.com has taken a likely to Loki
Entertainment's Linux port of CTP. In his review, he makes no mistake in
letting his feelings known.
"Civilization: Call to Power for Linux is not simply the newest chapter in
the vastly popular Civilization series. It does not have the Sid Meier
seal of quality that has been telling gamers for years that this game will
keep you up for hours at a time and shock you when you notice that it is
5:18 AM and you have to get up in 42 minutes. Thankfully, due to the
perseverance of the port specialists, artists and composers at Activision
and Linux porter Loki Entertainment, Civ:CTP is one of the most beautiful
games to come out since, well CivII"! Brief goes onto say that CTP "is
one of the most engrossing games in years. The "let's make a Quake clone"
syndrome which seemed to plague the industry in 1997-98 is over. Civ:CTP
is as original as late 1998 titles like Halflife and Oddworld, yet it
still harkens back to its rich Civilization ancestry while introducing
entirely new features. Overall, the pros heavily outweigh the minimal
cons. Civ:CTP is a wonderful game which you will be playing over and
over".
Happy Civ'ing!

FEEL GOOD REVIEW
(May 10) John Kanellopoulos of Games Overdose has stated that CTP "is by
far the best strategy game I have ever played in my 15-year gaming
experience. It has excellent graphics, for the category, ideal music and
fantastic gameplay". Kanellopoulos also compliments the accompanying
manual. "Ideal work coming from a company that has earned my respect in
this area. The 100+ pages manual, printed on quality paper, reminded me of
the old pen and paper games where the manuals were of major importance".
How does he sum it all up? "The game is a real value for your money.
Dozens of hours spend joyfully, managing the fate of your tribe from the
struggle for survival to the fight for dominance. If you are a
strategy-game player go out and buy it without giving it a second thought.
If you are not, it is high time that you started. A superb game that will
stay in my heart for a long time". Chalk it up with a overall 94% grade,
and you've got one satisfied customer.

DIFFERENT FLAVOURED CIV
(May 10) That's essentially how Editor Cameron D. of Hotgames.com feels
about Activision's entrance product into the Civilization genre. The
review only scratches the surface, so don't go looking for new meat to
chew on here. Nevertheless, it gives you a general overview of the
product.
"You'll immediately notice the changes made to the user interface... for
instance, you can adjust how much of your city's production and labor goes
towards academia, food or the military. You can even queue buildings and
construction, making life a lot easier in the long run. Is it better than
the classic Civilization II? Well, no, but it's not worse, either. It's
certainly different enough to give old hands something new to play into
the long hours. If you're not afraid of trying something new, we think
Call To Power will let you live out your megalomaniac dreams".
Any takers?

NEWS FROM LOKI
(May 7) Loki Entertainment has recently redesigned and updated their
website with some new information for all you anxious Linux Civ'ers out
there!
"Contrary to our earlier news flash, we will be shipping version 1.0.
Customers can download next week a patch for 1.1. This patch will fix
bugs, provide some UI enhancements and provide network compatibility
between the Linux and Windows versions. We apologize for any confusion,
and hope you'll appreciate receiving the 1.0 product now, rather than
waiting another few weeks for version 1.1 to be mass-produced".
In addition, after reading several discussion threads on the port, Loki
has clarified what is being shipped at this point.
"We need to clarify that we are shipping the English version this week to
all pre-orders. Next week we begin shipping the English version in mass
quantities to the retail stores. The French and German versions will be
next, followed in a few weeks by the Italian and Spanish. Apologies for
any inconvenience (or rabidity) this may cause".
If you would like to change your pre-order as a result, visit Loki's site
for how to do so.

BeOS!!!
(May 6) Yes BeOS. Wildcard Design, a company devoted on bringing compter
games on the BeOs platform, has announced on it's website that they are
"is finalizing a deal with Activision and Hasbro to port their greatly
anticipated 'Civilization: Call to Power' game to the BeOS!". If this
comes true, CTP will be one of the very few games to be played on such a
variety of machines and operatings systems. Many thanks to Kevin who
informed us.

PATCH? NEXT WEEK
(May 6) John Heinecke posted a new "status report" on our forums, and is
saying that the patch will not make it this week, as Q&A found some
problems. The release has been pushed back for early next week, probably
Tuesday.


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

GALCIV FOR WINDOWS
(May. 11) You read right. Full development of a fully-Windows compatible
(95/98/NT) version of Stardock Systems' Galactic Civilizations. It is
reported that it will begin full development this summer. Brad Wardell of
Stardock made the announcement in the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic
newsgroup a few days ago.
"It'll run at 1024x768x65,000 colors, be multithreaded, and also be
multiplayer ala Entrepreneur and Monopolization with a match making
service", Wardell states. "It is turn based but multiplayer would be
sim-turn based to keep things moving at a decent pace. It would have
expanded diplomacy and economics in it as well as maintaining it's
straight forward tactical combat system.
The Windows version would have state of the art graphics and sound and
cutscnes. Which brings up another difference, unlike say Starcraft where
you have a set story line, GalCiv is meant to be played so that each game
is a very unique experience. Tons of events (which would be expanded on in
the Windows version) are available and randomly called upon to spice
things up".


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

5/12/99: The revolt of Alpujarras by Jesús Muñoz added (with a new
scenario page look).
5/10/99: New huge terrains file by Blackclove added on the Terrains page.
5/6/99: New scenarios today are Pope Patrick and Underdark by Mr. Temba. I
also added the sound files for Techumseh's scenarios. Also some other
minor fixes.


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

More Improvements
--(May 10) As you can see we have improved the navigation bar above, it is
now much like the AlphaLeague navigation bar. We have also updated the
handbook.

Improved Main Page
--(May 8) The main page has been updated so that you can now view the news
and login to your account from (and only from) the home page.


----------------------------
**AlphaLeague(hosted site)

One Day Blood Bath Tournament
--(May 11) How many games of pure blood-bath SMAC can you handle in one
day? We're about to find out. For you diplomats out there your time is
coming, but this event will concentrate on one thing; blood. On Saturday
May 22nd we will hold a one-on-one, tiny map tournament. What makes this
unique is that all the games for this tournament will be held in the same
day. The rules are as follows

At Long Last
--(May 10) The handbook and send note system are now up. So, read the
handbook, then login and send some notes.


================================
Here are the updates of small Civ sites this week:

--------------------------
Historic Civilization II Scenarios

Recently I have added a 'Great Northern War' scenario with Sweden,
Poland-Saxony, Prussia, Hannover, Neutral German States, and Russia as
powers. Landlocked Russia wants to gain access to the Baltic, everyone
else wants to stop them. I have also added a tips section giving some
strategy advice some of which even seasoned players won't know.

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

06/05/99- Added a link to Allard and Andrews Civilization II Page where
Underdark and Pope Patrick are now being hosted. Many new results for the
surveys, added Nsinger988s "Supermod" to the mods section.
07/05/99- Added the L Gov and Edited HP/FP modpacks in the CTP Mods
section.

--------------------------
Ultimate Civilization II Scenarios and Maps Site

09/05/99- 3 scenarios added, made by Jesús Muñoz, 1 link added. I did
bought Call To Power a week ago and I must say that I am very disappointed
many of the historic civilizations are removed (like the Cartagians) and
civilizations like the Canadians(!) are added. So I'm still going to do
scenarios for Civilization II for a while. And now you can download Mike
Jeszenka's scenarios again. Soon I will buy a .nu address and move the
site there.
11/05/99- The site are added to the Apolyton Top Site forum vote for me by
clicking the Apolyton Banner. I now that some of the scenarios still
doesn't work, I'll fix it this week I hope. I think I'm going to do a
scenario about the Winter War 1939 Finns Vs. Russians if ebyone want to
help to get fact or something just mailme!

--------------------------
Mike Johnson's Civilization Empire
This Week-
SMAC site: Star Trek and Star Wars faction page online. Utilities section
online. New SMAC2 modpack coming, page about the pack will be online soon.
CTP site: Modpack section coming soon.

--------------------------
Dan-717's Civ 2 Site

Updates from the past few weeks:
- Updated news section regarding recent Call to Power developments
- Updated links to add Clive Lott's Civ Page
- Overhaul of many of the backgrounds on the page

--------------------------
Historical Civilization II Site

10/05/99- Now that Crousto has programmed a nifty little utility to
convert Fantastic World games to work without the Fantastic Worlds patch,
using the findings of my investigation, I've re-written my Utilities page
to index lots of nifty utilities for Civ2 out there.

- Also, just below this section is an image for the Apolyton Top Civ2
Sites, and I would like to see people register their support for this site
by clicking on it, which registers a vote. Damned competitive, this
running a non-profit community Civ2 site buisness.

- I've updated the conversion page below to list some historical scenarios
that are Fantastic Worlds only and are suitable for conversion. This page
also includes information on exactly why these are suitable, information
warning against attempting to convert and play non-suitable scenarios, and
information and ideas about a possible conversion for Multi-player
scenarios.

- Big update today, yes? Dustin Dunn, in cooperation with the Apolyton
team, now compiles Civ2 site update information, which is then distributed
with the Apolyton newsletter. This project has my wholehearted support and
I would like people to take advantage of this by subscribing to the
newsletter. That feature is towards the bottom of the page, and asks for
some basic information, only the e-mail address that you would like the
newsletter to go to is vital.

--------------------------
Mike's Civ2 Site

5/8/99- Preview of a new scenario, Darius the Great, by Stefan Hartel, is
up in the preview section. Check it out! SHANNARA PROGRESS: I have begun
to work on chapter 4 and will have it playtested in a couple of days.

5/11/99- A few minor updates to this site, like the Apolyton Newsletter.
Mark Laanen and I will be taking over the Scenario League now that
Blackclove is can't commit to it anymore.

================================

That was all for this week, ladies and gentlemen...

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

ps. back to some good numbers, 27kb of news :)