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Date: Oct 14 1999 18:16:46 EDT
From: "Apolyton Announcements (Apolyton Civilization Site)"
Subject: Apolyton&Friends News 1-13/October/99


Greetings everyone,
sorry for not sending the newsletter last week,
these are the news of October 1-13

On Apolyton, the big news is our Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire. The release
is set for Octber 20th and the demo is out. Other than that, a lot of good
smac and ctp files were posted, news, Hall of Fame updates, forum
upgrades, too many stuff to mention here! :)

In the "Friends" part of the newsletter, news from Oliver The Amazings
Civilisation II Site, Fantastic Worlds: Jorrit's Civilization II Page and
MJ's Civilization Empire.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=========
----------------------------
**Alpha Centauri Section

Awsome Map Utility!
--(October 13 1999) It's really a utility of great value. A must have for
everyone interested in map and scenario making for smac. Simply said C.A.
Flinchbaugh's MapUtility 1.0, can load a digital elevation terrain map in
grey-scale .pcx bitmap format, a Civ II map, a Sid Meier Alpha Centauri
map, or a Railroad Tycoon II map, and save in (in any legal map size) any
of the 3 games map formats. What else do you need?

First SMACX Scenario!
--(October 13 1999) By who else? Tres of Xenofungus, of course. AlterWars
: H2Ostile is a 2-player scenario, using two of SMACX's factions: the
Nautilus Pirates and the Manifold Caretakers. Some of the faction graphics
for the Spartan and the Gaians are replaced(but backups of the originals
are also provided). For more info, check the official page.

Rate the SMACX Demo
--(October 10 1999) In our 8th poll, we ask you to rate the SMACX demo,
assuming that you have downloaded it. 5 Is best, 1 is worst... So, is it
worth the download? As for the previous poll, see below.

Alien Crossfire, You'll Buy it!
--(October 10 1999) No this isn't part of an EA marketing technique using
mind control technology to order everyone to by SMACX . Our "What do you
think of Alien Crossfire?" poll is over, and seems like smacers will buy
SMACX on Day One! Detailed, here are the final results
I'll definitely buy it! -- 620 / 53%
I'll wait for reviews and players comments -- 270 / 23%
Sounds ok, but I wont pay $30 -- 191 / 16%
Not a chance -- 16 / 1%
I haven't decided yet -- 47 / 4%
I simply don't care -- 23 / 1%

SMAC-X First-Hand Account
(October 8 1999) It didn't take very long for an eager SMAC fan to show
his appreciation for SMAC-X and release a comprehensive list of what's new
in the highly anticipated Alien Crossfire add-on. Originally posted in our
forums, we reproduce it here. Thanks korn469!
--

Alien Crossfire Pricing
--(October 8 1999)
Although it's still over a week until public release, why not start
setting up a "price comparison" for Alien Crossfire?
After conducting a recent search on BottomDollar, the results were as
listed below:
OnSale.COM: (Unit Price) $22.33US + (Shipping/Handling) $4.95US = $27.28US
The Dragon's Den: $24.95US; $39.95CA
Beyond.COM: (Unit Price) $24.99US + (Shipping/Handling MIN.) $4.95US =
$29.44US -- International Orders' Shipping/Handling is $24.95US+!
ComputeAmerica: (Unit Price) $26.97US + (Shipping/Handling MIN.) + $7.50US
= $34.47US -- International Orders' Shipping/Handling is $40.00US+!!

SMACX DEMO, NOW!
--(October 7 1999) As we had posted, the smacx demo was released today on
Gamecenter. The size is 23MB, and most probably doesnt have videos. I'll
just go to download it now, thanks to BKrani who found the link first and
psoted about it on our forums. ?st.gc.fd.t5.td

HoF Update
--(October 7 1999) First of all, sorry for not updating the HOF pages for
so long. Lots of other things to update, so... :) Anyway, the first bunch
of saved games to be posted is here. Lots of changes in the top places of
several HoFs, check them out. More, next week. By the way, we encourage
everyone to download the saved games and check for the accuracy and the
fairness of the listings.

Owo Forums Close
--(October 7 1999) A chapter of the history of SMAC ended today, as the
official smac forums on alpwa.owo.com closed today. With lots of "noise"
and noone to "clean" it up, one could only seeing it coming. The
replacement is the two new smac forums on Firaxis' site: Alien Crossfire
and Support.

SMACX Section!
--(October 6 1999) Waiting for the release of Alien Crossfire,
anticipating for it's demo today or tomorrow, we've gathered all the SMACX
related info and we present it to you on our Alien Crossfire Section. All
the news about it, the story, the factions, the polls, everything. We hope
that you find it helpfull. ?X

Comic Preview on Flash
--(October 5 1999) The preview of the recently announced smac-based comic
"Power of the Mindworms" can be now viewed at the official site. The
interesting is that Flash technology is used, creating a pretty good feel.
Read on!

SMACX Demo Details!
--(October 4 1999) Three days ago we were saying "We don't know yet what
the limitations of the demo will be"... Now we do! :) In Tim Train's own
words:
"The demo will have two of the seven new factions: the Manifold Caretakers
and the Nautilus Pirates. These new factions may be played with five of
the old factions (the Morgans and Peacekeepers are not in the demo). The
demo takes place on the new world of Alpha Centauri, with new techs,
native life forms, base facilities, landmarks, Secret Projects, and unit
types. The demo is limited to 100 turns, 10 bases maximum, and no
technologies above level five. There are various miscellaneous features
disabled, such as the ability to load custom factions or play multiplayer,
same as the original demo"
Only a couple days away!

AlterWars: Frontline Assembly
--(October 4 1999) New multiplayer targetted scenario by Tres has arrived
in our mailbox. AlterWars: Frontline Assembly v1.0(US version, there is
also a German one). The story starts like this:
"Trade Outpost CROOKED CROSS (Outer Colony Ring)
In the year 2077 Morgan Industries established a Trade Outpost on this
small world. Rich Resources and the vicinity to profitable merchant routes
made it possible to become an important part of the industrial empire of
Morgan. Three years later the fast growth of Crooked Cross attracted lots
of urban refugees to settle on this wealthy planet"
I guess you understand that this means trouble... :) More details on the
official page. In other Xenofungus news, the site has moved to sidgames
and we also now have the German version of AlterWars: Buccaneers!.

SMACX Demo Next Week
--(October 1 1999) Fino999(thanks!) sent us a note yesterday that the
SMACX Demo would be available next week. Well, it turned to be true, as
Lindsay Riehl confirmed to us that "The demo will go up Wednesday or
Thursday as a Gamecenter premier after which it will be posted on
our(official) website". We don't know yet what the limitations of the demo
will be, but it's a few days away....


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

REVIEW ROUND-UP
(October 8, 1999) Today we complete our comprehensive run-down of known
Civilization II: Test of Time reviews available online... for now. We hope
that based on these and other first-hand accounts, you will be able to
make the decision for yourself: to buy or not to buy.
GameOver (79%): "The gameplay itself hasn’t changed at all from
CivII, there are just a few primary additions and enhancements that help
revive a game that has been plodding away for three years now. The ability
to go between worlds is quite cool as well. The three new game styles
allow you to go between different ‘planets’ once you have gotten the
required technology to travel between them. It makes the game MUCH bigger.
Bigger usually makes things better, so it’s ... interesting at least.
All in all, Test of Time is a heck of a revamp for CivII. If you
don’t already have CivII or CivII Gold, then by all means, this is the
best in the package. You get more for your money in ToT, but if you’ve
already gotten CivII Gold (since the multiplayer option is a nice
feature), then you might want to pass on it".

The Gamer's Voice (2.5/5): "The big selling point for Test of Time
was the fact that you can play it in several modes: "Classic" Civ II, Civ
II Extended game, Fantasy, Science Fiction and also internet play. I
tested all modes pretty extensively and noted that the game would get very
slow at times as it was processing moves. This was most noticeable over
the Net in multiplayer mode.
There were also problems with the graphics in that they were very
dark and murky... A note to parents: This game is fine for the younger
set. There is no gore and no "adult" content. Just exploration,
development and conquest. However, the complexity level is such that I
would recommend the game for teens and older.
In conclusion, [ToT is one to buy if you’re a bonafide Civilization
fanatic and simply cannot live without the new worlds. However, if you
already have CivII, you can pass this one by, because it’s basically the
same thing with window dressing".

(October 7, 1999) Scouring the Net has resulted in the discovery of some
less-than-publicized reviews of Test of Time, but worth a look
nonetheless.
Over the next several days we'll be bringing you a quick run-down on what
we've gathered. Let's get started:
Hyper@ctive (8/10): "Among these changes" [to the graphics] "is the
addition of animation to the units, which gives them the ability to fight,
move and die more realistically. This said, press releases put out before
the release of the game indicated that animations would be incorporated
into almost every aspect of the game (resources, city, ocean, etc.),
however it seems that a rush to get the game out meant that they had to
cut back in some areas.
So you want to know if it's worth buying?... if some new animations,
some new cut-scenes and a few other new game improvements are worth the
cost to you, then go for it - otherwise you would probably be just as
happy with one of the bundled copies of CivII".
Intelligamer (3.5/5): "The gamer is now a native Windows 95
application which has a tweaked user interface that is a bit easier to use
than the original. In addition, you get extended play in the form of
multi-map games.
But really the core of the game is essentially the same. Sure,
different races have different units in the Fantasy game, by far the most
interesting of the variants, and the science fiction game is sort of like
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri in scope, but ultimately the game feels more
like a set of user created "mods" than anything else... I think the game
also has some "leaks," read bugs, in memory management.
The bottom line for Civilization II fans is this: if you must have
every Civilization II product ever sold, by all means buy this one, but
wait until the price falls. For anyone who has, for whatever reason,
missed out on one of the best games ever, buy the original and skip this
one unless you simply have to try multiplayer".
Escape Magazine (7/10): "The final result, unfortunately, is a
mishmash that makes Civ fans want to pop in the game that started it all.
The graphics have been given an overhaul, but are darker and blurrier
now. Granted, the original graphics don’t hold up, especially in the face
of Alpha Centauri, but these prevent those hours-long gaming sessions we
fondly remember. They’re simply too vague to stare at for very long
without massive eye strain... The fantasy and sci-fi scenarios are
interesting, but never really compelling.
Luckily, there’s lots of talk about this being a stopgap until
Civilization 3. While that may sound bad, it means there’s a Civ 3 on the
horizon, presumably with Meier’s participation again. That can make this
one’s failings a bit more bearable".

THE COLUMN: #66 BRIAN REYNOLDS' CivII.V? (Part I)
The legacy of the legendary Brian Reynolds, from the view of Yin

THE COLUMN: #67 BRIAN REYNOLDS' CivII.V? (Part II)
2nd Part of Yin's crazy(?) thoughts...

THE COLUMN: #68 TO KILL A BIRD
Sir David reviews the Off-Topic forum situation on Apolyton

THE COLUMN: #69 STARTING FROM SCRATCH
"Or how game designers can avoid failure", says Gregor


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

THE LIST V2, SOON
(October 4th, 1999) The summaries for version 2 of "The List" are being
finished one by one, and only two are missing. According to Yin, "In
total, about half of the threads from version 1 have been substantially
updated. Other threads didn't change that much, so no update on those."
Other than that, some of the summaries have been posted in the special
forum for that purpose. So, before the final release of version 2, you can
check the summaries for Units, Graphics, Combat, Religion, Wonders,
Terrain, Diplomacy, Economics and Movement


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

CD MOD 4.22, TRUE TERRAIN MOD 2
(October 13) Wow, ctp news have really slowed down... Still, two good
files today. First Celestial Dawn's Mod v4.22. It's only change is that
it's 100% 1.2 patch compliant(before it was about 95% :)).
Also, Wes Whitaker released version 2 of his True Terrain Mod. The changes
are: Swamps now have the values and abilities of grasslands. This allows
tropical regions to be as attractive as temperate ones. Nets cost 200 PW,
and all fisheries 600. Finally, placing Advanced Farms now costs 600 PW,
instead of 500. Oceans and rivers produce 5 gold, as they did originally".

APOLYTON PACK, MAP SP
(October 4) This should be called "The Day Of The Packs" :) Two more
packs: the Apolyton Pack v1.0, an effort to combine the best player
created files, and Skorpion59's Map Scenario Pack v1.0 Add-on, a series of
real and fictional maps. In more details:
The Apolyton Pack contains the following: Celestial Dawn's Mod v4.2 and
the graphics for it, Harlan's Graphic Mod v1.0, TP's PowerSlics v2.00,
Slax's Colors00.txt, Zaz's World maps and Uppsala's Mediterranean map. AP
uses the scenario pack feature of the 1.2 patch, which means that no
default files are overwritten, and installation and uninstallation are
pretty easy. Some problems do exist, but there ways to overcome them.
Skorpion59's Map Scenario Pack v1.0 Add-on, is an add-on for the Apolyton
Pack which contains the following maps: USA, Brittain, StdOCC, EasyOCC,
8City OCC, 8Square OCC(OCC "of course" means One City Challenge). A
"stand-alone" version of MSP will be available shortly. Skorpion59 plans
to include more maps in the future...
Well, some pretty good files are waiting for you to download :)

DUTCHEESE PACK
(October 4) The Meet the Challenge scenario has now grown to a scenario
pack, also including the following: Quick Start for Single or Hotseat
Games, Quick Start for PBEM Games, A Race for Conquest. Especially the
PBEM scenario has been an instant success in the CTP-Multiplaying forum. A
definite download(646KB) for every ctper, interested in multiplayer or not

TOM DAVIES UNITS
(October 1) Thanks to Tom Davies, we now have 16 files with unit graphics
for use in scenarios, containing a total of 91 units(most of them of
course thanks to Harlan Thompson and his 64 WW2 units collection). Tom
sent us two updates of existing files, Slinger and Swordman, as well as
two new ones, Early Light Cavalry and Spearman. Also, the Modification
page has been reworked, units and other files are now separate from the
guides and the other help texts.


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

--Oopps! Continued 10.13
Unfortunately, we were unable to restore the member table. All records
that were over-written (see below) cannot be reversed. We are asking that
each member use edit account to fix their account information. Thank you
and again we are sorry.

--Oopps! 10.09
Oopps! Through a little mishap all of our your Real Names, ICQ numbers,
email address, languages, timezones and profiles have been over written.
We are trying to restore the table. This should not have any effect on any
key features. If you go to eidt account you can change all of these values
and set them back to what they should be. Sorry.

--Tourney: A Good Day to Die 10.07
GameLeague's first tourney will be a Civ2 blood bath tourney. Read the
rules now!

--100 Members in One Week 10.04
Just one week after launching GameLeague now has over 100 members! We
would like to thank all of you for joining, but don't forget to spread the
word. Tell your friends about GameLeague. The more members we have the
more events we can have.


----------------------------
**Hodadian Award Central(hosted site)

WHEN WILL WE KNOW??? OCT.12
We will no longer be accepting ballots for the voting in the People's
Choice Awards of the Second Scenario Design Contest. Thanks to everyone
who voted. Now, here's the situation...
WE'RE NOT TELLING YOU WHEN WE WILL ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS!!!
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we will shock the world with the results at an
undetermined time! Keep your eyes on the Java Chat room, because sometime
today until NEXT MONDAY I will make an appearance in the Room to announce
the winners before they are posted here! Prepare to be shocked - and keep
that Java Chat Room full because I could announce the winners at ANY TIME!


----------------------------
**Civilization Scenario Collection(hosted site)

--(Oct 3) New unit collection in Units by Andrew Miller

--(Oct 1) New scenario in Fictional: Enemy of God, by Mr. Temba (Scenario
#11 in this section, #103 in the site)


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

SDC: Contest Decision Coming
--(October 10, 1999) The second Scenario Design Competition, hosted in
collaboration with the Hodadian Awards Central site, is over and the
official decision will be announced along with the Peoples' Choice Award
in a few days - stay tuned!

--(October 12, 1999) New Review: Galactic Guardians [Sci-Fi, 18/30]

--(October 2-3, 1999) New Review: Mars [Fantasy/Sci-Fi, 21/30]

--(October 2-3, 1999) New Design Tip: Map Transport Relationships [Test of
Time]

--(October 1, 1999) New Review: American Revolution [Historical, 16/30]


=========Apolyton's Friends News=========
--------------------------
Oliver The Amazings Civilisation II Site

- I have seen that there is an error on the webring page
() and i will be fixing it as
soon as possible, at the moment you can't sign up for the webring, if you
want to sign up then e-mail me @ mailto:oliver.allen@breathemail.net
- Please add your downloads @
- If anyone out there wants to chat i will be in the chatroom
() most saturdays at 12:00
midday(GMT) e-mail me if you want to chat @
mailto:oliver.allen@breathemail.net
- Questions or comments email me @ mailto:oliver.allen@breathemail.net
- Please report all broken links to me as well.


--------------------------
Fantastic Worlds: Jorrit's Civilization II Page

10/11/99- I added the sounds for the 'Age of Philip II' scenario.
10/09/99- I added a new link and four new scenarios, of which two are
fantasy scenarios.
- Apart from that you don't need to vote anymore, more
comments are still welcome though.
10/02/99- I posted another scenario.


--------------------------
MJ's Civilization Empire

Alpha Centauri Section:
10/09/1999 - The Alien Crossfire demo is out and I have a copy of it at my
site. since this is a small site you should be able to download it
quicker than at some of the larger sites.
- Info on the SMAC2 Fluent faction is online in the SMAC2
section.
10/04/1999 - Chapter one of the Armageddon Story is online in the SMAC2
section
10/03/1999 - SMAC2 section updated with info for the Gangemi Order
faction, and info on the epic Armageddon Scenario.



That was all for this week ladies and gentlemen,

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