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Date: Feb 21 1999 17:27:11 EST
From: Apolyton Announcements (Apolyton Civilization Site)
Subject: Apolyton News 17-19/Feb/99


Greetings to everyone. Here are the news for the period 17-19/Feb/99

The big stuff of these days was of course our interview of Tim Train

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

*News
WHAT HAVE WE HERE? February 19, 1999
By pure chance, Apolyton's very own DanQ stumbled across a full-page
advertisement for it in the November 1997 edition of Family PC magazine
and made this most interesting discovery. Given the time when the magainze
was in active circulation, this would place it shortly before FW's final
release. Compared to the version we have known to grown to love (or love
to hate), the 'alternate' sports a sleeker look in appearance. Notice
that the "splash" image is the same that appeared on the cover of both
Civilization II and the earlier add-on's, Conflicts In Civilization,
cover. It did not make it to the 'final' version. We emailed MPS recently
asking for confirmation on our deductions and anticipate a reply shortly.
If it is not what we suspect, then what's the answer? Otherwise, if it is
in fact what we suspect, why was it scrapped? Was it a last-minute
decision? Something to think about. While we're waiting, feel free to
take a glance at the entire ad.


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

"PRETTY DARN GOOD" (Feb. 19)
IGN recently began to test drive the beta of CTP and have updated their
ever growing favourable preview of it; in his update yesterday, Trent Ward
went into his greatest detail yet on many different aspects of the game.
(He has promised more to come). Yes, the title above is a direct quote
from the preview, so go check it out already!

LINUX PORT RELEASE TIMELINE (Feb. 18)
Now, Scott Draeker clarifying the status of the Linux port of C:CTP:
"We are not doing a simultaneous release [of CTP]. The official word is
"shortly after," which means that we're working on code a week or two
older than what Activision has at any given time. That way we get all of
the hard work out of the way early. Once Activision goes gold, we'll
incorporate the final changes and test it out. Assuming the last round of
changes doesn't raise significant new issues, we should ship within a few
weeks of the PC version."
Founded less than a year ago, Loki Entertainment, whom has been liscensed
to produce the port, has also promised a beta-test signup on their website
before its release. Our thanks to Don Brodale for providing this news tip,
which originated on linuxgames.com.

PASS THE POPCORN (Feb. 17)
Four CTP-related movies popped {grin} up on Activision's FTP server this
past week. They appear to be the multimedia components to various Wonders
that your civilization can strive to achieve in the game. One of them is
an ESP center(reading thoughts), and another is Guttenburg printing
press... undoubtedly one of the greatest inventions of mankind, with the
computer standing side-by-side. Of those two, the former has a hint of
humour! Browse our Downloads page and let the presentations begin.

RANDOM MAP SCREENS (Feb. 17)
Lordstone asked on our forums about the random map generator, Lt. John not
only answered, but also sent us three screenshots showing the random map
interface and two examples of random maps. Thanks John!

LOTS OF INFO FROM POSTER (Feb. 17)
Sometimes, when you have some information that not many people have, you
want to share. I guess that the reason Ray Kerby created an enormous list
of all the advances, improvements, wonders and units for the free poster
that he got when he pre-ordered C:CTP. See also a summary of the Gamespot
preview.


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

An Unforgettable Event - 19 February 1999
--Last night, I had the opportunity to meet and chat with two of if not
the greatest computer game developers in the industry. Although these
conversations were not direct in nature and lasted just an hour, it was a
priceless investment of my time. I have nothing but praise for how Sid
(Meier) and Brian (Reynolds) handled themselves during the course of the
discussions. I also extend my thanks to the moderator and other members
from EB World, who co-hosted the event with Firaxis' top guns. While we
are waiting for the complete, official transcript from EBWorld, I submit
my report on the evening's events. Remember, you read it on Apolyton
first! =)

Gotta Love It! - 18 February 1999
--SMAC continues to rake in the high-fives and thumbs-up from all corners
of the gaming industry. In GameSpot UK's conclusion to its review, they
conclude that "Alpha Centauri delivers in spades" and that they "honestly
don't expect to see a better turn-based game this year". This sentiment is
complemented by their 96% approval rating of the final product. Smile Sid!
:)

Amazon.com Parlays Sid - 18 February 1999
--Amazon.com, known best for its large online distribution network of
books, talked recently with Sid Meier about SMAC. Short but sweet, the man
widely considered the father of all that is turn-based strategy fielded
questions such as the similarities and contrasts between it and CivII and
what the most challenging aspect of SMAC's development was.

Tim on Art Interview - 17 February 1999
--You guessed right (probably anyway). We are happy to have an new
interview of Tim Train. We asked Tim about SMAC's graphics and the
decisions behind them. Lots of interesting stuff to read (really!); the
most interesting was how the team chose to go with 8-bit colors...

Starlight, Starbright: SMAC's Hot - 17 February 1999
--If first impressions are any indication, SMAC is destined to become
classic. GamePost contacted us today regarding their take on Firaxis'
latest effort, all 93% of it! Here's what webmaster LordBiO had to say:
"Alpha Centuari is the most addictive game ever, managing to hook me
deeper than even Civilization did with its intellectual sophistication,
slick plot, and cool feel. The gameplay is simple, so intuitive it's all
point, click, and occasionally memorize the shortcuts on the keyboard.
Move your units from area to another, build cities, terraform areas,
develop farms, drill mines and boreholes it's all at the touch of your
fingers, and referenced, indexed, and easy to look up in the online
Datalinks section." Go read their full review here.

Patching Things Up -17 February 1999
--Before applying the 2.0 SMAC beta you will need to restore any text
files that you've modified back to their old versions before running the
patch. If the patch program encounters any modified text files it will
become confused and exit prematurely without properly updating the game.
If you didn't save a clean version of the text files you'll need to copy
them over from the CD. They will be write protected so you'll have to use
the DOS command ATTRIB *.txt -r to turn write protection off and then
apply the patch. The patch program may also have difficulty if the game
was installed to a different directory than the default directory you'll
need to browse into that directory from within the patch program.

SMAC in Europe(sort of) - 17 February 1999
--SMAC is starting to arrive in Europe. It seems to be out at least in
Germany, Norway(info from David Dunwoody), Finland, Sweden and
Switzerland. It seems that it hasn't reached UK yet though. I wonder when
it will come to Greece...


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

2/18/99: I, Allard, have uploaded two new scenarios. "The Third Reich" by
Michael Jeszenka and "World War 1" by John Petroski. Also I have uploaded
a new unit collection, available on any units page./scenario/reich.shtml">/scenario/ww1.shtml">/units.shtml">


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

Tournament Second Round - Wednesday, February 17
--Games for the second round of the tournament have been post on the
bracket page, these games need to be reported by 3:00 p.m. cst on Tuseday
the 23rd. - Blue Waldo


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

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Ships - But How Does It Measure Up?
--February 17, 1999 - Some quick thoughts about Sid Meier's Alpha
Centauri. How does it measure up as a game? How good is the scenario
editing facility? The Scenario League's first impressions of SMAC.

Voting Closed on Africa Design Contest
--February 17, 1999 - It's finally over - and we'll have news about the
winners in a few days. For now, we comment briefly on the close of the
contest and evaluate the prospects for the future.

New design tips:
"Embedded" Events
Flags and civilization colors
Update to barbarians tip

Review of Historical Scenario: Up the Deadly Boot


That was all for now, until next time
Markos Giannopoulos
Apolyton Civilization Site