JOIN NOW!

Join our Announcement List and receive a weekly newsletter about all civ games. Enter your email address... List Archive

Date: Sep 24 1999 17:49:21 EDT
From: "Apolyton Announcements (Apolyton Civilization Site)"
Subject: Apolyton News 17-23/September/99


Greetings everyone,
these are the news of the week(17-23/September)

On Apolyton, the more important news of the week are the first Tot Patch
(), the localized CTP
1.2 Patches () and the news about the Mac versions
of CTP and SMAC
On our hosted sites, the Silver Fleece Medal for September was announced
(), CSC posted it's 100th civ2
scenario and it's first ToT one and on HAC, the vote for the 2nd Scenario
Design Contest is continued...

As for the "Friends" part of the newsletter, it's not done at this
moment...


And now, in detail
=========The news from Apolyton=========
----------------------------
**Civilization II Section

FIRST ToT PATCH IS HERE
(September 23, 1999) It has arrived. Less than two months after it was
released, the first patch for Civilization II: Test of Time is now
available to the public. Documentation is included.
To download, click here (3.4MB); the file is self-extracting so you
needn't worry about having to install WinZip or any other compression
utility on your PC if you have not already done so. If you're worried
about having your download interrupted by being disconnected from your ISP
without warning, try GoZilla! which enables you to resume d'loads from
most HTTP (Web) sites.

A WRONG TURN?
(September 17, 1999) Games Domain, a little late from everyone else
(taking time to do a better review?), posted a review of Civ2: ToT. The
author covers both the good and the bad of the game, but ends with a
negative feeling: "the whole package feels a little like a fancy Gold
edition of Civ 2: Fantastic Worlds without the editor"...
Let's see the Pros and the Cons according to David Finn
"Pros: Multimap feature, Updated graphics, New worlds to explore,
Multiplayer, Great music
Cons: Navigating the multimaps, Many of the fun Civilization 2 frills have
been dropped in this update, Unbelievable system hog, Some old problems,
like pathfinding, still plague this title, Despite interesting tweaks and
additions, very little new here"
Other than that, in the footnotes we see: "Appeal: Civilization 2 fans".
Ok, then we shouldn't have any problems :)

THE COLUMN: WHAT WE CAN TEACH KIDS WITH CIV
James Cobb shows us another side of civ games

THE COLUMN: NO EXCUSES
Derek Barrett doesn't accept any excuses for a bad CivIII


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

SPANISH & FRENCH PATCHES!
(September 21) Next week, they said, next week they deliver. Patches v1.2
for the Spanish and the French CTP fans are here. As for what they
contain, look at the news item below about the english patch. The one
remaining localized version is the Italian one, which is still in QA. (Spanish) (French)

LOKI HACK 99!
(September 17) Today is raining news :) Loki, Activision and the Atlanta
Linux Enthusiasts announced today Loki Hack 1999 to be held on October 11
through 13 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta in conjunction with the
Atlanta Linux Showcase. According to the official press release
"During Loki Hack, up to 30 qualified hackers will have 48 hours in a
secure setting to make alterations to the Linux source code for this game.
In turn Loki will make available in binary form all resulting work from
the contest. Winners of this unique contest will be announced during the
Atlanta Linux Showcase. First prize will be a dual-processor workstation
(running Linux of course)...
...The hackers will have full reign to add features, alter logic, or
implement additional library support. Upon conclusion of the contest, a
panel of judges will evaluate the hacks and award prizes to the best hack
and runners up."
Sounds amazing, isnt' it? You can apply to be one of the 30 on the
official site

GERMAN 1.2 PATCH!
(September 17) As with the first patch, the Germans are the luckiest of
the people with a localized ctp. Without further delay, here is the German
Updater v1.2. As for the rest patches, in John Heinecke's own words
"French, Italian and Spanish will follow soon, hopefully next week".

CTP FOR MAC IN OCTOBER(?)
(September 17) Well, if you remember, Westlake Interactive is working on
the Mac port of CTP(Macsoft will publish it). Well, it their Project
Status page they list CTP as coming on October! Still, it's characterized
as "First Playable", not even Alpha. Anyway, the moment we have more about
it, you'll read it here...


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

BRIAN, "STEAL" THAT PW!
(September 20th, 1999) Your answers on our fifth poll were clear: you
liked the public works idea of CTP and want to see it in Civ3. In our
"CTP's Public Works, good?" question, 35% answered simply "Yes", while
another 28% said "Yes, but could be better", for a total of 63% of
positive votes! An 18% disagreed, while a smaller 13% wants it only for
some of the tasks. Finally, 3% had no opinion about it.... So, Firaxis,
what will you do about those settlers?
On our sixth poll, we ask you about the number of civs in one game. Civ2
and SMAC had 7, while CTP allowed up to 32 with a simple edit in a text
file. What should Civ3 have?


----------------------------
**Alpha Centauri Section

Mac Users Bookmark This Page!
--(September 17 1999) In case you didnt know, Westlake Interactive is
working on a Mac port of SMAC(we also had a interview with Brad Oliver,
head of the development team). Well, if you're a mac user, you should
bookmark their Project Status page. Apparently, the mac port is in Alpha
right now, and according a to a new item on the same site:
The game is looking very good, all of the terrain and units draw, sound
effects are working, and user interface elements are working. Voice over
narration (using MP3 through QuickTime 4) sounds great. Things still to do
in the project include network support, optimizations, more cleanup, and
testing."
Sceduled release date is late '99.

Firaxis News
--(September 17 1999) Lots of news from Firaxis...
Episode 5: The fifth episode of SMACx's story is here. Title? "Snowfire
studied the sea". Yes, Snowfire! :)
Pirates: New faction from SMACx, the Pirates. A tribute to a Sid classic?
Coupon: EA offers a coupon to get SMAC(7 months after the release?) and
save 10$. The interesting about it, is that the coupon is "electronic",
you print it out to take to the store!
Mailbag: Last week's mailbag was answered by Dave Inscore, Artist. This
week's should be posted today, answered by Chris Pine.


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

--(Sep 23) Scenario Update: The Third Punic War, by Stefan H?rtel (version
2.0)

--(Sep 22) New scenario in Fantasy: Fantasy Empires, by C. C. Smith
(Scenario #9 in this section, #100 in the site)
Our first ToT scenario!

--(Sep 21) New unit collection in Units. Further, some links were updated
or added and there are a few new suggestions for Civilization III!
WE NEED MORE CIV III SUGGESTIONS!

--(Sep 21) New scenario in Fictional: The Legend of Arthur II, by Graham
Tudball (Scenario #9 in this section, #99 in the site)

--(Sep 18) New scenario in Fantasy: Mundana, by Joel Andr? (Scenario #8 in
this section, #98 in the site)


----------------------------
**Spanish Civ II Site(hosted site)

--(Sep 23) Silver Fleece Medal for September announced

--(Sep 20) Links page updated

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

Peoples' Choice Voting Begins
(September 19, 1999) Good news for scenario fans: the second Scenario
Design Competition, hosted in collaboration with the Hodadian Awards
Central site, is now being judged. Please take the time to play through
the entries and cast a vote for your favorites.
At the close of the voting, we will announce both the winner of the
Peoples' Choice Award and the official decision. Enjoy!


(September 19-20, 1999) Two new reviews
Magellan [Fantasy, 6/30]
Ottoman Expansion [Historical, 22.5/30]


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

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITES! SEP.9
(20.Sep) - If you voted in the People's Choice Awards this past couple of
days, please resubmit your ballot. A mistake in the mail code has forced
us to restart the voting. We apologize for the inconvienence.
The viewing period is now over... so get to the S.D.C. section and vote
for your favorites in the Second Annual Scenario Design Contest!! If you
want a direct link to the voting booth, please click here. You will be
asked to choose your first and second choices in two categories: Best in
Contest, and Most Original (the categories are pretty self-explanatory,
don't you think?). :) Your first choice will receive three points, and
your second choice receives one. At the end of the voting period (which is
still undetermined) the top 3 in each category will receive People's
Choice awards. So get voting already!!



That was all for this week ladies and gentlemen,

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