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Date: Aug 26 1999 16:48:21 EDT
From: "Apolyton Announcements (Apolyton Civilization Site)"
Subject: Apolyton&Friends News 20-25/August/99


Greetings everyone,
these are the news of the week(20-25/August), on time this time :)

On Apolyton, the big news is our Civilization 2: Test of Time contest,
named "The Last Civ II Contest". From last Friday August 20th until
Saturday the 28th, we are giving away two copies of Civ2:ToT each day as
well as five other consolation prizes form Hasbo!
If you haven't entered the contest so far, you dont have many days left!!

On other news, Firaxis is having a poll for the "fan site of the month",
please help us by voting for us! :)

In the "Friends" part of the newsletter, news from History of
Civilization, MJ's Civilization Empire and Mr Temba's Civilization.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=========
----------------------------
**Civilization II Section

WIN A COPY OF Test of Time!
(August 25, 1999) The contest is now a little more than half over (isn't
it hard to believe!?) With just four days to go, time is running out if
you have yet to enter, so we recommend that you do so ASAP! If you meet
the eligibility requirements and answer the "skill-testing" question
correctly, you have a chance to win!
(Odds of winning are based on the number of entries received on any given
day).
Winners for day five are here; to those of you on this list: be sure to
check your mail ASAP if you haven't already done so!

(August 24, 1999) Day four winners are now public! Go see who they are!

(August 23, 1999) It's the start of another week, and to top it off we
have the day three winners announced. Go see who the lucky recipients are!
One final note: be sure to provide a valid email address when you enter
the contest, or any other for that matter. Over the weekend we had one
consolation prize recipient whom we emailed to confirm their prize, but it
was bounced back twice with the same error message -- "user unknown". As a
result, this prize was awarded at random to another person in the group
who entered the contest on that particular day and answered the
skill-testing question correctly.
So, our advice is that before you submit your entry to look it over a
couple of times to ensure that you have entered all of your information
correctly to decrease the likelihood of a situation like this arising
again.

(August 22, 1999) Rock on, folks! The "Last CivII" contest continues to
roll along. Thanks to everyone who has participated so far. To those of
you have won something, congrats! To those consolation prize winners, and
those who have yet to step into the winner's circle, have no fear --
there's still one full week remaining to enter in the contest!
For how to enter, and a look at today's winners, head over to what we have
dubbed "contest central"!

(August 21, 1999) Holy smokin' cans of kick a$$, Batman, look at all of
these contest entries! That's right folks, we have been totally blown away
by the sheer volume of entries for our "Last CivII" contest. The poor
server is working overtime... ;)
Yesterday alone, we had more than 100 entries, and that number continues
to grow today. With this, we surprassed the number of entries we received
for the entire two-week running of our May "Power Up!" contest, when we
gave away 6 copies of CTP and the official strategy guide. INCREDIBLE!
In addition to this, we have a number of consolation prizes to give away
-- to the tune of 5 a day (thanks Hasbro)! For more information this
latest buzz, go here!

(August 20, 1999) That's right folks! Apolyton is teaming up with
MicroProse to give you the chance to win* a copy of Civilization II: Test
of Time! We have * 19 COPIES * to give away in roughly 216 hours (9 days),
starting now! Best of all, if you don't win one day, you can try again the
next (time permitting, of course).


ULTRASTING SOLUTION
(August 24, 1999) If you haven't heard of the Ultrasting problem in
Civ2:ToT, stop reading now :) If you have faced it, John Possidente brings
some good news from the Civ2 team directly on our ToT forum:
(1) When your spaceship lands on Centaurus, you are given the ability to
research UST. You are not given the advance gratis.
(2) UST should show up on your next "Choose an Advance to Research" list.
Sometimes, it won't show up right away--there's a random element to the
list--but it should certainly turn up within 2 or 3 times.
(3) Do not save the game between the time your ship lands and the time you
have actually selected to research UST. We've discovered that when you
save the game, the event-driven changes to advance availability are not
saved. Once you have made UST your current project (or finished
researching it), it is saved--but until then, saving, exiting, and
reloading will take away your ability to choose UST as a research project.
We're fixing this in the patch, but for now, this is the interim solution.
Hope it works for everyone." You can discuss this on this thread.

FILES OF THE WEEK
(August 24, 1999) This week got us closer to the number of 300 files(287
today) and 40,000 downloads(38,354 right now). Sven Muencheberg processed
and added 10 new files today, the following: The British Isles, The
European World: Era of Colonization, The Phantom Menace, The Secret
Scenario, The Reich, Timur Khan, World War I and beyond, Yugoslavia,
Vietnam and ToT Terrain Earth Lightened. Sven will be taking some highly
deserved vacation, but he promises to come back with a big addition to the
db. Meanwhile, he asked that YOU get the number of downloads to 50,000.
Can you help? :)

EUROPEAN LANDFALL
(August 23, 1999) Copies of Civilization II: Test of Time bound for Europe
are starting to make apperances in countries across the continent.
Thomas van Kooten is the first to let us know of ToT being available in a
non-NA (North American) country... the Netherlands, to be exact, in a
franchise of the software store "The Max". However, there is one part of
its arrival that is not welcome: the price. "Unfortunately it's been
released as a full price title here: fl. 99".
Van Kotten went on to say that this is roughly the equivalent of 45 Euros.

FORUM FOR THE MAC
(August 21, 1999) Due to the increasing need and support for the CivII
MacIntosh community, we at ACS have opened up a forum specifically for
this platform! Not yet registered for our forums? With free registration
and more than 3500 current members, don't hesitate a moment longer!

WINDOWS 2000 COMPATABILITY
(August 21, 1999) Although there as of yet has been no official word from
MicroProse/Hasbro with "their line" regarding compatability for
Civilization II: Test of Time under Windows2000, we got an unexpected but
pleasant note from Graham Hoggard that he has " installed it under NT4 SP4
and -- on the same computer (dual boot) -- under Win2000. It seems to be
running fine so far".
Anybody else with something to report on this front? Email DanQ and we'll
pass it along to the Civing world!

OLD AND NEW
(August 21, 1999) You know the expression "a picture speaks a 1000 words"?
It definitely applies to the case of comparing the interface of the
original Sid Meier's Civilization II, released three years ago, to today's
Civilization II: Test of Time. How computer graphics have changed in this
short period!
Teymur Ashumov sent us a screenshot of "the old Civ" and "the new Civ".
Here's what he has to say on the subject:
"Just thought I'd demonstrate the graphical changes in Civ and TOT... two
comepletely identical screenshots, one from Civ (world map, Romans) and
one from TOT, (also world map, Romans) -- the only difference TOT's
improved graphics. Now you can see for yourself exactly how big the
changes are".
Indeed we can, Teymur! Thanks for the submission!

NAME THAT PRICE
(August 21, 1999) In preparation for our "Last CivII" contest, you can
likely understand why you haven't seen any news in this department for
almost the past week! While the contest is ongoing, we may not be as fast
in getting ToT pricing/availability notes on here as in the past, but we
promise that they will get posted as soon as possible, so we hope that you
will continue to send them to us!
Here's what we have to pass along to you today:
Daniel Frampton contacted us a few days ago that in Indianapolis, IN,
it was "$34.99 for the game, and $2.99 for the strategy guide after an
instant rebate at Best buy...$29.99 for the game at CompUSA".
Graham Hoggard [email link above] out of Calgray, AB, Canada also
mailed us recently to say that "I picked up ToT at CompuCentre (Market
Mall) in Calgary on Monday. The price was $54.99CA w/ $5.00US rebate".

SIXTY PERCENT * TWO
(August 20, 1999) Two more reviews of Civilization II: Test of Time have
been published, and they both come to same rating: 60%. That's gotta
smart.
Starting off is from reviewer Tom Chick at CGO. Here are some select
highlights:
"The most obvious change is the graphics, which are at once better and
worse than Civilization II. The maps also have little tics of animation as
fish jump out of the water and fire spits out of volcanoes. These details
make for great screenshots, but they bog the game down and muddy up
important information.
Some of the changes are almost entirely inconsequential. The minimap can
display a spinning globe instead of a flat map. Fancy? Yes. Useful? No.
You can open an inset window on another part of the map. If, say, you
wanted to for some reason.
With one exception, there's a conspicuous lack of ambition in this mildly
updated version of Civilization II. There are no new Wonders of the World,
city structures, or government types; it's all the same familiar stuff
thinly veiled under new names. After playing more recent and refined
strategy games, it's hard to go back to plain ol' vanilla Civilization II,
given some of its shortcomings.
[Mick] Uhl has done an astonishing job of wringing a rich and varied game
from the same old mechanics by dividing the tech tree and units among six
races, giving each its own strengths and weaknesses. The imaginative
terrain types spread across the four maps also add flavor to each race.
Were it not for the Midgard scenario, this game would sink into the same
bog of mediocrity that swallowed Activision's Call to Power, a game as
ambitious as Test of Time is lazy". ?article=/articles/022/046/civ2_test_review.html">

Now we come to the review we became aware of thanks to a helpful time from
reader "liveD" -- this one at GameCenter. Again, just a 60% rating also,
by Martin E. Cirulis. However, Cirulis did not look at all of ToT's
facets, and is thus not terribly detailed, and some may say that it is
effectively incomplete. Nonetheless, some excerpts:
"MicroProse's recent Civilization II Multiplayer Gold Edition was a
kitchen-sink expansion disc and a nice compilation of a classic sequel.
Test of Time, on the other hand, seems to be based on the idea that gamers
can't get enough of the Civ II engine.
There are new, modified units and structures for these new worlds, but
they aren't very different from previous versions. Apart from their new
graphics, these units are direct analogies to the traditional Civ units,
but with new abilities, such as flight, thrown in.
The interface takes getting used to, especially if you are a seasoned Civ
veteran, but it is a nice change from the same old screens of the past
games, and it complements the graphics face-lift.
However, you may find it difficult to justify buying this full-priced game
when the game is, at its core, an expansion disc with a few graphical
tweaks and mods. The game's new features are well done, but as far as
gameplay goes, Test of Time is a poor second to Civ II Gold.
Has MicroProse's franchise survived the Test of Time? "Just barely". ?st.gc.fd.nre

THE COLUMN: #55 THE PUBLIC ARE MORONS
Please welcome again gaming programmer David Emery; this time, he's got
bite.
(Joke Alert: David not really a gaming programmer... :))


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

THE BEAUTY OR THE BEAST?
(August 23rd, 1999) Time for a new poll. This time we ask you on
beautifull 3d animated graphics(like smac or ctp) which are hard if not
impossible to edit and need a PIII to run in a decent speed, or
simple(=ugly) and easy to change graphics like civ2's. What do you think?
Jeff Briggs in his recent interview said that civ3's graphics will be much
better, but wasn't asked about speed or customizability. If you ask us, we
would say "the Beaty AND the Beast"! :)

MAC? LINUX? YES!!
(August 23rd, 1999) Our third civ3 poll on "Ports of Civ3 to Mac and
Linux" is finally over. We had 22% of the voters shouting "I am a Linux
user, YES!" and a 13% Mac ones. There was also a kind 48% of windows users
you simply said "Sure, why not?" and a shameless :) 15% who didn't care.
Firaxis???

FIRAXIS TALKS CIV III
(August 19th, 1999) Jeff Briggs gave an interesting interview on FGN
Online on Civilization III. In brief, Jeff explained that graphics are
going to be much more better than previous civ games of the team.
Improvments will also be made in trade and
"That's just an example of four or five areas of the basic game we want to
elaborate and expand on." as Jeff added.
He later got us a bit confused when he said that
"The thing we're not saying yet is whether or not it's going to come
before Civilization, after Alpha Centauri or between the two. It's going
to extend the story in the same was Alpha Centauri did."
Finally, he says that Civ3 is coming "sometime next year" and confirms
that Sid is working on the his "secret project", which will actually be
the third part of the "Sweep of Time Trilogy", for the last two years!
Better read the whole thing


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

DVD-ROM VERSION!
(August 24) Yes, Activision is planing a DVD-Rom version of CTP. What they
going to do with the extra space? Well, we asked John Heinecke and he said
"The movies and sounds are remixed for MPEG-2, there are two new music
tracks, and we've included all of the design concept art on the CD". So,
CTP on the DVD drive, the sound going on a HiFi system, video output on a
big TV screen, the ultimate civ experience? The DVD-ROM version is
expected late September...

7 NEW FILES
(August 21) TP came up with some improvements, so here is PowerSlics 1.71


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

SMACX Eisodes 2&3
--(August 25 1999) This almost ancient news now :) but SMACX's Episodes 2
and 3 have been posted: "Rae awakened as a flash of lighting split the
sky" and "It was time.". Episode 4 should be posted in a couple days...

All 110 Of Them
--(August 21 1999) Our SMAC file database has swelled, and today we have a
total of 21 new or updated files, for a grand total of 110, and it is
growing all the time (is today not a perfect testmanet to that fact)? So
where to go for the all the goodies, and how to go about submitting your
own creations? Click here!

MANIFEST DESTINY IN PRE-ALPHA
(Aug. 21) The folks at RJCyberware have released v3.1.9 of Manifest
Destiny, a pre-alpha version. You can download it right here (551KB).

STELLAR CIV'S NEW NAME
(Aug. 21) Some big news here folks: Jason Kozak, aka Knight, has renamed
his project from Stellar Civilizations to Slick-6. He has promised to
explain this to us shortly...
Expect changes accordingly here over the next little while to reflect
these turn of events. In the meantime, we invite you to check out the
spanking new website for this upcoming title, and stay tuned here for
breaking news on the subject!


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

--Aug 25- The War of Cuba is now available for download!

--Aug 21- "The War of Cuba" Preview!


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

--Aug 24- Scenario Update: Spanish Odyssey, by Jes?s Mu?oz (Version 2.0)


=========Apolyton's Friends News=========
--------------------------
History of Civilization

08/24/99
- A new edition of old program is in "Downloads" section of the site.
- This is SDI - for MGE now! It warnes you when (and where) your ENEMIES
produce NUCLEAR MISSILES, and when these missiles are ready to strike you.


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

8/20/1999
- SMAC2 Factions modified and back online


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

08/22/99
- Woah! This TOT Survey is a huge success! Thanks everyone for voting, and
if you haven't yet do so now! I see that I am not alone in thinking that
TOT is overpriced. Also Birth of America by Michael Daumen has been
uploaded to the Playtest section, The Fall of the Kraeikian Empire, by
Mathias Koster, has been uploaded to the Hosted Scenarios section, and
Nicholas Wauthoz has become the second person to win the Prince of
Darkness Challenge And soon I promise will be released a playable version
of enemy of god!

8/19/99
- Paul van den Belt has set a new record for the one city challenge small
map, 1821 Astonishing, no? Surveys updated.



That was all for this week ladies and gentlemen,

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