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Date: Apr 30 1999 13:29:24 EDT
From: Apolyton Announcements (Apolyton Civilization Site)
Subject: Apolyton News 22-29/April/99


Greetings everyone

Here are the news of the Apolyton Civilization Site for the last time. No,
no we are not closing the list down. It's just that from the next week,
hopefully, we will be not just sending the news of Apolyton and of your
hosted sites, but also of other "smaller" civ sites too!

If you have a civ site that would like to participate in this, send
ane-mail to Dustin Dunn at dustind@concentric.net

And now, the news of this week

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

*News

NUMERO UNO
(April 27, 1999) For the week of April 11-17, 1999, Civilization II:
Multiplayer Gold Edition was the number 1 selling PC game according to
PCData. It bumped Activision's Civilization: Call To Power down to second
spot during the same period. Searching for reason why perhaps? Hasbro is
offering a $20US rebate off the purchase price, effectively cutting the
cost in half.

SUMMER MAY SIZZLE WITH ToT
(April 26, 1999) We discovered a PC-IGN preview of MicroProse's
Civilization II: Test of Time. We were pleasantly surprised with all the
detail it has to date! To start off with, the most burning question on all
our minds is whether or not it is a new game. Previewer Trend Ward had the
following to say on that issue:

"At its core, Test of Time is basically Civilization 2 with upgraded
graphics, sound and controls. All of the art in the game has been upgraded
from 8-bit to 16-bit, each unit has had animation added to make its
movements smooth and convincing and nearly everything, from city boxes to
pull down menus have been redesigned to make things as easy on the player
as humanly possible. In short, Civilization has been brought into the
nineties".

We have heard a lot about the "Fantasy" style world which is reportedly
available in ToT; Ward confirms it from playing his beta copy. "First the
fantasy world. In this mode you become the commander of one of seven (at
least right now it's seven) different Tolkeinesque tribes... you can
choose from four different city styles". However, he points out that "this
isn't just Civ 2 with pointy ears -- this mode has its own research tree
in addition to other major game changes".

Next comes some discussion on the "Sci-Fi" mode. "... operates exactly
like Civilization 2, with the basic twist being that this time you're
trying to evolve your culture enough so that you can return to your home
planet.
... the sci-fi battle takes place on several different planes, each of
which has its own particular strengths. Once you have access to spaceship
technology, you'll be able to carry on your fight in space while in
orbit...

Now, here's something definitely new: ultra-dimensional attacks! "Like
Masters of Magic before it, Test of Time will force you not only to
command the land, but other layers as well. In fact, the game will ask you
to keep up with what's going on four different layers at once - On a
standard land map, underground, under the oceans and in the air".

Finally before we get to the abundance of new screens, we feel it
worthwhile to mention yet another mode of gameplay: Ultimate Civ (name
is likely to be changed before release, according to sources). "... plays
just like a game of Civ 2 but opens up an entirely new game (based on the
sci-fi tile set) if and when you win the Race for Space. One nice little
twist here is that, if you play with seven civilizations, one race will
begin the game on the far away planet and will begin colonizing that world
as a native from the get go". *Whew*! And you thought 'ordinary' CivII
games were long...

The following screens accompanied that review
(we will just give the url of the folder with all the screenshots. watch
out for the date of the images)

MULTIPLAYER VERSION 1.3
(April 28, 1999) MicroProse updated MGE/UCC patch v1.3 on April 22nd.
You can download the updated file here, or by clicking on the link in the
menu to your right. Again, be sure to read the notes from the MPS
ReadMe File -- they were not, however, updated from the previous v1.3
release.

*Site Updates
29.Apr 13 New Viking Scribes
24.Apr Column #38; By MarkG


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

*News
File Database Online
--(28 April) After many hours of setup, data entry and debugging, our SMAC
File Database is finally up & running! Over 70 files(!) are currently
within its banks. Not only does it provide more detailed descriptions and,
more often then not, a screenshot of each file, but also includes a
listing of the Top files in each category based on "popularity"(that is,
by the number of recorded downloads since the database's inception).
Enjoy!

Who Is The New King?
--(23 April) GameCenter has completed and posted the results of their Heir
To The Throne: SMAC/CTP Shoot Out to determine (at least in their view)
which of the two is more deserving of bein g declared the true successor
to CivII. GC tested both products' gameplay, graphics, innovation and
presentation to come up with a winner... want to know which it is? Browse
the feature now!

*Site Updates
28 April 1999: Files moved into a database.
26 April 1999: Two new factions


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

*News
A SMALL DESTRUCTION
(Apr. 29) For some unknown reason, probably a malfunction of the script,
the results of the poll were lost. The last time I(MarkG) saw the results,
we were nearing the 1800 votes, and the average was about 7.5. If we take
this as a final result,(we were going to finish it at 3000 votes) this
isn't the best result for CTP, but it certainly isn't the result that some
would wish... :)
Anyway, we have a new poll, on the famous "Phalanx VS Tank" issue. Vote!

NEED A GUIDE?
(Apr. 29) Gamespot presented the C:CTP Game Guide. "You'll find an
abundance of information covering all aspects of Civilization: Call to
Power" says the introduction. I'm not really sure about it, but check it
out...

ACCENTUATING THE POSITIVE
(Apr. 28) Some good news reviews have just come in for CTP! The first
comes from Gamezilla, whose reviews Melissa Proffitt gave the game an
impressive 95% overall score.
"This latest entry in the ever-popular Civilization series is a
streamlined, updated version of its older siblings, with every bit of the
same appeal that those games still have", Proffitt writes.
"Civilization: Call to Power is every bit as addictive and enjoyable as
Civilization II, and a worthy successor to that game".

Next comes another favourable review: this one from GamePower. The 3.5/4
score CTP given by reviewer Jeff Sengstack was not a surprise, given the
review material itself. He writes:
"CTP ups the "god" game genre ante. It has more of everything, features an
improved interface, and brings in new non-combat strategy. The only
problem is its failure to come up to today's technology and gameplay
standards.
I did find myself playing into the wee hours, taking just a few more turns
to see what would happen once I reached another technological plateau.
Ultimately, that's the appeal of the whole Civ line. There simply is no
end to the gameplay possibili ties".

CS: DEVELOPER'S CORNER
(Apr. 28) Starting next Tuesday, every week a member of Activision's CTP
team will produce an article for your reading pleasure. As you may have
guessed, "CS" is short for "Coming Soon"... Who will the inaugural writer
be, and what topic will he or she discuss? You'll just have to drop by to
find out!

UNSEATING UPSET
(Apr. 27) According to PCData, CTP fell to the #2 spot on the Best Selling
PC Games chart for the week of April 11-17, 1999. Who captured first? Why,
Hasbro Interactive's Civilization I I: Multiplayer Gold Edition did! As a
note of reference, this data is based on units sold.

CGO NOT IMPRESSED
(Apr. 27) In their review of CTP, Computer Games Online reviewer Tom Chick
called it "the end of Civilization as we know it".
"Its developers seem to be out of their league and many of the game's
design flubs are just plain embarrassing", Chick concluded. "It's like
Civilization II dismantled and put back together mostly wrong". The only
high point the review touches upon is CTP's graphics (80%).

After reading all this, it is not surprising to learn CGO's low overall
score for this latest Civilization title: 2/5 stars. When comparing this
to previous reviews, their will be those who will agree --- and disagree. ?article=/articles/019/082/call_to_power_review.html">

ENJOLRAS SPEAKS
(Apr. 26) Peter "Enjolras" Karpas, Director of Marketing at Activision,
posted a couple of the threads today in Civilization newsgroups. The first
is in regards to what they intend to include in the upcoming patch.
"No promises on a date", Karpas informs us. "If QA finds some things, it
will take longer. No purpose in putting out an upgrade that enhances some
stuff but breaks others".
The second thread addresses the debate he has seen waged on CTP's combat
system.
"In listening to the debate over Civ:CTP's combat system, one of the
things that struck me was when people complained about air units (like
bombers) getting shot down by ground units (like marines or even
phalanx)".

LINUX PORT DELAYED
(Apr. 26) As detailed on Loki Entertainment's website press release:
"The Linux version of Civilization: Call to Power will ship during the
week of May 3. We delayed shipment by a week so that we could integrate
Activision's first patch for the game. Among other things, the patch fixes
bugs, provides some UI enh ancements and provides network compatibility
between the Linux and Windows versions".
In the meantime, Loki asks that you "please don't harass your local
software store". They are working on co-ordinating with the national
offices of Linux software outlets to get CTP listed in their computer
databases, and so forth. Furthermore, Lo ki reports that they "have
entered into distribution agreements covering the US, Canada, Europe,
Australia and Japan".

WHO IS THE NEW KING?
(Apr. 23) GameCenter has completed and posted the results of their Heir To
The Throne: SMAC/CTP Shoot Out to determine (at least in their view) which
of the two is more deserving of being declared the true successor to
CivII. GC tested both products' gameplay, graphics, innovation and
presentation to come up with a winner... want to know which it is? Browse
the feature now!

TODAY'S REVIEWS AVG.: 59%
(Apr. 23) PC.IGN.COM has battered CTP with a miserable, failing grade of
48%. While it's presentation ("The box comes with a great manual, a handy
reference card and a big ass technology chart") and sound ("...soundtrack
is pretty solid...") were rated quite high, reviewer Trend Ward slammed
CTP on what he felt was unacceptable gameplay: in short, he feels it was
"very, very disappointing".

On a somewhat brighter note, ESCape Magazine clicked CTP with 7/10 ESC
keys. Without going into too much detail of the review, here is a most
interesting concluding excerpt from reviewer Andy Grieser: "Call to Power
is seriously flawed, but it’s seriously addictive. It lets the player step
back and say "Huh?" one too many times to be ranked among the absolute
greats, but it certainly deserves accolades for finding the ways it did to
improve a classic". Tit for tat?



That was all for this week, ladies and gentlemen

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