Science

Why Science?

History is littered with the unfortunate consequences of nations ill equipped to resist the imperialistic overtures of a more scientifically advanced nation.

In Call to Power II, all nations, regardless of geography or nationality, have access to the same Technology Tree-a complex web of scientific and cultural advances that builds upon itself, mirroring the complex and nonlinear progression of human achievement throughout the ages.

By committing a portion of your resources to scientific research, you will gain insight into these advances. Discover an advance and you will immediately reap the benefits of the knowledge it represents. You will be able to build new units, improvements, tile improvements, and wonders. You will have access to new government types. And, most importantly, you will be able to research newer advances, which lead to even greater items to build and employ.

The key to world domination lies not only in diplomatic prowess, effective government, or even military force, but in the uninterrupted drive to best one’s rivals in the realms of science and culture. You cannot master the arenas of diplomacy, government, or war without the strategic advantages inherent in technological superiority.

What are Advances?

Every advance represents a significant achievement in human understanding. Advances can represent technological achievements, such as the discovery of concrete or the theory of flight, cultural developments like jurisprudence or theology; or earth-shattering breakthroughs in human conception like philosophy or physics.

Initial Advances

You will begin the game with anywhere from three to six advances from the ancient age, depending on the difficulty level of the game. Once you have built your first city, you will have the opportunity to begin research on new advances. You will usually have a choice of more than one advance. How you progress through the technology tree will have a major impact on your progress in the game. Depending on the size of the map, the number of foreign rivals, the rules of the game, and even your starting point, your decisions regarding the direction your scientists take could propel you toward world domination, or leave you scrambling to keep your head above water.

Choosing Advances

You will need to choose the order in which you research advances carefully, as they will determine your progress through the game.

You can access the Research window from the Empire Tab, on the Control Panel or the Science Manager screen. Just click the image of the advance you are currently researching on the Empire Tab or Change Research from the Empire Manager screen, and the Research window will appear. The top of the window will prompt you to select a new advance to research. This window will automatically appear whenever you finish researching an advance.

You can select any of the advances listed on the left side of the window. Selecting any advance will display information on the right about what that advance provides, including units, improvements, wonders, new governments, and access to other advances. The number of turns required to advance will be listed just below this information. Clicking any of the items listed on the right side of the screen will take you to the Great Library for more information. To select an advance and begin researching it, just select the advance and click OK. To continue researching your previously selected advance, click Cancel.

Setting Goals

You can select a research goal from the Research window to help you achieve certain goals in the game. For example, you might want to get cavalry units as quickly as possible. Clicking the Goal Button will take you to the Great Library where you can select Cavalry under Units, and set the goal from there. When you return to the Research window, you will notice asterisks (*) next to the advances that lead to your goal, Cavalry.

Acquiring Advances

Research

The most common way of acquiring advances is through research. The game will automatically prompt you to select an advance to research. The speed with which you discover new advances, however, depends on how much science your empire produces. The more money you dedicate to fund science, the less time, in turns, it takes to discover advances. To increase science, you can choose from the following:

Science Tax

This is the most common way of increasing science to gain advances. In the Empire Manager you may set a tax to fund scientific research. The money from the research comes out of your nation’s treasury. Higher taxes provide more funds for more rapid advancement, but you should be careful not to sacrifice the financial integrity of your nation in pursuit of science. You will be faced with improvement maintenance and military support costs that will increase as your empire grows.

Scientists

Scientists are one of the many specialists you may employ in your cities. In order to increase the science output of your cities, you can reassign workers to be scientists. Keep in mind that Scientists do not collect food, production, or commerce like standard workers. Make sure you are collecting enough basic resources in your cities before hiring specialists.

Improvements and Wonders

Some improvements, like the academy and university, directly increase the science output of your cities. Science-boosting wonders that increase science nationwide include Aristotle’s Lyceum and Galileo’s Telescope. Consult the Great Library for information on improvements and wonders.

Government Type

Your choice of government will determine the emphasis your empire places on scientific research and cultural advancement. Governments such as democracy, corporate republic, and technocracy are conducive to robust scientific exploration.

Diplomacy

You have several diplomatic options available that can help you acquire advances. After establishing an embassy in a foreign city, you can exchange advances with that nation. This is only possible if you have an advance that they do not, and vice versa. You can also request advances from other nations. The nation’s willingness to divulge such secrets depends greatly on their regard for you. Pay particular attention to the tone of your diplomatic missives-it may be the key to gaining the favor you need to sway a hesitant or wary nation.

Exploration

As you explore new territory, you will occasionally encounter ruins of ancient civilizations. If you choose to enter the ruins, you have a chance of discovering an advance unknown to you. Nevertheless, beware! By entering the ruins, you run the risk of a barbarian ambush.

Theft

You may steal an advance from a rival empire with the help of a spy or cyber ninja unit. If the attack is a success, you gain the advance. If the attack fails, your unit is captured and killed. More importantly, you run the risk of arousing the ire of your rival and must contend with the diplomatic consequences of a blemished reputation.

Science Manager Screen

The Science Manager screen will enable you to view the advance you are currently researching, advances you have already achieved, and the advances of other empires with which you have established an embassy.

Advances you have already researched will be listed in the large box at the bottom of the screen. You can sort this list by name, from the most primitive advances to the most modern. You can also sort the list by nation. Nations you have discovered but do not yet have an embassy with will appear, but you will not be able to see their advances. Click the header to sort by name or nation, in ascending or descending order.

When you select an advance in the list, information about what that advance provides will be displayed in the upper right side of the screen. The advance you are currently researching will be displayed in the upper center of the screen, with how many turns remaining just below it. Turns to discovery, current spendings, and total cost are listed in the upper right side of the screen. Total cost refers to the amount of gold require to research the advance, and current spendings is the amount of gold you have already contributed toward that advance.

To change what you are currently researching, click Change Research at the bottom of the screen to go to the Research window.

The Technology Tree

How you gain access to new advances is not arbitrary. Each advance you discover gives you the opportunity to discover other advances. All advances are organized into a matrix called the Technology Tree. You can access the Technology Tree in the Great Library in the game, as well as view it in its entirety on the poster included with Call to Power II.

Ages

There are five distinct ages in the game, representing major epochs in human history.

ANCIENT AGE

The Ancient Age represented the first iterations of human societies. Across the world peoples began to abandon nomadic life in favor of settling near a river or fertile plain. The discovery of agriculture, in part, made settlement possible, giving people the power to expand their tribe by feeding greater numbers of people. Religion was often a major part of ancient societies, unifying people in times of struggle and uncertainty. Jurisprudence, philosophy, drama and writing enriched ancient civilizations, proving social order, entertainment and intellectual stimulation. Ancient times were marked by brutal and bloody conflicts, as nations sought to expand their territories and conquer their enemies. Advancements in bronze and iron working, ship building and siege weapons fueled an almost constant state of war throughout the last four millennia BCE.

RENAISSANCE AGE

After the tumult of the Dark Ages in Europe, nations struggled to come to grips with their historical, cultural and national identities. Particularly in Italy, the Renaissance sparked a renewed interest in the period of Greek and Roman dominance known as the classical period. As the thinkers of the age grappled with the wisdom of the ancients, they opened up new frontiers in science, art, philosophy and culture. Mimicking their ancestors' interest in the physical world, the great minds of the Renaissance began to explore the fields of optics, chemistry, physics and astronomy. Advancements in shipbuilding made larger, more powerful ships available for exploration and warfare. More than anything, the discovery of gunpowder changed the nature of war. As strong nations equipped their soldiers with muskets and cannon, cultures still relying on catapults, archers and swordsmen were easily wiped out and conquered. International trade proliferated as ships laden with exotic goods traveled the seven seas, bringing spices to Europe, muskets to Asia and horses to the New World.

MODERN AGE

The Modern Age was marked by an explosion of growth in the areas of human industry and ingenuity. New manufacturing techniques brought on by the Industrial Revolution contributed to an increase in the productive power of cities. Breakthroughs in science, such as electricity, quantum physics and modern medicine led to the development of televisions, airplanes and hospitals. Railroads crisscrossed nearly every continent, expanding the speed and efficacy of transport and travel. The invention of the internal combustion engine led to the rise of the automobile as the dominant form of land transportation in the mid 20th century. By the end of the modern age, computers had pervaded every aspect of human life. They facilitated more rapid scientific research, intercontinental communications, and global commerce. Despite these leaps in human understanding and productivity, the modern age bore witness to a staggering array of new warfare technology. From machine guns and tanks to nuclear missiles and stealth aircraft, battlefields heated up as science begat newer and better ways to destroy life. As technology began to exponentially increase, new questions about the role of technology in society, the responsibility of scientists and even the eventual obsolescence of humanity at the hands of future advances plagued the thinkers of the age.

GENETIC AGE

With the deciphering of the mysteries of human life at the hands of researchers involved in the Human Genome Project, the Genetic Age built on the solid foundation of scientific achievement established in the Modern Age. What distinguished the Genetic Age from the Modern Age was an collective increase in responsibility towards humanity and the environment. Whereas technology continued to streamline the process of manufacturing, it also found equally powerful ways to help curb pollution. Human mastery of the physical world continued at breakneck pace with the applications of chaos theory and unified physics. More than anything else, the achievements of the Genetic Age began to blur the lines between human and machine. Neural interfaces enabled people to control computers with their thoughts. Medical scientists began to apply their knowledge of genetics towards not only the eradication of disease but the customization of all forms of life. As the computer revolutionized the lives of people in the 20th century, so did genetics irrevocably alter life in the 21st century.

DIAMOND AGE

The Diamond Age was a period of intense scientific breakthroughs. With the perfecting of nanotechnology and further developments in genetics, human beings possessed power over their lives and their worlds in ways that seemed unfathomable in previous centuries. Human cloning and life extension enabled people to achieve immortality, as the limitations of the physical body no longer presented an obstacle. More than any other science, nanotechnology affected the lives of citizens most profoundly. Sub-microscopic machines called nanites could manipulate molecules, seek out nuclear weapons, eat pollution, release toxins and countless other tasks. With the aid of nanites, entire cities were constructed underwater. The power of nanites manifest in two disparate realms, however, and represented both the future and the demise of human life. The Gaia Controller had the power to grant a new utopia in the world, by providing limitless supplies of resources. However, Eco-Rangers could just as easily obliterate entire cities in a matter of minutes, leaving behind only pristine wilderness. Though some saw this as a triumph, others feared the day that human beings sought to undue six millenia of evolution, progress and creation. For all of its technological breakthroughs, the Diamond Age represented a world at a crossroads. With the power of eternal life, limitless energy, and an end to material scarcity, people were finally in control of every aspect of their own destinies. The only question that remained was whether people would live in peace or ultimately destroy themselves in the acts of nanotechnological war.

Branches

The Technology Tree can be divided into branches, each describing a general, unifying characteristic of the Advances it contains. These branches are arranged in the chart that accompanies the game. You can accelerate the development of your empire in areas that are important to you by researching Advances within any of the specific branches listed below:

Construction advances help cities grow and provide defense. Advances in this branch include, Stone Working, Masonry and Concrete.

Engineering advances provide new ways to fashion tools, weapons, railroads, and buildings. These Advances include, Iron Working, Modern Metallurgy. and Smart Materials.

Sea Faring advances lead to naval units and undersea cities. This Branch will lead to, Ship Building, Naval Tactics, and Ultra-Pressure Machinery among others.

Aerospace advances offer a pathway to aircraft and space travel. Examples: Aerodynamics, Jet Propulsion. and Supersonic Flight.

Military advances lead to a strong national defense and offensive military units. Ballistics, Gunpowder, and Tank Warfare are some of them.

Economic advances increase gold and lead to new forms of government. Trade, Banking, and Communism are all in this branch.

Physical Sciences advances lead to the Diamond Age. Examples: Chemistry, Quantum Physics, and Chaos Theory.

Cultural advances increase science and lead to more complex forms of government. These advances include Drama, Philosophy, and Theology.

Environmental Sciences advances reduce pollution and lead to Gaia Theory. Mass Transit, Conservation, and Ecotopia are some of these essential Advances.

Energy Sciences advances increase science and lead to Diamond Age technology. Examples include, Computer, Nuclear Power, and Superconductor.

Medicine advances help promote growth and defend cities in the Genetic Age. Pharmaceuticals, Medicine and Human Cloning are all healthy examples.

Government & Education advances promote learning, law and order, and government institutions. Writing, Jurisprudenc, and Democracy are just some of them.

The Great Library - Your Gateway

To Knowledge

The greatest tool you have at your disposal is the Great Library. Within its pages, you will find details on every aspect of Call to Power II. The easiest way to access the Great Library is by clicking the bottom button on the Helm.

Every item in the game has an entry in the Great Library. From Units, Wonders, and Improvements to Advances, government types, and game concepts, the Great Library is the ultimate repository of information in the game. There are two types of entries, gameplay and historical. Gameplay entries give you essential information about how things work in the game, for example which advance enables a particular unit or how many resources a terrain type has. If you have a question about an item, you should consult the Great Library's gameplay entry for all of the pertinent information. Some items also have historical entries. These provide background on the items in the game, placing them in their proper historical perspective. Because Call to Power II is a game largely based on actual human history, it can be enlightening and enriching to learn about the history behind the advances, wonders, units, improvements, and governments.

Navigating the Great Library

Navigating around the Great Library is easy. You can enter any term in the search box at the top of the left side or you can follow any of the hyperlinks. You can use the Back and Next Buttons at the bottom to go back over pages you have visited. The most common way to scan the Great Library is by using the Navigation Buttons on the left side. The buttons are as follows:

1. Advances - These are all the various things you can research through science. The Great Library will show you what advances are prerequisites and what new things the advance will give you. Additionally, you can read the summaries of how the advance will impact your gameplay and how it fits in history. The Tech Tree can also be directly accessed through Advances.
2. Units - All the units that can be constructed and used in the game are listed here. You can find what advance is required to build it, any special abilities, and the statistics of the unit. Gameplay and Historical entries are also available.
3. Improvements - All the structures that can be built in a city are here. Information on the impact of the improvement, what it costs, and what advance is required is included in each entry.
4. Wonders - Every wonder in Call to Power II can be found in the Great Library by pressing this button. Explanations on the impact of the wonder, along with which advance is required, and what it costs are listed.
5. Terrain - The general statistics of every terrain type is available. Examining these Great Library entries will help you discover the best places to build cities and to focus tile improvements.
6. Goods - General summaries of each trade good in Call to Power II are included.
7. Tile Improvements - Explanations on each kind of tile improvement including farms, roads, undersea mines, and much more are described here.
8. Governments - Details about each form of government and its impact are specified in this section of the Great Library.
9. Orders - Every type of order for every unit is listed with a description here.
10. Concepts - This is the general glossary of Call to Power II. All the concepts touched on within the manual and upon which the game is based are described here.

Trade

Trade is one of the most effective ways to generate gold for your empire. This section will give you every detail about the trade system in Call to Power II including what you need to get started trading, a list of goods to trade, and what you can expect.

Goods

In order for you to engage in trade, you will need to have a good within a city's area of influence. The maps in Call to Power II are dotted with icons that represent naturally occurring goods. The trade system in the game revolves around the buying and selling of these goods. They can range from raw materials like lumber or oil, to foodstuff such as crab or coffee, and even finished goods like glass. Goods are valued based on their scarcity in the world and their distance to any given city that will buy them. Goods are broken down into common and rare goods, and are generally associated with specific terrain types, as listed below:

The Trade Advance

Once you discover the trade advance, you may begin to engage in both foreign and domestic trade. You will need to research both agriculture and jurisprudence before getting to trade. The trade advance enables you to build caravans, which are required to transport goods between cities. The trade advance also enables roads, the bazaar improvement, and the Appian Way, all of which enhance commerce and trade.

Caravans

Caravans are a special kind of improvement representing the means by which traders physically transport trade goods, be it by camels, wagons, trucks, or ships. You can build caravans in cities like any other improvement. While caravans represent vehicles and pack animals, they only appear on the map in the form of a trade route, along with the goods transported. Instead, they go into a pool of caravans, ready and waiting to transport goods to from city to city across the map. The longer the distance between cities on a trade route, the more caravans it will require to complete the job. After you have built a few caravans, open the Trade Manager located on the Helm to begin trading goods.

Freight Transport

Freight transport is the modern equivalent of the caravan. Once you discover the global economics advance, freight transport replaces the caravan as the means of shipping goods.

Trade Manager

The Trade Manager is your key to the marketplace. From here, you can view possible trade routes, create them, and then view and break trade routes you have already set up. You can also get advice from your trade advisor, evaluate your use of caravans, and see your profits.

Market Tab

The Market Tab provides a list of available trade, both foreign and domestic. Trade in Call To Power II is demand-driven. In other words, only trade goods that you supply are listed in your market report. Furthermore, a trade good will not be listed unless another city is willing to pay for it.

You can list available trade routes using the Show Cities Buttons. If you wish, you can show only domestic trade demand by clicking the Own Button. Clicking the Friendly Button will show cities from friendly foreign nations who wish to buy your goods. The All Button shows all potential trade routes, domestic or foreign, hostile or friendly.

You can sort these lists by column heading if you wish. The list is sorted by the Our City column by default, to show which of your cities offers a trade good. You can sort by the good itself, cities interested in buying, nationality, price, and caravans required. Trade to foreign cities is often more profitable than trade within your own empire, however these routes are the first to be broken in the event of hostility or conflict. Trade with hostile nations is dangerous and subject to piracy.

You can also list up to five possible routes per city using the Cities Per Good slider. Normally, you will want to list only the most profitable routes, setting the slider to 1, the leftmost position. However, there are many times when the most profitable routes require more caravans than you have. On the other hand, a high profit route may pass by enemy territory and have potential to suffer from frequent piracy. In these cases, try setting the slider to the right so you can view alternate routes that suit your purposes.

Trade Summary Tab

The Trade Summary lists all of the trade routes you have created. You can sort this list in the same manner as the Market Tab.

Piracy Indicator

If foreign scoundrels are pirating your trade routes, you will see the color of their nation under the column marked by a pirate flag. If a nation is pirating your routes, you may want to send them a diplomatic message requesting they stop!

Breaking Trade Routes

You can always cancel a current trade route to free up caravans if you want to initiate a route somewhere else. To do this, simply select the route and click the Break Route Button.

The Trade Advisor

The Trade Advisor will provide you with advice with respect to which routes are the most profitable, and will summarize routes you have selected from the market. Important information concerning how many caravans you have available or in use, your current profit from trade, and the total number of trade routes you have set up will also be provide by your advisor. You can choose to heed or ignore your advisor, and you can open or close the Advisor by clicking Show Advisor or Hide Advisor at the bottom left of the Trade Manager screen.

Establishing Trade Routes

To establish a trade route, simply select it from the list you are viewing and click the Create Route Button. If you select a route for which you have enough caravans, the Create Route Button will become enabled. If the Create Route Button is not enabled when a route is selected, you do not have enough caravans. When you create a route, it will appear under the Trade Summary Tab (above). However, you will notice that another possible route, which is less profitable, will appear in place of the route you just set up. The good will appear in red, indicating you are already selling this good. No city can sell the same good to more than one city, but you can still establish this route by clicking the Create Route Button. If you do this, you will replace your more profitable route with the less profitable one.

Remember to consider not only the profit from a trade route, but also how many caravans it will require to transport the good. Caravans take time and production to build, so ask yourself if the number of caravans is worth the extra profit when comparing one route to another.

Foreign Trades

Before you have met any other empires, you can only trade items between your own cities. After you have encountered other empires, you may begin to trade with foreign cities. At that point, foreign trading is no different from trading within your own empire. However, foreign routes often require more caravans to transport your goods, and you will want to consider the territories your routes will pass through. If you are at war with a nation, you may not trade with them at all. Considering the profit potential for foreign trade routes, you may want to consider the price, both literally and figuratively, of war on your economy.

Piracy

You can order your military units to pirate trade routes by moving onto the route and giving the pirate order. When a trade route is pirated, it is not broken. Rather, you pirate the profits, in gold, from the route for every turn you pirate the route. Piracy can play a hand in diplomatic relationships. You can request a nation stop piracy (see Diplomacy, on page 55), or you can hunt the offending units down and deal with them directly. This goes for other nations as well. Some leaders may see your piracy as the last straw, and use it as an excuse to declare war against you.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Note: All keyboard shortcuts are case-sensitive.

BASIC COMMANDS

UNIT CONTROLS

SCREEN CONTROLS

MAP CONTROLS

GAME CONTROLS