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Call to Power 2 Preview: Day 2

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  • Call to Power 2 Preview: Day 2



    The Builder Manager screen. The stats for the units are in the following row: attack, defence, armor, ranged attacke, damage strength, movement, turns to build

    Clicking on the date you get the number of the current turn

    Wonders tab in the statistics screen


    The Army Manager screen. Armies are represented with a star on the map and the Unit tab on the control panel

    Creating a trade route is as easy as clicking two buttons(one to open the screen and one to click the "Create Trade Route" button)
    Btw, the control panel can be hidden as you can see

    A battle you win

    And a.... "OK, guys another time" battle. Retreaaaat!
    Comparing two goverments
    Explanations, Replies
    Day 2! First some replies to questions and some clarifications from yesterday:
    • I got a 17" monitor. 1024x768 Works pretty much OK, but I think I'll end up using higher resolutions.
    • As Lt John answered, the castle icons next a city shows you that a unit is fortified within the city. This means that you can see if enemy cities have units inside them.
    • The recapturing-of-city FoW: only the first civ to do this get the FoW, and just for one time.
    • Wonder movies: I've only seen 6 or 7, as I play the game. Two of them which where in CTP1(Hagia Sophia, East India Company) are identical. Also, the Pyramids one is identical with the first part of the intro movie.
    • Also judging from the date of the exe file, my version is dated November 2.
    • The declare war option: Yes, I know the importance, but for someone who doesn't know much about the game, it does sound ridiculous, doesn#t it?
    • On the same subject, someone asked "With the declare war option, is there the possibility to demand a neighbor to stop a war with another civ?" Yes, you can offer/request the brake of any agreement, treaty, or pact. BUT it's disabled in the build I got. Whether or not it will be in the released game, I don't know. It CAN be enabled though by removing two lines from a text file(one for the offer and one for the request). I tried it and it SEEMS to work. As soon as we have some info on that from Activision we'll post it.
    • AI files: there are lots of them. It seems that there are lists for building stuff, for the which advances to search, etc, depending of the character of the AI. Generally, lots of stuff to get into. My eye also caught a couple of help files
    • Someone asked: "the Senate may once again actively block some of your decisions like declaring war. Can you let us know if you find anything to back this up?"
    • I didn't find a single thing about this. It must be just part of the story....
    • Another question: "Did the AI act any better/worse, or was it dong some idiotic things?" To early to tell. Not something idiotic so far.


    No Crash, No Crash, No Crash
    Perhaps it's my way-over-the-minimum-requirements system, perhaps it's win2000, but the game is uncrashable so far.
    Two incidents: one when I took of my USB mouse, which was conflicting with the DVD player, and plugged in a serial mouse. CTP2 kept working like nothing happened! The other incident when I run out off virtual memory(I had it at 200mb) and Windows throwed me a message saying it increased the virtual memory file. CTP2 didn't care again(CTP1 would probably have crashed ) At the time, I was also running Photoshop and Word(for the manual), and CTP2 was running the "east India company" wonder video.

    Manual in electronic format
    As I noted before, the manual also in rtf format for easier access to the info. Definitely better!

    Army Management
    A group of unit is now called an army. CTP2 sets a "Army #347" kind of name each time you make a group. But you can edit it. In the Unit Tab on the Control Panel, each army is represented with just one unit, with a star next to it. If there are several ungrouped units on a tile, or some ungrouped units and an army on a tile, there is a right-click command to group all of them. The same for ungrouping all of the units. Removing one or more units from an army might require 1-2 clicks more from CTP1 but I think that again there is no way to make a mistake about it.

    Units stats
    These are the unit attributes(copy from the manual):
    Attack: The attack rating represents the unit's probability of successful attack
    Ranged Attack: This represents the probability of a ranged attack. Not all units have ranged attack capability.
    Defense: This represents the unit's ability to avoid being hit.
    Armor: The armor rating indicates the unit's ability to withstand a successful attack
    Strength: This represents the amount of damage a unit inflicts with each successful attack
    Vision: Each unit has a range of vision that is equal to at least one tile in every direction
    Cost: A unit's cost is measured by the amount of production it takes to build the unit
    Health: The health of a unit is represented by a colored bar that appears over the flag next to the unit itself. One of these days I'll try the tank vs hoplite thing, but it seems to not exist anymore

    Music
    There are 10 audio tracks on the CD. It's not something totally great, except from the Welsh song. There is definitely no irritating song in there, which is very good.

    Radar Map buttons
    The buttons on the radar map are the following: on/off units, on/off cities, on/off borders, on/off filtered(shows the map smoothed), on/off trade routes, on/off geographical information. Hopefully tomorrow I'll make an animated gif with the various options

    Append to Multiple Build Queues!
    If you're wondering what this is, here is an example: you discover the advance that enable the Mill. You open the National Manager(=city list), you select all the cities, click on the "Build Manager" button to open the.. build manager, Add mill on the queue and then click on "Append". The mill has been added to the queues of all your cities!! If you don't get the significance of this, you haven't played ctp1 with lots of cities...

    Retreat Button
    Check one of the animated screens to see a case where I clicked retreat as fast as I could. And yes these are catapults you see in there!

    Comparing Governments
    One really helpful addition is that you can finally see the numbers of cities your government can have. It would be nice if the same screen also list the number of cities you now have

    Not yet 32 civs
    I have yet to try and play with more than 8 civs.... Tomorrow!



    Index, Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
    Attached Files
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    • JDI_Falcon's Call to Power 2 Review
      by JDI_Falcon

      First things first:
      I have a Cyrix 300 (225mhz) with 64mb of ram and a Voodoo 3 2000. One of the major complaints after the original CTP release was how slow it ran even on extremely powerfull machines, well with CTP 2 there is no such problem. Even on my weak Cyrix computer the time between turns is short, the unit movement smooth and the sound is clear and unchoppy. This is also on a decent resolution of 1280 X 1024.

      Now the review:
      OK, now I absolutely hated CTP. I bought it and within days had sold it again on EBay for something like twenty-five dollars. And one of the reasons I hated it so much was because of its sloppy, hard to decipher interface. This has been 100% remedied in CTP 2. The interface is clean cut, everything is easy to find and I had no trouble figuring out what button went with what option, etc.

      As far as diplomacy and warfare improvements go, I don't see much. Part of the fun of Civ 2 was getting that attitude from the AI when in negotiations with them. In Civ 2 you really wanted to beat down the Mongols after a sneak attack or something. In CTP 2 you don't get the feeling that your opponent is a living breathing enemy (not that you should but it should seem like something more than just programmed responses).

      Warfare is the same as CTP, the stacked unit method and such, but the "Army Manager" and "Unit Manager" make keeping track of specific armies far easier than in CTP. I never played CTP in very great detail but the government systems in CTP 2 are excellent and a side by side comparison to each other at the "Empire Manager" really makes it easy to decide which one you want to run your empire. The wonder cut scenes are interesting and the music decent but they don't compare to! Civ 2.

      The AI is from what I can see at least a small amount improved. I played my first game at Beginner level in order to get the feel of the game, and I still found myself having mild trouble capturing some English and American cities, but after a few hours it was obvious that I was by far the most powerful civ in the game. But from what I can tell, the harder difficulty levels should prove to be near impossible.

      From this point, I didn't see much that showed a great improvement over CTP and I was disappointed. However, when I played later and later into the game, I started getting into it, my empire started to take shape and I actually started to have fun again. There was that "just one more turn" feeling again, but I wouldn't say it was a strong as Civ 2's. I found myself actually wanting to build up massive armies and take out the next English city rather then just quitting and putting CTP 2 back on the shelf for years to come. I cannot put my finger on it but CTP 2 has something that CTP did not that actually makes you want to play the game, and take it from me, I have been playing Civ 2 since 96 and have purchased ever single addon. This is a good game, its no Civ 3, but its still a lot of fun, and I would recommend it to any die hard Civer. However, try to get it at a lower price, like on EBay ! or something, cus its a tad expensive for something that still uses 65-70% of the original game art and programming.

      Rating for a new comer to Genre:
      Graphics: 9
      Gameplay: 8
      Interface: 9
      Multiplayer: 7
      Sound: 8
      Overall: 8.9

      Rating for a player of CTP 1 (Improvements Over CTP):
      Graphics: 8
      Gameplay: 9
      Interface: 10!
      Multiplayer: 5
      Sound: 7
      Overall: 8

      ...
      January 18, 2011, 18:50
    • Tilemacho's Call to Power 2 Review
      by Tilemacho

      OK here you can find my thoughts during my first CTP2 game. I have a celeron 400 with 192 RAM and Voodoo 3000 16 RAM. I bought 128 RAM during the game so I compared 64 to 192 RAM: 64: Load= 32 sec next turn= 25 sec at turn 407 (year 1732) 192: Load= 25 sec next turn= 22 sec ... The huge difference was after playing for 5 hours continuously. With 64 RAM loading a game took about 2 min and next turn 1 min15 sec, whereas after I upgraded there was no difference at all no matter how long I played. The game didn't crash at all although I didn't try any scenario or the cheat options.

      ...
      January 18, 2011, 18:29
    • Call to Power 2 Previews and Reviews
      by MarkG

      As we did with Civ2:MGE and CTP1, we are happy to present you with a preview of the latest civilization game, Call to Power II. Beyond that, we present you with reviews from actual players of the game, as well as links to the entry of CTP2 in the Apolyton Links&Products Directory(where more player reviews can be found) and to the previews and reviews of CTP2 in various gaming sites.

      Three Years Review

      After three year of Call to Power 2, Locutus reviews what was happening in the last three years about mod making and the source code release. Read.

      Player Reviews

      Christoph Nahr's Review

      Originally posted on the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic newsgroup. Quote: " Too many flaws for a classic but a good game still, and could be great if it's properly patched." Read.

      Tilemacho's Review

      Review after the first game. "Once again I felt that "one more turn feeling" which to say the trough had missed since Civ2!" Read.

      JDI_Falcon's Review

      Quote: "I cannot put my finger on it but CTP 2 has something that CTP did not that actually makes you want to play the game" Read.

      DarthVeda's Review

      CTP1 Hater turns into a CTP2 Lover. "I don't doubt that I may very well finally put my copy of Civ2 to rest" Read.

      Apolyton Preview, Part 2: CTP2 Previewed, The Real Thing

      Coming very soon, no release date though... Or won't ever.

      Apolyton Preview, Part 1: Daily Impressions

      Day One

      Mark's first day with ctp2: Installation, System Requirements, Difficulty Levels, Screen Resolutions, Moving Units, Right-click Menus, Great Library, Diplomacy Impressions, Great Autosave, 32 Civs, No Crash. Read.

      Day Two

      Second day for Mark: Explanations, Replies, No Crash, No Crash, No Crash, Manual in electronic format, Army Management, Units stats, Music, Radar Map buttons, Append to Multiple Build Queues, Retreat Button, Comparing Governments, Not yet 32 civs. Read.

      Day Three

      Explanations, Replies, Yes 32 Civs, New Way For Resource Gathering, AIPopCheat, Too Many Screens, Borders and Trespassing, 1280x1024 With "Clear" Map, ICS still there or not, CTRL+S CTRL+L Read.

      Day Four

      Text files, Trade Routes, Commerce Tile Improvements, Scientific Victory, Screens and LDL Files, Alexander's Way To Victory Read.

      Day Five

      Map/Scenario Editing, Why He Hates You, Mayors Do Tiles, Control Panel Totally Gone, Threats Work, Advices In Unit Manager, Flanking Units Read.

      Day Six

      The Impossible Medium Game, Reply to Ralf, Reply to Slingshot Read.

      Day Seven

      Editor Documentation, Editor Experiences, Map Sizes/World Map, Diplomacy: The Friendly Side, Diplomacy: The Ugly Side, Diplomacy: Treaties Read.

      ...
      January 18, 2011, 17:25
    • Call to Power 2 Preview: Day 7
      by MarkG


      Saving a map

      Saving a scenario. CTP2 takes care of all needed directories and files under the /scenarios folder

      Loading my just-made scenario!

      The Score formula

      After Day 6, the final Day 7...

      Editor Documentation
      There is currently no readme for the map/editor. It seems that there wont be anything "in the box" as well. Activision is working on it though:

      Dave White wrote on a mail replying to me about it
      We're working on some extensive documentation for SLIC, the scenario editor and the save game files. Once they're all done we'll make them available on-line.

      ...
      January 17, 2011, 18:11
    • Call to Power 2 Preview: Day 6
      by MarkG


      My diplomatic efforts finally show results

      Science related screens

      Select, cut and....

      Paste!

      Two days since Day 5, so Day 6, posted on Day 7. Real life came knocking my door....
      Just a small comment on deity and two lengthy replies to posts with lots of questions

      The Impossible Medium Game I've put aside my first game(although i want to end it to see well, how it ends ) and started a new one on impossible(deity) level so far I've survived... That's what I was saying. The deity game turned out to be a prince(medium) one. Somehow I put the wrong setting... And I was wondering why I do so well Anyway, on my second game on medium, the game seemed much easier. BUT the next game which was a really deity one, sees impossible after the first turns. More "research" is needed....

      ...
      January 17, 2011, 17:42
    • Call to Power 2 Preview: Day 5
      by MarkG


      A battle with more modern units(from one side at least)

      Battle view when you attack from the sea. What is missing? My ship...

      Now I have some excuse for war....

      Threats work some other times...

      The Unit Manager screen also provides advice on where you need more units. On the bottom left my favorite choice for the radar map: no geographical or other info and just the borders

      Bye bye Germans

      Day 5. Spent most of my time playing instead of keeping notes like yesterday.

      Map/Scenario Editing
      Ralf asked about creating maps and scenarios. I've tried the editor a bit today. Cut/copy/paste works nicely. The major difference is that maps and scenarios are distinct. Maps are saved in and loaded from another folder. Also, when you save a scenario, you also set the scenario folder and the scenario name. All the appropriate files are created under /scenarios(where the official scenarios are as well). This means that the scenario you just saved is ready to be tested right away(in ctp1 you had to find the file, create the folders and the text files, move the file, etc etc)

      ...
      January 17, 2011, 17:07
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