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#98 WHAT IS WRONG WITH Apolyton ADDICTION? The debate continues: Imran demands to know what is so out of place of being an Apolyton addict. #99 AT EVERY LEVEL, IN EVERY WAY Creators still crave a half decent modification editor, Johan Palme laments. #100 BRIAN IS GONE BUT CIV3 IS STILL GOING STRONG Brian (Reynolds) may be gone, but don't anyone give up on Civ3, korn469 persists. #101 INTERNET COMMUNITIES Online communities are all over the place, CyberShy says, and all you have to do is look. #102 THE ESSENTIAL CTP2: BEYOND THE PR STUFF (PART 1) MarkG hopes that fans and reviewers alike will better receive Activision's next CTP project. COLUMN ARCHIVE

D) DONT GIVE A DAMN IF YOU HAVE TO DELAY
While CTP was delayed for several months (the original schedule was for Christmas), it is remembered by lots of people as "rushed out"(yeap, I'm still saying that the release version was working fine on my computer :)). The truth is that nobody remembers or cares if SMAC or CTP was delayed at all. Nobody remembers if SMAC had an actual patch before the release called "Demo v1.1". Everyone remembers the state of the games on their release day. Most reviewers (unfortunately and a bit unfairly, imho) rate the game ignoring the patches. So, I'll just unite my voice with the others from the forums: "delay if you have to!" :)

E) CONTINUOUS PRESENCE AFTER RELEASE
John Heinecke (very known on the forums as Lt. John) was the first member of a civ development team to use so much our forums. Perhaps it's his "progress reports" after the release of CTP that inspired Jeff Morris to keep us updated over the last months about the SMAC patches :) The CTP development team has most probably been the most open civ team to communication with fans, that being either posting on the forums, giving interviews or even responding to mail.

It is therefore clear that if Activision is interested to keep a good image on the fan base and looking forward for another sequel, there should be a continuous and "interactive" communication with players. Often updates on the official site, posting on newsgroups and forums, small or bigger modifications, maps, scenarios, etc are all parts of this, and should not stop 3-4 months after the release. It's almost clear that things started to "cool down" in the CTP scene after the release of the second patch and the end of updates on the official site...

DISCLAIMER! :)
These were the things that Activision should take notice for CTP2, but before closing this article, some sort of disclaimer needs to be added. First of all, in most of this stuff you can easily replace CTP with Civ3 and Activision with Firaxis. Second, I'm sure that if we lived in a perfect world, and if Activision existed in a perfect world, I would not have a reason to write this column. The example of Civ2: ToT and the not included map editor, is the first thing that comes to my mind. Mike Uhl said it simply on our forums: we didn't have the time, we didn't have the resources, we had to make a choice and that was to fix bugs instead. Can you argue with that?

CTP2 DOES LOOK LIKE A WINNER
The truth is that the odds for CTP2 are much better than CTP's. The basic game engine is already there, the team has gotten lots of feedback (25-30,000 posts on our CTP forums at least :)) on what works and what not over the last months, and now has the experience of actually making a civ game. Most probably released enough time ahead of civ3, CTP2 wont have to compete head to head with another civ game, like CTP1 did with SMAC (dinosaurs is a bit uncertain if it will be close to be called a civ game, and certainly will be something completely different). Even the non-inclusion of "civilization" in the title could work positively, as it will be now clearer than ever that this is a new and unique game, and not a copycat. So, go Activision, go!! :))

P.S. Since I mentioned Lt. John, I should make a mention for John Possidente of the Civ2 team, who is now the developer with the most posts on our forums. 6-7 Months after the release of ToT, he still passes by every few days to answer to questions. I'm not sure if this made anyone go and buy ToT, but it has certainly given another image for Microprose than the one we had over the last years. Thanks John! :)
P.S.S. I hope to have an "Essential Civ3" column in the next couple of weeks. Look out for it! :)
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About the author: CTP addict and something to do with Apolyton... :)

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