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PREVIOUS ARTICLES

#141 CIVILIZATION II ATE MY HAMSTER It's no laughing matter -- Lazarus & The Gimp talk about the continuous return to CivII. #140 A JOURNEY OF 1000 MILES BEGINS WITH A SINGLE STEP Heardie familiarizes us to a new "Civ"-inspired game entitled Guns, Germs and Steel: Tools of Conquest. #139 YOUR CITIES AND YOU Our first "celebrity" column, Activision's St. Swithin, talks about -- what else? -- CTPII. #138 TURN-BASED STRATEGY: THE THINKING PERSON'S GAME Father Beast returns to voice his opinion on the calibre of the turn-based strategist. #137 IS TURN-BASED STRATEGY IN DANGER? Tim Bromige examines the playing field of the turn-based strategy genre today. COLUMN ARCHIVE

Hello, Firaxis. Call to Power 2 is hitting shelves right about now and by and large you don't care. That's good. You're working hard on Civ 3. You know Civ 3 is going to be the best Civ game ever (secretly the guys at Activision know that, too -- hey, it's Sid, after all). Still, Activision has given you a good reason to step back with this release, and take stock of where you've been in your planning, what you're expectations are, and how you're going to reach them.

You will soon know what CTP2 does right, and you already can tell some of your ideas are better (trade, diplomacy, the ICS solution...) Good. You don't need to look too hard at CTP2. It's a "2" after all. It's a fix for an earlier "1." A "3" it ain't. That's you guys. And you already know the secret to making a "Civ 3" worthy of Sid's name.

It's about finding The Fun. And, once you've found it, not letting it go. The Fun = 2 sides in conflict for a specific goal. That's it. That's what Sid knows that nobody -- well, usually nobody, seems to be able to figure out. Sure, there's more to it than that -- the goal has to be interesting, the choices the player has to make in order to GET the goal have to be interesting. But basically that's it, and it's why here in November 2000 you already know that Civ 3 is going to be the best game released in 2001 next to Sid's Dino game (not flattering you, just placing a sure bet).

So here you are at half time. You've taken all the suggestions and the other suggestions on top of more suggestions that have been made. And for each one you've said, "Okay, where's The Fun?" And in so doing you've whittled them down. You now have a good idea what Civ 3 is going to look like. But you have no idea how gratified your Constant Player is going to be when he/she discovers you listened. You really listened. The questions to ask this month are the same ones you've been asking, only after this you won't have another chance to ask. They are, What can you afford to leave in? and What can you leave out?

Only The Fun formula will tell. You have already questioned using the Social Engineering structure from Alpha Centauri. As well you should have, and it isn't Civ 3. It's out. Fine. However, Trade IS Civ 3, and it's one feature you're really going to nail. Bravo. Religion, that's another problem. Some pretty interesting ideas there. Religion could be to population what Trade is to resources. But is it practical to implement? Is it... The Fun? Maybe you doubt it. Maybe you know for a certainty it's not. That's fine. There are many interesting ideas, they can't ALL make it in. Right? Now stop yourselves. REALLY? Can you be sure every one of those crazy, impractical ideas don't belong? On my desk as I take this break from my writing to jot this note to you is a cup. On it are these words: "If at first the idea is not absurd then there is no hope for it." Einstein said that. Go back now and see if there isn't ONE absurd idea that will give us all hope.

Here's one, arguably not-so-crazy: Border Negotiating. Brian Reynolds dismissed border negotiating as being to micro-picky and no fun. But Sid never said that. In fact, when you're looking for The Fun in a Civ game, look no further than borders. Borders contain the basic ingredients of The Fun: You got your two sides in conflict (by definition, a border requires two sides in conflict or you wouldn't need the border!), and that conflict is always over a clear and tangible goal -- a valuable mountain range, a strategic peninsula, or simply who gets all that living space and who gets to be Luxembourg. To my knowledge as I write this, in CTP2 you cannot negotiate the placement of fixed borders. Border negotiating is PERSONAL. Sure, let us draw them and re-draw them in wet sand in the early epochs. But after a certain point that cement should start to dry. By the time I'm driving tanks into Cairo, borders should be a thing for leaders alone to change. However you want to! do it, but we need a whole new system for bordrs. It ain't broke, so BREAK it. My settlement next to the Zulu border should not the Zulu border make. You know it's a good suggestion, because it's within... The Fun.

Finally, there are those things that simply CANNOT be done. You already know what they are. That's okay, we can take it. We know the number of Civs in a game is a problem. CTP2 has 8. Everybody wants 164+. You know the impracticalities of the AI calculating for 32 or even 24 civs. And you already know you're not going to have that many. But 16 is possible. So good. Implement 16 civs. It isn't enough, and we'll gripe about it, but in the end 16 will FEEL like 32. Your Minor Nations feature may already help to give the complex world view players are yearning for, so cut your losses and let us gripe. We won't care after one incredible game with 16 (major and minor) civs running around.

So that's it. A little half time talk from Constant Player. Congratulations on finding yourselves, incredibly, making one of the best loved games ever built. And try Call to Power 2. Who knows? For now it just might be The Fun and a half.

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About the author: "I'm a writer, a Civ fan, and a some time contributor of my two cents to the Apolyton boards".

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