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THIS FALL? (11 May 2000, 16:45 EST) Well Rounded Entertainment is reporting on location at E3 that Call To Power II is set for release sometime this fall. This backs up an earlier claim by C|Net's GameCenter in February shortly after the game's official announcement.
Is it true? Can a more precise date be pinpointed? Stay tuned. -DanQ
OFFICIAL SITE FIRST GLIMPSE (11 May 2000, 23:22 EST) The official website for Call To Power 2 is currently under development, but is available for preview. A general description, including the following, is presently available:
"Rewrite History Your Way Built-in scenarios allow you to relive some of the world's greatest battles. A map and scenario editor allow you to build your own historical or fictional situations".
The credit goes to Locutus for stumbling upon this and pointing it out. -DanQ
SUGGESTIONS FOR A CHAT SYSTEM? (17 May 2000, 19:32 EST) It's really encouranging when you have developers answer questions on the forums. People get useful information on the details that really make the differences, beyond the generic previews and the even more generic official pages. It's even better when developers ask for suggestions. Osco wondered about the chat system of CTP2 in multiplayer games. "Actigrammer" Mr Ogre replied with a question: What games do you think have really good chat systems?. Sounds like there is room for suggestions to me. Answer the question on the forum! -MarkG
FLAT MAP SUPPORT (16 May 2000, 1:09 EST) A long time demand of CTP1 MOD-makers will become reality in CTP2. Flat map support will be there, allowing for types of scenarios that were simply not possible in CTP1. Related forum thread -MarkG
CGO FIRST LOOK (13 May 2000, 22:14 EST) In a follow-up to their general announcement article, Computer Games Online has posted a brief preview of CTPII from the last day of E3 in Los Angeles, California USA.
"Call to Power 2 should rise from the murk of pre-history this fall, when there won't likely be a huge number of competing turn-based strategy games on the market", reports previewer Robert Mayer.
They are promising that there is more to come on the game as they sort through the slew of information that came their way these past few days. -DanQ
Apolyton & Friends News
11-20/May 2000
CTP2 INFO FLOOD!
MORE SCREENS (11 May 2000, 16:38 EST) More Call To Power II screenshots have been released from the floors of this year's E3 conference in Los Angeles, California.
ONE MORE SCREENSHOT (13 May 2000, 17:35 EST)Searhing the net for E3 news, here is un-published screenshot from IGN. It looks like a part of an intro movie, doesnt it? (Comment Thread)
In related news, Mr Ogre of Activision verified on our forums that the sketch art in yesterday's news item is indeed the new "urban planner" unit. -MarkG
UNITS NOT UPGRADEABLE (17 May 2000, 19:21 EST) Did you like the option to upgrade your units for a cost when they are made obsolete in SMAC? Don't wait to see it on CTP2. Slax made the question on the forums, and St Swithin(an Actigrammer using Slingshot's terminology :)) gave the answer The AI will not retain units which are obsolete, so the AI won't have warriors running around after your Cyber Ninjas. However, the player can keep them around for as long as they want to. I find that it's usually best to disband the unit inside a city, so that I can recover some of the production that originally went into the unit. But the units will not upgradeable. Sorry. Check out the whole discussion on the related forum thread -MarkG
CLARIFICATION ON FARMS (15 May 2000, 3:56 EST) The IGN preview left the impressions that placing farms is now fully automatic. Activision's Joe Rumsy (a.k.a. Mr Ogre on the forums) clarified that you are still able place the farms wherever you want. But there is now the option to let the mayor of the city do it for you. The mayor seems likes the good-old Civ2 city advisor with more... responsibilities. Mr Ogre also gave us the bad news: the cow unit is not returning! :D More details about that in the CTP section. -MarkG
FIRST LOOK ON CTP2! (13 May 2000, 17:37 EST) IGN also published the first preview of CTP2. Some quotes
On AI and borders "We've made the AI a lot more robust," explains White, "it understands a lot more about borders and if you're friendly it won't come into your territory. Of course, it will also expect the same behavior of you."
On the Combat model "We've changed the entire combat model," says White. The first (and in my opinion most important) of those changes is the addition of an armor attribute to each unit. This means that the phalanx will no longer be able to stand toe to toe with a tank – it simply won't be able to do much damage even if it hits.
On stealth units "We've done a lot to simplify the stealth aspect of units," White explains. "Spies will let you see any approaching hidden units." While you'll still need the appropriate defense team to stop the approaching stealth unit (legal team to combat legal team and so on), just knowing why your city has suddenly stopped production will go a long way towards eliminating some of the frustration associated with Call to Power's end game.
On the Interface and new easy ways to do things Units can now be moved in a myriad of different ways. Players can click on a unit and drag it to the location they wish it to move towards, they can right click on the unit to get a menu of its available options, or they can use one of the several included keyboard shortcuts to get things underway. Actual placement of individual farming units has been completely eliminated and now the only thing players will need to worry about is selecting the number of farmers, entertainers, scientists, etc. How much of the land that can be utilized around the city is determined now by the city's influence (how big it is and how long it's been around). If someone feels overwhelmed by the prospect of city micro-management, all they have to do is click on the mayor option in the city they no longer wish to worry about. Mayors will run the city automatically for the players focusing on the player's choice of growth (in which they will attempt to increase the city's size), production (improving the city's ability to build) or science (focusing on generating as many research points as possible). Trade options have also been improved so that cities can now trade food with each other – pretty handy if you have one big fat city and a ton of other cities that are starving
On new units, wonders and advances ...city planner, an advanced settler option that allows users to build cities that come with basic buildings already included and that have a higher population, the game will also have loads of new sea units for player to choose from. We managed to catch a glimpse of the Moray, a super fast and agile defensive vehicle, the Kraken, a slower offensive unit and the Scout Sub, a weak unit that enables the player to see hidden units in a very wide radius. A full 20% of the advances in the game are new and the team has removed a few of the old ones that didn't make any sense within the new game's parameters (the space playing level has been completely removed from the game). A full half of the wonders are new and include the Empire State Building, which gives players a trade, gold and diplomacy bonus and the Data Haven, which gives its builder the equivalent of a free e-bank in every city. The team has also added Feats of Wonder, a lower scale version of the standard wonder that give the player a small bonus for a set amount of time. For example, the first player to sail around the world gets a water movement bonus for a few rounds. And as evident from the new unit types mentioned above, Call to Power II will place a great deal more emphasis on undersea development. Two new terrain types, the kelp bed and the coral reef have been added to the game to make life in the water a little more enticing.
At last, lot's of stuff to discuss! Thanks to Paul for providing the link -MarkG
(DEVELOPED) CITY BUILDER UNIT?!? (12 May 2000, 5:18 EST)Interesting news are coming from E3. Atahualpa reported us of a news article at the German site Gamestar. Here is part of the article translated by Ata, focusing on a new city-building unit "The sequel to last years published Call to Power from Activision makes great progress. Graphics and Interface will only be improved in details, but therefor, the developers looked to get most of the lacking points of CtP1 straight! New Units like the City-builder bring more diversity into the game, as with him you can build _already developed_ cities in later stages of the game."
And here is the translation of the full article from Babelfish. It's not perfect as you can see, but it's something "The second section in the last year call to of power of Activision appeared makes large progress. Diagram and control are improved only in the detail, but to have itself the developers very strongly to the removal of the points of criticism made. New units as for example the staedtebauer provide for still more alternation, because with it localities already developed can be established at later times in the play. A majority of the innovations concerns the diplomacy. Thus alliances are closed not only as usual and signed trade agreements, but with direct threats and offers even many engagements on now the persektivisch represented battleground can be avoided. Planned erscheinungstermin is Christmas 2000."
Looking at the images we have seen so far, the unit might be the one on this news article... -MarkG
