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SCREENSHOTS&ART PAGES (29 June 2000, 8:05 EST) Two news pages in our Call to Power II Section, one with screenshots and one with game art. For each image there are links to related threads on the forums. If we have missed an image, please let us know. The recent screenshots from the IGN and Gamespot previews will be added in the following days. -MarkG
INTERCEPT TRADE? (30 June 2000, 8:44 EST/CtP2) MidKnight Lament, like perhaps many other Civers like him, are suffering from information overload thanks to the latest previews of Call To Power II posted recently by both IGN and GameSpot. In a thread started just this morning on our forums, Mr. Ogre (Joe Rumsey) responded to a couple of ML's most burning questions.
"1) The pink numbers are a debugging feature, shouldn't have made it into a screenshot.
2) "Intercept trade" is what Piracy has always been called in the code, I'm highly amused that it managed to creep into the interface, and that you are the first person to point it out to me. I'll make sure it gets fixed ". -DanQ
CLIFFS IN GAMEPLAY (30 June 2000, 8:34 EST/CtP2) Joe Rumsey of Activision, aka Mr. Ogre, responded to a question in our forums this morning by Slax regarding recently released screenshots in several previews on Call To Power II.
"The cliffs don't affect gameplay. I think our artists are maybe going to tone them down a bit from what you see in the screenshots, but what do you think?".
To share your views with Mr. Ogre and the rest of the team, all you have to do is register in our forums. It's free! -DanQ
OTHER SITES
The Cradle of Civilization [06/23/2000] Added three excellent Civilization utility programs to the Winged Bull page. They are Carl Fritz's ToTtweak and CivTweak, and Pano's Mfe.
Civilization Fanatics' Center [06/24/2000] 18 Scenarios Added! The new scenarios added are: American Civil War, Australian Civil War, Great Northern War, The Vietnam War, Karl XII's Invasion of Russia, BattleTech, Alba De America, The Great English Civil War, The 30 Years War, The Holy Roman Empire, Dungeon: Heroes of Beckhorn, The Mongols: from Genghis to Kublai Khan, Slash & Burn, The Third Punic War, Age of the Vikings, Spanish pride, Prince of Darkness, and Seven Years War. This downloads update is different from previous ones in that all downloads added this time have a large file size relative to previous ones; most are larger than 400 KB. Head to the civ2 downloads collection and get them now!
GAMESPOT PREVIEW (28 June 2000, 12:29 EST) Two days, two previews equals information overload which, in this instance, may not be such a bad thing. Yesterday, GameSpot posted their own preview of Call To Power II.
"[The] screenshots show off the overall higher level of detail of the game's 2D environments and units, but the bulk of the changes to the game comes in the form of gameplay tweaks", reports ZDNet's Sam Parker.
While much of the information detailed in the news report are apart of the IGN preview we reported on yesterday, GameSpot's first look does contain some interesting tidbits making it well worth the visit.
"Unconventional warfare units - the ecoterrorists, slavers, and lawyers that so harassed players of Call to Power - are very much a part of the sequel, but any type of unconventional unit can now spot another.
Overall, technological advancement won't seem as rushed in Call to Power II since the game's timeline is being shortened by seven centuries (running from 4000 BC to 2300 AD) while the game moves to a full 500-turn format. The game will also do away with space cities and units to keep the endgame more focused on dense land and sea development".
Our thanks to Yohan Pamudji for the news tip. CTPII is due out this coming holiday season. -DanQ
IGN PREVIEW UPDATE (27 June 2000, 21:16 EST) It's been six weeks since the first installment, but today IGN updated their preview of Call To Power II, and it is paying for itself in dividends. With so much information to assimilate, we've broken it down into sub-sections which are but bottom-line excerpts from the extensive writeup. In each instance, IGN's Stephen Butts reports...
EMPIRE MANAGEMENT SCREEN "The new game offers a revamped empire management screen. Here you can see your city influence spread out as you gain more and more people and put them to work more efficiently. The empire management screen also offers a detailed look at where your money is going".
SCIENCE MANAGEMENT SCREEN "The science management screen offers data on your current research project. You can come here to see just how much is being spent on your own projects and, as long as you have the right embassies, you can see what each of your enemies is working on".
WONDERS "The game will also include new Wonders of the World as well as new Feats of Wonder. These are one time, temporary bonuses that you get for performing certain actions. For instance, if you're the first person to circumnavigate the globe, you get a sea movement bonus for a few turns".
TERRAIN "The terrain for the game is all new and does not include the space levels from the original. There's much more of a focus on land and sea warfare -- especially submarine warfare. There are lots of new undersea units in the game -- like the Moray and the Kraken -- that are sure to have your enemies guarding their coasts".
DIPLOMACY "If you find your attacks failing, you may want to try out Call to Power II's improved diplomacy options. There's a new proposal interface that allows you to form compound proposals and counter offers. This open-ended sort of negotiation is a very welcome addition to the game".
BORDERS "The concept of borders, one of the better innovations in CTP, has been improved on here as well. CTP2 allows you to ignore zones of influence and control but callous disregard for national boundaries will negatively affect your standing among other civilizations".
SCENARIOS "CTP2 will ship with several historical and fictional scenarios. If that's not good enough for you, you can use the scenario editor to create your own".
And if multimedia is what you are dying for, you needn't look any further. The end of the preview page contains a collection of current and archived media: 10 and 14 screenshots respectively.
Again, above is just a sampling of what awaits you on IGN's website. Well worth a visit (and perhaps even a bookmarking)! -DanQ
MONUMENT SCREEN GONE (29 June 2000, 14:14 EST) It seems that the Monument screen in CTP1 was not very succesfull. Therefore is Activision is cuting it, without replacing it with something else. Some said that ever since Civ1 and it's "castle" feature, the following games(civ2, smac, ctp1) didnt do anything better. Post your thoughts on the forums -MarkG
EXPANDING CITY RADIUS (30 June 2000, 8:55 EST/CtP2) TGIF! Members of Activision's Call To Power II team, in particular Mr. Ogre (J. Rumsey) and St. Swithin (W. Lee), have been busy answering a slew of questions about the game thrown at them in our forums.
Wheathin is curious about the "expanding city radius" referred to the most recent previews of CTPII. He asks, and Mr. Ogre explains:
Will players still try to space their initial cities so that when they grow they won't overlap? "Cities don't overlap any more, whichever one of your cities expands to a tile first, keeps it for itself. So yes, you'll still want to space them out so as to maximize their potential radius. The ideal distance will be a bit farther than you're used to".
Will cities have a set radius or a set number of surrounding tiles? "There is a maximum size (can be changed in the text file I'm about to mention)".
Will this be open to SLIC or mods? "There is a text database that sets the relation of population to radius".
Will this also extend the PW/vision radius of the cities? "PW are buildable anywhere within your national borders, city borders don't affect it. A city's radius is also its vision radius".
Thanks (again), Joe, for your clarifications! -DanQ
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