(25 January 2000, 8:45 EST/SMACX) If you're waiting for a localized version of the smacx v2.0 patch, you'll probably have to wait a bit more. Jeff Morris reported that status of it in a related thread of our smac-general forum:
"It's being translated is all we know. Once we get the text back, we'll put it together and submit it to EA test"
In other, a bit related, news, SMAC Gold(see yesterday's news item) will have all the fixes of smac v4 and smacx v2 included, right from the box. -MarkG
COMING: SMAC 5.0, SMAC GOLD
(24 January 2000, 19:29 EST/SMAC) It's another "Jeff Morris Day" for our forums :) About the SMAC 5.0 patch that will include all the fixes of smac-x, he replied and also gave some news SMAC Gold, a soon to be relased "bundle" of smac and smac-x.
"It's done, but hasn't entered testing. We're currently focusing on SMACGold, which is a marketing SKU containing SMAC and SMACX (that's it!). Once that's done, we'll start looking at the patch question again. If we do a v3 for SMACX, we might wait until it's done and incorporate any SMAC fixes into a new v5. We'll have it more organized in a few weeks"
So don't hold your breath... :) Give your comments in the same thread -MarkG
EMAIL HICCUPS
(24 January 2000, 15:34 EST/About) All email sent to me [ DanQ ] in the past ~16hrs. was inadvertantly lost during retriveal this afternoon. If you are one of those people who sent me email messages during this timeframe, please resend them and I will get back to you as soon as possible (as always 
).
Thank you. -DanQ
SMAC UNDER CIV3? NOT EXACTLY, BUT...
(24 January 2000, 11:11 EST/Civ3) It was a wise move when connorkimbro added the word "firaxis" in the subject of his thread titled: "question for firaxis: the civIII engine". Why? cause he actually got some response from Jeff Morris :)
You might now the speculation that civ3 will use the smac engine, in way or the other. JKM replied
"The SMAC engine is an elusive beast. It uses a bunch of different components that are pretty much interchangable. If you're talking about graphics-wise, it most likely will NOT being using the SMAC graphics-engine"
Now, what does that actually mean? Well, first that we will have a new graphics engine, and second that other parts of the smac code could be used. Or not... :) Give your thoughts in the same thread in the civ3 forum. -MarkG
FORUM MODIFICATIONS
(24 January 2000, 10:54 EST/About) A few small hacks to our forums
Display of quotes changed: less space used, colored(blue)
Alternative to the quote ubb tag, you can now simply use q
IP icon moved on top row of post
HR under icons and above the actual post replaced with a thin grin line
New profile, e-mail, home, edit, quote icons, with small text descriptions
Total number of threads and posts(excluding the archives) in main forum page(currently 11840 thread and 120236 posts!)
So, how does it look? -MarkG
5000 FORUM LOGINS
(23 January 2000, 8:13 EST/About) In the first early hours of the day, the 5000th forum login was created. It is quite satisfactory to us the fact that at least 4000 civers(we certainly don't have 1000 double logins in the last 18 months, but let's be conservative) have passed through our forums and decided to use them(not just read them ;)). Among those civers are some special people you've been seeing in credits screens over the last years, like Brian Reynolds and Mike Uhl(too just mention two of the many).
Our thanks to everyone who used our forums so far, we hope it continues to be the meeting place for the civ community, but also the means of communication between civers and developers. -MarkG
COLUMN #94; BY LORDSTONE1
(22 January 2000, 22:08 EST/Misc) Inspired by Iain Lindley's account of his Apolyton forum addiction, Lordstone1 has taken it upon himself to write an article of his own, in response, entitled A Recovered Apolytolic's Message.
In his column, LS1 discusses the twelve steps which he has followed to overcome his addiction, and what happened along the way to "recovery".
Questions/comments about the article? Post them here. -DanQ
LINUX PATCH MIRROR
(22 January 2000, 15:28 EST/CtP) With LokiGames' recent release of patch v1.2 for the Linux port of C:CTP, we are in the process of updating our file database here at Apolyton accordingly.
We are, as of today, offering a mirror for the English version of the port for all supported Linux platforms (x86, PPC and Alpha); to download, follow this link.
Patch versions for the other languages will be made available in the days to come. -DanQ
TOP 40 GAMES POLL
(22 January 2000, 10:55 EST/SMAC) Computer Gaming World (CGW) is asking for the public's input into their Top 40 Games selection for 1999.
You are invited to select your favourite games from the past year from a predetermined list, up to and including a maximum of 10, and SMAC is one of the contenders vying for your vote. Each form is automatically uploaded for instant tabulation upon submission.
The results will be published in the next issue of CGW. -DanQ
TOP 40 GAMES POLL
(22 January 2000, 10:54 EST/CtP) Computer Gaming World (CGW) is asking for the public's input into their Top 40 Games selection for 1999.
You are invited to select your favourite games from the past year from a predetermined list, up to and including a maximum of 10, and C:CTP is one of the contenders vying for your vote. Each form is automatically uploaded for instant tabulation upon submission.
The results will be published in the next issue of CGW. -DanQ
FORUM MAINTAINANCE
(22 January 2000, 9:31 EST/About) Two forum related news today: one remaining Y2K bug, affecting the cookies set by the forum scripts on netscape was fixed. Also, threads from the off-topic were either archived or deleted. To be exact, 241 threads with 4248 posts deleted, 50 threads with 2267 posts archived.
An upgrade on the forum scripts to the latest version, which includes a couple new cool features, will happen next month. -MarkG
LINUX v1.2 PATCHES
(21 January 2000, 23:26 EST/CtP) LokiSoft released v1.2 patches for the Linux port (Pentium, PowerPC, Alpha) of C:CTP. Multiple language support for these series of patches is available in the English, German, Italian, Spanish, and French dialects. To install, simply type "sh <scriptname.sh>" after downloading.
Here at Apolyton we will be providing a mirror location from our server for most of these patches as we have for v1.1; we thank you in advance for your patience while we update our database. -DanQ
PURCHASING SMAC-X IN THE UK
(21 January 2000, 22:59 EST/SMACX) Ross Farquhar has informed us that he purchased Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire from Game Retail in the United Kingdom. Upon a visit to the site we conducted a search for the title and yielded its listing in the catalogue for a cost of £14.99. GR also includes a copy of the review of the expansion pack by GamesDomain UK.
Ross was able to unearth another site that carries the game, GamePlay, also at a cost of £14.99 and ships it for free. -DanQ
SMAC FINALLY RECOGNIZED
(21 January 2000, 22:44 EST/SMAC) It's been a long time coming, but finally SMAC fans have something to celebrate. The game was awarded GameCenter's distinction of being their pick for Turn-Based Strategy Game Of The Year in 1999. Congratulations Firaxis!
SMAC was also nominated for PC Game Of The Year, but lost out to System Shock 2. -DanQ
SMAC-X REVIEW FROM SGO
(21 January 2000, 22:36 EST/SMACX) Strategy Gaming Online has posted their review of Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire, and gave it a grade in the 'C' range: 6/10.
The jist of the review is that if you are a SMAC junkie, you'll crave the expansion pack, but if you're not an addict, reviewer Steve Lieb suggests you may want to pass it over.
"As I've stated before, I loved SMAC, but the weakest part of the game was clearly the enemy AI - it would leave the Unity Pods (usually filled with goodies) untouched, freely ignore my incursions, and then overreact to the stupidest thing. Diplomatically, none of the AI factions had much character, nor logic.
Of course, I fully appreciate the conundrum with which Firaxis was faced: once they built a game of great depth with a great storyline and a nuance gameplay, the AI programming became that much more difficult a hurdle. In SMAC, it was ignorable and heck, multiplayer is where it's at anyway. In SMACX it's ALSO something you *can* overlook, but it was disappointing nonetheless". -DanQ
SID IN THE SIMS
(21 January 2000, 22:31 EST/Misc) 
You have heard about The Sims? Well, it's the latest game of Maxis in the well known simulation series. Believe it or not, you could have Sid Meier in it! Head over to EBWorld for more details. And yes, that's Sid on the image on the right!! Thanks to AoA for posting about it. -MarkG
IT`S CALLED THE WHAT?
(21 January 2000, 22:20 EST/SMAC) Upon going to the Strategy section of EBWorld, one discovers a listing for a description-less "Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack", available for pre-order at a pricetag of $37.99US.
The only other information available at the present time, save its manufacturer being listed as Electronic Arts, is that it is "coming on 3/15/00".
More details to follow as it becomes available. -DanQ
SMAC FOR MAC: ALMOST GOLD
(21 January 2000, 20:38 EST/SMAC) We copy from the latest Aspyr eNewsletter from Aspyr Media, publishers of the Mac port for SMAC.
"Brad Oliver and the Westlake Interactive crew are using the final Beta testing information to get a gold master this week. A glass master (the copy we send out for duplication) will soon follow. In English, S.M.A.C. will be hitting shelves SOON.
Mac gamers could see their S.M.A.C. preorders, and their cool new Aspyr mouse pads, by as early as next week!
Folks at Macworld San Francisco got to take a crack at the latest Beta version of S.M.A.C. Everyone was impressed with the superb conversion job done by Oliver.
"People were lining up to catch their first glimpse of this addictive strategy game. It was exciting for them as well as for us," says Amy Smith, Event Coordinator for Aspyr.
After S.M.A.C.'s great reception at the show, a S.M.A.C. demo was released, late last week, so everyone can now see what all the excitement is about. Download the S.M.A.C. demo from great online sites, such as MacGameNews.Com, Mac Gamer's Ledge (http://www.macledge.com) and Inside Mac Games (http://www.imgmagazine.com).
For those who missed last month's Aspyr enewsletter, S.M.A.C.'s minimum system requirements are as follows:
-Mac OS 7.5.3 or later
-Power PC 603e at 150 MHz or faster
-16MB RAM (32MB recommended)
-4X CD ROM
-Hard drive and color monitor
-Quick Time 4.0 (included)
-Plays on any iMac or G3
S.M.A.C. preorders are currently being accepted. Mac gamers can still take advantage of our preorder special, getting Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and our cool NEW Aspyr mouse pad (while supplies last) shipped to their door, the day the game is released." -MarkG
TEAM MEMBER PROFILES
(21 January 2000, 18:04 EST/About) In our Apolyton Team page we now have added pages with info for almost everyone of the members of our team. For strange reasons only a couple where to find a photo of their selves... :) What do you mean "there is no picture of you as well Markos"?? :) -MarkG
INSANE GAMERS` REVIEW
(20 January 2000, 20:36 EST/CtP) Yes, you read correctly... a 'new' review of C:CTP! Insane Gamers is a four-month old gaming website which states that it was established to provide a "happy medium" between existing gaming sites that are either "too serious or too crappy" (we respectfully hope we fall under the former category ).
The three-page review of CTP evaluates the various aspects of the game one-by-one in a standard format in which the final score comes from the average of the category scores. The result is a positive one. Some excerpts from what reviewer Wes Harris had to say:
"Civilization: Call To Power like most great strategy games use this [gameplay] as their biggest selling point... [it] is very enjoyable to play and very addictive, which is a very bad thing for us reviewers who have other games to review. I would rate its gameplay right up their with Fallout or X-Com 1-3.
The AI of [C:CTP] was done very well, most important I found that the game was neither to hard or to easy. Of course as all the civilization progressed the difficulty of maintaining a good offense and defense increased but not to the point where you got creamed every time. The soundtrack used for C:CTP is quite impressive. The music was very worldly and very enjoyable, much more enjoyable then most other strategy games I have played. I found my self humming along to the tune many times while playing the game".
His summation? "If you are into strategy games this one is definitely for you. Its combination of a great soundtrack awesome gameplay and average graphics makes it a very attractive product for avid gamers". -DanQ
NEW ENERGY MODEL PROPOSAL
(20 January 2000, 9:05 EST/Civ3) Raingoon has made an interesting proposal for a new energy model for Civ3. It starts from the distiction of energy resources from the classic productions resources, changing and adding many aspects of the game. Check it out. -MarkG
MAC CTP PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
(20 January 2000, 8:54 EST/CtPMac) As CTP for Mac is showing up in stores, there are people who enojy it and some who face problems. More details can be found in our forums, but also in the comp.sys.mac.games.strategic newsgroup, where Phil Sulak from Westlake Interactive and Nate Birkholz from MacSoft can be found. On a more specific note, Piil Sulak posted about the non-existing PBEM feature:
"We had to drop Play By E-Mail in the first version mainly because of the way it was implemented on the PC. The Activision guys make heavy use of the fact that Windows can have filenames as long as 255 characters; when you use PBEM it saves a file with a name length of 200 characters or more. As everyone knows the Mac is limited to 31 character filenames.
This isn't the only problem with PBEM, but it's one of the big ones.
We're hoping to have PBEM back in the game for the first patch, although we may have to limit this feature to being Mac to Mac only"
As you may have noticed, a patch is already in the works, so stay tuned! -MarkG
TUCOWS: FOUR MOO`S
(19 January 2000, 22:35 EST/SMAC) Tucows, one of the world's most respected and revered "shareware" websites, has launched a gaming section which includes a brief overview of Alpha Centauri.
The game has been rated four cows, and acts as a mirror for the SMAC demo. -DanQ
CAST YOUR BALLOT TODAY!
(19 January 2000, 22:17 EST/SMAC) Alpha Centauri has been successfully nominated for the best game in the Strategy genre, as well as for Best Game overall, in the Gamer's Voice Choice 1999 Awards. GV is relying on public participation to make the process a success! To vote simply sign-up for an account on GV, free of charge, and mark your X's --- 'er radio boxes :) --- and let your voice be heard. -DanQ
EGYPTIAN GRAPHICS, 28 CIVS WORLD MAP
(19 January 2000, 20:01 EST/CtP) Two new files today, Egyptian Graphics(diplomatic photos for King Tut and ancient Egyptian gods, 110K) by Lucky and 28 Civs World Map(world map with 28 civs, 410K) by Palpatine. Check them out! -MarkG
COLUMN #93; BY MARK EVERSON
(18 January 2000, 23:21 EST/Misc) This week's column is entitled "Civilization And Its Discontents", by Mark Everson.
Mark discusses the rough edges of Civilization II you begin to notice after playing it for an extended period of time.
If you wish to comment on this article in our forums, click here. -DanQ
GONE GOLD`S RUNNER UP
(18 January 2000, 20:42 EST/SMACX) Gone Gold has posted their Best of 99 feature to highlight the gaming success stories over the past 12 months as they saw it and, has been in the case in numerous other articles of this nature in recent weeks, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri was outshone by other titles in what became to be a very competitive field this past year.
SMAC was Runner-Up to Heroes of Might and Magic III in the Best Turn Based Strategy Game category, and Gone Gold's Game Of The Year award went to Age of Wonders.
On a final note, Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire was given, for all intensive purposes, an "Honourable Mention" for its performance within a listing of more than a dozen other expansion packs and games in general. -DanQ
EGG-TO-DINO ART!
(18 January 2000, 19:32 EST/Dino) Remember the dinosaur egg image, with which Firaxis was... "teasing" us to follow it's evolution? Well, eventually the egg became a dinosaur, and from the dinosaur followed the announcement and designer diaries. Firaxis was kind enough to give us copied of the original copies of the "egg to dinosaur" morphing art. We've also made an avi out of it, showing the... evolution process better :) -MarkG
ONE MONTH, ONE MILLION HITS!
(18 January 2000, 11:21 EST/About) Five months ago, in our "one year" special feature we were telling you that during our first year we did 6 million hits. Well, at the end of last week, for the first time in the history of Apolyton, our counters recorded something a bit over 1 million hits in a time period of 1 month! Two times the average number during our first year. In times that the latest civ games are becoming... memories to the general public, we would like to thank the people who help us in maintaining and enhancing the site, as well as everyone who.. "keeps on civin"(and visiting us :))! -MarkG
GAMESTATS IS HIRING
(18 January 2000, 5:57 EST/Misc) Gamestats is not just the great host for Apolyton, but also one of the best gaming sites you can find, and it's hiring! We copy from the front page:
"Are you the person that everyone goes to when they want to know the tricks and secrets for all of the hottest computer games? If so, then we definitely want to talk to you. Head over to the Tips & Tricks Job Description and see what the job involves and then check out the actual Tips & Tricks Section to see how it looks. Email kryptonite@gamestats.com with your experience and why you would like to join our team." -MarkG
MEDIEVAL MOD 2.1
(17 January 2000, 19:47 EST/CtP) Wes Whitaker's Medieval Mod has been updated to version 2.1(1.9MB). A total of 23 changes, see the related forum thread for more details -MarkG
AL&PD HITS 100 LINKS
(17 January 2000, 12:11 EST/Misc) You might have noticed during the weekend, the transformation of Apolyton Links Directory to Apolyton Links&Products Directory(AL&PD). Well, with the addition of three links today, in about 50 days since the opening(as ALD) we have the following numbers: 17 categories and subcategories, 100 links, of which 15 are books and games, and 97 reviews. Thanks for your additions of links, but also for your reviews! We hope soon every link in AL&PD will have at least 1 review. -MarkG
REVIEW AND SHOP IN AL&PD
(16 January 2000, 20:08 EST/CtP) If you have read the news items in the Civ2 or the SMAC section, you might be bored with this one :) Still, it is a bit important: ALD has now become AL&PD(Apolyton Links&Products Directory). In practice this means a new Book and Games subcategory in the Call to Power category. Included are obviously Civilization: Call to Power and Civilization: Call to Power for Linux, along with the official Strategy Guide. Needless to say, for this to work, we ask for your help by reviewing one of the products. It will eventually be a quite helpfull resource for others civers who are interested in purchasing a ctp product -MarkG
REVIEW AND SHOP IN AL&PD
(16 January 2000, 14:55 EST/SMAC) As we were saying in yesterday's civ2 news item, ALD has now become AL&PD(Apolyton Links&Products Directory). In practice this means a new Book and Games subcategory in the Alpha Centauri category. Included are obviously Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire, along with the official Strategy Guide and the Power of the Mind Worms graphic novel. Needless to say, for this to work, we ask for your help by reviewing one of the products. It will eventually be a quite helpfull resource for others civers who are interested in purchasing a smac related product. Check out the Civ2 directory as well, for civ2 related products. -MarkG
INFO UPDATED, NEW ART PAGE
(15 January 2000, 23:19 EST/Dino) The Info page has been updated to include links to the current and past Dino Diaries posted by Firaxis since the launching of the official Dinosaurs website.
Also, we have a new Art page with most of the graphics we've seen so far in the official site. -DanQ
REVIEW AND SHOP IN AL&PD
(15 January 2000, 22:39 EST/Civ2) As of today ALD(Apolyton Links Directory) becomes AL&PD(Apolyton Links&Products Directory), always at http://apolyton.net/links!
Our goal is to create
1) a place with all civ related products one can buy online
2) a place with all civ related products judged by actual players, not reviewers who spent 1 hour on it...
For (1), all that is needed is to add some links in existing directory. But for (2), we need YOUR help. Visit the Civ2 Book and Games subcategory of AL&PD, and rate and review a game or book you have purchased.
Hopefully, AL&PD will become a place where other civers will come to see how the civ community(instead of some reviewer who doesn't know what a settler is ) rates civ products, before buying anything(either on AL&PD or on a local store. Visit AL&PD now! -MarkG
COLUMN #92: BY TIMOTHY WEIJ
(15 January 2000, 22:26 EST/Misc) This week's column is entitled "The Failure Of Evolution", by Timothy Weij.
Weij discusses the problems he sees in having the recently announced Sid Meier's Dinosaurs evolve in a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) title by comparing it to the game Evolution, which revolved around a similar theme.
Feel free to make your comments/questions on the article public by posting them on our forums. -DanQ
PCZONE`S MILLENNIUM GAMES
(15 January 2000, 18:09 EST/Civ2ToT) The editors of PCZone have included the results of their Game of The Millennium contest in their February 2000 issue. Civilization II: Test of Time was #6 on the list, with Half-Life, being the game of choice of seven of the twelve editors who contributed to the feature, capturing the #1 spot. Dungeon Keeper 2 rounded out the list at #10.
One judge did comment in the article, however, that CivII was the "most addictive game" on the shortlist. To read up on who the other contenders were, and the discussion associated with these selections, pick up a copy of PCFormat today!
Our thanks to Smigs for informing us of all of this in the first place. -DanQ
VOTE TODAY AT PC IGN
(15 January 2000, 16:37 EST/Civ2) The Civilization III Civilopedia is reporting that PC.IGN.COM is holding a vote for the Readers' Choice for Strategy Game Of The Millennium. The article is dated January 5th, and the voting continues, with both Civilization II and the original Civilization nominated, 3rd (11.7%) and 7th (5.1%) respectively at the present time. Starcraft has currently garnered more than double of the votes (36.6%) than Command & Conquer (12.2%), the latter of which is in second place.
Vote today! -DanQ
WEB EDITION OF NEWSLETTER
(14 January 2000, 20:53 EST/Misc) As of today, our Newsletter also has a web edition(see today's issue. This way, our subribers will have a choice to read the newsletter in a probably more presentable way :) and those who haven't subscribed(do it now!) will have "news of the week in a pack" :)
Any comments/suggestions are welcome -MarkG
GAMES DOMAIN TALKS SMAC-X
(14 January 2000, 20:45 EST/SMACX) Games Domain has their review of Alien Crossfire dated December 9, 1999, followed by a second opinion piece dated December 22, written by separate authors.
Both contain some sharp criticisms of the expansion pack, but the latter is more optimistic that Firaxis can tie up the loose ends and make it "an excellent addition to one of best 4x empire-building games ever built". -DanQ
SMAC-X REVIEW: HAPPYPUPPY
(14 January 2000, 20:30 EST/SMACX) Happy Puppy's Peter Suciu has given Alien Crossfire a thumbs-up 8/10 review. Some excerpts:
"AC is an expansion to a game that had very few flaws, thus it doesn’t bring enough to make it a "must buy." But having said that, it does have some elements that diehard fans might be interested in trying out.
The expansion has added some minor visual improvements here or there, but it is fundamentally the exact same game. And it’s too bad that the developers didn't look at the original expansion for Civilization II and add some scenarios to the game instead of trying to simply add new faces.
There are some great things about Alien Crossfire, but there’s an equal amount of problems. This is one add-on that is welcome because it brings some freshness to a classic game". -DanQ
MAC DEMO IS HERE
(14 January 2000, 20:18 EST/SMAC) Brad Oliver, head of the AC Mac Port team, informed us today of the release of the Mac demo of Aspyr Media's port of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, available exclusively at MacGameNews.COM.
Mac users can either download the 18.3MB ".sea" file, or the slightly larger ".hqx" version at 24.2MB, which is more compatible with the varying versions of the Mac OS.
Here are the system requirements:
- MacOS 7.6 or later.
- A PowerPC Macintosh, 180MHz 603 or better.
- 32 Megabytes of free memory (you may need to enable virtual memory).
- A monitor and video card capable of 800x600 at 256 colors.
- DrawSprocket 1.1.4 or later
-DanQ
NEW DINO DIARY!
(14 January 2000, 14:51 EST/Dino) The latest edition of the Dino Dairies has arrived, with some more info on the design process.
In the introduction, Sid reports that a resource system is probably set(as it can be at this early stage), and the next thing is to finalize "all the various activities our dinos do with these resources, as well as making another pass over our gene mutation and evolution system".
As for the main part, Mike Ely discusses the "big world" vs. "varied scenarios" model. The Dino team is checking the forums and newsgroups for feedback on the so far reveleaed info, give your comments on our forums
Oh, yes, the image is one of the tree images in today's diary. Quite impressive! -MarkG
CTP MAC IS OUT
(13 January 2000, 18:40 EST/CtPMac) On our forums and on the newsgroups, the first happy civers :) report the purchase of CTP for Macintosh.
Doing a search from prices, we found it listed on Buy.com($37.95), Computers4Sure($39.99), pcWonders.com($37.63), Software BuyLine($39.95) and McGlen($43.60).Still, in none of them was it in stock :(
If you got it, please report where you found it on the forums -MarkG
DEMO OF CTP FOR BEOS
(13 January 2000, 18:19 EST/CtP) Some (a bit old) news for BeOS users who are waiting for CTP to arrive in stores: A 33 MB demo is available from Wildcard Design. One notable things is that the BeOS post include the changes, improvements and fixes of the 1.2 PC patch. By the way, if you're certain you're going to buy it, you can preorder at the official site for $49.95 -MarkG
ALTERNATIVE COLORS, CURSOR
(13 January 2000, 18:02 EST/CtP) Two of the several new files waiting to be posted were added just now, buth from Nordicus: Alternative Cursor(a dagger with a golden handle) and 32 Civ Colors.txt(colors00.txt especially created for use with 32 civs). More in the following days. -MarkG
MICROMANAGMENT OR NOT?
(13 January 2000, 15:56 EST/Civ3) Inspired by the ongoing "hot" discussion in our forums, we created our new poll on micromanagment. Vote now! -MarkG
STACKED COMBAT SOUNDS GOOD
(13 January 2000, 15:53 EST/Civ3) The results of Stacked Combat in Civ3?"(now closed) are the following| Yes, as in CTP |  180 / 14% |
| No, good old SMAC/Civ2 | 253 / 19% |
| Yes, but fewer units per stack | 48 / 3% |
| Yes, like CTP, but improved a lot | 744 / 58% |
| Not sure/ Don't care | 56 / 4% |
You can give your comments about them the forums -MarkG
MISC. SECTION LAUNCHED
(12 January 2000, 22:52 EST/About) We have launched our Miscellaneous section, which contains numerous site features now located in a one-stop spot.
Head over to the area for more information on what is available, and start browsing. -DanQ
WELCOME TO THE MISC. SECTION
(12 January 2000, 22:45 EST/Misc) On behalf of the staff and administration of Apolyton CS, welcome to our new Miscellaneous section. This is where the various features around the site that do not fall into any other category reside. Already considerable in size, we hope that its usefulness and popularity will increase over time.
If you have any comments/questions concerns about what you see in our Misc. area, please get in touch with us. Enjoy! :) -DanQ
COLUMN #91; BY IAIN LINDLEY
(12 January 2000, 22:41 EST/Misc) It seems as though Iain is worried about what will become of him with his forum addiction in his article entitled "Have The Forums Taken Over Me?". -DanQ
1.2 PATCH FOR LINUX IS COMING
(12 January 2000, 14:59 EST/CtP) We had contacted Scott Draeker of Loki about the Linux port of SMAC, and we took the opportunity to ask him about the 1.2 patch for CTP, when it is coming and what it will contain. He kindly replied:
The 1.2 patch has been in development for quite some time. We've discovered that doing patches is extremely time intensive, similar to doing a small port. The patch will be released this week or next.
In the patch, we are fixing all known crashing bugs and all known compatibility bugs (networking, save games, scenarios). We are not fixing things that would break network compatibility, and we are not adding features or enhancements beyond those in already in 1.2"
Be sure that when the patch is out you'll find it here! :) -MarkG
FORUMS THREADS ARCHIVED/DELETED
(12 January 2000, 14:45 EST/About) Yesterday and today it was "maintenance days" for the forums. Numbers speak better: 176 threads with 3733 posts of the S&D forum were archived, 268 threads with 4026 posts from the OT were deleted and 66 threads with 3113 posts from the same forum were archived. Finally, 299 threads with 4603 threads from the CTP-General forum were archived, as well as 130 threads with 738 posts from the Civ3-General forum in the new archive for it.
This kind of maintenance is needed in order to avoid speed issues duirng high traffic hours. -MarkG
CONFIRMED: LOKI IS DOING SMAC, SMACX!
(12 January 2000, 14:02 EST/SMAC) We asked for confirmation about yesterday's slashdot news item and Scott Draeker, President of Loki Entertainment Software was kind enough to reply to us:
"The Slashdot article came from a reader who saw a bunch of new titles listed on a retailer's site. We haven't announced anything.
That said, I can confirm that we are doing SMAC and SimCity 3K. We are
also doing the Alien Crossfire expansion. We hope to release these in Q1 of 2000"
An official press release is expected quite soon. -MarkG
FELL WRAITHS: BUG AND SOLUTION
(12 January 2000, 9:21 EST/Civ2ToT) tobyr found the bug in ToT concerning Fell Wraiths. The solution came straight from Mick Uhl, a couple days later. Check the thread in out ToT forum for more details on both the problem and the way to solve it. -MarkG
ALL SECTIONS NEWS ARCHIVE
(11 January 2000, 20:43 EST/About) Where you were seeing the Full News page, you can also now find the archive of the news for all our sections and hosted sites(actually only HAC which uses the news script). For now there are only the news since the installation of the news script(about a montth ago), but soon we will also have all the other news archives from our various sections. And since the news pages have their own search engine, you will be able to search our entire news archive from one place. Sounds good? -MarkG
LOKI TO PORT SMAC INTO LINUX!
(11 January 2000, 19:41 EST/SMAC) According to Slasdot.org, Loki is going to porting SMAC to the Linux OS. Loki has already made the Linux port of CTP among many other games. Thanks to Spoe for posting about it on our forums -MarkG
THE BOOK IS OUT
(11 January 2000, 16:46 EST/SMAC) It's out. The comic book Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri : Power of the Mind Worms has been released and is now available from Amazon.COM at a cost of $7.61US, 15% off the cover price, and usually ships within a day of ordering. -DanQ
GALACTIC CIVS OFFICIAL SITE
(11 January 2000, 15:53 EST/Alt) The official site for Galactic Civilizations is now up and running. As Brad Wardell
of Stardock announced on the newsgroups
"The design philosophy and game mechanics are showing up and we've put up a development log so you can track where we're at.
There is also a news group for discussion at news://news.stardock.com/stardock.games.galciv"
Galactic Civilizations is a strategy game in which players must guide humanity through the future ages. -MarkG
SID MEIER`S ANIMAL FARM
(11 January 2000, 15:46 EST/Dino) When you dont have news to post, you easily post a joke, even a bad one sometimes. And when you dont know much about a game, you try at least to have fun with you dont know and dont understand. From the newsgroups(I hope the author will not mind)
Announcing the brand new Empire Builder from Sid Meier, based on the classic Orwellian novel, Animal Farm!
Yes, that's right, only from the brain of Sid Meier could this soon-to-be-a-classic spring!
Play as one of 5 species-based factions:
*The malevolent humans, bent on destruction of the perfect communist Utopia.
*The shifty pigs, set to rule the Utopia with an iron cloven hoof.
*The noble horses, set to uphold the original 7 Commandments and work to aid their comrades.
*The placid cows, attempting to bring peace back to the splintered farm.
*The artistic chickens, who just want to be left in peace to develop their art.
Research exciting technology:
*The doorknob, and later the latch - Learn how to open those pesky doors!
*The phone, and human language - Learn how to call the glue factory!
And many more!
Learn more about our wonderful new game in Sid's ongoing developers journal, the Barnyard Diaries: http://www.firaxis.com/animalfarm/" 
-MarkG
SILENT REVISION IN SMACX V2
(11 January 2000, 11:45 EST/SMACX) Firaxis has made a small update on the Alien Crossfire v2 patch(now available on our server). In Jeff Morris' own words:
"Most of you won't need to redownload the patch, but just so you know, the only changes to the patch are:
1) A note explaining you need to install the patch into the same directory as SMAC/SMACX (duh, but it's been an issue).
2) A un-write protect scheme we used on SMAC v4 foreign language versions. Some people are reporting FacEdit is write protected and causing the install to abort. This solves that problem.
3) Includes the non-copy protected v4 exe, so as to prevent the SMAC Classic fatal.
4) Includes the alphax.txt, which allows TECHSTEAL to work."
The file is now bigger, 5MB, as it includes v4 exe. More info on our forums. Obviously, you should ignore the "Problem in SMAC-X patch" news item below. -MarkG
SMACX BUG LIST
(11 January 2000, 4:03 EST/SMACX) A bug list is organized on our AC-General forum. Please help in it's creation! Before reporting anything, see the so far mentioned bugs. -MarkG
NEWS MENU IN FORUMS
(10 January 2000, 18:17 EST/About) In the thread summary for each forum you can now see a "News@Apolyton" drop down menu, with all our news headlines.
Usefull? -MarkG
DATABASE HELPERS WANTED
(10 January 2000, 7:36 EST/Civ2) It has come the time for one more call for people to help on the civ2 database
http://apolyton.net/civ2/db
Requirements:
-Owning Civ2, Newer versions(FW, MGE, ToT) would be best
-Familiarity with taking screenshots and using PSP or other similar tool
-Ease in downloading lots of files
-Love for civ2
Please mail MarkG(markg@apolyton.net) only if you're really interested about it -MarkG
CLARIFICATION
(9 January 2000, 12:44 EST/Civ3) In recent weeks we have reported on some websites that have listed a projected release date for Civilization III. Firaxis has clearly stated that none of these can be substantiated as it is too early in the game's development to make such a call.
This clarification is intended to ensure that no one is taking our reporting of these dates -- past, present or future -- as our own "personal" predictions as well. Until such a time as Firaxis/Hasbro announces a projected or definite release date themselves, anything up to that point is speculation. -DanQ
DATABASE UPDATE
(9 January 2000, 9:11 EST/Civ2) 12 new files have been entered into the DB today bringing the total to 357 files. As always we have an interesting mix of all kinds of files: 5 maps, 1 scenario, 3 mods, 2 patches and one interesting special, the scenario converter.
River Scene 1
River Scene 2
Vulcan
Landy
Phil's World
CivConverter
The Mysterious Cities of Gold
Communism Patch
Dominion
Jewels
Units SP
World War 2 -Sven
COLUMN #90; BY DARTHVEDA
(8 January 2000, 22:02 EST/Misc) This weekend's Column is by DarthVeda, entitled "It's All About The Customization", marking the 90th installment in "The Column" series. -DanQ
PROBLEM IN SMAC-X PATCH
(8 January 2000, 16:08 EST/SMACX) Jeff Morris mailed us about the following problem with the SMAC-X patch:
"We've found out that the updated copy protection scheme used on SMACX v2's exe (and it's supporting files) is not backwards compatible with the copy protection scheme used on the retail CD. So, if you try to run SMAC 'classic', the copy protection fatals. We'll be making the v4 exe from the v4 patch available for download to correct this problem (it's not copy protected whatsoever and thus avoids the problem)"
In a second mail, Jeff clarified that if someone had installed v4 previously, he would have no problems. We have the v4 exe(only) now available. A bit more info on the forums -MarkG
ONE AWARD NOT WANTED ANYWAY
(8 January 2000, 14:58 EST/CtP) In GameSpot's "The Best & Worst of 1999", C:CTP was nominated for Most Disappointing Game, but "lost out" to Ultima IX: Ascension.
This is one award that is surely not a joy for the winner. -DanQ
NOMINATED, BUT NOT CHOSEN
(8 January 2000, 14:53 EST/SMACX) SMAC was nominated in GameSpot's "The Best & Worst of 1999" feature for Strategy Game Of The Year, but lost out to Age of Empires II: Age of Kings.
SMAC-X was also nominated, in the category Best Expansion Pack of 1999, but it too lost out to a fellow nominee: Half-Life: Opposing Force.
Not liking what you are reading? Then make your voice heard in the GameSpot Reader's Choice Awards by voting for SMAC in the appropriate categories. -DanQ
SEARCHABLE ABOUT SECTION
(7 January 2000, 21:32 EST/About) In every page(almost anyway) of the About section, you can now find a small search engine. Although the section has only 40 pages, it could be usefull at times. Also, at the bottom of each page you can find the "More Apolyton" drop down menu, which can send you to every section and hosted site of Apolyton. Any comments are as always welcome. -MarkG
ALIEN CROSSFIRE PATCH, NOW!
(7 January 2000, 17:07 EST/SMACX) Tim Train finally announced on our forums the release of the patch for Alien Crossfire. There are lots of fixes, as expected, visit the Firaxis page for the full list and to download, or download it now from our server. Size is 3.69MB. Gives us your impressions in the forums -MarkG
HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY HAC!!!
(6 January 2000, 14:04 EST/HAC) Yes, it's true, gentlemen, you've lived one year with the menace to society known as Hodadian Award Central. We did a bunch of things our first year: we presented our inaugural Hodadian Awards, directed the flow of the 2nd Scenario Design Contest, and handed out a bunch of POTW's. We have bigger plans for Year 2, which include our all-new design contest, Modpack Mania!, plus the expansion of our site to include some other "turn-based" fare. Count your blessings... year two is here.
As always, Reismark -reismark
AFTER ALL THE MILLENNIUMS OF WAITING....
(6 January 2000, 13:50 EST/HAC) Ladies and gentlemen, you've been asking for them, and they're finally here! We have the finalized edition of the Official Rules for the Third Scenario Design Contest at your disposal now! Simply click here to view, or better yet, here to apply for a codename! Happy trails in Y2SDC! -reismark
TOP 40 GAMES OF THE MILLENNIUM
(6 January 2000, 12:44 EST/Civ2) Seems like everyone is making a Top XX list... :) Gamecenter came up with a Top 40 list, which of course includes Civ2. Dont start asking about the rank, cause there is none. GC (quite correctly if you ask me, you can't exactly compare a 1980 and a 1999 game), saved themselves from the "why game X isn't in a better position than game Y" question and didn't make any rankings, except from the first one. Which is the bext game of the millenium???
Pacman, says Gamecenter!
Btw, the Apolyton Top 4 Games of the Millenium is(in chronological order): Civ1, Civ2, SMAC and... CTP 
Thanks to Guynemer for posting about it in our forums, where you can give your comments about GC's and... our's list :) -MarkG
COLUMN #89; BY TIMOTHY PINTELLO
(5 January 2000, 23:22 EST/Misc) This week's article is by Timothy Pintello, who discusses the hits and misses of C:CTP from his perspective.
On Saturday, look for Darthveda's latest composition. -DanQ
OVER 1100 DONATIONS IN GOE
(5 January 2000, 20:10 EST/Misc) This year's Games of Encouragement Charity Drive ended with great results! JT of Gamestats reports 1182 donations from 67 donors and 101 sites linking to GOE. Donators are not just simple gamers, but also companies, such as 3DFX, EA, Westwood Studios, Activision, Matrox, and many more. Still, the most beautifull donation was from an anonymous couple. Visit the GOE site now! :) -MarkG
NEW DATABASE FILES!
(4 January 2000, 14:48 EST/Civ2) Here is the first database update for this year bringing us to 345 files. We have nine new files and one update of an old file. You scenario wizards out there may be interested in the GIFXtractor, allowing you to edit the graphics hidden in CIV's DLL files.
Check out these files:
Albion, Aliens on Mars, Galaxy, GIF Xtractor beta 3, Age of Imperialism - 1902, Israel 2k, The Fall of the Kraeikian Empire, oRGys Star Wars Scenario, The War of Cuba, World War I and beyond (updated) -Sven
GCA 1999 AWARDS
(4 January 2000, 12:35 EST/CtP) An email from the Editor of Gamer's Voice informed us today of their first annual Gamer's Choice Awards. Up to and including January 16th, 2000, GV will be accepted nominations for a number of titles up for grabs including Strategy Game Of The Year, Action Game Of The Year and --- of course --- Game Of The Year. The top five nominees in each category will be up for voting upon during the week of January 17th.
Make the right choices and send in your nominations today! -DanQ
GCA 1999 AWARDS
(4 January 2000, 12:34 EST/Civ2ToT) An email from the Editor of Gamer's Voice informed us today of their first annual Gamer's Choice Awards. Up to and including January 16th, 2000, GV will be accepted nominations for a number of titles up for grabs including Strategy Game Of The Year, Action Game Of The Year and --- of course --- Game Of The Year. The top five nominees in each category will be up for voting upon during the week of January 17th.
Make the right choices and send in your nominations today! -DanQ
GCA 1999 AWARDS
(4 January 2000, 12:33 EST/SMAC) An email from the Editor of Gamer's Voice informed us today of their first annual Gamer's Choice Awards. Up to and including January 16th, 2000, GV will be accepted nominations for a number of titles up for grabs including Strategy Game Of The Year, Action Game Of The Year and --- of course --- Game Of The Year. The top five nominees in each category will be up for voting upon during the week of January 17th.
Make the right choices and send in your nominations today! -DanQ
WINTER 99 APOLYTONER
(3 January 2000, 20:17 EST/About) After several weeks of discussion and voting, the votes to honor the people who contribute to the forums and the community the most over that last months have ended. The "Winter '99 Apolytoners" for each section of the forums are:
Civ3: Yin26
Civ2: Paul
CtP: Celestial Dawn
AC: Velociryx
S&D: Sahib
OT: Alexander's Horse
Velociryx was voted as the overall "Winter '99 Apolytoner" in the Final round. All winners have as of today a special title under their forum name for the next three months. Congratulations to everyone! -MarkG
2001 RELEASE PREDICTION
(3 January 2000, 12:20 EST/Dino) Sid Meier's Dinosaurs is now listed on Strategy Gaming Online's Release Date page for 2001 availability, the first known gaming website to make such a prediction.
Given the game was announced less than a month ago, and many details must still being worked out, it is still too early to call... -DanQ
PUSHED BACK
(3 January 2000, 12:14 EST/Civ3) Strategy Gaming Online has pushed their anticipated release date of Civilization III back to the fourth quarter of 2000. This is unconfirmed and, given recent statements by Firaxis representatives, may not be a realistic timeframe still. -DanQ
NEW APOLYTON LOGO
(2 January 2000, 20:25 EST/About) The main logo of Apolyton, the one used in our first section(the civ2 one of course), has now changed to something a bit more 3d. You first saw it in the About section, it is also now on our front page and forums. Other sections(civ2, etc) will be affected as our continuous update... continues :) Comments are always welcome -MarkG
GAMESPOT TOP STRATEGY GAMES
(2 January 2000, 13:43 EST/SMAC) As indicated on GameSpot US' Top 10 Strategy Game listing, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is tied for fourth with a 9.1 out of a possible 10 (based on the site's review). The other games with this same score, to date, are Age of Empires II: Age of Kings, Heroes of Might & Magic III, Seven Kingdoms II, and Worms Armaggedon.
This and other GameSpot Top Game Lists only reflect titles released within the past year. -DanQ
MAC PORT IN BETA
(2 January 2000, 13:38 EST/SMAC) According to Westlake Interactive, their port of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri went beta on December 27th, and is anticipated to be on store shelves halfway through this month.
According to Westlake's 'key' on Project Status reports, a beta indicator means that "all game code is converted and running on the Mac, and all features of the game are implemented. This is when we start tracking and fixing bugs, and have our testers play the game extensively to find any new bugs".
In addition, Westlake's news item on the announcement reports that "both single player and network games [are] fully supported".
In the coming weeks if you spot SMAC for the Mac in a local computer store or on a gaming website realitor mark down the location/URL, price, and then let us know! -DanQ
SHUT OUT
(2 January 2000, 13:26 EST/CtP) The Strategy Shine's "1999 Strategy Game Awards" have been announced for all categories. In every category that Civilization: Call To Power was a contendor, C:CTP was defeated in the voting (made by members of the gaming public).
Here's a rundown of just how well, or poorly as the case may be, C:CTP fended against the competition for the titles it was shooting for (guess one can't win them all). In bold is the category heading, followed by the number of votes C:CTP received with its placing, and in brackets to the right of that is the number of votes the winning entry accumulated.
Best Game Interface: 7, 3rd (56)
Best Sound Effects: 3, 6th (37)
Best Music: 17, 5th (40)
Best Visual Effects: 12, 3rd (100)
Best Graphics: 4, 5th (85)
Best Overall AI: 7, 6th (35)
Best Multiplayer: 14, 5th (39)
Best Singleplayer: 4, 8h (38)
Best Gameplay: 4, 5th (51)
Best Intro: 6, 7th (32)
Best Storyline: 21, 4th (51)
Although C:CTP was nominated in 2 more categories than Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, C:CTP was not in the race for Strategy Game Of The Year alongside SMAC and Civilization II: Test of Time.
Thanks to everyone who voted for C:CTP. -DanQ
SHUT OUT
(2 January 2000, 13:12 EST/Civ2ToT) The Strategy Shine's "1999 Strategy Game Awards" have been announced for all categories. In every category that Civilization II: Test of Time was a contendor, ToT was defeated in the voting (made by members of the gaming public).
Here's a rundown of just how well, or poorly as the case may be, CivII:ToT fended against the competition for the titles it was shooting for (guess one can't win them all). In bold is the category heading, followed by the number of votes CivII:ToT received with its placing, and in brackets to the right of that is the number of votes the winning entry accumulated.
Best Multiplayer: 4, 7th (39)
Best Singleplayer: 22, 4h (38)
Best Gameplay: 1, 6th (51)
Strategy Game Of The Year: 3, 9th -- tie (36)
On a related note of interest, in the SGOTY category ToT tied with Civilization: Call To Power for ninth spot.
Thanks to everyone who voted for CivII:ToT. -DanQ
SHUT OUT
(2 January 2000, 12:27 EST/SMAC) The Strategy Shine's "1999 Strategy Game Awards" have been announced for all categories. In every category that Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri was a contendor, SMAC was defeated in the voting (made by members of the gaming public).
Here's a rundown of just how well, or poorly as the case may be, SMAC fended against the competition for the titles it was shooting for (guess one can't win them all). In bold is the category heading, followed by the number of votes SMAC received with its placing, and in brackets to the right of that is the number of votes the winning entry accumulated.
Most Original/Innovative Game: 17, 2nd (106)
Best Game Interface: 51, 2nd (56)
Best In-Game Video Sequence: 22, 2nd (93)
Best Multiplayer: 10, 6th (39)
Best Singleplayer: 18, 5h (38)
Best Gameplay: 12, 4th -- tie (51)
Best Intro: 29, 3rd (32)
Best Storyline: 21, 4th (51)
Strategy Game Of The Year: 12, 4th (36)
Thanks to everyone who voted for SMAC. -DanQ
DUNE: THE BATTLE FOR ARRAKIS SCENARIO AVAILABLE FOR MAC
(2 January 2000, 10:09 EST/Civ2Mac) Dune: The Battle for Arrakis by David Emery has been converted to Mac formate and posted on the ACS Mac page. Go to the New Scenarios link under Customization on the Main Mac page. Also check out new updates to Using PC Mod files page and download a copy of clip2gif for converting your own PC files! -macuser
APOLYTON SURVIVES Y2K :)
(1 January 2000, 13:14 EST/About) Well, like the rest of world, we survived Y2K. We've had only one minor problem, as the script that prints the current date and time on the forums(not the forum script, this was y2k complaint for some time now) was showing that we live in the year 19100 :) It's fixed now. However, it's not a very good fix(I'm no perl guru you know), we are probably going to have a Y3K problem... ;) -MarkG
COLUMN #88: APOLYTON VERSION 2
(1 January 2000, 5:55 EST/Misc) In the first column of the year, MarkG takes a look at the changes of the last month, and the plans for the next. Comments are welcome -MarkG
