September 2001
TRIVIA: CATAPULTS & CROSSBOWS
(30 September 2001, 19:38 EST/Civ3) Civ3.com, the official CivIII website, has again been updated with today's installment of CivTrivia. The question:
What deep thinker designed Syracuse's defenses during the Second Punic War?
-- Archimedes
-- Hannibal
-- Hippocrates
-- Plato
At present, donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV and PK are in the lead with 790 points apiece. Good luck to all participants! -DanQ
C187# THE ESOTERIC ALLURE OF CIVILIZATION
(30 September 2001, 19:37 EST/Misc) After a... "vacation" of one week, the Column is back
187# THE ESOTERIC ALLURE OF CIVILIZATION
Will civ3 be as flexible as civ2?
By Snapcase
-MarkG
QUINNS SAYS GOODBYE
(30 September 2001, 19:34 EST/CtP) Quinns, the forum handle of the dedicated individual who for more than a year has headed the processing of the PBEM Rating System here at Apolyton is calling it quits. In a heartfelt announcement in the forums on Thursday, he wrote that he could no longer commit the time necessary to retain his position. He put out a call to his potential successors:
Anyone wishing to take over these positions, please contact the other players in [the] games [listed in this thread]. None of them are bad positions, and a few are quite good.
In closing, he noted that he will also no longer be able to carry the week updates of the progress of PBEM games as has become a staple in CtP news circles.
Note that all of the player history and information exists in the report links. I hope someone continues with the updates. Sorry to have to leave. It's been great playing with you all! -DanQ
FOLLOW THE LEADERS
(30 September 2001, 17:53 EST/Civ3) Through the ages, that is. ixnay37 (formerly Kyller) has done quite the mastodont bit of work and compiled a list of all the leaders in all the ages seen in screenshots so far- it may be just one and it may be all four. I particularly love the Industrial Age Hammurabi, who I've personally never seen before. Perhaps you can help ixnay by supplying the missing pictures or clearer versions of the existing ones? I'm sure I've seen the Modern Catherine somewhere... -Snapcase
SHAKA BOOTY
(30 September 2001, 6:40 EST/Civ3) 
monkspider and bigfree1 have in separate threads and unbeknownst of each other scanned in the picture of the last leader in the game yet to be seen, the illustrious king/general Shaka Zulu of the Zulus. From the photograph that exists and the only available litograph, it's not a bad likeness, although as usual heavily caricatured. -Snapcase
PRE-ORDERS OUT OF CONTROL
(30 September 2001, 0:02 EST/Civ3) According to PC.IGN article, preorder sales of Civilization III are through the roof. PC.IGN states:
Pre-order demand has soared for the regular version, priced at $49.99, and the special limited edition version, priced at $59.99. The special edition is limited to 75,000 units and, as demand is outstripping supply, you may need to act fast to get yours.
So get your Limited Edition before it is too late! -Imran
MAC PORT PROGRESS
(29 September 2001, 21:06 EST/Civ3) Sullen Adams, secretary at Westlake Interactive, sent along a short and sweet letter to CivFanatics regarding the progress of CivIII's Mac port.
It's in early development, pre-first playable, but coming along nicely. -DanQ
IG REPORTS SMALLER 4Q LOSS
(29 September 2001, 21:03 EST/Misc) Video game publisher Infogrames said on Tuesday that its fourth quarter and fiscal 2001 losses narrowed sharply on strong sales for its games and a program of internal cost-cutting. New York-based Infogrames, a unit of French game publisher Infogrames Entertainment, reported a net loss for the quarter ended June 30 of $23 million, compared with a loss of $55.4 million in the year-earlier period. For the full fiscal year, Infogrames recorded a loss of $60.7 million, compared with a loss of $397.6 million in fiscal 2000.
Revenues for the quarter were $72.7 million, compared with $48.5 million a year earlier. Revenues for the fiscal year were $310.5 million, compared with $313.2 million in fiscal 2000. Infogrames shares have lost 36 percent since the market reopened on Sept. 17, touching a four-year low last week on uncertainty over the outlook for the company and the sector. Some analysts have said the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon have shaken consumer confidence and put holiday sales in jeopardy.
[ Source: Reuters ] -DanQ
TRIVIA: NO PLACE LIKE ROME
(29 September 2001, 20:59 EST/Civ3) Civ3.com, the official CivIII website, has again been updated with today's installment of CivTrivia. The question:
What happened to Rome’s fabled founders?
-- Romulus killed Remus.
-- Remus killed Romulus.
-- Romulus and Remus took turns ruling Rome.
-- Romulus and Remus died together in a suicide pact.
donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV and PK are in the lead with 770 points apiece. Good luck to all participants! -DanQ
VELOCIRYX IN CGW
(29 September 2001, 14:00 EST/SMAC) Velociryx got his name in ink, as his strategy guide was mentioned in a "web highlight" feature of Computer Gaming World magazine
Thanks to DarkCloud who initially reported it a couple of weeks back and to Father Beast for the scan.
The printed version of Vel's guide should be out very soon.... -MarkG
MORE INFORMATION ON GOVERNORS, 16 CIVS
(28 September 2001, 21:06 EST/Civ3) In our Civ3 forums, Mike Breitkreutz of Firaxis explained the options dealing with governors in Civilization III.
There are a variety of options for customizing governors. Not only can you set preferences for which types of units and improvements you want to build but you can also have the governor control basic city functions such as managing your citizens. In addition, you can have different settings for each city you control and each city can be configured individually to use the governor or not, as you desire. When not using the automated governor, the AI learns from the units and improvements you select for production and suggests similar items to build. You can also save a set of "default" settings for the governor that it will use for each new city you build. Alternately, you can have each new city governor mimic the settings of your capital city.
Mike also gave some info on maps and 16 civs, making us more confident that playing with 16 civs will be as easy as selecting an option on the setup screen:
Using the editor you can allow 16 civs to be played on smaller map sizes and also change the default sizes of the maps. Of course, the map size must be large enough to be able to place 16 civs somewhere on the map. You can also use the editor to play the larger maps with less civs if you want.
Very interesting news! Comment in the linked threads above. -Imran
INFOGRAMES ANNOUNCES CONTENTS OF LE
(28 September 2001, 20:46 EST/Civ3) Gamespot.com has announced the contents of the Limited Edition. It was in a news story announcing the Infogrames, Firaxis' publisher is accepting presales of the Limited Edition. The article says this:
The limited edition comes packaged in a tin box, and in addition to the Civilization III game and manual, it includes an exclusive video of the making of Civilization III, another video of Sid Meier's induction into the Interactive Digital Software Association's Hall of Fame, designer notes from Sid Meier and Jeff Briggs, and a foldout guide to the game's technology tree.
According to Infogrames, LE is limited to 75,000 units only. Also Civ3 is "on track to be released on October 30th". So now we know, and knowing is half the battle. Discuss it in the forums -Imran
ASK THE TEAM: 16 CIVS?
(28 September 2001, 16:03 EST/Civ3) 
Today's update on civ3.com bring new answers in the "Ask the Civ Team" feature. As promised Dan Magaha answered more questions this time.
Forgeting everything else, the most important news is that the feature more or less mentions 16 civs as if it will be something very common, or something similar. In a question about the map sizes, the answer is
The default world sizes in Civilization III are as follows:
Tiny World: 60x60 4 Civs
Small World: 80x80 6 Civs
Standard World: 100x100 8 Civs
Large World: 140x140 12 Civs
Huge World: 180x180 16 Civs
without any explanation on what is meant by "16 civs" and how it will possible. Jeff Morris had told us in an interview a few weeks back that 16 civs would be more or less possible through an editor.
As for the rest of today's update, the new info is:
- There will not be a cheat mode, but of course the editors will allow lots of changes
- The games ends at 2050 and you will be able to continue playing after that
- The editor will allow for maps up to 256x256
- Civ3 will run on Windows XP, but not on NT
- You will be able create new goverment types from the editor
- No problems with running winamp in the background playing your favorite music instead of civ3's
There is also a "screenshot of the week"(which means that we'll have at least one new screenshot each week), starting with the defeat screen.
And for some more info from Dan, the Forbidden Palace minor wonder
Once you have six cities, you can build a forbidden palace, which essentially acts like a second palace in terms of reducing corruption in your empire. It allows you to better deal with far-flung empires across a large territory without requiring you to constantly move your capitol
Discuss on today's update -MarkG
CIV OF THE WEEK: ROMANS
(28 September 2001, 15:36 EST/Civ3) 
The Romans are this week's Civ of the Week.
Julius Ceasar is their leader of course, and are a Militaristic and Commercial civilization, therefore, they start with Warrior Code and Alphabet.
The special unit is the Legion, which is like the Swordsman but has a better defence. -MarkG
LEONARDO IS HERE
(28 September 2001, 15:23 EST/Civ3) Soren Johnson clarified some things today
I have seen some confusion on this point, so I just wanted to clarify that units CAN be upgraded in Civ3. Leonardo's Workshop is still a Wonder, but it now halves the costs of upgrades.
So, like in SMAC, you will be able to upgrade a unit for a cost. That cost will be halved if you have built Leonardo's Workshop(one of everyone's favorite civ2 wonders :)) -MarkG
SIMGOLF PUSHED BACK
(27 September 2001, 14:39 EST/Misc) Sid Meier's response for a release date on the last SimGolf chat was "October", but now the official EA SimGolf site says
"Coming Early 2002"
Firaxis confirmed the delay, with Kelley Gilmore telling us that Sid needed more time to work on the game.
Join the discussion on the Other Games forum... -MarkG
TRIVIA: FAMOUS FIRSTS
(26 September 2001, 21:19 EST/Civ3) Another day, another edition of CivTrivia. Over at the official CivIII website, Civ3.com, today's question is:
The first military man to lash hundreds of ships together so his army could march across the Hellespont:
-- Alexander the Great
-- Darius
-- Pompey
-- Xerxes
It's still early in the day, but donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV, PK, GS each have a share of the lead with 690 points each. korn469 is alone in second with 680 points and alkimya and Cornwick are tied for third with 670 points each. Good luck to all participants! -DanQ
BIG HUGE GAMES SITE RE-LAUNCHED
(26 September 2001, 11:32 EST/Misc) Big Huge Games has re-launched their site(bighugegames.com).
Keeping some elements from the second(or was it the third?) version, the more interesting part is the highly updated(as well as amusing!) team page.
It seems like there are many new faces in BHG. Back in January at the time of an interview with Brian Reynolds BHG had 14 people. That number is now 22, but there are still several job openings.
Comment on all this on Jeje2's forum thread. -MarkG
TRIVIA: NAME THAT CIV
(25 September 2001, 21:59 EST/Civ3) The newest edition CivTrivia has been posted over at Civ3.com, the official CivIII website. Today's question:
This empire got an auspicious start when Cyrus the Great won the riches of Croesos:
-- Austro-Hungarian Empire
-- Ottoman Empire
-- Persian Empire
-- Roman Empire
At present Gramphos, SerapisIV and PK have a share of the lead with 690 points each but it is still early in the day. donnyb20 and Lodi share second with 660 points respectively and rounding out the top three is korn469, Nixias and GS at 650 points. Good luck to all participants! -DanQ
ACSR DAILY: SEPTEMBER 25TH, 2001
(25 September 2001, 21:55 EST/Misc) The ACSR daily update for September 25th, 2001 is now available for broadcasting live on demand in RealAudioİ format. Total running time for this week's installment is 2m:07s.
To listen, you will need the RealPlayer G2+ installed on your system and to avoid buffering/connection timeout issues you need to have a 28.8kbps Internet connection or higher. Should you wish to download the file for later listening, note that the total filesize is 262KB.
To discuss this and another ACSR Daily broadcasts, contact the broadcaster directly or publicly in the forums. -DanQ
WLTKD, NEW WONDER
(25 September 2001, 15:22 EST/Civ3) As CivII fanatics are well aware, a "We Love The King Day" (WLTKD) celebration resulted in an increase in population in the city it was held in. As Firaxis Programmer/Designer Soren Johnson tells us, this is no no longer the case but instead has other benefits.
There are now other benefits [with WLTKD], such as lower waste and a reduced risk of city conversion.
For those who liked the population boom effect, Johnson dropped a line about a previously unreported Great Wonder that does just that. It's name? Longevity. -DanQ
TRIVIA: WHERE`S THE BEEF?
(25 September 2001, 14:40 EST/Civ3) The latest edition of CivTrivia has been posted over at Civ3.com, the official CivIII website. Today's question:
Who became so excited by his discovery of irrational numbers that he sacrificed 100 bulls to the gods?
Archimedes
Aristotle
Ptolemy
Pythagorus
At present, donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV and PK have a share of the lead with 660 points each. korn469 is alone in second with 650 points and both alkimiya and Cornwick have 640 points to remain in a tie for third spot. Good luck to all participants! -DanQ
ACSR DAILY: SEPTEMBER 24TH, 2001
(24 September 2001, 21:31 EST/Misc) The ACSR daily update for September 24th, 2001 is now available for broadcasting live on demand in RealAudioİ format. Total running time for this week's installment is 2m:26s.
To listen, you will need the RealPlayer G2+ installed on your system and to avoid buffering/connection timeout issues you need to have a 28.8kbps Internet connection or higher. Should you wish to download the file for later listening, note that the total filesize is 302KB. Please note that after a month's hiatus ACSR News will return on October 7th.
To discuss this and another ACSR Daily broadcasts, contact the broadcaster directly or publicly in the forums. Don't forget to check out the re-vamped ACSR website. For ACSR Daily fans, please note that effective immediately the extent of its archive has been cut in half from four to two months. -DanQ
MAGAHA ON PIRACY
(24 September 2001, 18:22 EST/Misc) A flurry of discussion has been brewing in the forums about computer gaming piracy. A number of different views on the acceptability and perceptions of pirating computer games, including the upcoming Civilization III, have surfaced. Several fans openly asked for Firaxis Games' opinion on the matter, the developing team and driving force behind CivIII. The company's webmaster and forum regular, Dan Magaha, responded.
I've never known any *developers* that look fondly on the pirate community, and I can't imagine why publishers would think of them as a "resource" to be tapped, either, he wrote in response to a comment made by a fan in the thread in question. My personal view on the situation (hey, you asked) is that anytime I hear someone on a forum proclaim (usually proudly, I might add) that they are going to pirate one of our games, I add them to my ignore list and move on. Nothing I can say will change their minds. -DanQ
TRIVIA: FIGHTING MACHINES
(24 September 2001, 18:02 EST/Civ3) A new edition of CivTrivia has been posted over at the official CivIII website, Civ3.com. Today's question:
What Greek city-state’s austere lifestyle was inspired by the early reformer, Lykurgos?
-- Athens
-- Corinth
-- Sparta
-- Thebes
At the time of this posting donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV and PK shared the lead with 630 points each followed closely by korn469 with 620 points. Third place is presently being shared by alkimiya and Cornwick with 610 points each. Good luck to all participants! -DanQ
LE MOO TWO?
(23 September 2001, 13:47 EST/Civ3) In a news report at GamePen confirming the final details of the Limited Edition (It will contain (as previously reported) a Making Of... video, a Tech Tree Poster, a Unique Scenario and Designer Notes), it is suggested that all pre-orders of the Limited Edition will recieve a copy of Master of Orion 2. This is certainly news to us, and would make the incentive to get the LE all the greater. Thanks to the Serendipity of the Home of the Underdogs front page.
Do you know this rumour to be true or can you with a clean concience reveal it as a grievously constructed fallacy? tell us! -Snapcase
TRIVIA: HE`S MY HOPLITE
(23 September 2001, 11:45 EST/Civ3) CivTrivia, a growing favourite over at the official CivIII website, Civ3.com, has been updated yet again. Today's question:
How many heavily armed Hoplites made up the original Greek combat “phalanx”?
-- 25
-- 64
-- 144
-- 256
At the time of this posting donnyb20, Gramphos and PK shared the lead with 620 points each followed closely by second place contenders SerapisIV and alkimiya with 600 points respectively. korn469, Lodi, PGGM weigh in in third with 590 points, Nixas, Cornwick, Jison, and GS share fourth with 580 points and in fifth with 570 points are both Donarumo and AFe. Good luck to all participants! -DanQ
SIXTEEN ANGRY MEN (AND WOMEN)
(23 September 2001, 10:29 EST/Civ3) Dan Magaha, of Firaxis webmastering fame, has posted in our forums regarding the relative agressiveness of the differenet civs, and perhaps surprisingly it turns out that the AI still has different hardcoded Aggression Settings:
For one thing, each Civ has its own "aggression setting" as well as individual strategies that the AI will use. These things can all be changed in the editor, and don't have anything to do with the Civ Specific Units. For example, the Indians, as you might expect, are less aggressive than the Romans.
On a side note, myself and some other Civ players in the office have grown to really hate the Babylonians. Seems like every game I play with them, they backstab me.
Dan
He also reveals that there is currently no "randomise" function for civ-specifics. Still, the editing options sound reassuringly powerful... -Snapcase
PC GAMER UK PREVIEW
(23 September 2001, 2:33 EST/Civ3) Haphazard got his hands on the... November issue of PC Gamer UK, which contained a preview of Civ3. Not a lot of new stuff, here is what Haphazard collected from it
Smart weapons: When attacking open up the city screen and pick an improvement (or Wonders?!) to destroy!
Culture: Age bonus comes into effect after 1000 years apparantly.
Roads/Railroad: Need a passage treaty to use other civs roads. (not sure if that is new)
Wonders: 32 total, including the 'small' ones buildable by all, of which the Apollo program and Battlefield Medicine are ones. (probably needs 5 hospitals, and improves the heal/armour rates of units I guess)
Spaceship: The winner is the first to launch the ship, not land it.
Zones of control: Looks like only movement 2 units have them, although I could be interpreting 'only certain units, like a knights or a tank exert a ZOC' wrong.
Units: Cannon/workers can be captured (captured workers needing no maintenance), although this has already been mentioned. Battleships can 'blitz' ie bombard once for every point of movement they have (4)
Comment on this on the forums -MarkG
5 NEW SCREENSHOTS
(22 September 2001, 15:19 EST/MoO3) Master Marcus posted the news in our MOO3 forum.
"The Orion Sector" has announced 5 new screenshots. You can see'em as well as the others here and here: the new ones are Humans, Nommo, Raas, Silicoid. Also a Grendarl head.
You'll find more MOO3 screenshots and art on the same pages. -MarkG
TRIVIA: WAR OVER
(22 September 2001, 13:08 EST/Civ3) CivTrivia, a growing favourite over at the official CivIII website, Civ3.com, has been updated yet again. Today's question:
What was the primary outcome of the Peloponnesian War?
-- Athens annihilated Corinth
-- Corinth conquered Thebes
-- Thebes throttled Sparta
-- Sparta subdued Athens
The race for top spot on the Leaderboard is a tight one with a five-way tie between donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV, alkimiya and PK with 600 points each at present. Nixas and Jison are in a tie for second with 580 points a piece whilst Donarumo and PGGM are locked in a share for third with 570 points respectively. In fourth sits both OldBill and GS with 560 points and a four-way tie for fifth at the 550 point level with korn469, c2he02minus, AFe and Dionysos. Good luck to all participants! -DanQ
CITY CAPTURE OPTIONS
(21 September 2001, 18:58 EST/Civ3) Over on the CivFanatics forums today, Firaxis' Dan Magaha stated that when you capture a city, you have the option of either taking up its occupation or razing it to the ground -- regardless of city size.
In previous incarnations of Civilization, capturing a city with a size of 2 or more resulted in its automatic occupation of the invading army whereas a city with a size of 1 was instantly leveled. -DanQ
NEW SCREENSHOTS
(21 September 2001, 12:37 EST/Civ3) Nice brand spanking new screenshots have been posted at Civ3.com. There are some really interesting screens now, including (seemingly) final versions of the Domestic Advisor Screen, the City Screen (which seems to confirm that Adam Smith's Trading Company and Magellan's Voyage remain as wonders, and Wall Street is added as one), some nice modern screenshots, and more. Go check it out NOW!
-Imran
CIV OF THE WEEKS: AZTECS
(21 September 2001, 12:28 EST/Civ3) Firaxis has just posted it's newest Civ of the Week, the Aztecs. Their leader is none other than Montezuma (who sports a spiffy suit in picture of him on the Civ3 site).
The Aztecs are Militaristic and Religious and start with Warrior Code and Cermonial Burial.
Their unique unit is the Jaguar warrior:
As a militaristic society, the Aztecs placed a very high emphasis on honor and battlefield skill. After an Aztec warrior captured four or five enemy soldiers, he could advance to the rank of Eagle or Jaguar Warrior. These ranks provided unique benefits, such as exemption from taxes. Jaguar Warriors were fearsome combatants who wore colorful costumes including elaborately plumed headgear and Jaguar pelts, and wielded war shields (chimalli) and obsidian-tipped weapons such as war hammers and swords.
The Jaguar Warrior is an upgraded version of the warrior. With an additional movement point, the Jaguar Warrior can quickly rush an enemy unit or descend on a city to attack.
The Jaguar Warrior is basically a faster warrior unit. I'm sure there is a thread for discussion of the Aztecs in our Civ3:Civilizations Forums with, undoubtably people whining about the unique unit. -Imran
TRIVIA: NAME THAT CITY
(20 September 2001, 7:56 EST/Civ3) CivTrivia, a growing favourite over at the official CivIII website, Civ3.com, has been updated yet again. Today's question:
This modern-day metropolis was built atop the ancient Thracian city of Byzantium:
-- Ankara
-- Baghdad
-- Damascus
-- Istanbul
The race for top spot on the Leaderboard is a tight one with a five-way tie between donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV, alkimiya and PK with 550 points each. At present, korn469 is alone in second with 540 points; Nixias, Cornwick and Jison in third with 530 points; Lodi and PGGM with 520 points; Donarumo, OldBill, GS with 510 points, and rounding out the "500+ points club" is c2h3o2minus and AFe with 500 points. Good luck to all participants! -DanQ
ACSR DAILY: SEPTEMBER 19TH, 2001
(20 September 2001, 7:49 EST/Misc) The ACSR daily update for September 19th, 2001 is now available for broadcasting live on demand in RealAudioİ format. Total running time for this week's installment is 4m:39s.
To listen, you will need the RealPlayer G2+ installed on your system and to avoid buffering/connection timeout issues you need to have a 28.8kbps Internet connection or higher. Should you wish to download the file for later listening, note that the total filesize is 572KB.
To discuss this and another ACSR Daily broadcasts, contact the broadcaster directly or publicly in the forums. -DanQ
CIVTRIVIA DELAY REASON
(19 September 2001, 12:42 EST/Civ3) For those who were looking to answer today's edition of CivTrivia in the wee hours of this morning and were unable to find it, rest assured that not only was it not a problem on your end but also that it has been fixed.
Firaxis webmaster Dan Magaha responded to some disgruntled participants in the forums today about the reasons for the delay in the posting of today's CT question.
Think we had a little server hiccup last night, so the question didn't update. A new question is up now. -DanQ
TRIVIA: GOT WAR?
(19 September 2001, 11:43 EST/Civ3) CivTrivia, a growing favourite over at the official CivIII website, Civ3.com, has been updated yet again. Today's question:
What did the phrase "make war" in Sanskrit mean, literally?
-- "Lose cattle"
-- "Castrate bulls"
-- "Sacrifice calves"
-- "Seek cows"
The Leaderboard is tight with a fourway tie between donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV and alkimiya with 540 points each. Jison is alone in second with 520 points and there is a two-way tie at present for third with both korn469 and PK. Rounding out those with 500 points or more is OldBill with 510 which has earned him a solitary position in fourth. The day isn't over yet so there may be more movers and shakers to come before Thursday. Good luck to all participants! -DanQ
PRE-ORDER BOX!
(19 September 2001, 3:58 EST/Civ3) Forum users TechWins and Stormprophet have pre-ordered Civ3 at their local Best Buy store, and recieved an item dubbed a "pre-order box" for their troubles. Inside is, among other things, a "Making Of" video which TechWins has taken the trouble of attempting to interpret for us. In his thread, he describes some of the stuff the video reveals, new names of units and city improvements, and the stats of a few of the new units. For example, there is a new air transport unit of some kind:
Pre-Requisites:
Advanced Flight
Oil, Rubber
Stats:
Offensive Power: 0
Cargo Capacity: 2
Defensive Power: 4
Operational Range: 4
Cost: 80 Shields
Abilities:
Radar, Immobile, Carry foot units only
Neither the video or screenshots from it are available on-line yet (hint, hint), but TechWins has promised to make some as soon as he can. If anyone has the box, we'd love to hear more about the contents and the cover, which apparently contains a picture of the only leader yet to be revealed, Shaka of the Zulus. Post in the thread! -Snapcase
NO. 31 OF ALL TIME: PCGAMER
(18 September 2001, 15:01 EST/Misc) The October, 2001 issue of PC Gamer spotlights the magazine's Top 50 Games Of All Time listing, the first update to it since 1999. The Master of Orion series had a decent showing in 31st position.
A brilliantly innovative space strategy game, MoO (as it's affectionately known) launched the "4X" genre: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate, wrote the PCG staff. As the leader of a star-faring race, you had to compete diplomatically, economically, scientifically, and militarily for control of known space.
With Master of Orion 3 on the horizon, its standing may improve considerably when the next edition of the list is generated by PCG -- presumably in another two years. -DanQ
NO. 2 OF ALL TIME: PCGAMER
(18 September 2001, 14:58 EST/Civ2) The October, 2001 issue of PC Gamer spotlights the magazine's Top 50 Games Of All Time listing, the first update to it in more than two years. Civilization II ranked a more than respectable showing landing in the No. 2 spot, second only to Half-Life. Given CivII's age and the barrage of successful, high-profile strategy and non-strategy games released since then, this is yet another testament to the series' longevity and widespread popularity.
If you added up all the man-hours that gamers have collectively sunk into CivII, you could probably have built the pyramids with them, the PCG staff wrote. By far the most addictive strategy game ever devised, Civilization II spans the breadth of human achievement from the advent of religion and agriculture to the pinnacle of space conquest.
On a related note, the original Civilization, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri nor the two Call To Power titles made the listing. -DanQ
GSPOT`S THIRD MOST WANTED
(18 September 2001, 14:47 EST/Civ3) Civilization III is GameSpot US' third "most wanted" title after World of Warcraft and Medal of Honour: Allied Assault.
Rounding out the top five are Star Wars Galaxies and Simsville. -DanQ
TRIVIA: OLDER BROTHER
(18 September 2001, 7:41 EST/Civ3) Trivia of the day
Who did Hong Xiuquan, charismatic leader of the 19th-century Taiping Rebellion, proudly proclaim as his "older brother"?
- Charlemagne
- Confucius
- Jesus Christ
- Muhammad
Give your answer on Civ3.com!
The top10 are donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV, korn469, alkimiya and PK with 510pts, Nixias, Corkwick and Jison with 490pts and Donarumo with 480pts. -MarkG
ACSR DAILY: SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2001
(17 September 2001, 20:50 EST/Misc) The ACSR daily update for September 17th, 2001 is now available for broadcasting live on demand in RealAudioİ format. Total running time for this week's installment is 5m:12s.
To listen, you will need the RealPlayer G2+ installed on your system and to avoid buffering/connection timeout issues you need to have a 28.8kbps Internet connection or higher. Should you wish to download the file for later listening, note that the total filesize is 640KB.
To discuss this and another ACSR Daily broadcasts, contact the broadcaster directly or publicly in the forums. -DanQ
`ASK CIV TEAM` FEATURE CRITICIZED
(17 September 2001, 20:28 EST/Civ3) The "Ask The Civ Team" feature, undoubtedly one of the most popular sections on the official CivIII website, was dealt a blunt criticism today from one concerned individual on the forums.
"Ask The Civ Team" would probably get filtered out, Wiglaf laments. They only read a handful of letters, censored to bits.
This criticism was addressed by Dan Magaha, Firaxis Games' webmaster, shortly thereafter.
Just FYI, I do not censor or even edit any of the e-mails we print on the "ask the Civ team" responses. They are printed wholly intact, spelling errors, bad grammar and all. Do we read every single one? Sorry to say, but it's just not possible. There are literally THOUSANDS of emails in that box, and there's no way I could read them all.
Magaha further explained that many responses are quickly filtered out due to excessive profanitfy, taselessness and even incomprehension.
Another thing you have to realize is that many of the people who visit civ3.com are not hard-core, knowledgeable civers like you guys who are already on top of everything happening with the game, the Firaxian said in conclusion. A balance has to be struck between discussing topics that are interesting to the hardcore fans and topics that are interesting to the casual visitor to the site who wants to know more about what's going on with CivIII. -DanQ
TRIVIA: DIVINE WIND
(17 September 2001, 6:55 EST/Civ3) Trivia of the day
What "divine wind" destroyed Kublai Khan’s fleet on its way to invade Japan?
- Hurrikhan
- Kamikaze
- Shogunate
- Tsunami
Give your answer on Civ3.com!
The top10 are donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV, korn469, alkimiya and PK with 470pts, Nixias and Jison with 450pts, Lodi with 440pts and OldBill with 430pts. -MarkG
C186# LAMENT OF AN OBSESSIVE GAME MODIFIER
(16 September 2001, 16:21 EST/Misc) Sent to 6344 people, the Column gets closer to #200...
186# LAMENT OF AN OBSESSIVE GAME MODIFIER
A hymn to modification
by John Bytheway.
-MarkG
CITY STYLE CHANGES ARE IN
(16 September 2001, 11:08 EST/Civ3) For those looking for answers on whether or not distinctive city styles can be found in CivIII, Firaxis' Dan Magaha has your answer.
This is in, as are distinct city styles that depend on the culture group of the civ[ilization], the web wizard said earlier today in the forums. So Germans and French share the same style of map city look, but the Germans look radically different from the Japanese, for example.
These city styles refer to the changes in city architecture and design as a civilization progresses through the ages from ancient to modern times. As for the criticism that in Civilization II: Test of Time the styles in a certain period all look the same, Magaha confirmed that this element has been improved considerably in CivIII.
All cities change depending on what era they're in, but each city will look differently depending on its size as well as the culture type of the city. -DanQ
BONUSWEB FEATURE
(16 September 2001, 10:23 EST/Civ3) 
BonusWeb, a Czech site, has posted a feature on Firaxis and Civilization 3. It contains a visit around the Firaxis office, an interview with Sid Meier and a preview of civ3. Along are some new screenshots:
Histograph and Top5 Cities
Egyptian map 280 A.D.
Thebes cityview
Chinese 1948 A.D.
Egyptian 840 A.D.
Persian 440 A.D.
Egyptian 1051 A.D.
Industrial Age Tech Tree
Middle Age Tech Tree
Chinese 1768 A.D.
Leaders
The screens are not exactly "new" though, as some are really dated and have changed significantly as Dan Magaha posted in our forums. Thanks to Pggar for the news tip. Join the discussion on the forums! -MarkG
FEATURE CUTS IN MOO3 ANNOUNCED
(16 September 2001, 2:22 EST/MoO3) David "Stormhound" Craft, MOO3 Assistant Designer, brought us the news in the MOO3 forum.
Alan Emrich, MOO3 designer, made an announcement regarding feature cuts that will have to be done on MoO3 from now on "due to time and budget considerations". Until now the "cut list" contains
1. The Annals of Space and Time (i.e., the "end game story review" of a civilizations adventures in MOO3)
2. The entire Ethos system
3. Team victory conditions (i.e., Factions and Unity)
Alan noted that all cut features go straight to a "MOO4 List"(hoping that a MOO4 will be done in the future). You can read the full announcement in the MOO3 forum.
(Yes, this was our first MOO3 news item. Until our MOO3 section is ready you will be finding MOO-related news in the Misc section.) -MarkG
TRIVIA: TEMU-JIN
(16 September 2001, 2:09 EST/Civ3) Trivia of the day
What title, meaning “universal ruler of all Mongols,” did Temu-jin adopt in 1206 A.D.?
- Aga Khan
- Genghis Khan
- Kublai Khan
- Tamerlane
Give your answer on Civ3.com!
The top10 are Gramphos, alkimiya and PK with 450pts, donnyb20, SerapisIV and korn469 with 440pts, Nixias with 430pts, Corkwick with 420pts, Jison with 420pts and Donarumo with 410pts. -MarkG
EMAIL DIFFICULTIES CONTINUE
(15 September 2001, 20:17 EST/About) Good evening.
At present, my (DanQ's) email @apolyton.net is again not operational. To contact me until further notice, you can reach me at the following alternate address: dan@gamestats.com. -DanQ
ACSR DAILY: SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2001
(15 September 2001, 20:12 EST/Misc) The ACSR daily update for September 14th, 2001 is now available for broadcasting live on demand in RealAudioİ format. Total running time for this week's installment is 4m:14s.
To listen, you will need the RealPlayer G2+ installed on your system and to avoid buffering/connection timeout issues you need to have a 28.8kbps Internet connection or higher. Should you wish to download the file for later listening, note that the total filesize is 523KB.
To discuss this and another ACSR Daily broadcasts, contact the broadcaster directly or publicly in the forums. -DanQ
TRIVIA: IN THE YEAR 589, 589...
(15 September 2001, 10:15 EST/Civ3) Trivia of the day
What novel use for paper can be traced back to China, in 589 A.D.?
- Sandpaper
- Toilet paper
- Wrapping paper
- Writing paper
Give your answer on Civ3.com!
The top10 are donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV, korn469, alkimiya and PK with 440pts, Nixias, Corkwick and Jison with 420pts and Lodi with 410pts. -MarkG
ASK THE TEAM: STATS, GOVERNORS, U.N. BUT NO MP INFO
(14 September 2001, 16:21 EST/Civ3) 
Firaxis answered more questions on the latest Ask the Civ Team feature.
- "Demographics" and "Top 5 Cities" are again in Civ3, combined in one screen.
- You can give city governors "dont produce X" orders. You can also give orders to the governor of one city or to the governors of the cities in a continent or to all the city governors.
- The diplomatic victory is just like in SMAC(you get elected Leader of the world) with the exception that in order to be in the UN council you must either control 25% of the world's territory or population, or to have built the United Nations wonder.
- A question on multiplayer is answered, but no details are given nor was the rumour(?) on Civ3 being released as single player only(with multiplayer coming as patch months later) denied or confirmed.
The discussions in the forums have already started... -MarkG
CIV OF THE WEEK: INDIA
(14 September 2001, 16:03 EST/Civ3) The latest "Civ of the Week" is India.
Their leader is Gandhi and they are a Religious and Commercial civilization. They start with Alphabet and Ceremonial Burial, and have significant bonuses to religious pursuits and trade-related activities.
The Indian unique Unit is the War Elephant. It is the Indian version of the knight. Though it shares the same attack, defense, and move ratings of the knight, it requires no natural resources to build, whereas knights require both horses and iron. This distinction allows the Indians to easily produce these powerful juggernauts in any city, irrespective of trade networks.
Discuss about it in the forums! -MarkG
TRIVIA: SACRED DIRECTION
(14 September 2001, 3:04 EST/Civ3) Trivia of the day
What "sacred" compass direction did early Chinese emperors prefer to face?
- North
- East
- South
- West
Give your answer on Civ3.com!
Gramphos, korn469, Nixias, alkimiya and PK with 420pts, Lodi with 410pts, donnyb20 and SerapisIV with 390pts and Philip and c2h3o2minus with 380pts. -MarkG
JEFF MORRIS INTERVIEW ON CIVFANATICS
(14 September 2001, 2:52 EST/Civ3) Civfanatics.com has an interview with Jeff Morris.
Jeff did not give an answer on multiplayer, but gave some very interesting new information("map cities animate to show different situations such as civil disorder and we love the king day"). He characterized the Civ3 AI as a "very challenging opponent" and announced that there are no random natural disasters in the game.
Discuss all this in the forums. -MarkG
TRIVIA: INVENTOR`S CORNER
(13 September 2001, 0:13 EST/Civ3) CivTrivia, a growing favourite over at the official CivIII website, Civ3.com, has been updated ye tagain. Today's question:
What Chinese innovation is attributed to queen Lei-Zu as a gift to her husband, the Yellow Emperor?
- Compass
- Gunpowder
- Printing press
- Silk
It's early in the day but Nixias has already played and is currently in the lead at 390 points followed closely behind by donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV, korn469, alkimiya and PK with 370. To round out the top ten at present, Lodi has 360 and both Cordwick and Jison have 350 points a piece respectively. Good luck to all participants! -DanQ
ACSR DAILY: SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2001
(12 September 2001, 22:49 EST/Misc) The ACSR daily update for September 11th, 2001 is now available for broadcasting live on demand in RealAudioİ format. Total running time for this week's installment is 3m:14s.
To listen, you will need the RealPlayer G2+ installed on your system and to avoid buffering/connection timeout issues you need to have a 28.8kbps Internet connection or higher. Should you wish to download the file for later listening, note that the total filesize is 401KB.
Due to yesterday's events the posting of the backlogged ACSR News shows have been pushed back but are anticipated to all be caught up by Monday of next week. To discuss this and another ACSR Daily broadcasts, contact the broadcaster directly or publicly in the forums. -DanQ
SYMPATHY FOR VICTIMS OF TERRORISM
(12 September 2001, 0:57 EST/About) Apolyton expresses its utmost sympathy for those victims of the terrorist acts that occured on September 11th, 2001 on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. We hope that the survivors in New York City and Washington D.C. are safe tonight. At the same time we express great sorrow to those that were not able to make it through this day.
We urge all Apolytoners that are able to, to donate blood or help out in anyway they can. See the related forum thread were Apolytoners are uniting together to co-ordinate their efforts. Thank You. -Imran
TRIVIA: NAME THAT CIV
(12 September 2001, 0:44 EST/Civ3) Another day and another question over at CivTrivia, a growing section favourite over at the official CivIII website, Civ3.com. Today, you are challenged to answer this:
These Fertile Crescent warriors pioneered seige towers and the armored battering ram:
- Assyrians
- Babylonians
- Persians
- Sumerians
It's early in the day but PK has already played and is currently in the lead at 370 points followed closely behind by donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV, korn469, Nixias, and alkimiya with 340. To round out the top ten at present, Lodi has 330 and both Cordwick and Jison have 320 points a piece respectively. Good luck to all participants! -DanQ
NEW FORUM PEAK IV
(11 September 2001, 18:58 EST/About) In less than a month, the record for most simultaneous connections on the forums -- 212 on August 13th, 2001 has been shattered. At 5:23PM (EST) this evening, 248 users simultaneously connected to the forums. -DanQ
ACSR DAILY: SEPTEMBER 10TH, 2001
(11 September 2001, 11:31 EST/Misc) The ACSR daily update for September 10th, 2001 is now available for broadcasting live on demand in RealAudioİ format. Total running time for this week's installment is 3m:18s.
To listen, you will need the RealPlayer G2+ installed on your system and to avoid buffering/connection timeout issues you need to have a 28.8kbps Internet connection or higher. Should you wish to download the file for later listening, note that the total filesize is 409KB.
To discuss this and another ACSR Daily broadcasts, contact the broadcaster directly or publicly in the forums. -DanQ
TRIVIA: SAMUEL SAYS
(11 September 2001, 6:05 EST/Civ3) Trivia of the day
First king of Israel, appointed by Samuel:
- Abraham
- David
- Isaac
- Saul
Give your answer on Civ3.com!
Donnyb20, Gramphos, korn469, Nixias, alkimiya and PK are on the lead with 340 points after 12 days. -MarkG
VERY CRUDE DRAGON SUN MAP!
(11 September 2001, 3:05 EST/SMAC) 
When SerapisIV was asking form Michael Ely a map(even drawn) showing the events of the Dragon Sun book, he didnt expect to such a "crude" drawing :)
Just joking, many thank to Michael for posting it! Now if someone could make a smac map(or a scenario!) out of it...
Michael also posted some information on the third book of the series
Book 3 will not deal with transcendence. I feel that's been done before, in the game story. Book 3 will definitely lean more to the duking it out path, and with a special twist at the end. Miriam and Zakharov are the stars, but the Hive plays a role again, and some other factions as well.
The third book, titled "Twilight of the Mind", will be out in February 2002. -MarkG
C185# MOO3 AND CIV3, SUPPLIES AND TACTICS
(10 September 2001, 18:11 EST/Misc) Due to time restraints and issues with your mail server, the Column is sent today. We are posting 2 articles though.
185# MOO3 AND CIV3, SUPPLIES AND TACTICS
Two articles: a comparison of moo3 and civ3, and an idea on unit supplies
By Comrade Tribune and Paul. -MarkG
TRIVIA: GOLDEN MICE
(10 September 2001, 6:41 EST/Civ3) Trivia of the day
This nation offered Israel five golden mice and five golden hemorrhoids to atone for taking the Ark of the Covenant:
- Egyptians
- Hittites
- Persians
- Philistines
Give your answer on Civ3.com!
Donnyb20, Gramphos, korn469, Nixias, alkimiya and PK are on the lead with 310 points after 11 days. -MarkG
ACSR DAILY: SEPTEMBER 8TH, 2001
(9 September 2001, 13:23 EST/Misc) The ACSR daily update for September 8th, 2001 is now available for broadcasting live on demand in RealAudioİ format. Total running time for this week's installment is 3m:19s.
To listen, you will need the RealPlayer G2+ installed on your system and to avoid buffering/connection timeout issues you need to have a 28.8kbps Internet connection or higher. Should you wish to download the file for later listening, note that the total filesize is 409KB.
To discuss this and another ACSR Daily broadcasts, contact the broadcaster directly or publicly in the forums.
Also, please note that ACSR News for the week of August 26th will be posted this weekend after an unexpected delay in production. -DanQ
ACSR DAILY: SEPTEMBER 7TH, 2001
(8 September 2001, 14:09 EST/Misc) The ACSR daily update for September 7th, 2001 is now available for broadcasting live on demand in RealAudioİ format. Total running time for this week's installment is 10m:50s.
To listen, you will need the RealPlayer G2+ installed on your system and to avoid buffering/connection timeout issues you need to have a 28.8kbps Internet connection or higher. Should you wish to download the file for later listening, note that the total filesize is 1.3MB.
To discuss this and another ACSR Daily broadcasts, contact the broadcaster directly or publicly in the forums. -DanQ
TRIVIA: FIRST WALLS
(8 September 2001, 11:39 EST/Civ3) Trivia of the day
The first walled city:
- Jericho
- Jerusalem
- Masada
- Troy
Give your answer on Civ3.com!
Gramphos, SerapisIV, korn469, Amadeo, alkimiya and PK are on the lead with 260 points after 9 days. -MarkG
CIV3 TO BE RELEASED WITHOUT MULTIPLAYER?
(8 September 2001, 4:06 EST/Civ3) In a shocking post in our Civ3 forums, Mister Pleasant announced the contents of an email message sent by Kelley Gilmore, Firaxis' Communications Manager. The contents are as follows:
Civ III is set to release in October, but the multiplayer component won't release until some time next spring (May-ish), which will be too late for your class this year. I could send it to you for possible use next year once it's released.
We are awaiting offical word from Firaxis, but if this is true, it means that Civilization 3 will be ONLY single player out of the box. The Multiplayer component is to come months later. Speculation revolves around either it being packaged in an expansion pack or available as a free download (which seems to this News Editor to be more likely, seeing as Mrs. Gilmore said she'd send Mister Pleasent the multiplayer component).
Nevertheless, unless Mrs. Gilmore misspoke, or if Firaxis changes its mind (which they have been fond of doing lately), Multiplayer comes to Civ3 in the Spring, while the game is released in October.
As stated, however, we are awaiting offical word. You can follow the discussion in the link at the top of this news item. We'll have any further news on this issue as soon as humanly possible. -Imran
CIV ATTRIBUTES CHANGED
(7 September 2001, 16:54 EST/Civ3) Sekong, in our Civ3 fourms indicates that the Civ attributes in Civ3 have changed. China has been changed to Militaristic/Industrious, while the Germans have been changed to Militaristic/Scientific. These are just two of the changes made to the Civ abilities. The lookout for other changes and discussion on the topic are in our forums at the link above. -Imran
DEVELOPER UPDATE: WONDERS
(7 September 2001, 16:42 EST/Civ3) Together with the Civ of the Week Update came a short (yet incredibly informative) update on Wonders. Almost all of the information is new or updated and it is tightly packed into three short paragraphs, which I can do no better than reproduce in their entirity:
In Civ III, we've divided Wonders into two categories: Great Wonders and Small Wonders. Great Wonders are essentially what we used to call simply "Wonders". They can be built only once, and are winner take all -- whomever completes the Wonder first reaps the rewards. Small Wonders are a new type of Wonder that can be built by every civ, but only once.
Another interesting thing about Small Wonders is that they are not enabled simply by researching technologies. Most of the Small Wonders become available after certain gameplay conditions have been met by a player. For example, you cannot build Wall Street until you have at least 5 banks. Other Small Wonders can depend on a variety of things, such as SDI, which requires the Integrated Defense technology and 5 SAM missile batteries to construct. Also, Small Wonders in a city are destroyed when that city is captured, whereas Great Wonders can be captured. Finally, while Great Wonders can be made obsolete by new technologies, Small Wonders cannot.
We've also made some changes to the Great Wonders. Great Wonders can now be "rushed" to completion only under the direction of a Great Leader. Great Wonders are also now associated with one or more of the Civilization strengths (see the Developer Update). If the attributes of the Wonders you've completed match your Civ's strengths, you will trigger a Golden Age. For example, the Chinese are "Militaristic" and "Industrious". If they build The Art of War and Hoover Dam, this satisfies both strengths and a Golden Age would begin. A far better tact for the Chinese would be to build the Great Wall, which satisfies both strengths at once and would immediately trigger a Chinese Golden Age upon completion.
-Snapcase
CIV OF THE WEEK: PERSIA
(7 September 2001, 16:32 EST/Civ3) 
That's right- another week, another Civ. This time it's the Persians, led by Xerxes as previously suspected. The Persians also have a rather interesting Unique Unit in the Immortal.
The Persians are considered Scientific and Commercial, therefore being a very apt choice for those who wish to "beat" the game by peaceful means or maximise the fighting abilities of their army.
The Immortal, with the rather impressive attributes of 4-2-1 are described as being
the elite corps of the Persian army, as well as the king's personal bodyguards, and only those of Persian or Medic descent were allowed to serve. Equipped with bows, spears, a short sword, and little else, the Immortals relied on superior numbers and high morale to defeat their foes. Immortals also carried lightweight wicker "shields" that could deflect arrows, but they were of little use in melee combat against more heavily armored and better equipped forces. Ironically, they were called Immortals because they would often perish quickly in combat, only to be immediately replaced by fresh troops, giving the illusion that their forces never dropped in strength. Apparently, "Expendables" didn't have quite the same ring to it.
The Immortal is an upgraded version of the swordsman. Like the swordsman, it requires iron to build, but the bonus to its attack rating makes it a very potent offensive unit, and its defense rating of 2 rounds out its standing as a good all-purpose unit.
Sounds brilliant yet again. Certainly a civ I would want to try... -Snapcase
MODERN AGE SCREENSHOT
(7 September 2001, 9:03 EST/Civ3) 
What you see on the right is (if i'm not mistaken) the first modern-age screenshot we see from Civ3.
Scanned by doron from the Gamestar magazine the screenshot shows modern-age cities and "LA-style" highways. Notice also the airport and harbour indicators next to some of the cities.
For a better view of the screenshot, get a copy of the magazine! You can comment about it on the related forum thread. -MarkG
TRIVIA: DIVINE INSPIRATION
(7 September 2001, 6:34 EST/Civ3) Trivia of the day
What did the Delphic Oracle’s priestess burn and inhale for divine inspiration?
- Bay leaves
- Frankincense
- Marijuana
- Opium
Give your answer on Civ3.com!
Gramphos, SerapisIV, Amadeo, Nixias, alkimiya, PK are on the lead with 240 points after 8 days(although it's early in the day at the time of this posting). -MarkG
FINNISH PREVIEW RELEASED
(7 September 2001, 0:34 EST/Civ3) Patriqvium, one of many active users in Apolyton's forums, posted about a new preview of CivIII in Pelit, a Finnish gaming magazine whose name translated into Enlglish is "games".
For those caught up on previous previews on both online and in print publications, new information is included on resource squares, the hot-topic ethnic clensing avenue and how the computer does not cheat -- not even at the 'Diety' level.
To get the whole scoop of the new information, check out the related forum thread. The complete preview can be found in Pelit's September, 2001 issue. -DanQ
MEIER IN NY TIMES
(7 September 2001, 0:28 EST/Misc) Thursday's NY Times has an article titled "In Historical Games, Truth Gives Way to Entertainment" written by David Kushner. The article talks about historical simulations in computer games such as Civilization and Age of Empires. Both Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley offered their views in the article.
"The fantasy of games is to allow you to take on a persona that's more exciting than real life," said Mr. Meier, who is co-founder and director of creative development at Firaxis Games in Hunt Valley, Md. "For me, I thought, `What would it be like to be a Civil War general?'"
Read the article online at NYTimes.com (registration is free). Thanks to Firaxis Games Communications Manager Kelley Gilmore and CivFanatics for the news tip. -DanQ
NEW INFO IN PCPP REVIEW
(7 September 2001, 0:20 EST/Civ3) What's new exactly in the Austrlian magazine PC PowerPlay's preview of CivIII? Zanzin, an active member of Apolyton's buzzing forums, posted a list of just that. A couple of excerpts:
On air missions:
Air units have operational ranges within which they can execute air missions. The primary bonus of this is that air units no longer function like super fast ground units.
On diplomatic agreements:
Playing a straight military game in this type of environment means alliances, which means some diplomatic finesse is required. Likewise, it's entirely possible to have another nation fight all of your wars for you. You have to be careful not to fall too far behind this kind of ally (they're often taking and keeping cities for instance), but if you've got the gold or goods, you can play a fairly sophisicated "puppet master" style game.
For more on everything from a airstrikes to lighthouses, see the related forum thread. -DanQ
GAMESTAR VIDEO TRANSLATION
(7 September 2001, 0:14 EST/Civ3) Thanks to three CivIII fans who go by the nicknames willemvanoranje, Blast Duke and Rince, a complete and accurate English translation of the audio heard in the German-narrated GameStar CivIII video [see below] that was posted yesterday over at CivFanatics. Here it is in its entirety:
Sid Meier is back with the third Civilization game. Just as in previous games, your first goal is to find a suitable location for your capital city. The most important improvement in Civilization III is the culture system. Buildings like temples and libraries increase your culture points. When you have reached a certain point, the influence of your city will grow larger and more land will be influenced by your city’s culture.
In the science menu you will be able to put the technologies in a queue for your scientists to research. You have to research the majority of technologies of a certain time era first, before you can go on to the next one. With this new trade system you trade with friendly civs in culture, technologies, units, cities or one of the 30 resources with whom you can build the old or the new wonders used in Civ III. With the statistics you can check your treaties and trade with friend and foe.
Besides the peaceful cultural expansion, you will be able to expand in a military way as well. Units can be combined into armies and they can like here the destroyer attack over a distance of multiple tiles (ranged attack). Civilization players will start from November (European release date) with ages of building up metropols and expanding your palace. -DanQ
SCENARIO HISTORICAL REALISM
(7 September 2001, 0:05 EST/Civ2) Historical Realism: Notes on Recreating History in Civ2 Scenarios is a new thesis written by Morten Blaaberg.
I feel that the concept of "historical realism" is sometimes getting in the way of player response, Blaaberg writes. There often seems to be a conflict between presenting events "as they really were", and allowing for player action. Like when you want to implement a historical event at a precise historical time ("if turn=" type of event), it might contradict what the player situation is in the game. Or if you're into applying all kind of historically precise details, like city names, units, etc. in order to really recreate the world at the time, but think little about how the player fits into the picture.
The thesis is well-crafted and detailed, containing some very interesting and insightful ideas about player motivation and historical realism in CivII scenarios.
Thanks to CivFanatics for the news tip. -DanQ
EXTRA SCENARIO IN LIMITED EDITION?
(6 September 2001, 17:01 EST/Civ3) 
According to the page for the Civ3 Limited Edition on Gamestop online store, there will be an extra scenario in the box.
For comparison here's what Gamestop says will be the extra stuff
* Making of Civilization III Video
* Tech tree
* 1 unique scenario
* Sid Meier's design notes
and what we knew so far from EB
* Exclusive Video Chronicling the Making of Civilization III
* Video Celebrating Sid Meier's Induction into the IDSA Hall of Fame
* Designer's Notes from Sid Meier and Jeff Briggs
* Fold-Out Tech Tree
Thanks to donarumo who found out about it and posted on the forums -MarkG
TRIVIA: THE NEPHEW
(6 September 2001, 13:58 EST/Civ3) Trivia of the day
What famous pharaoh was Nefertiti’s nephew?
- Pepi II
- Ptolemy I
- Ramses the Great
- Tutankhamen
Give your answer on Civ3.com!
Donnyb20, Gramphos, SerapisIV, Amadeo, Nixias, Havoc, alkimiya, PK are on the lead with 210 points after 7 days. -MarkG
FORUMS UPGRADED
(6 September 2001, 7:36 EST/About) Our forums have been upgraded to vBulletin version 2.0.3
List of changes for users:
"Currently Active Users" on forum home page links to a page showing where each user is
Ignored users are now shown in threads with a clickable place holder that will bring up their posts when clicked
Improved navigation links for forum and thread pages
In the forum summary pages and the subcribed threads listings (only on default styles) as well as the search results (all styles), the number of replies links to a small pop-up window that show the people who have posted in the thread. The window contains a link that closes it sends you to the thread. This is not fully functional on the light styles because the reply count is linked to the last post in those styles.
There are also many small fixes or administration-side changes.
Earlier today we made a backup of the entire forums. The whole backup and upgrade process took around 2 hours with the forums being closed for a total of 20 minutes. If you face any problems please report it -MarkG
NEW PICTURE OF UNITS
(6 September 2001, 1:04 EST/Civ3) Provost Harrison has just reported on our Civ3 forums that the new Firaxis.com Civilization 3 Games site shows pictures of units that haven't been seen before in a flash animation. Check it out at the new Firaxis.com and discuss in our forums in the link above. -Imran
ACSR DAILY: SEPTEMBER 5TH, 2001
(6 September 2001, 0:35 EST/Misc) The ACSR daily update for September 5th, 2001 is now available for broadcasting live on demand in RealAudioİ format. Total running time for this week's installment is 4m:27s.
To listen, you will need the RealPlayer G2+ installed on your system and to avoid buffering/connection timeout issues you need to have a 28.8kbps Internet connection or higher. Should you wish to download the file for later listening, note that the total filesize is 548KB.
To discuss this and another ACSR Daily broadcasts, contact the broadcaster directly or publicly in the forums.
Also, please note that ACSR News for the week of August 26th will be posted early next week after an unexpected delay in production. -DanQ
IN-GAME ACTION VIDEO RELEASED
(6 September 2001, 0:09 EST/Civ3) GameStar, a German gaming magazine, recently received video coverage from the office of Firaxis Games with new, never before seen in-game action in Civilization III. We received word from CivFanatics that the 1 1/2 minute, 16MB video was released in MPG format yesterday by Civilizations, a new fan site in the community.
After a brief introduction by Sid Meier himself addressing GameStar readers by name, stunning in-game visuals are presented with a voice-over naration and overlays in German. What makes this release most exciting, on top of the fact of the new coverage it contains, but also the impressive quality of the video to match the game itself. It is possible to obtain a full-screen reasonable clear picture from the encoded video even on a low-to-medium end machine.
In making the file available for download from its CivIII file database, Apolyton becomes only the second known host and first mirror for the GameStar video. It is recommended that you use GetRight to obtain it and you will need a MPG compatible movie view such as Microsoft's Windows Media Player. Finally, you will need WinZip to unzip it. -DanQ
NEW FIRAXIS.COM!
(5 September 2001, 18:02 EST/Misc) 
The new Firaxis logo that had appeared a couple months has brought along a new corporate site.
Going to the opposite of the old dark blue theme, the new site uses a white background with light purple and orange colors. The navigation has become easier, with handy drop-down menus. A certain page with links to fan sites is gone though...
Check out the new Firaxis.com and give your impressions on the forums!
Thanks to Lonestar who posted about it first. -MarkG
EMAIL CONTACT NOTICE
(5 September 2001, 15:01 EST/About) Since Saturday, September 1st, some Apolyton staff email accounts (those "@apolyton.net") have been experiencing problems in relation to the mail server that they are hosted on on GameStats. Below is alternate contacts for DanQ and MarkG; if you sent any email to one or both of them since Saturday, please re-send to the addresses below to ensure receipt.
DanQ: dquick@superaje.com
MarkG: markg@egnatia.ee.auth.gr
We apologize for this inconvenience -- needless to say, it is an inconvenience to us as well. We will keep you apprised of any ongoing developments in this regard. -DanQ
TRIVIA: PYRAMID SCHEMER
(5 September 2001, 8:40 EST/Civ3) Civ3 Trivia question of the day
What did the Greeks call Egypt’s pharaoh Khufu?
- Cheops
- Cleopatra
- Pepi
- Ramses
Give your answer on Civ3.com!
donnyb20, Amadeo, Nixias, Havoc, alkimiya, Corkwick, Jison and PK are on the lead with 190 points after 6 days. -MarkG
AUSSIE SCREENSHOT MADNESS
(5 September 2001, 3:16 EST/Civ3) A few days ago, The_Ausssie_Lurker drew our attention to a preview in the october issue of Australian magazine PC PowerPlay, and provided some info from it. Today another poster, Zanzin, was gracious enough to scan in some nice new screens for us, as well as post some actual quotes from the preview. For example,
air units have operational ranges within which they can execute air missions. The primary bonus of this is that air units no longer function like super fast ground units.
Also,
The normal goods/resources that would be harvested from a square with an enemy unit on it are nolonger available (Whilst the unit is on it). This makes every single tile in your empire important, as opposed to the emphasis just on cities in Civ2.
There's more specific info on offer too, including the effects of some wonders (three levels of water depth!), victory conditions and diplomatic agreements. Equally interesting are the screens: the new World Setup Screen, Foreign Advisor Screen and two city views showcasing several new buildings. It's all quite engaging, read more and discuss in the thread. Have fun! -Snapcase
TILE EDIT UPDATE
(4 September 2001, 17:27 EST/CtP2) Martin the Dane has made an update to TileEdit. The following issues have been addressed:
- Fixed disappearing Script-File-Directory.
- Changed default TileSet-save-name to gtset555.til/gtset565.til
- added overwrite prompting (configurable).
- Log now shows Tile-Graphics-Filenames and not needed borders.
- Show hex now also affects Resource IDs.
- Fixed a bug where importing some TGA's might cause TileEdit to crash.
- Log shows number of resources read out of total.
- Added an Import Log window (Ctrl+W) with 'Stay On Top' capability.
Also, Martin Gühmann and Immortal Wombat have posted the results of their work on tiles. -MarkG
SERVER STATUS UPDATE
(4 September 2001, 13:32 EST/About) Good afternoon, everyone.
As most of you are likely already aware, Apolyton has been expeiencing some server difficulties over the past couple of weeks that have resulted in some constant and prolonged downtimes, including one this morning (EST) that was more than six hours. We have been in constant communication with our technical contact at GameStats, Tony Bolger, about the ongoing problems and have been told that the caues of these outages have been determined and plans are being drawn to implement more permanent corrections. Moreover, we feel it important to relay to you that these server problems are not only affecting Apolyton but all of the affiliate sites on GameStats (our hosts).
At present, the server is not still at 100%; our CGI scripts are not fully functional and this is affecting our file databases from time to time but the situation is. Please note that we have at least temporarily been asked to limit the maximum number of simultaneous connections to the forums to 170. It is most likely that you will not experience any 'busy' signals as a result but on the off chance that you do, this would most likely the reasoning for it and we ask that you try to connect again in a few seconds.
We understand your frustrations and we are feeling them to, and even more so, in an attempt to do all that we can to get ahold of and remain in contact with Tony to get these issues corrected. A number of you have expressed outrage at our and/or our hosts' apparent inaction and/or unwillingness to act in this latest string of downtimes. These allegations are nothing further from the truth. We agree wholeheartedly that these periods of prolonged downtimes are not acceptable and, as our hosts concur with our sentiments, we are confident that they will continue to work to see these matters resolved in short order.
Rest assured that we have and will continue to keep you up-to-date on our server's status as often and as detailed as possible. Your continued patience and understanding during this period is greatly appreciated. -DanQ
ACSR DAILY HIATUS
(4 September 2001, 13:25 EST/Misc) ACSR Daily, the daily audio broadcast produced by ACSR, is on hiatus until Thursday, September 6th. The reasoning for the hiatus is a combination of recent server difficulties and the demands of the start of another university session for the show's host.
Your continued support of ACSR and understanding in this matter is greatly appreciated. -DanQ
111 VOTES ON EXPANSION PACK CIVS
(4 September 2001, 9:22 EST/Civ3) After several days of being away(you know, that thing called "real life"), Locutus is back and has updated the vote for the civilizations of the (assumed) Civ3 expansion pack.
Here are the top 16 at this moment after 111 votes| # | Civilizations | | Points | Votes |
|---|
| 1. | Mongols | | 1380 | 82 |
| 2. | Spanish | | 1358 | 82 |
| 3. | Arabs | | 1161 | 75 |
| 4. | Vikings | | 1160 | 77 |
| 5. | Inca | | 1143 | 78 |
| 6. | Turks/Ottomans | | 906 | 65 |
| 7. | Phoenicians/Carthaginians | | 743 | 55 |
| 8. | Maya | | 719 | 54 |
| 9. | Dutch | | 580 | 44 |
| 10. | Celts | | 550 | 42 |
| 11. | Hebrew/Israelis | | 497 | 40 |
| 12. | Portuguese | | 458 | 35 |
| 13. | Ethiopians/Aksumites | | 425 | 32 |
| 14. | Polynesians | | 279 | 24 |
| 15. | Koreans | | 229 | 16 |
| 16. | Byzantines | | 227 | 16 |
Vote now if you havent! -MarkG
TRIVIA: DYNASTIC AGE
(4 September 2001, 8:05 EST/Civ3) Here is the Civ Trivia for today:
What Upper Egyptian king launched the Dynastic Age by conquering Lower Egypt?
- Enos
- Menes
- Midas
- Mose
Give your answer on Civ3.com!
Zeh, donnyb20, korn469, Amadeo, Nixias, alkimiya, Jison and PK are leading with 170 points after 5 days. -MarkG
MORE INFO AND SCREENS FROM CG STORY
(4 September 2001, 5:14 EST/Civ3) 
Monkspider shared some info on the forums form the Computer Games story on civ3
- the MiG is NOT the Russian unique unit as previously thought, it is instead the cossack (!) (page 52)
- Grand Cathedral and Great University are confirmed as a minor wonders (page 49). This means that Newton's University and J.S Bach's Cathedral are out!
- If you trade a resource with another country, you, yourself cannot use that resource. So, if you trade horses with France you will need another horse resource square or else you will not be able to use things like Cavalry. (I'm not sure if this information is old or not. (page 50)
- Jeff Briggs makes an confusing comment "Persians get their Bowmen in the classical age..." (page 52)
Monkspider also posted two leaders images from the story, the one above and this one
