2nd Apolyton CtP2 SP Tournament: 26 June - 26 July 2002

Locutus · June 25, 2002, 18:59

With considerable delay, I finally present the second tournament. In honor of Dale's departure I've titled it... Dale's Departure

(and also because it was Dale who created the game of this month

)

Details on installation of Apolyton Pack - which is required for this month's tournament - will follow (tomorrow, I hope

), I'm very tired now and would only screw it up...

Good luck to all!

PS let me know if there are any problems. As I said I didn't create the game myself and because my PC is broken I can't test the game so I don't know for sure if everything works as it should...

Theme: Dale`s Departure
Mod: Super Apolyton Pack v2.0
Level: Impossible
Size: Huge Map
Barbarians: Maurauders
Ocean-Land: 50%
Island-Continent: 50%
Wet-Dry: 30%
Warm-Cold: 50%
Uniform-Diverse: 70%
Few Goods-Many Goods: 50%
World shape: Earth World
Bloodlust: Off
Pollution: On
Civilization: Australians
Opponents: 8 (Mexican, Native American, Mayan, Chinese, Ethiopian, Turkish, Roman)
Victory types allowed: All

Game file

Website

Locutus · June 27, 2002, 07:28

As promised, here are instructions for installing Apolyton Pack:

Edit: this info can also be found in the Tournaments Section.

Installing Super Apolyton Pack v2.0

Note: all folder paths mentioned below are relative paths from the main CtP2 folder, the folder in which you installed CtP2. By default this is often C:\Program Files\Activision\Call to Power 2.

1) Make sure you have the patch (v1.11) and ModSwapper (v1.5) installed. You can download these from the Files Section.

2) Open the file ctp2_program\ctp2\userprofile.txt and look for the line that starts with DebugSlic. Make sure this is set to No, so the line should read DebugSlic=No.

3) Download the Super Apolyton Pack from our temporary database, here.

4) Unzip (see here) the file you downloaded into your main CtP2 folder. When you're prompted if you want to overwrite battleview.ldl and scenarioeditor.ldl, confirm this.

5) If you have a non-English or non-German version of CTP2, you must copy all files and folders from the 'english' or 'german' folder (depending on which language you prefer) into your own language folder in order for the Pack to work. (Hopefully a French version of the game will also become available at some point in the future.)

6) Start Modswapper. You should now see the option "Apolyton Pack! CTP2 the way it should be" next to the existing options ("Original Game" and maybe others, depending on what other mods you already installed). Whenever you want to start a new Apolyton Pack game or continue an old game that was started with the Apolyton Pack, you will have to choose this option in ModSwapper before you hit 'Launch' to start the game.

Zipped files

The savegames for the Tournaments, as well as most of the mods that these Tournament games are played with, are 'zipped', they are stored in a special (compressed) format to make them smaller and thus faster to download. In order to be able to use such files you need to 'unzip' them. Some Windows versions have an unzip tool by default. If this is the case on your system, you should be able to double-click the file in Explorer and it will be unzipped. Since I've never actually used this feature myself, I can't explain how it works in detail but, as with many Windows features, it should be fairly self-explanatory and help should be available. In any case, if this doesn't work on your system (or you don't like how it works), you should download a program like WinZip from a place like www.downloads.com, at the time of writing, the latest version could be downloaded from here (link might go obsolete as newer version are being developed all the time). To be able to participate in the Tournaments and download mods, you should download and install a zip program like this and the above trick of double-clicking a file in Explorer should work. Different programs work in different ways, but usually this will bring up a window with all files included in the zip file (this could 1, it could also be 10,000) and a number of buttons. Simply hit the button called 'Extract' (or something similar) and select the location where the file(s) should be extracted (in case of a mod, usually your main CtP2 folder, in case of a savegame, usually your savegame folder: ctp2_program\ctp2\saves\games\).

When you want to upload the finished Tournament savegames, so that you can be included in the rankings, you'll have to 'zip' these files yourself. With WinZip, you can simply right-click the file in Explorer and select the option 'Add to Zip' and, after choosing a name and location for the zipfile, the file(s) will compressed in a zipfile. Then, press the 'Post Reply' button on the thread where you want to submit the file to, and a screen will come up with a number of fields. Right above the 'Submit Reply' button (near the bottom) there is an 'Attach file' option. Press the 'Browse...' button and select your file. After writing your reply (which should at least mention the type of victory that you accomplished and optionally other info/comments) and hitting the 'Submit Reply' button, your reply will be posted with the zipfile attached to it.

centrifuge · June 30, 2002, 13:43

Ok, guys, My capital just got sacked by a stack of eleven barbarians!! This is going to be an interesting tournament

Immortal Wombat · June 30, 2002, 14:03

lol. that happened to me in the first one. pain in the arse...

centrifuge · July 1, 2002, 11:24

Originally posted by centrifuge
Ok, guys, My capital just got sacked by a stack of eleven barbarians!! This is going to be an interesting tournament

Never fear everyone... I got my capital back prompltly (w/in two turns) and now the Romans are toast (like a hot knife through butter). Well not quite

The differences in this tournament compared to the last one are amazing... It's so much fun being the weakest Civ in the world

ískallin · July 1, 2002, 12:05

The Barbarians kicked my rass for the first time

TheArsenal · July 1, 2002, 12:40

Ah, every one else is getting smacked around a bit as well. Makes me feel much better. Nevertheless, to say this is going to be challenging for those "medium" player like me is an exercise understatement.

Jesper Portus · July 2, 2002, 01:51

Heavy!!!

1.000 BC and I´ve only crushed one opponent.

I hope to win by science victory.

"Bad": I have only two weeks´, because in July I loose my "freedom".

(I marry on July 20th

)

So long, have fun.

Jesper Portus

Locutus · July 2, 2002, 04:06

Well, think of it this way: at least you guys *can* play, I don't have a pc to play on

Congratulations, Jesper!

Or should I say condolences?

Have a good wedding and eh... make sure Mrs Portus gets her own copy of CtP2 as a wedding gift

Jesper Portus · July 2, 2002, 06:19

Originally posted by Locutus
Congratulations, Jesper!

Or should I say condolences?

Have a good wedding and eh... make sure Mrs Portus gets her own copy of CtP2 as a wedding gift

Thanks! Unfortunatly she dont play, but fortunatly she let me play. Therefore she likes to cook. Thats important, because sometimes you cant keep on playing without "real" food.

I tried to push the supply button, but I feel not saticefied ...

So long
Jesper Portus

centrifuge · July 2, 2002, 10:02

Originally posted by Locutus
Well, think of it this way: at least you guys *can* play, I don't have a pc to play on

Locutus,

When are you getting that new computer, that I've seen you talk about? Hopefully, pretty soon, so that you can have a go at the tournament game...

I've only encountered one problem with the game so far (Aside from the early struggle with the barbarians from above

) At about 800AD, the game crashed without warning, and continued to crash until I added Martin's Slic file that stops the ability to pillage neutral tile improvements, and did a /reloadslic.

Everything's been smooth since... well sorta...

Locutus · July 2, 2002, 10:40

Originally posted by centrifuge
When are you getting that new computer, that I've seen you talk about? Hopefully, pretty soon, so that you can have a go at the tournament game...

Could be a few weeks. I'm currently borrowing my sister's pc but I can't install CtP2 here

I'm trying to borrow an extra HDD somewhere, but it might be a while before I have everything up and running

I've only encountered one problem with the game so far (Aside from the early struggle with the barbarians from above

) At about 800AD, the game crashed without warning, and continued to crash until I added Martin's Slic file that stops the ability to pillage neutral tile improvements, and did a /reloadslic.

Hmm, I thought that code was part of AP... Oh well, that's something for others to keep in mind then, I'll add instructions for that to the website later...

child of Thor · July 3, 2002, 06:08

Originally posted by centrifuge
I've only encountered one problem with the game so far (Aside from the early struggle with the barbarians from above

) At about 800AD, the game crashed without warning, and continued to crash until I added Martin's Slic file that stops the ability to pillage neutral tile improvements, and did a /reloadslic.

Everything's been smooth since... well sorta...

God! I think i've drunk too much over the world cup(and now Wimbledon and Tim Henmen are pushing me to the hard stuff!), I can't find the link to Martin's useful stop pillage file!

And, I think,it was because of my whineing that he wrote it, very embarassing!what was the title of the thread you got it from?
(as a note for Martin, the file doesn't appear to be on your website, at least not as a seperate download.)

Immortal Wombat · July 3, 2002, 06:21

Code:

HandleEvent(pillage) 'stop_pillaging_you_game_crashing_idiots' pre{
if(TileOwner(location[0]) < 0){
return STOP;
}
}

child of Thor · July 3, 2002, 06:48

centrifuge · July 3, 2002, 11:09

CoT and anyone else that may need it.

forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=941205

otherwise it's in the super apolyton pack thread of the Mods section.

Martin Gühmann · July 3, 2002, 11:10

Originally posted by child of Thor
what was the title of the thread you got it from?

If I remember correctly it was in a thread called: Super Apolyton Pack! The Fan's Unofficial Patch.

Just follow the instructions there.

-Martin

centrifuge · July 3, 2002, 11:14

oops, that didn't work like I planned, just follow Martin's link

By the way, thanks for the fix Martin

.

ETB · July 3, 2002, 13:23

I picked up the gamefile and I should have some time to start it today. I have some competing interests for my time right now, but I am a dedicated Apolyton fan so I am willing to play CtP2 on my vacation! Great idea to have a tournament Locutus!

Good bye Dale!

ETB · July 4, 2002, 14:39

I’ve had a chance to start into my tournament game and it has been exciting to say the least. Here’s a shot of the (embarrassing) power graph so far:

I am flat out in last place, lost in the dust of my competitors’ progress. The Mayans have captured the early lead in my game. For the most part, I have been at war with the Barbarians. For anyone who hasn’t yet begun, my advice is make sure you stock up on troops to defend your cities! So far, I have only lost Brisbane during a raid (they are SO barbaric!), but it is back under my control. I think that I have finally gotten to a point where I can once again expand my empire. My subjects are becoming restless under my tyrannical rule so I plan to soon bestow myself as their King, which should appease them for some several hundred years or so. I have decided that my goal will be simply to survive to the end! This is one tough (and fun!) game.

I am using Martin’s “APOL_slics.slc” file and I have not experienced any crashes or other aberrations during game play. I did not run into problems with the previous 2 games that I played using the Super Apolyton Pack – it seems to be a solid package.

Locutus · July 5, 2002, 04:55

Good to hear you're having such a good time, ETB

And thanks for your game update, I always enjoy reading those...

ETB · July 6, 2002, 00:04

YW Locutus. But I don’t expect to be among the top finishers in any category. I made a mistake during my expansion and left my Capitol with a minimal garrison and the Barbarians of course chose that time to attack! You can see when that happened by the dip in my power curve:

It was pretty exciting planning and retaking Canberra but I lost plenty of time and units in doing so. I’ve met the Mexicans, Romans, Native Americans and the Chinese. I have even managed to keep them all happy enough to not declare war on me so far! The Mayans still hold the lead but the Ethiopians are definitely coming up fast. Well, I gotta get back to my game!

Locutus · July 6, 2002, 10:58

Cool */jealous*

Unfortunately I will get my new PC in two-three weeks... probably just too late to play the tournament myself... oh well, my own score doesn't count anyway...

Dale · July 8, 2002, 19:40

hahahahaha!!!!

Having fun I see! Can't wait to see some results.

Jesper Portus · July 9, 2002, 01:34

I am on the winning street!

In the year 1917 I started a war against China - and after the victory there is only the maya empire left.

My problem is the pollution. I had never seen the effects of a global pollution katastrophy - this time I will.

Over 10.000 pollution points only by my population per round!

So long

Jesper Portus

Locutus · July 9, 2002, 13:14

Ah, Dale, back already? Told you it was no use trying to stay away from 'Poly - the curse is inresistable

Jesper,
Good to hear *someone* will manage to win the game before 2300

ETB · July 9, 2002, 14:17

There have been some exciting times in my game! The Romans and Mexicans decided to attack me and I have since eliminated the Romans and the Mexicans are definitely on their heels. It was interesting that both the Romans and Mexicans attacked my diplomats shortly after I established embassies with each of them. I guess they REALLY didn’t like me! I’m in the middle of the 18th Century and I am feeling much more confident that I can win this game after all, but I don’t think that I am doing as well as Jesper. I plan to continue my campaign against the Mexicans until they say “Uncle” or they are gone too. My subjects are feeling a little overcrowded though, so I have this idea of something called “Democracy” that might make them feel happier about their expanding empire. Here’s a screenshot of the power ranking curves:

I have only seen one oddity during my game – a herald reported that the Mexicans were building the Apolyton Pack, but the next herald stated that they were building another wonder (The Appian Way I believe). So I assume they decided not to build the Apolyton Pack. Still no game crashes or any other oddities to report from my gameplay.

I’ll be travelling, so I may not get much gametime in during the rest of this week, but I will definitely finish before the July 26 deadline. I would hate to go through all of this only to submit my results too late!

Dale – it’s good to hear from you again! As you see, I am definitely having a great time with your Super Apolyton Pack.

Jesper Portus · July 10, 2002, 01:33

Originally posted by Locutus
Jesper,
Good to hear *someone* will manage to win the game before 2300

Thank´s!

I hope, I can win. In 1935 there are two empires: the evil mayan and the good australian.

But I have one problem: Pollution by people: 28.000!!!

The pollution marker is half red!

I dont know when the world wide katastrophy beginns ...

So long
Jesper the conqueror

Martin Gühmann · July 10, 2002, 10:18

Originally posted by Jesper Portus
But I have one problem: Pollution by people: 28.000!!!

The pollution marker is half red!

I dont know when the world wide katastrophy beginns ...

That's very simple... when the whole bar is red. Some land will be flooded and maybe one or two cities will also be destroyed, usually I avoid building pollution increasing buildings like factories in order to reduce the pollution. I got only once a catastrophe, that was in automatic AI testing mode, with me as a Barbarian spectator... stupid AIs.

Originally posted by Locutus
Good to hear *someone* will manage to win the game before 2300

Yes that's really necessary that you will win this game far before 2300, as Dale still uses the MedPack2 const.txt with earlier end year, so you have to manage it until the 2200 like in MedPack2. That's another thing I don't like of APOLPack, therefore I changed it back in GoodMod for ApolytonPack v.1.02.

-Martin

Jesper Portus · July 11, 2002, 01:25

Originally posted by Martin Gühmann That's very simple... when the whole bar is red.

Puh! Meanwhile the pollution is only 19.000 points, because I´ve built "Personennahverkehr" (in english "Subways"?, "city railway"?, I dont know).

Yes that's really necessary that you will win this game far before 2300, as Dale still uses the MedPack2 const.txt with earlier end year, so you have to manage it until the 2200 like in MedPack2. That's another thing I don't like of APOLPack, therefore I changed it back in GoodMod for ApolytonPack v.1.02.

-Martin

The game ends in 2200? Currently I am in 1975 an the war against the "evil" mayan empire beginns. First capturing theit capital I´m waiting for my reinforcements.

So long
Jesper, ruler of Australia and (soon) the world!