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Our collection of images and desrciptions for the units in CTP.
(Information & Images Courtesy Activision)
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Cleric
With his long, flowing robe and holy glow, the Cleric is not all he appears to be. He'll seduce your people with promises of redemption - maybe even a little flagellation. Not only will he save their souls in the process, he'll also start collecting coffers of gold. Every turn, the flock of followers will tithe hefty sums of gold. |
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Legion
The Legion is the most balanced attack unit against all ancient forces. |
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Tank
The Tank is the fastest and most powerful of the Information Age units. |
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Ecoterrorist
The ultimate terrorist, the Ecoterrorist has a number of special attacks. He can conduct hits against enemy polluters which will make the attacked city go into a state of Unhappiness. For more criminal polluting cities, he unleashes a nanovirus, that destroys all of the buildings within the city. |
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ArtilleryThe Artillery fires new, highly-explosive shells, forcing enemy soldiers into the trenches (and later to the mental wards). |
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Mobile SAMDuring World War II, ground to air attacks consisted of rapid-firing small caliber artillery. The shells from these guns were fused to detonate at particular altitudes so that the shrapnel from the shell had the best chance of striking the enemy aircraft. The Surface-to-Air Missile, or SAM, changed all of this. Flying several times the speed of sound, large SAMs could reach all but the highest flying spy planes, and guided by radar or heat-sensitive tracking, SAM missiles chased down the enemy, requiring attackers to respond with chaff or flares to deflect their pursuers. |
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TempleTemple During the first three Millennia BC, the Temple played a central role in urban life – spiritually and economically. Temples trained the priesthood and thus held the secrets of writing and of the stars. Temples also gave vital economic knowledge to the masses. The rites of the Temple announced the times for planting and for harvest, for flooding and for drought. With a Temple, a City gained stature, commerce, and faith unmatched by any other ancient structure. |
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JurisprudenceJurisprudence -- the study of law -- has existed since the origins of society. One of the earliest known sets of laws, Hummurabi's Code, covered matters ranging from criminal law to taxation and property laws. However, the most complex system of laws in the ancient world belonged to the Romans. Under the emperor Justinian, all laws were collected and organized to form the Roman Civil Law which shaped the foundation of our legal system today. Forming a legal system was indispensable in creating a stable and unified society. |
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AbolitionistThe Enlightenment -- which espoused the importance of individual rights --combined with the religious sentiment of the era, helped spawn a powerful new movement aimed at abolishing the institution of slavery. In the United States, the Anti- Slavery Society in the industrialized Northern states, who gained no economic benefits from Slavery, held that Slavery robbed the African his inherent, "natural" rights. On these grounds, the Abolitionists lobbied for the immediate cessation of slavery and slave trading and created the Underground Railway as a means to help slaves escape. |
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TelevisionIn 1939, at the New York World's Fair, RCA set up a special exhibit – a bulky radio box that showed pictures synched to the sound. By 1960, TV had broken the power of the motion picture industry. Beyond entertainment, TV brought images of the world into the living room. For example, on March 7, 1965, scenes from Selma, Alabama showed police assaulting the civil rights marchers. Horrified by the images, Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill. The power of TV had been confirmed. |
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Printing PressBefore the printing press, writers used parchment and ink to create longhand manusrcipts. Though the demand for books was high, the cost of paper and of the srcibe meant that books remained a rare and precious commodity. All this changed with the printing press. The new linen paper from China was cheaper than the parchment made from animal skins. Meanwhile, the moveable-type press eliminated the need to carve separate plates for every copied page. At last, books could be mass-produced. |
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Space EngineerIn the mid-22nd Century, the fusion of new Intelligent Materials, and highly efficient Fuel Cell technology, finally opened Earth orbit to colonization. The early problem in colonization was getting the goods necessary for construction into Space. Moving materials into orbit from the Earth, Moon and asteroids was cumbersome. Enter the Space Engineer – who easily and deftly creates construction materials from air-born material. The Space Engineer was a monumental advance, allowing man to finally create Cities in Space. |
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Robotic PlantRobotics – the fusion of mechanical and computational sciences – revolutionized automation. Although automated factories first appeared in the late 20th Century, these early factories were plagued by hardware or software failures, high costs and slow progress. By the mid 21st Century, new Robotic plants offered "virtual sensors" to monitor hardware, and intelligent software to rapidly program new behaviors. Using Virtual Reality gear, managers trained the robots in virtual space. |
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Zero G ManufacturingIn the first half of the 22nd Century, Space Cities existed as military outposts and overpriced spas. However by 2150, molecular chemists developed techniques for growing pure crystals and organic chemicals in Zero-G. Freed from gravity's pull, molecules proved easy to separate using magnetic centrifugal spin cycles. Then, in perfect proportion and freed of impurity, elements combined into crystalline forms with perfect "dense packing" between each molecule. As a result, in the 22nd century, pharmaceutical refining and nanoassembly plants moved off-world. |
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Ship of the LineFrom the Mechanical Clock and European obsession with automatons, Europeans developed machine tools in the late 1700's. This led in particular to the cannon boring lathe and Maudley's assembly line system for making ship blocks. Together these two inventions greatly increased the power of ship's cannons and lowered ship prices. |
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HospitalThe founding of hospices and leper colonies – dates from the 6th Century A.D. By the 12th and 13th Century, the primitive hospice had developed into the modern hospital – but only in the 17th and 18th Century did reform reduce crowding to one patient to a bed. Although medical knowledge may not have been easily accessible for the poor, (alas, times still have not changed), for the wealthy, medical knowledge offered hope and thus happiness. |
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GeometryBeginning in 3500 BC, humanity developed a system of counting to track business deals and to measure land. By the middle of the third millennium BC, the Egyptians could calculate the area and volume of simple geometric shapes using a base-10 system. This laid the foundation of geometry. With geometry, the Greeks revolutionized mathematics. This conceptual approach -- with its postulates, proofs, and theorems -- provided a foundation for logic and argument for the next two thousand years. |
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SamuraiIn 9th century feudal Japan, the need for skilled warriors to protect valuable arable land increased. The bushi-dan, or samurai class, acted in this capacity for their masters, such as the shogun, the emperor who "subdues barbarians", or the daimyo, a feudal landowner. They mastered the use of the most current weapons, beginning with the bow and arrow, and eventually learning remarkable swordsmanship. Under the strict forms of military etiquette, the Samurai's honor depended on his loyalty to his master, whether the shogun or daimyo, and would commit seppuku, ritual suicide, if he failed his mission. |
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MarketplaceAs Trade increased, merchants discovered a need for a meeting place where they could gather and trade on a regular basis. The Marketplace opened on a set day once per week or per month so merchants could make as few forays into the City as possible – becoming the ancient precursor to the shopping centers of the 20th Century. |
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Stirrup
Although before the Stirrup, men fought on horseback, the riders lacked the leverage to charge one another. The Knight brought shock tactics to the battlefield, disrupting or breaking the enemy with his charges. |
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Space MarineIn a military arena dominated by robotic automatons, strategists searched for new ways to defeat the new artificially intelligent breed. The answer was a return to good old human ingenuity. The Space Marines returned human judgment and reflexes to space warfare, creating an agile warrior who could combine skillful capriciousness and daunting strength. The return to an exoskeleton, even one was a momentous move for the humans. With the protection of an exoskeleton (made made from a material as durable as Chitin 3000) and a plasma-pulse rifle, Space Marines came to be the choice defenders of the Space City. |
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Drug StoreMedical drugs have existed as long as people have been sick. Renamed "folk remedies," herbs and natural foods provided medicine to the sick for thousands of years. In the 19th Century, new techniques in organic chemistry led to powerful painkillers and anesthetics, and in the next century, antibiotics and psychomeds. These new drugs revolutionized medicine and led to the rise of the drug store. |
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DiplomatHistorically, the Diplomat has often doubled as both peaceful emissary and meddlesome reporter. However, the role hasn't always been as formalized as it is today. Before modern times, private merchants often filled the role of the diplomat. Even through the 20th Century and the demise of the nation state, friendship or nepotism played a significant role in diplomacy. For instance, American diplomats were often selected for their contributions to the President rather than for their ability to conduct effective negotiations. |
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CathedralThe Cathedral movement of the 12th and 13th Centuries embodied the growing wealth – and faith – of European Cities. Architects strove for the maximum vertical space in their symbolic attempt to bring man closer to God. Their quest for height encouraged flying buttresses, pointed arches, and crossed ribs. Naves at Amiens vaulted an incredible 139 feet and took sixteen years to build – testifying to the faith and inspiration of both community and builder. |
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PhilosophyThe development of writing opened new ways of thinking. One of these was Philosophy. Philosophy provided analytical reasoning to human discussion. Early Philosophers laid the groundwork for future thinking by introducing conceptual reasoning. Whereas previous thinkers had worked only from concrete examples, the Philosopher deduced a conceptual thesis that he could then apply to similar, but different problems. |
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SpySpies are as old as time, but the impact of the Spy increased greatly with new technology. Whereas in ancient times, technology limited spies to eavesdropping, assassination, and bribery, in modern times, explosives give spies the ability to wipe out entire cabinets. |
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City ClockThe mechanical clock was developed in China before appearing in Europe in the 13th Century. By 1370, Charles V of France ordered all church bells to be rung at the sound of his new clock – setting the "King's hour" for the first time. Gates opened and closed to the new time, and work began and ended with the chimes. Historical accounts support the powerful effect of the new clocks, which soon appeared in Cities throughout Europe. |
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RailroadThe development of Machine Tools laid the groundwork for the construction of the steam engine and later the Railroad. However the railroad depended as much on developments in the theories of gasses and of vacuum - in particular, the manufacture of cylinders of perfect precision. The Railroad transformed business, encouraged American expansion, altered the tactics of war and revolutionized the world. |
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Space PlaneUsing intelligent materials to create the first truly reusable yet dependable launch vehicle, the Space Plane provides the comfort of an airline with the dependability of a compact car. Intelligent Materials radically altered the cost of space flight by reducing vehicle weight and by increasing safety. Created with metals that actively resist high stress and that report stress fractures before reaching failing, the Space Plane offers a better cargo-to-cost ratio than any previous space craft. Even more critical, for commercial flights, it nearly guarantees that passengers survive the flight. |
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Rail LauncherIn the early 22nd Century, developments in superconductivity revolutionized the economics of space travel – with the invention of the Rail Launcher. With this new technology, an electrical current generated a directional magnetic field that propelled a vehicle out of the Launcher at several times the speed of sound. Additionally, the Launcher burned no propellants as it traveled through the atmosphere, protecting against Ozone Loss and Global Warming. |
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Asteroid MiningFor Space Farming and for large space fleets, Space Colonies required materials harnessed from any source other than Earth. The Moon supplied materials at 3% of Earth costs, but dependence on one supplier left colonies vulnerable. By the late 21st and 22nd centuries, colonies had adapted intelligent robot vehicles to mine the stars. These robots traveled into the asteroid belt and flung asteroids back to the colonies at a steady rate. Using hollowed asteroids as a foundation, Cities created large orbital Farms, capable of supporting thousands. The iron and other metals became the backbone of two new classes of warship – the Battle Cruiser and the Space Bomber. |
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Aircraft CarrierOn August 2nd, 1917, British Commander E.H. Dunning piloted his Sopwith Pup to a safe landing aboard the H.M.S. Furious – the first recorded landing at sea. By World War II, the aircraft carrier dominated the seas. Though the U.S. lost two Battleships at Pearl Harbor, the loss proved inconsequential to the war's outcome. Instead, victory turned on the Battle of Midway, where the Japanese lost four carriers and three hundred and twenty-two planes to the Americans' single sunken carrier. |
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DestroyerEssentially developed as an escort craft and anti-aircraft platform, the Destroyer traded firepower and armor for speed and savings. The first destroyers patrolled harbors searching for torpedo boats and engaging them with light guns. They proved so successful that the ship soon supplanted its prey, the torpedo boat. Later, as new technologies developed, navies evolved versions of the destroyer to deal specifically with submarines or aircraft. |
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SubmarineThe first submarines operated as little more than manned torpedoes. By the 1900's, however, European and American companies developed a number of improved submarine designs. Powered by electric or oil engines, these craft lacked the speed needed to hunt surface vessels. However, in 1912, the Krupp firm introduced a diesel engine to its design, creating the dreaded German U-boat of WW I. Later designs added larger engines and later nuclear power. |
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Nanite FactoryIn the 23rd Century, discoveries in molecular biology and applied energy fields created the long-imagined nanite. The nanite was neither fully machine nor fully biological. Often smaller than a virus, nanites borrowed existing cell structures, which became the backbone of microscopic machines. At the same time, developments in neural networking allowed nanites to function as small thinking machines – each unaware of its greater goal, but on the highest level, a living organism. The Nanite Factory had become a reality. |
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PhantomIn the 25th Century, with the discovery of the Wormhole, scientists embarked on a new quest to understand and control the folded dimensions of space-time. From this came first the Wormhole Probe, then soon after, the Phantom. |
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NukeIn the 1930's,Otto Hahn's conclusive evidence of fission precipitated a growing fascination with the capabilities and implications of its power. Einstein and Neils Bohr, two of America's greatest physicists, met at Princeton to discuss the implications of the new fission. Days later, Bohr briefed Enrico Fermi on the new experiment, and Fermi in turn suggested that the splitting might create further neutrons to feed back on the process – creating the possibility of a cascade reaction – an atomic bomb. With the beginning of World War II in 1939, a terrifying race to develop an atomic bomb ensued. On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was used in combat. The devastation and death toll that followed in the wake of that bomb alerted the world that the door to global destruction had just been opened. |
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GeneticsThe field of Genetics dates back to the 19th Century, when Mendalev first established his rules of genetic inheritance. However, it was not until the mid-20th Century that scientists discovered DNA through a combination of x-ray imaging and chemical detective work. By the early 1970's, the basic principles of genetics had been well established. Henceforward, pharmaceutical companies increasingly led the march into new territory searching DNA for a hint as to origins and cures for disease. With an existing distribution system, pharmaceutical companies knew that they could market any new discoveries. |
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SuperconductorThe Computer proved critical in research by allowing scientists to model atomic behavior. Material research experienced a rash of breakthroughs as a result, one of which led eventually to Superconductors. Scientists discovered the first superconductors in the 1910's. These, however, worked only at a few degrees above absolute zero. Nearly a century later, work on ceramic insulators resulted in the freak discovery of the world's first high temperature superconductor, but another full century passed before the first room temperature superconductor came on line. |
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House Of FreezingBy the 23rd Century, the average human life span passed one hundred – as medicine eliminated some of the effects of aging. Unfortunately, many of these new centurions suffered from dementia and senility. Cryonics, the science of life extension through freezing and resuscitation, was seen as another viable alternative to mortality. In 2210, the first successful human thaw started a stampede – resulting fifty years later in the "Van Winkle" generation. (Cryonics was later widely disrcedited with the Miami Meltdown of 2424). |