Tweet
Session Start: Sat Oct 03 21:14:24 1998
[akula] Ladies and gentlemen, we shall now moderate this channel so that MarkG can say a few words...
[akula] please direct any suggestions for questions to any of the ops
[MarkG] Well, it's about 8pm gmt, so we can start....
[MarkG] First , I would like to thank the guys from Activision for this chat...
[Patton] Good to be here...thanks
[MrOgre] Happy to be here!
[MarkG] We have today Mark Lamia(Patton), Producer
[MrOwl] My pleasure.
[MarkG] Joe Rumsy(MrOgre) netowrking and game engine(or state?) programmer
[MrOgre] Rumsey, and you can call it game whatever-you-like
[MarkG] and Steve Mariotti (MrOwl) Lead programmer
[MrOwl] Thanks for spelling my name right. Not everyone does.
[Patton] Including me
[MarkG]
[MarkG] The ops are MarkG(Markos Giannopoulos), DanQ(Daniel Quick) and Akula (Derek Lande)
[MarkG] To start, please tells us what are your reponsibilities on the game. Patton?
[Patton] I'm the business guy. I manage the teams operations. It is my job to aquire the resources necessary to impliment the vision, manage it and do whatever it takes to keep us moving forward according to plan.
[MrOwl] He makes it all happen.
[Patton] Too kind
[MrOgre] He brings us donuts!
[MarkG] So, are you the big boss? You have the final word?
[Patton] Thats more like it
[MrOwl] He mans the cattle prod.
[MrOgre] Excuse me, doughnuts.
[Patton] If if comes down to that. Usually we are able to work things out. Cecilia is the Director, and she has the final word on the creative.
[Patton] But they need the resources from me
[MarkG] Ok, MrOwl?
[Patton] And I get to pick out which doughnut we eat
[Patton]
[MarkG] Oh, that's power!
[MrOwl] I'm the lead programmer. That means I lead the programmers. I help Mark make sure everything gets written, and keep tabs on who's doing what. Oh, and I write all of the code that no one else wants to write.
[MarkG] So, I guess you deal with every part of the game?
[MrOwl] I've had my hands in just about every system at one time or another.
[Patton] He is also the glue that keeps all of our code together at all times
[MarkG] And MrOgre?
[MrOgre] I'm responsible for writing and maintaining the game state, meaning the rules of the game and all the data behind units, cities, etc. I'm not the only person who's written code for the game state, but I am the person primarily responsible for it now. I am also the network programmer.
[MrOgre] I've also written a tiny bit of the AI code, mostly something no one else wanted to touch, diplomacy.
[MarkG] Speaking of units, will the units have different attack and defence values in various grounds?? Is it possible?
[MarkG] For example to show that a battleship would have a greater chance of surviving a cruiser attack rather than a cruise missile attack.
[MrOgre] There are defensive bonuses for various terrains, but not on an individual unit basis.
[MarkG] Oh, so I guess the combat system is the same with civ2, or has something changed?
[MrOgre] There are some provisions for units defending against various types of attacks, but it's still up in the air what we're going to do with them, if anything.
[MrOwl] Actually, it's changed a good bit from what they had in Civ2.
[MrOwl] It's TONS cooler.
[MrOgre] Our combat system pits groups of units against each other instead of one unit at a time, it makes for a much greater variety of possible combats
[MarkG] Like everything....
[MrOwl] Yeah, Civ2 didn't really have stacked combat. That's a pretty significant change.
[MarkG] Stacked combat?
[MrOgre] Stacked movement too.
[MrOwl] Up to nine units can fight against up to nine units at the same time.
[MarkG] Can you explain that a bit?
[MrOwl] Another satisified customer.
[MrOgre] You can take up to nine units and group them together, so that they move as a unit and fight as a unit. When they get into combat, you can see a screen (it's optional) showing the results, and all the units are involved at once.
[akula] If I may say a word could all those who submitted questions please do so again
[MarkG] Oh! Nice!
[MarkG] So, will the damage be shared in all the units?
[MrOwl] During stacked combat, assault (hand to hand units) and support (ranged attack units) are handled differently.
[MrOwl] You can have a front line of tanks with a bunch of artillery units behind blasting away.
[MarkG] Hmmm, that might complicate(in a good way) things...
[MrOwl] Well, it makes you want to think hard about how you build your stacks to maximize their effectiveness against, say, a city.
[MrOgre] Damage is done on a one-on-one basis still, but every unit may be fighting several other units at once.
[akula] When you stack units together will they take on a new graphical form of the whole army or just show the "top" unit.
[MrOwl] They show the top unit, but also the stack size.
[MrOgre] One stack or the other always wins though, there are no ties. The winner is whoever has at least one unit left at the end.
[akula] Will it be possible to name your units and or stacks eg. 31st Air wing
[MrOgre] There's an optional screen to show the battle as it happens
[MrOwl] No, no naming of stacks.
[MarkG] MrOgre, what kind of screen?
[MarkG] What will we see?
[MrOgre] Shows the units lined up on both sides, shows who attacks who, shows who dies and why, lots of pretty animations, our artists are too cool for words.
[MrOwl] Big firey balls of death.
[MrOwl] I love the sound of the cannon blast.
[MrOwl] Especially with the subwoofer on.
[MarkG] Sounds Great!
[DanQ] Next question: Can you give us a rundown on the multiplayer capabilities?
[MrOwl] Let me say initially that the game was designed with multiplayer capabilities from the very first day of production.
[MrOwl] The networking code is tightly interwoven with the whole of the game.
[MrOwl] It was very important to us that multiplayer be a fundamental part of the program design.
[DanQ] Excellent!
[MrOwl] Whether your opponent is a local guy, a remote guy, or an AI DLL, the game doesn't care.
[MrOgre] I can't talk about the styles of games yet, but I can say we are supporting IPX, internet, hotseat and email play, and that, like Steve says, networking was always a top priority.
[MarkG] Can someone cheat?
[Patton] We will get into the differnt types of MP games at a later chat date
[MrOgre] We wanted our designers playing the game against each other long before the AI was ready to make a show of it.
[MrOwl] I think it'd be very difficult for someone to spoof net game data.
[akula] Just a question regarding network pla, If you want to play it over a network at home do you need a copy for every machine.
[Patton] Not everyone
[akula] Or will the game be coming with a multiplayer only cd
[Patton] Internet will require a CD
[Patton] IPX will allow multiple users
[Patton] per CD
[Patton] That way people with LANs at home can play.
[Patton] the number of users per CD has yet to be specified
[akula] Will there be a cmopany hosted multi-player organization, like as Battle.net for Starcraft? Or will it be up to player run organizations to organize games and leagues etc?
[Patton] yes
[MrOwl] Absolutely.
[Patton] ActivLink
[Patton] We will leave it up to other to have ladders
[MrOwl] CTP ships with a built-in server-based game hosting/matchmaking/chat system. It totally rules.
[Patton] but we wil have matching boards much like the ones you described
[MrOgre] Activision has an in-house network API that's been used for several games already (like Battlezone). So the servers are pretty stable now.
[Patton] We're really looking forward to league play with all of you
[akula] Are there any major new multiplayer only games such as capture the flag style games
[MrOgre] Can't talk about styles yet, sorry
[Patton] Like I said...right now we can't get into the specifics about the different types of game styles
[Patton] suffice it to say there will be many satisfying optons
[MrOwl] Can we say that there will be a veritable plethora?
[MrOwl] Would you say it would be a plethora?
[Patton] You could say that
[MrOgre] Is a plethora more than myriad?
[Patton] Let me explain
[MrOwl] I think it's two myriads to a plethora.
[Patton] We are going to do a big story that will give you the info in-depth
[Patton] as opposed to trickling it out
[Patton] There is really a lot to talk about here
[Patton] more than we can do justice for at this time
[MrOwl] Besides, if Patton told you, we'd have to kill him and eat him.
[MarkG] Ok, dont
Something about the cd. Will there be some sort of protection?[Patton] ...and that is why I bring them doughnuts
[Patton] yes
[Patton] This is necessary because of all the pirating that goes on
[MrOwl] You'll need the CD in your drive to play. But you'll also want your CD in the drive so you can view the cinematics.
[Patton] We wish we did not have to
[MrOwl] The cinematics are breathtaking. The animators have done some pretty incredible stuff.
[MarkG] Well, cd's can be copied
[Patton] Cool
[MrOwl] You've seen excerpts from the intro movie, right?
[akula] And will the current situation which sees Microprose in possesion of the rights to the "Civilization" game series pose any problems if you wish to produce add-on packs
[DanQ] Yes we have.
[Patton] No...we have the rights to one add on pack
[Patton] After that...
[MarkG] After that??
[Patton] However we own all of our technology
[Patton] and we can still do game with other names
[MrOwl] After that, we're making a Civilization game based on the Quake II engine called Civilization: Dissolution of Eternity.
[Patton]
[MrOwl] With a sound track by Marilyn Manson.
[MarkG] Or Star Trek?
[Patton] Coud be?
[Patton] Would you all like that?
[MarkG] You now have the rights for the next years, right?
[MarkG] civ:call to stars?
[MrOwl] The engine we've developed is going to reappear in many forms.
[MarkG] Interesting! Seems like you have a lot of plans.
[akula] How easy will it be to modify elements of this game for other games and for fans who wish to create mod-packs and scenarios
[Patton] We developed this engine from the ground up. The programmers have done an amazing job with it...and expect that you will see it again.
[MrOwl] I think everyone will be surprised how modifiable the game is.
[MarkG] That's something we are worried about
[MarkG] Especially on the graphics...
[akula] Do you think it will be as modifiable as Civ II which bar the quake series was probably one of the modified games of all times.
[MrOwl] Well, you can write your own AI for CivCTP. That's pretty modifiable.
[MrOwl] The sprites are handled differently than Civ2.
[MrOwl] Some of our units have more than a hundred frames of animation.
[MarkG] I know some people who will love programming the ai?
[MrOwl] You can't just open up a .gif file and paste in a picture of your pet lemur.
[MrOgre] MrOwl will have to answer about how to go about modifying graphics, but the system we have set up for scenarios will let you change a phenomenal amount of stuff. All the unit characteristics, advances, wonder effects, building effects, population types, and more are in text files
[MarkG] That's very good
[MrOgre] Plus there is a scripting language for events in scenarios
[MrOwl] We've definitely left the back door open for people to come on in.
[MarkG] The modification of AI will require some c knowledge?
[MrOwl] It'll require some knowledge of C++, some familiarity with COM.
[akula] WIll the game have an independent scenario editor or one built into the game like civ II (which though cumboursome was effective)
[MrOwl] We have a built-in "Cheat Mode" that lets you edit maps/units/cities/and so on.
[DanQ] Is this "Cheat Mode" as easily accessable as it was in CivII?
[MrOwl] It'll be right there on the main menu when you load the game.
[DanQ] Are there any provisions for empires to continue expanding through the year 3000?
[MrOwl] Think floating toolbars a la Photoshop.
[MrOwl] Yes... you'll be allowed to continue playing if you want.
[MarkG] A hot topic from the forums.
[MarkG] which civilization are going to be on the game?
[MrOwl] Jeez, we have tons. I can't remember them all.
[Patton] There will be 40
[MrOwl] It's more a question of which ones AREN'T.
[Patton] You can of course modify them
[DanQ] What is the max civs in a game?
[Patton] 40 Civilizations from past and present. About 12 really ancient and the rest more modern.
[MarkG] Do you have a final list or are you still looking at it?
[Patton] Canada will be one
[MarkG] That's a relief for some guys...
[MrOwl] Eight civs, potentially more. We're examing that number, though, and looking at options.
[Patton] The thread has been answered
[DanQ] How are the developments of the wonders coming along? We know that they are being totally revamped... can you tell us anything more at this point?
[MrOwl] We have 35 wonders of the world.
[MrOwl] Each, when built, comes with a fully CG animated wonder movie.
[MarkG] That is more than civ2 from what I remember...
[MarkG] Have you kept any of them?
[MrOwl] We have a lot of new ones... of course, our time frame is larger than previous civ games.
[DanQ] Yes, there were 27 in CivII believe.
[MrOwl] You'll see a lot of familiar ones, but we pull in wonders from other cultures. The Forbidden City, for example.
[DanQ] Sounds neat!
[MarkG] What does it do?
[MrOwl] There are also future wonders like the Global E-Bank.
[MarkG] Are there any civilization or goverment specific wonders?
[DanQ] Sorry for the interjection, but if anyone has any questions they would like to see asked just send them to either myself or Markos.
[MrOwl] The Forbidden City prevents other civs from establishing embassies with you, and protects you from diplomatic attacks.
[MarkG] That sounds interesting...
[akula] Will there be any wonders that can be built more than one civilization, for example the manhattan project should have to be built by each nation wishing to use nuclear weapons
[MrOwl] If you build a wonder, you get it first, and no one else gets it. But no wonders enable technologies that others can't get.
[DanQ] Some people are wondering if any part of C:CTP will have its source released. Can you confirm or deny?
[Patton] We will not be releasing the source
[MrOwl] Well, not source code per se, but we will be releasing some of our headers.
[MrOwl] You'll get a few C++ files to start an AI with.
[MarkG] Speaking of AI....
[MarkG] Is it harder to beat?
[Patton] Well that is what we are in the process of doing now
[Patton] we're game balancing
[MrOwl] It's a very sophisticated system that takes into account many more game aspects than previous Civ games.
[MarkG] How does it think?
[DanQ] Will there be a graphics editor included for the units?
[MrOwl] The AI uses several different established AI principles to make decisions.
[MarkG] Like MrOwl?
[MrOwl] It uses boolean rules (if this and this but not this, then do this), it uses priority-based list processing (give me the best 15 things to do here), and it uses a fuzzy logic system for evaluating options (what sort of thing am I really leaning towards right now?)
[MarkG] Sounds smarter than civ2....
[MrOwl] We also have AI personalities.
[MarkG] Will it seem like it has a plan, when going to war?
[MrOwl] So different opponents will "feel" different because their play styles will be so different.
[akula] Will the elements of the game (graphics, sounds, videos) be stand alone files or in grouped files such as the .pak files used by quake
[MrOwl] A little of both, akula. Some things made sense to roll into large files (terrain graphics and sprites) some made sense to leave as separate files (game object data, scenario scripts.)
[akula] And will you include a decompiler so that people can access these separate elements
[MrOwl] We won't ship decompilers or data file compilers, but I wouldn't be surprised if you saw some floating around. *nudge-nudge, wink-win*
[MrOwl] +k
[MarkG] Back to AI.... What kind of AI personalities will there be?
[MrOwl] Think of historical rulers and their personalities.
[MrOwl] How does Hitler compare to Stalin? To FDR?
[MarkG] Hmmm. dont tell me that you will have Hitler in the game!
[MrOgre] The personalities are primarily controlled via fuzzy logic rules, there is a lot of tweaking we can do just playing with numbers in text files
[MrOwl] Hitler is a Land grabbing Warrior who goes for Fascist government as soon as possible.
[MrOwl] Stalin aims for Communism, but is a worse diplomat than Hitler.
[Patton] We don't have Hitler himself
[MrOwl] But we don't have Hitler or Stalin, per se.
[Patton] What Mr. Owl is describing is the different types
[Patton] of personalities you might encounter
[MarkG] Oh, just the way they acted....
[Patton] yes
[Patton] possbily
[Patton] Just examples
[MrOwl] Ghandi tries to make peace and expanding through treaties.
[DanQ] Will there be a graphics editor included for the units?
[akula] Can a player change the personalities of the AI he is playing?
[akula] sorry, dan first
[MrOwl] No.
[MrOgre] The text files controlling the fuzzy logic will be changeable, yes. That is where almost all of what defines a personality exists.
[DanQ] Sounds like AIs have tastes in government form, do they have taste in anything else (eg. Chinese like Great Wall)?
[MrOwl] We won't ship with a graphics editor in the box, though there will probably be tools that surface....
[MrOgre] If you want to just exchange one personality for another, it will be as simple as swapping two files...
[MarkG] Ai again
[MarkG] Will it be able to learn?
[MrOgre] Different personalities will definitely have tastes for different things...
[MrOgre] No, it is not a learning AI...
[MrOwl] It does keep track of how it feels about you, though...
[MarkG] In what way?
[MrOwl] It evaluates how threatening it thinks you are, and how trustworthy you are...
[MrOwl] It also will adapt to your play style, if it finds you are trying different things on it...
[MrOgre] Well, naturally if you've attacked it before, it will like you less and hence be less friendly. If it perceives you as being weaker, it will be more likely to be forceful, but of course it all depends on the personality.
[MarkG] Will some be able to alter the ai so much that it will actually learn?
[MrOwl] Absolutely.
[MrOwl] You could plug in any sort of AI system you want.
[MrOgre] Since we will release the API for the AI, you can write any AI you like.
[MarkG] I see a programming forum in Apolyton...
[MrOwl] You could have a modified EraserBot running inside of Civ, though I'm not sure how cool that'd be.
[MrOwl] :-D
[MarkG] And what would that do?
[MrOwl] Ah, well, nothing interesting. Just a Quake II joke.
[MarkG] Sorry, I only play civ2
[MarkG] You mentioned a scripting language?
[MarkG] What kind of events will there be?
[MrOgre] I did! There is a scripting language used for scenarios that will let you trigger events on a wide variety of things, from units entering a region or a particular player controlling a region, to the year the game is in, to a city reaching a certain size, and lots more I can't remember
[MrOwl] Our scripting language is a thing of beauty.
[MrOgre] All those events will let you take a variety of actions, and the language itself is flexible enough to let you do some very sophisticated things
[MrOwl] MrOgre here designed the language and the interpreter.
[MarkG] It seems that you have left a lot of room for programmers
[MrOgre] The tutorial (which is quite nice too) is actually written entirely in the scripting language. It allows for message boxes of a couple of different types, with buttons that can themselves trigger arbitrary code to be run
[MrOwl] The scripting language has a pretty low barrier of entry, so non-programmers will find it interesting to use.
[MrOgre] We are after all programmers ourselves, and tend to think everyone would like to be ;-) ...
[MarkG] Will there be any events(random) in the normal game?
[MrOwl] Sure...
[MarkG] Earthquakes and such?
[MrOwl] Pollution can cause global warming.
[MrOwl] And global warming can do all sorts of terrible things to the world.
[MrOwl] Floods and droughts and the like.
[MarkG] That would be nice to see....
[MarkG] Any kind of random disasters?
[MrOwl] That's not a truly RANDOM event since you have some control over that.
[MarkG] Yes, I'm talking about fires, floods, and other physical disasters...
[MarkG] Back to AI. Will civs have the personality of only one leader? i.e. Germany has been known for being militaristic in the past; Will that pattern and others be apart of C:CTP?
[MrOwl] Each civ comes with two distinct personalities that are randomly chosen.
[akula] WIll some leaders have aversions to certain things, like for example might ghandi refuse to use nuclear weapons?
[MrOwl] Yes, Ghandi wouldn't use nukes.
[MrOwl] Different leaders would definitely not do certain things that other leaders would do.
[akula] And might some leaders be slightly insane say Hitler, overly using nukes
[MrOwl] Yes, exactly.
[MarkG] What kind of changes have been made in automation routines?
[MarkG] The go-to routine for example...
[MrOwl] Yeah, that's a good question.
[MrOwl] We sped up gameplay using a lot of different automation techniques.
[MrOwl] You can create, save, and load lists of units/improvements/wonders for a given city to build.
[MrOgre] For Go-to, if you mean pathing, our pathing is perfect, it will always find the shortest possible path from source to destination
[MarkG] Yes, I meant pathing....
[MrOgre] We have a unit screen where you can select a unit or group of units and give them all the same order, including going to their nearest city or fortification
[MarkG] There has been mentioned a way to have a city focus on trade or sience...
[MarkG] how does this work?
[MrOgre] You can set a city to try and place it's population to most effectively increase trade, science, production, or city growth, and it will always try to find the best balance between what you asked for and not starving
[MarkG] Speaking of city growth, on what does it depend?
[MrOgre] There are buttons for each of those settings, easily accessed on the control panel...
[MrOgre] growth works mostly like you're used to from Civ2. There is a more detailed happiness system however, which can affect growth indirectly...
[akula] Now lets move on to something else, what have you worked on in the past
[akula] MrOgre would you like to lead off
[MrOgre] Steve and I survived Close Combat together, I was the network programmer. After that, I did a stint at RealNetworks working on what's now called G2, before coming to Activison to work on Civ.
[akula] what was your last game
[akula] or is this your first?
[MrOgre] (Close Combat being a WWII game published by MS but written by Atomic, for anyone not familiar with it)...
[akula] Played it and enjoyed it... now how about you MrOwl
[akula] what have your worked on before this...
[MrOwl] My first game was Close Combat, and I was lead programmer on that project as well as Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far. I also did all of the interface graphics for both games, network shell for ABTF, graphics engines, car washing, cleaning floors and windows, etc.
[MrOwl] I moved from Atomic Games to Activision after I shipped ABTF and started development of CivCTP.
[akula] Have either of you gotten any ideas from close combat and put them into civ?
[MrOwl] I'm an ex-Macintosh platform guy too.
[MrOwl] Living maybe not entirely comfortably in a Microsoft world now.
[MrOgre] Well, if Steve can plug Mac, then I feel obliged to put a plug in for Linux.
[MrOgre] plug...
[akula] SPeaking of Mac's are there any plans for a Mac version of the game
[MrOwl] MrOgre is resident Linux guru.
[akula] or Linux (:
[Patton] we are working on it
[Patton] Mac
[Patton] and possibly linux
[MrOwl] I can't imagine that there wouldn't be a Mac version.
[MarkG] That's good news...
[MrOwl] We want everyone to have a chance to play...
[MarkG] Patton, you didn't tell us about your background...
[Patton] I literally started at the lowest levels of Production at Activison, as production support burning the CDs that would be sent to QA.
[Patton] Then I worked my way into being an Associate Producer and then Producer in Activison's Technology group for a couple of years developing various technologies that would be implmented on a number of titles, from games in the Mechawarrior 2 series to Dark Reign.
[akula] Have you gotten any inspiration from previous games you have worked on for elements in Call To Power?
[Patton] It wasn't until Civilization became a reality for us that I decided to move out of Producing for many games into Producing for one.
[MrOwl] We borrow some of the realtime strategy graphical elements from games like Close Combat--just
in terms of the look of the game.
[Patton] Absolutely
[Patton] We all did
[MrOwl] Animating units, many frames of animation, order delivery methods.
[MrOwl] Sound effects, and so forth.
[akula] Ok we shall now unmoderate the channel
[akula] so that everybody can speak up
[MrOwl] Let loose the dogs of war!
[MrOgre] Close Combat taught a couple of things not to do, and has definitely resulted in better networking for CTP.
[akula] please dont rush all your questions at once there will be plenty of time
[MarkG] How buggy is the game now??
[akula] There we go
[MrOgre] I should also say Netrek (http://continuum.real-time.com) taught me an awful lot of what I know about network programming. It's also a fantastic game, and everyone should try it (it's free!)
[MrOwl] We have one of the most solid alphas in Activision history.
[MrOwl] HAHAAH!! Nice plug for Netrek, Joe.
[MarkG] It has been said that you are ahead of schedule...
[MrOwl] With a game like this, you're never really ahead of schedule. ;-)
[traveller] Do you expect to be able to balance out all of the new features so one or two don't dominate? Will you have time?
[AGM] Will you have an earth map?
[DanQ] One question at a time please!
[MrOwl] Yes. That's the challenge of a big game like CivCTP.
[Patton] We will have an Earth map
[Dangime] Dangime, a co-owner of CivLeague here. We are going to run leagues and a ladder for Civ2 multi-player. Any chance we could get activision's blessing for a CtP League?
[MrOwl] I'd love to get a CTP ladder up and going!
[Patton] We would love for you to run Civ CTP league
[Mag00] You should include the portuguese
[fjorik] I just heard about Civ CTP about a week ago, and it seems to have come out of nowhere..I'd like to know what relationship, if any, exists between Microprose, you all developers, and Sid Meier.
[Patton] We are not affiliated with Sid in any way.
[MrOwl] We have a license to produce Civilization Call to Power from Microprose. We have profound respect for Sid Meier and his legacy.
[MarkG] About maps: are they bigger than civ2?
[Patton] we will post a list of the civs in the game at a later date
[Patton] watch for it
[DanQ] What about the old Civ2 bug of going around the edge of the world?
[MrOwl] Our maps can wrap or not wrap, your choice.
[MrOwl] You can play on a flat board, a cylinder-shaped world, or a torus.
[Mag00] will the north and south edge of the map be like the one in Civ?
[Mag00] or will it be a real globe?
[MrOgre] A torus is a dougnut shape, it's the shape you get when you have a square map, but wrapping off the top puts you at the bottom.
[MrOgre] As well as left to right.
[MrOwl] We have settings for whether the map wraps at the top and bottom, or left and right.
[Mag00] What about the space race?
[Rowan] What about aquatic cities?
[MrOwl] I can't comment, or I'll be zapped with Patton's prod.
[MarkG] It seems that all the questions have come up now....
[fjorik] Yeah, a question...are there emails we can sent things to????
[MarkG] civilization@activision.com or the forums
[MrOwl] Our big map will be bigger than the big map in Civ 2.
[akula] Ok everybody the channel is now moderated but Patton has assured us that he will be back with more of the team to talk to at a later date.
[DanQ] I would like to thank each and everyone of you for participating in today's chat.
[akula] Then we should have more developments.
[akula] Especially those who contibuted questions to us whether asked or not your help is much appreciated.
[MarkG] Well, that was all for tonight folks
[MarkG] The channel will remain open
[DanQ] Thanks to those who sent us questions and thanks to Activision for agreeing to participate.
[MrOwl] My pleasure.
[DanQ] This chat has been logged and a transcript will be available online from Apolyton shortly.
[MarkG] So, we can hang out here for civ discussions....
[MrOgre] It was fun!
[Patton] My pleasure
[MarkG] Our thanks to Activision....
[Patton] Look for us again soon...we'll be back!
[MarkG] Is that a threat?? (j/k)
[DanQ] :-D
[MrOwl] Is there a CTP irc channel anywhere?
[MrOwl] Team members might be able to pop in from time to time and say hello.
[MarkG] I don't think so.
[MarkG] But we plan on keeping this channel .
[DanQ] Yes indeed.
[MarkG] for Civ2 and CtP discussions....
[akula] If you have any questions or suggestions for events that could take place here
[DanQ] And thank you Derek for setting up this IRC channel.
[akula] please contact me Akula (channel founder) at dlande@tinet.ie
[akula] thanks dan
[DanQ] I can be reached at dan@gamestats.com
[akula] I can be reached at dlande@tinet.ie
[Artifex] MrOgre: how many maximum for multi-player?
[MrOgre] Not decided yet, stay tuned.
[Artifex] Will it be possible, in multi-player, to have both human controlled and AI controlled "civs" in competition/cooperation?
[MrOgre] There will be AI civs in multiplayer, I can't say more than that.
[MrOgre] I'm really not free to talk about multiplayer, we'll be doing an in depth bit on it at a later date.
[eQas] Is there another IRC date planned?
[MrOgre] No date planned, but there will be more, with some other team members.
[MrOgre] Guys, much as I'd love to stay and talk all day (and lord knows I haven't done that on IRC in earlier years), the sun is out, it's warm, and I'm going for a bike ride
[traveller] Thanks for coming by Mr Ogre! Hope to talk again soon!
[MrOgre] Thanks for the interest in the game, it's great to see you all so psyched about it already
[Artifex] MrOwl: do "engineer" type units have the ability to "terraform"?
[traveller] they don't have engineers, but there's a new unit that can terraform, i heard
[MrOwl] Terraforming is an option, but the engineers don't have that specific ability.
[MrOwl] I gotta run too, guys.
[Artifex] thanks MrOwl
[MrOwl] Just popping back in to log off.
[RoTTer] Uh!? Settlers wont make roads!?
[MrOwl] Nope.
[MarkG] Thank MrOwl
[traveller] Cities build roads.
[MrOwl] No need. You can build roads directly.
[RoTTer] ahhh; thats better
[MrOwl] I hated the settlers-build-roads thing anyways.
[MrOwl] Ok guys. Let's talk another time.
[MrOwl] Thanks!
Session Close: Sun Oct 04 00:17:30 1998