Three months is a long time to scratch the civ itch - apply for a copy of CtP2 & AoM

[Maquiladora]

Yes, you definitely cant roam the AI's land for long without getting attacked, and certainly no chance of finding the odd unoccupied "soft center" city.

[Ninot]

oh, i realised just now that we have to state why we hate it. its past the deadline already but:

i hate CTP2 because the box-art looked just so dang ugly that I refused to buy it.

Good enough?

[hexagonian]

OK, got the copies

Winners are...
1. Ninot (because it appears he to really want to play - shipping will not be a problem to me, but you better play the game )
2. Boris (because it appears he does not want to play, but perhaps I can break through the hard shell of his hatred for CTP2)

PM me with your mailing address info by Friday, August 12, 8AM CST USA if you want the game. I should be able to get them out in the mail - hopefully tomorrow after work if your address info comes to me before then.

If prizes are unclaimed by Friday, first runner up (Anun Ik Oba) will get first chance.

[Ninot]

Holy Cow! I've never won anything in my life. I'm gonna have to put a big gold star on this day in my journal.

Ok, seriously now, thanks alot Hex! I'll be PM'ing you instantly. AOM looks likes its gonna be a tun of fun.

[hexagonian]

Originally posted by CyberShy
I'd be happy to give AoM a try, I don't need a copy of CTPII and I already downloaded the mod.
Just the !@#%( memory error

Originally posted by CyberShy
The stupid game doesn't work with my Wacom tablet, no matter what I do!!!!!!!

I do not know what to suggest regarding these problems - I'm not familiar enough with compatibility issues between different machines. I do have CTP2 on Windows XP with no problem, but I have to remeber to have my video card on full acceleration when I play. (EU2 flickers horribly if I have it on full acceleration, so I have to manually switch it when I play that game, and sometimes I forget to turn it back)

All I can suggest is Pming Stankarp either from this site or from the official AOM forums.

[Boris Godunov]

Go ahead and offer mine to Anun. Upon reflection, I'll doubt I'll have the time to play the game much and write a review that does it justice. Thanks anyway, though.

[Trifna]

I hate CtP so much that I never played it

[Daddy-O]

The game had so many promises. I hated the menus and the graphics in CTP. Never could get past that. I went back to Civ2. I love Civ3.

I'd be willing to commit to your challenge if you still need a runner up to give the game to. My boys would probably give it a try too. So by giving the game to me, it would be like giving it to three. Better bang for your buck.

[hexagonian]

Package sent to ninot yesterday.

As first runner up, Anun Ik Oba has the first shot at the remaining game. PM me with your mailing address before 12:00 Noon, CST USA, Friday, August 12.

[Dale]

Originally posted by Trifna
I hate CtP so much that I never played it

Gee, what a limited, blinkered, illogical and pointless exercise that was by you eh? If you've never played it, how do you know you hate it?

[LordShiva]

Er, you know that was a joke right?

[Boris Godunov]

Somebody doesn't get what the smiley denotes...

[angrybowen]

I am going to join this debate for stankarp as he was temporarily banned from Apolyton and threatened for cross forum threading when he went public with AOM. In fact he received such an unbelievable amount of totally undeserved flak that it was disgusting IMHO.

Re Civ 3. I stopped playing it over a year ago because of some simple GAMEPLAY issues (The graphics etc of a game do not worry me any near as much as gameplay). By gameplay I mean the mechanics of playing the game and how much thought you have to put into a game.

After the initial glitz of civ3, it became boring, especially after the early development turns. AI cheats that really unbalance the game, one on one combat that was boring and unrealistic, no decent empire managers etc. Someone in this forum criticised the menus in CTP2, at least it HAS a menu that allows you to check a 60 city empire in 8 clicks, less time than it takes to work out the combination of faces on one size 20 city in civ 3.

I started on AOM as soon as it came out as I always like the smooth gameplay of CTP2, gameplay that allowed me to play competitively for points on line in gameleague. The mechanics of the gameplay are the same as CTP2, simple and easy once you know where stuff is. What has ramped up several levels is the other aspect of gameplay , the thought you put in the game.

Other ctp2 mods beefed up the ai but it still lacked focus in attack, even when it's forces got to the destination, they often did not attack. The initial release of AOM put that to rest in a big way, it was a little like middle earth to some, one described the ai as 'murderous". The ai was focused and aggressive, not just to the human but also against other ai and the barbarians. I personally saw in games where small empires rise quickly in power if they were successful in taking cities of another ai or the barbarians. While others fell if they were on the receiving end.

There are something like 23 new concepts in AOM, making it really a genuine expansion pack for ctp2. It has a couple of minor bugs, but the new concepts really make it like a new game. Unlike CTP2 mods, AOM put a lot of effort into making it a complete game, so new concepts etc are in the Great library, rather than briefly printed on a word readme.

The tweakings and a few historical type scripted events make it much more like real civilization IMHO. The ai has no more cheats than in previous mods but because it is more focused, it is more deadly. Very deadly. Too deadly for some. So stancarp has now released an update, bringing diplomacy up to the same level as other parts of AOM. I playtested the diplomacy update and it makes AOM the ultimate challenge for a thinking person IMHO.

Couple of quotes from the AOM forum.

Viceman.

Had to say this, sorry to the Brits.

Never seen so much work by so few to benefit so many for so little. Hats off to the AOM team. Suspect the Civ team are already copying things into civ 4.

Fun + many new things + pressure= great game

Mithelemir

The (AOM) turns CtPII from a mediocre game into the single best, turn-based civilization building game to date

AOM has a whole heap of new tools for players to use to develop strategy and you are under a little pressure all the time. The ai is developing all the time, the ones with aggressive personalities are eyeing off your territory all the time, the barbarians are a third force in the game until well into the middle ages. The scripted historical events place you under a little pressure to achieve certain milesones in your development.

In short, this game is not for people who build a few cities and move a few units. That saying "people who fail to plan, plan to fail" rings very true for AOM. It is like chess, you think it is simple at first, but then you suddenly realise the depth the game and how many different combinations there are.

Hats off to stancarp and the AOM team.
Links.

http://www.theagesofman.net/index.html

http://www.interwebgames.com.au/aomforum/

[stankarp]

Note, the Diplomacy Update is available as a 7 mb download from the AOM home page (uploaded yesterday). It is a simple job to update the AOM package (either disc or Apolyton download) to have all the latest inclusions.

I believe I have perfected the AI surrender code so that it now looks like it is 100% reliable, whereas before it seemed at times that in game stuff was blocking it. The AI is also more responsive to the diplomatic state between the Human and AI now until your aggression level gets too high.

[Ninot]

Originally posted by angrybowen
I am going to join this debate for stankarp as he was temporarily banned