Gamespot's new preview!!!!

[Monkey]

HEY!!! Check it out guys!!! I'm heading there right now to read it!!!
http://www.zdnet.com/gamespot/storie...645671,00.html

[phoenixcager]

Thanks for the link, Monkey. It's very informative!


edit: Wow! quite anumber of screenshots that I haven't seen before.
[This message has been edited by phoenixcager (edited October 27, 2000).]

[MidKnight Lament]

Tonnes of informative stuff in here, particularly about the AI.

quote: Long-time fans of the series will likely warm up to Call to Power II a lot more readily than they did to the original, while newcomers should easily fall under the sway of this very promising, very addictive game.

quote: Although the beta we tested was a tad clunky when we moved from one menu screen to the next (the game seemed very far from optimized, and it was downright slow in areas), the basic layout of menus and option screens is very intuitive.

quote: Still, the basic framework of the system is in place and the AI is anything but a pushover, even at this stage of the game's development. Simple requests that would have flown in previous Civilization and Civilization-style games meet with firm resistance in Call to Power II. Never before have we seen so many countries so reluctant to share their world maps. Not only that, but simple bribes do not have the same effect that they once had. If you want something from your neighbors, you better act in good faith and offer up something in return - or be prepared to take it by force.

quote: The one thing that stuck with us while playing Call to Power II was that the computer was no fool, even on the easy settings. Although you can generally outresearch and outproduce AI empires on the lower difficulty levels, you will not always outprepare or outthink them. When your military clearly surpasses that of other nations, they will no longer welcome major battles against you. Instead, they will look to hit you where you are vulnerable by pirating undefended trade routes, for example, or by building up a strong navy when your strength lies mostly in your army.

Oh yeah!

quote: During peacetime, you can count on rival nations to build up their military forces as needed to counter any moves you might make. During times of war, enemy armies are generally well organized, with long-range units such as archers and cannon effectively mixed in with frontline troops. If your military is weak, you can expect your frantic pleas for leniency to fall on deaf AI ears. If your military is strong, on the other hand, enemy units tend to beat feet as quickly as possible - even their naval units tend to decline confrontation if possible.

quote: The style of the computer players varies widely, however, and you'll notice that not all neighbor states focus on war and the military. More than once, we found ourselves lagging well behind in the scientific race - even when we devoted the bulk of our resources toward research. Computer players in Call to Power II don't appear to spend much time building Wonders, however, which is something that Activision should probably address before the game goes gold.

quote: Another option on the empire management menu is for worker compensation. You select a base pay rate for your people and then assign a science tax. Immediately, you can see the net profit (or loss) you will incur with each turn. The empire management screen is a powerful tool, and a welcome one in an empire-building game, but it's just one of several key elements of Call to Power II's management features.

quote: But you can also set each city on autopilot, thereby allowing a computer mayor to dictate the day-to-day affairs of each burg, all according to a particular specialty that you select (for example, production, happiness, and offense). These mayors were none too bright in the beta version, often choosing to build the most bizarre items.......We hope this aspect will smooth out a bit before the game is released.

quote: Overall, Call to Power II looks like a tremendous step forward for the franchise. The game still has some rough spots: the previously mentioned glitches, a tendency to crash and spout bizarre error messages, and a game-halting issue whereby Wonders of the World windows refuse to go away (thereby blocking the bulk of the screen). Still, the game is in fine shape for a beta, and it seems to have the goods to take this series to the next level.

------------------
- MKL
"And of course Henry The Horse dances the waltz!"
Shameless Plug: http://www.poetic-license.org

[Monkey]

quote: Although the beta we tested was a tad clunky when we moved from one menu screen to the next (the game seemed very far from optimized, and it was downright slow in areas), the basic layout of menus and option screens is very intuitive.

This is one thing that worries me. It's no use having easily accessible info when it takes a minute to switch from screen to screen.

quote: When your military clearly surpasses that of other nations, they will no longer welcome major battles against you. Instead, they will look to hit you where you are vulnerable by pirating undefended trade routes, for example, or by building up a strong navy when your strength lies mostly in your army.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy! I hope this is as good as it sounds.

On the screenshots I noticed a couple of interesting stuff.

1) There's the missing throw party function that I think was supposed to be in CTP but was yanked out.
http://www.zdnet.com/gamespot/filter...800-22,00.html

2) Multiple caravans are required to establish trade routes
http://www.zdnet.com/gamespot/filter...800-18,00.html

[Tiberius]

quote: Without a doubt, the biggest enhancement to be found in Call to Power II is the improved suite of diplomacy options

Now, these are wonderfull news!

quote: ...many of our demands came back to us instead of going to their intended recipients. (The Vikings are threatening us? Wait a minute, we are the Vikings!)

That's deep! Your worst enemies are ... you and yourself
[This message has been edited by Tiberius (edited October 27, 2000).]

[Nikolai]

One thing; On the first picture in the article, you can see a bear standing ON the water!!

[John-SJ]

Interesting preview, and sounds like a pretty interesting game.

One thing concerns me though. The preview mentions a few issues still left in their "beta" version of the game that could be serious if they are still in the final game. From my experience as a software developer I would say that the game is probably 3-6 months away from reasonable stability (unless Gamespot was using an old version or they've been sitting on this article for awhile). This may not be good if the game in fact is released next month. Is that the plan?

John-SJ

[hexagonian]

Overall, sounds very promising. The statement concerning the AI is good news. (They probably picked Wes/Nordicus' brains for that info) If it approaches or surpasses MedMod in that regard, it will be a great game. And they were playing the beta, as opposed to (idle) speculation, so most of the comments were positive.

The statement about the game interface being clunky and slow, however, is a concern. I wonder what type of requirements are needed to run this game. I would guess that the folks over at Gamespot have current equipment, so a 350Mg, PII, 64 Mg RAM computer (mine) might bog down.

We may have to hope for the mandatory patch for some of the bugs mentioned though.

I am looking at it this way...

AOE was reviewed lukewarm at Gamespot. The sequel, AOK is highly praised. So there is hope that a sequel to CTP will learn from its mistakes. The standard has been set by CivII and SMAC. My hope is that the programmers at Activision had access and took advantage of the vaunted CIV3 list too.

That would be a kicker if CTP2 sends the developers of CIV3 back to the drawing board.

[Sirotnikov]

I hope this will send them back to the drawingboards and then they'll make the best game of all time!

However, I am quite pleased with what I read about CTP 2 and I think I'll buy it (unlike the original CTP) because CIV III is no where to be seen.... *sigh*

[Pyaray]

quote: Originally posted by John-SJ on 10-27-2000 10:51 AM One thing concerns me though. The preview mentions a few issues still left in their "beta" version of the game that could be serious if they are still in the final game. From my experience as a software developer I would say that the game is probably 3-6 months away from reasonable stability (unless Gamespot was using an old version or they've been sitting on this article for awhile). This may not be good if the game in fact is released next month. Is that the plan?

Just out of curiousity, what makes you say it's "3-6 months away from reasonable stability"? The Gamespot article mentioned very few bugs, and said it had some "rough spots", but that's not nearly as critical as you seem to be about it. I'm asking not out of hostility or anything like that, I'd just like to know what you're prime info points are for your assertations? I'm having difficulty seeing why you feel that way after reading the article.

Pyaray

[Atahualpa]

From the Gamespot Preview:

quote: Although the beta we tested was a tad clunky when we moved from one menu screen to the next (the game seemed very far from optimized, and it was downright slow in areas)

quote: The diplomacy system was clearly not complete in the version of Call to Power II we tested, as many of our demands came back to us instead of going to their intended recipients. (The Vikings are threatening us? Wait a minute, we are the Vikings!)

quote: . One possible glitch in the game thus far: Computer-controlled empires get mad when you have any unit in their territory, even diplomats

quote: In general, rival nations will agree to remove their own troops from your land, should you request it - and have the power to back up the request. Often they will find the single neutral square in the middle of your empire, retreat to it, and fortify - which is just annoying enough to be realistic.

quote: Computer players in Call to Power II don't appear to spend much time building Wonders, however, which is something that Activision should probably address before the game goes gold

quote: These mayors were none too bright in the beta version, often choosing to build the most bizarre items. Building a cannon when the city focus is on happiness? Maybe the people like their shiny new cannon, but an arena or theater would be more on target. We hope this aspect will smooth out a bit before the game is released.

Now here comes something that makes me jump (of happiness):

quote: The one thing that stuck with us while playing Call to Power II was that the computer was no fool, even on the easy settings. Although you can generally outresearch and outproduce AI empires on the lower difficulty levels, you will not always outprepare or outthink them. When your military clearly surpasses that of other nations, they will no longer welcome major battles against you. Instead, they will look to hit you where you are vulnerable by pirating undefended trade routes, for example, or by building up a strong navy when your strength lies mostly in your army. During peacetime, you can count on rival nations to build up their military forces as needed to counter any moves you might make. During times of war, enemy armies are generally well organized, with long-range units such as archers and cannon effectively mixed in with frontline troops. If your military is weak, you can expect your frantic pleas for leniency to fall on deaf AI ears. If your military is strong, on the other hand, enemy units tend to beat feet as quickly as possible - even their naval units tend to decline confrontation if possible.

The whole thing makes me a bit worried! The game sounds very very very promising. But the time to finish the game is just one more month!
Great however that the AI will be challenging! Thats really good news! Make it difficult! Make it real hard to win on Deity!

ATa

[Atahualpa]

quote: (until you get to Diablo 2, this game had good QA but still had SEVERE multi-player problems for a couple of months after release.)

The Stress Test couldnt simulate the amount of users that hit the realms when the game shipped.
Single Player had little to no flaws in D2 by the time the game shipped.

ata

[Pyaray]

Let me try and address some of the concerns then.

quote: Although the beta we tested was a tad clunky when we moved from one menu screen to the next (the game seemed very far from optimized, and it was downright slow in areas)

The game has been optimized. It certainly doesn't have the response of a first person shooter, but the game is fairly responsive.

quote: The diplomacy system was clearly not complete in the version of Call to Power II we tested, as many of our demands came back to us instead of going to their intended recipients. (The Vikings are threatening us? Wait a minute, we are the Vikings!)

This is quite obviously a simple bug. It is resolved. Although I have to say, I thought it was pretty funny the first time I declared war on myself.

quote: One possible glitch in the game thus far: Computer-controlled empires get mad when you have any unit in their territory, even diplomats

Well they should get mad when you have non-diplomatic units in their territory. They don't get mad about diplomats anymore though. Nor about units they can't see.

quote: In general, rival nations will agree to remove their own troops from your land, should you request it - and have the power to back up the request. Often they will find the single neutral square in the middle of your empire, retreat to it, and fortify - which is just annoying enough to be realistic.

This doesn't sound like a bug to me. They withdraw when you request, but they only withdraw as far as they "have" to.

quote: Computer players in Call to Power II don't appear to spend much time building Wonders, however, which is something that Activision should probably address before the game goes gold

This is fixed. They just didn't quite have their priorities straight. Building Wonders is a balance issue, and the game has been being balanced. It would be a far worse thing if they had built wonders instead of defenses.

quote: These mayors were none too bright in the beta version, often choosing to build the most bizarre items. Building a cannon when the city focus is on happiness? Maybe the people like their shiny new cannon, but an arena or theater would be more on target. We hope this aspect will smooth out a bit before the game is released.

I can't say for certain, but this may not have been a bug at all. If the mayor is set to make happiness, and the people are unhappy becuase there are no military units to defend them, then building a military unit is the fastest way to happiness. Without context, I can't say that this is right or wrong.

I assure you all, we are very close. There are no major issues left as far as I know. Obviously there could be issues I'm unaware of, but the game is coming along very nicely. This team is very dedicated to delivering a quality product. I don't know what else I can say to try and address your concerns. If you have any other specific concerns, I would be happy to try and address them for you.

Pyaray
[Ooh, looky, I have the Acitivion tag now! ]
[This message has been edited by Pyaray (edited October 28, 2000).]

[MarkG]

quote: Originally posted by Pyaray on 10-28-2000 07:00 PM [Ooh, looky, I have the Acitivion tag now! ]

and you're in the news now....

[Monkey]

quote: The game has been optimized. It certainly doesn't have the response of a first person shooter, but the game is fairly responsive.

How does it compare to say....hmmmm... CTP1? I know that during the later stages of the game in CTP1 accessing the city menu would be downright slow. Plus the autosave option wasn't really an option since it took approximately 2 seconds to save after each turn an if you add that in to the time it takes for AIs to make a move in the late stages the whole game turned really really clunky. Now that space layer is gone, will CTP2 run as fast as say....mmm.... civ2? If you can get close to that then I'm definitely buying it!!

quote: In general, rival nations will agree to remove their own troops from your land, should you request it - and have the power to back up the request. Often they will find the single neutral square in the middle of your empire, retreat to it, and fortify - which is just annoying enough to be realistic.

I didn't think that was a bug too. It's more like "annoying human brat mode" to me. Nice touch

quote: If you have any other specific concerns, I would be happy to try and address them for you.

Will Activision be putting out new graphics packs afor CTP2 after release ala the Sims or SimCity3000? From what I have seen of the screenshots, a medieval castle style is still lacking in the ancient age and I think there have been many people requesting new city styles.