Did Activision actually try to play a CTP2 MP game before shipping this product?

[TheReverend]

Here is my network configuration:

COMPUTER #1:
Pentium III 450
Windows 2000 Professional
256MB RAM

COMPUTER #2:
Pentium II 450
Windows 98
128MB RAM

Computers are on a LAN connected thru a Netgear hub.

Have tried both computers as host, and experienced the problems listed by Jerk above.

Installed the patch, and this has helped some of these issues. Need to play more to give detailed info about bugs that are still there.

Here's one, though: Public Works on the client machine doesn't get updated correctly, sometimes making a player go many turns without getting his PW points. Sometimes this means the player will get 4 turns worth of PW points at once, and sometimes those PW points are lost forever. I've also seen the PW points go down at the start of my turn even though they should be going up by 1,000 or so. I should note that this is without using any Mayors at all.

quote: And to the Rev, yes we are able to finish a multiplayer game with 4 ai and 4 human via lan.

Well, I'm glad someone has been able to accomplish this feat, but it would be nicer if it was someone who actually had to shell out $50 for the game.

-The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith

[marc420]

Two notes. Its a pretty sure bet the release date for CTP2 was set by the Activision Marketing Dept., and not the programmers. I'm sure $$$ involved in not getting a game out fully in time for the Christmas sales market was the prime consideration.

And that's going to cause Activision a huge problem on Christmas day. Lots of people are going to unwrap their brand new copies of CTP2. If they play single player they might be happy for a few days, till they discover that the AI never conquers anyone. Then they'll figure out that if they start conquering other civs they'll get a growth advantage the AI never gets and thus win. Thus in single player the AI is very easy to beat. Kinda boring kinda quickly.

And if they discover that they've got a friend who also has the game, they'll try to hook up via TCP/IP or LAN, and then find out that the game is buggy as heck in multiplayer mode.

So either way, Activision's reputation as a developer of games is about to take a major hit because the marketing people pushed the game to market in order to get the short-term cash flow over the Christmas holidays.

Merry Christmas everyone,
marc

[Swissy]

This is for igracia:

Was the way the game connects to the internet changed significantly from CTP1 to CTP2? I do not have CTP2, looking to find it under the tree monday morning, but I have CTP1 and recognize some of the posted problems. I am looking forward to playing CTP2 on the net when I do get it, but am not looking forward to having problems doing so.