Halt! Who goes there?

[Locutus]

Inspired by the polls in the Apolyton forum, the thread in CtP-MP forum and some posts in the 'Too Fast!' thread, let's find out who exactly all those people are who visit these CtP2 forums. I invite everyone, from newbies to veterans, from spammers to lurkers, to tell us a little bit more about yourself (as much as you would like us to know - but not more than we really want to know ). I'll kick off with myself:


Name:
Locutus (mind the spelling ), aka Wouter Snijders

Age:
21 (and a half )

Location:
I born and raised in in Hengelo and still live there, but I study/work/go out/etc in Enschede. Both are medium-sized cities (size 8 and 12 respectively ) in Twente, a region in the very east of the Netherlands, very close to the border with Germany.

Gender:
Male

Occupation:
In the daytime I study Computer Science at the University of Twente, at night and in the weekends I work for an IT support company.

Marital Status:
Single (and perfectly happy about it! )

Kids:
None

Hobbies/Interests (aside from Civ ):
More than you can shake a stick at: history, sci-fi, sports, music, philosophy, politics, science&technology, aviation, traveling, etc...

Favourite...
... Book: Andromeda Strain (by M. Crighton)
... Movie: The Green Mile (with Tom Hanks and Micheal C. Duncan)
... Location: A draw between Amsterdam (very easy-going, relaxed atmosphere and always something to do) and Paris (fantastic architecture - from impressive Eiffel Tower and magnificant Versailles to the timeless narrow streets around the Sacre Soeur). Berlin, Pompeii and Tenerife (outside the holiday resorts) rank pretty high too.
... Food: The strawberry icecream they serve in my local icecream-bar (best damn icecream in the entire world!)

If I had one wish, I would ask for:
The source code of CtP2 Aside from that, I would kill for a trip to space (without drugs being involved )...


Edit: forgot one of the most important ones

Civ-History:
I've been playing Civ since 1992 or something. First played a LOT of Civ1, the classic one-more-turn feeling... In 1996 or so got Civ2 but didn't really like it: I missed the City View and things like that and the graphics were absolutely horrendous. IMHO Civ2 was Civ1 with a few more techs/units/wonders/etc but with uglier graphics. I played it regularly but not nearly as much as I had played Civ1 (even in those days I played more Civ1 than Civ2). Then I heard rumours of CtP1 and around the same time got access to the Internet. In early 1999 I first found Apolyton and was amazed to see the Civ2 scenarios and all the info on CtP1. After a couple of months of occassionally visiting the site for news on CtP1 and scenarios, I found the forums and was overwhelmed.

By then (summer of '99) I had a copy of CtP1 and was playing it to death, I absolutely loved it. In the meanwhile, over the months after that, I read every single word that was ever written in the CtP forums and once I was done with that, I downloaded some mods (until then I had only played with the original (patched) game) and started to play around with some textfiles myself. I soon realized the potential of SLIC and when I saw noone was really doing anything with it (aside from TP, but I realized that what he had done was only a fraction of what was possible), I registered (as you can see in my profile, that was in Nov '99) and started to actually post on Apolyton (one of my very first posts ever would eventually lead to the Militia code that's still part of MedMod and Cradle today).

The rest, as they say, is history.

[hexagonian]

OK, I'll bite...

Name:
David Sobotka

Online Name:
hexagonian
...inspired from a board game I created about 10 years ago for me and a few of my friends, based on a compilation of 'Risk', 'Axis and Allies', and the old Avalon Hill games. (Basically it is multi-player Civilization, before it ever came out on computer) It was called 'Hexagonia', because it was played on a hex grid. I've done about six variations of it. Best part of it was the endless haggling and dealmaking that the players would do to survive.

and no, I never even played the original 'Civilization' game either - (computer or board game).

Location:
Chicago area

Gender:
Male - last time I checked with my wife.

Occupation:
Graphic Artist

Family:
Married with 2 kids who have increasingly been hogging my computer over the past year.

Hobbies:
Modding, jogging, working with my church youth group, reading (sci-fi, fantasy and historical fiction, as well as actual history)

Favorite Computer games:
The big 3 for me - EU2, Pharaoh, and CTP2 - other games have not broken the stranglehold

Favorite Book:
'Watership Down'

Favorite Movie:
a 3 way tie
- 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'
- 'NeverEnding Story'
- 'LOTR' (give LOTR a couple of years and I will say it is my all time favorite - it was executed that well...)

Favorite Food:
Pasta of any kind

One wish:
to be able to play computer games at work without guilt

[PDA-CIV]

Name:
PDA-CIV , alias Thomas Dahl

Age:
42 (and a Capricorn )

Location & Occupations :
I was born and raised in a rich Copenhagen suburb .
Now I live at the North end of Seeland , working & studying physics ,
IT , genderdebate and writing Sci-Fi (unpublished &
unfinished) here in a lovely size 5 fisherboat-town .

Gender: Male and a girlfriend for 8 years , no kids .

Also a lot of hobbies/interests ; Favourite...
.............................. (at the moment , I have a lot)
... Book: No one when I'm writing !
... Movie: The Lawnmoverman , The bitter tears of Petra von Kant
... Location: This northern coast of Seeland , so refreshing !
... Food: No mammals or marsupials , please - just fish and birds ...

If I had one wish, I would ask for:
set mankind free , mama !

[Wittlich]

Online Name: Wittlich

Real World Name: David Troy Binns

Location: San Francisco, CA

Age/Gender: 39, Male, Gay

Family: Domestic Partnership - Going on 12 Years. No kids, but 4 Cats

Occupation: Retired, U.S. Army / Student

Hobbies: Reading (SciFi/Fantasy), Gardening, Cooking, Playing CTP series/Civ Series.

Favorites:
Book: "Foundation Trilogy" by Issac Asimov
Movie: "Love! Valour! Compassion!" 1997 Based on Terrance McNally's Award-Winning Play.
Location: Too many to choose from.
Food: Again, too many to choose from.

Civ History: Let's put it this way - I still have a copy CivNet.

Don't you all feel like you know me already?!?

[Immortal Wombat]

Re: Halt! Who goes there?

Name: Ben Weaver, the Immortal Wombat
Age:
17

Location:
South East England (the best corner, as long as you're not too close to London)

Gender:
Male

Occupation:
Student. 6th Form.

Marital Status:
Single at the moment

Kids:
I'm 17 fgs

Hobbies/Interests (aside from Civ ):
um...
Sci-fi, music, humour, social anthropology, church youth group, Scouting (dibdibdib ). Loads of stuff. Oh and the traditional teenage pursuits of going out and getting ratted.

Favourite...
... Book: No Idea. Read too many.
... Movie: dunno again. Something funny. Monty Python's Holy Grail possibly.
... Location: My bed.
... Food: Pork & Bean Curry.

If I had one wish, I would ask for:
the ability to fly.

Civ-History:
Played a bit of Civ2, but never bought it, I was running without a cd on a 486 just below the minimum spec. It was slow and the graphcis were appauling, but it was fun. I bought CtP soon after (a few months before CtP2 was released ironically enough) and had fun with that, downloading the entire 'Poly CtP database and then finding there was no-one left to download my mods.

So I bought CtP2, and have played a couple of games of that.

Originally posted by Hexagonia
Occupation:
Graphic Artist

Told you Wouter

[Dale]

Name: Dale Kent

Age: 27

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Gender: Male.

Occupation: IT Support (looking for NT Admin)

Marital Status: Engaged to the most wonderful lady in the world. (except she doesn't like CTP2)

Kids: Not yet I hope!

Hobbies/interests: hiking, camping, sleeping, drinking.

Fav book: Too many to name.
Fav movie: Like a lot of movies.
Fav loc: Lake Morraine - near Calgary.
Fav food: My chilli con carne!

My wish: For a porsche 927 turbo...... RED!

Civ-history:
Anyone remember Civ for the C-64? Well, I lived alternately on Civ & Pirates on the C-64. After I got a PC (some crappy 286 with 4 mg RAM, 40 mg HDD) I found a mate with a copy of PC Civ. Grabbed that and flogged the life out of it! So much that the 5 1/4" it was on fell to bits. After Civ2 came out I played that. Then there was SMAC. Then there was SMACX. Then CTP1 can around. This was a fresh approach, and became a fav of mine. But after CTP2, I haven't looked back. I got Civ3, and played it for 2 months, but it just didn't grab me like CTP2 does. No modding, no MP (play occasionally on LAN with mates), no logic in Civ3..... etc.

[Eagle]

Here I go ...

Name: Yves

Nickname: Mostly Eagle (because of my admiration for those birds), but also Merlin sometimes.

Born in Belgium, but since 2 yrs living in Singapore

Male, 28 yrs, living together with my boyfriend

Kids: don't want, would be difficult also.

Hobbies/interests: Everything that has to do with the sea and with computers. Strange combination ?? Well, have been interested in both since long long long ago. Made my job of the sea, so computers became my biggest hobby. Am persuing my MCSE and MOUS certifications, keep myself busy by tweaking and playing around with my pc hardware, network and win2k. Am not into programming though, just using.

Other big hobby is fantasy gaming/reading. Love to read fantasy books, love to watch fantasy movies. Also used to play board games in the genre of AD&D.

Am a 'mild' trekkie, watching all episodes of ST-TNG and ST-VOY they put on tv here. Not fanatic though.

Fav book: euh, difficult to say. Couple series I have been reading which I love: Dune, Wheel of time, Avalon, Liveship traders, Death Gate, Foundation, ... Hm, not to forget I like medical thrillers and law books as well. I 'do' read A LOT !

Fav movie: also difficult to say, depends on the genre. LOTR is definitely one of them, also the Star Wars movies, but also Silence of the lambs, Disney movies, ...

Fav food: open to a lot of things, but love meat.

Fav location: I need a lot of green around me, don't like living in the city, but don't want to be to far away from it and I 'do' need civilisation around me. Won't go sleeping in a tent if it doesn't have a cable connection to hook up my laptop and check my email.

NO, NO, I am 'not' a difficult guy.

Occupation: for the moment still sailing on board of gastankers as a chief mate. No, I am not a sailorboy having a boy in all ports I visit. I need one more promotion to become captain, but I am looking for a shore job here in Singapore. Can't stand the long periods away from my love anymore and want to widen my horizons again.

Computer history: started out when I was around 12 I think by playing Tapper (destroyed my keyboard with that game and still want to find and play it again) on an XT machine. Did most type of games, but got hooked to role playing and mostly strategy. Don't remember when I got my first civ game, but was long ago. Been addicted to most of them, but longest to Alpha Centauri I think.

Guess that's about it. Ask me if I forgot anything !

[Pedrunn]

Name:
Pedrunn, aka Pedro Cavalcanti

Age:
19

Location/story:
I have live in Natal my whole life since last year. But i couldnt get into the Federal University (UFRN - the one i wanted) around here. But i was living in another city, Juazeiro do Norte. Now, due people who has been giving up the UFRN. I have been accepted and I will probably be back to Natal although classes start only in October. So i am still deciding if i continue in
Juazeiro only for this semester.

Gender:
Male

Occupation:
Medical Universitary

Marital Status:
Single but very happy with my girlfriend (The Woman of my life!)

Kids:
None

Hobbies/Interests (aside from Civ ):
I love Sci-Fi, scientific magazines, Computer Games, Beer with friends, and go out with my girlfriend.

Favourite...
... Book: Only read didatic books
... Movie: Scream (The first, the other two sucked )
... TV Series: Babylon 5 (too bad it ended), Friends
... Games: CTP2, Homeworld, Sims, Wing Commander: Prophecy
... Food: Crabs, and Meat!

Civ-History:
My first contact with turn based games was with Deadlock an Sci-fi game, pretty simple but really cool. Then i jumped to Civ2 wich was a surprise. Really enjoyed.
While looking for info i found something about Civilization 3. Wich it really was CTP1. And Became even more addicted than with Civ2.
From that time i didint knew the diference among ctp series to civ's ones. I thought they where only one.
I played CTP1 for quite a while when i find apolyton site. I did not know about forum so i only downloaded stuff from it.
So i saw something about CTP2 in the internet.
I had so much fun with ctp1 that i didnt even looked for reviews. I wanted that game! Guess what? I couldnt find it anywhere (probably beacause Activision had already left the support at that time).
I bought by the internet a pirate version. No charts or manual, just a CD. Started a game. The disapointement. I like it but not as much as CTP1. The game went to the closet.
But i did not gave CTP2 another chance i became a Civ3 enthusiastic. Everyday i was there to discuss new ideas to the game. Again disapointed. I discovered there was a CTPfobia. And since my ideas where almost all based in CTP1 most people were against them and as time went by i got the feeling Firax wasnt giving a penny for Apolytioners ideas.
Advised by the CTP2 forums (wich i had contact while with Civ3) i gave another try with Wes Mod. I really enjoyed the game this time. It was incredible. And i was surprised too. How did he change all of this features in the game?
Discovering how he did and i start modding. That way CTP2 gained me by one unique aspect of the game:
Customizibility
And here i am. Happy with this game that will never get old.

[Dinner]

Name: John James Jackson IV but most of my on-line friends call me Oerdin.

Age: 25

Location: Currently Santa Barbara, CA but I frequently travel down to San Diego, CA because both my family and my girlfriend live there. I grew up in San Diego but moved to Santa Barbara in order to attend the university there.

Gender: Male

Occupation: I work as an intern in the geological sciences department of the county government. I've been looking for a local, full time, position as a Geologist but so far to no avail. For background info I spent six years in the U.S. army reserve as a Sergeant in Psychological Operations where I went on training exercises in Korea, Japan, Panama, Thailand, and all over the U.S.; I was also deployed on missions to both Kosovo and Bosnia.

Martial Status: I’m not married but I have a girlfriend named Christine who is a year older then me and who is getting her MBA from San Diego State University.

Kids: None, but perhaps some day.

Hobbies & Interests: Hiking, backpacking, mountain bike riding, reading history books, Geology (professional interest), traveling, and piloting light aircraft. My two favorites are certainly backpacking and traveling and I will travel almost anywhere in order to see something new.

Favorite:
Book: Guns, Germs, & Steel.
Movie: Casablanca.
Location: Yosemite Valley at sunrise during springtime before all of the snow has melted.
Food: Thai (the spicier the better) though sushi and California fusion cuisine come close.

My one wish would to give everyone the opportunity to receive a liberal education. Without a doubt this would solve most of the world's ills.

[tigger]

OK my go...

Name: Steve Birtwistle

Age: 30

Location: UK. Born in Accrington (English Football fans take note - Accrington were one of the founder members of the Football League). Now living in Sheffield (war of the roses anyone?)

Gender: Male

Occupation: Civil Servant but in the good old days I ran a bar. I did psychology research for 4 years as well (researching odours would you believe....I was looking for a legal high guys ok?)

Marital Status: Technically single but my girlfriend insists she is working on that

Kids: None but we'll see...one day (two cats are enough of a handful right now)

Hobbies and Interests: I play semi professional cricket. Unfortunately that will restrict CTP2 during the summer. Love football (especially Burnley and Ajax). Movies, reading (when I was young I was fanatical about LOTR's and Roman history).

Civ history: Erm...started playing Civ 2 around '96 or so. Then moved onto Age of Empires, Caesar and Pharoah. With my knackered pc the games industry moved on until October '01 when I moved in with my girlfriend...she treated my to ctp2 and I was hooked. She's never forgiven you guys!

Fave:
Book: Fiction - Excession by Iain M. Banks. Non-fiction - The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers - Paul Kennedy.
Film: (jointly) The Matrix & Jacob's Ladder though LOTR was wonderful
TV Series: The West Wing
Food: Chinese
Music: (jointly) REM & Nirvana
Location: Amsterdam

I think thats probably enough now

[Eagle]

B U M P !!!!

Hey, come on, I think there are more than 10 people hanging around frequently here !!

Where are all the others, or are they too timid or shy to say something about themselves ??

[Boney]

well why not?

Name: Tony Stevenson aka boney

Age: 37

Born: Nottingham, England. Lived all round the UK mostly in Manchester and North London, hence a pretty neutral accent. Not lived in the UK since around 1986, spent time in India, Amsterdam, Spain, and Thailand.

Location: Thailand, but born in the UK. Now live in a small village in the middle of a jungle 35km from bangkok.

Gender: Male

Occupation: work for International Affairs at a University in BKK, main job editor of international newsletter, also deal with international correspondence. Like to think of myself as a writer, but only ever had a couple of things published, certainly not enough to make a living out of.

Marital Status: separated

Kids: now living with my 8 year old son, 11 year old daughter at school in England.

Hobbies and Interests: CTP2 CTP1 CM0102 (at home) also drinking copious amounts of beer and having wild nights on the town once or twice a month when i can get a babysitter for my son. Getting smashed every now and then helps keep my sanity, or does it, I am not sure.

Civ history: First introduced to Championship Manager 2 in '96, but started playing Civ 2 around '97 or so. Then moved onto Age of Empires, but found that my son prefered it more than me. '99 ctp, but did not like it at first and went back to civ2, then civ2 disk broke and was forced to play ctp and it grew on me. Love ctp multiplayer, but just dont have the time or a connection trustworthy enough. Got CTP2 on release and realised how crap it was, within the first day I could see that impossible was too easy. Went back to alternating CTP and CM depending on my mood, CPT2 mods brought me back to CTP2.

Fave:
Book: Many.

Film: Life of Brian, Apocalypse Now, and many others.

Food: whatever feels right for the mood I am in.

Music: Sex Pistols, Nirvana, Oasis, Modern Dog (Thai Band)


Location: Bang Yai, Nontaburi, Thailand.

[Aias]

Prepared to be bored out of your minds...

Name:

Dave, my online persona is Aias. Aias is the commander of the troops from Salamis during the Trojan War, second to Achilleus in battle skills, height, and looks!

Age:
34

Location:
Northwest Indiana. Lived here basically my whole life. Born in Chicago.

Gender:
Male

Occupation:
I don't know what I want to be when I grow up, but at present I'm a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines.

Marital Status:
Single, but working on a girlfriend!

Kids:
None that I know of, unless my Minature Schnauzer Kaiser counts!

Hobbies/Interests (aside from Civ ):
Mainly weightlifting/bodybuilding, computers, reading (especially Greek and Roman works, sadly only in translation), gabfesting on the phone, American football (college team, Purdue Boilermakers; pro team, Bears and Raiders), keeping in touch with family and friends because at the end of life who will think to themselves "I wish I would have spent more time at the office?" Lots of other stuff.

Favourite...
... Book: Fiction, The Iliad and Non-Fiction, The Bible. I'm spiritual but I don't beat people over the head with it or use it to oppress others.
... Movie: L.A. Story (I'm a big Steve Martin fan)
... Location: Europe, but mainly London and Italy. Hopefully going to Greece next year
...Food: Probably pizza
...Music: Heavy Metal (mostly speed and thrash), Beastie Boys, Dead Milkmen, Violent Femmes, and OLD REM (pre Monster). Also starting to like jazz. It scares me that I'm starting to like music that my parents like!
...Sports: American football, hockey, and softball. Hoping to play lacrosse someday.

If I had one wish, I would ask for:
More people to know the TRUTH about God.

Civ-History:
Bought CTP1 in the discount bin at Office Max. Played it so much and wasted so much time playing it that I broke the disc, but then went out and bought it again 6 months later! Preordered CTP2 and hated it from the moment I saw the lonely settler in the middle of the screen! Stumbled across the Apolyton website and I saw that a Civ 3 was coming out. Played it a bit but it never grew on me. Took a peak at the CTP2 portion of the site and saw alot of modding was still taking place, so I downloaded Cradle 1.3 and loved it! Looking forward to trying some of the other mods and getting more active on the forums.

The first computer game that I ever played was Castle Wolfenstein (not Wolfenstein 3D) on an old Apple II in 1986! Found it and an Apple II emulator on the net, but can't get the stupid thing to work! I play alot of RtCW on the net.

[Bluevoss]

Okay, here goes.

Screen Name: Bluevoss

Real Name: Robert Raymond

Age: 43 (Christ, its like the Childrens Crusade in here)

Location: Orlando, Florida

Occupation: Comptuer Programmer (for money) & Historical Novelist (for the love of it)

Interests: Reading, Writing, Bike Riding, Model Railroading, Driving my 2000 Beetle fast!

Favorite Books: War of the Worlds, Flashman

Favorite Movies: Blue Max, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

Civ Interests: I have an interest in history, and love good civ games. Played Civ1 & 2, but there never quite "got me". I really liked CTP (even with its bugs) and CTP2 is just a comeforable old friend. I love the PW and trading of CTP2, and in my opinion, CTP2 gives a much better "feel" for the ancient world (unlike Civ, where you don't meet anyone until you have gunpowder).My dream is that the AI is improved so that the game is a little more than just an "empire builder".

[child of Thor]

hmmm......

in general: child of Thor
Nickname: CoT
Age: Not sure you can cope with it

Earthly name: Sigurd Hammarstrom
earthly age: well i look around mid to late 20's...28 seems ok.

Male/diplomatic/militaristic/bad speller

excellent girlfriend(she loves computer games )

Location: UK

Occupation:
Questing for Mjollnir (last known location Mt. Jotunhiem in Norway). But my day job is deputy-manager of an Internet shop.

Hobbies/Intrests:
Giants(not sure why...apparently i'll find out?). Old places, like Cairns/Castles and ancient sites the world over. Archery ,martial arts. Most sports and keeping fit. Reading/writing.Surfing. Human history. Computer games. Travelling.

Favourite......

Books:
any historical novel by Henry Treece/Rosmary Sutcliff
any sci-fi by Greg Bear/Phillip.K.D**k won't let me spell it!

Films:
El Cid/Sparticus/Ben Hur/The Keep
StarWars(bar Episode1)/2001 a space odessey

CivHistory:
Earliest - game called 'Kingdom' on BBC micro.
middle - 'M.U.L.E' on Atari 8bit/ 'CIV' on Amiga(harder than the PC version i swear)
Late - Civ2 and CTP1+2 on PC.

CTP2, with a bit of MOD magic has come closest for me to 'that' perfect game(although 'UFO - enemy unknown' gives it a run for its money).