Hello from a kind of newbie

[Solver]

It's lemur I think . Lemur eggs, hmm.... why not! I want a full pizza order form in CtP2 then, with an ability to choose between lemur meat topping (brutal ), as well as different degrees of Activision-Cheese (TM).

[Peter Triggs]

It's lemur I think . Lemur eggs, hmm.... why not!

Yeah, but you have to be bad at spelling if you want to find the egg .

[ricketyclik]

Do you think I oughta switch to the play test version right now?

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by ricketyclik
Do you think I oughta switch to the play test version right now?

So long as you're prepared to reinstall CTP2 if it all goes pear-shaped (and not blame us for destroying your data if it all goes *really* pear-shaped), and you're not wanting to play online, then yes, I think it's probably worthwhile .

[ricketyclik]

Hmm, I think I might finish my 1st game (winning, on medium), have a crack at Deity (or whatever it is in 2) and then make the dreaded switch.

Is a dual install possible?

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by ricketyclik
Do you think I oughta switch to the play test version right now?

Why not?

The major bugs have been corrected and the Super Apolyton Pack 2 (aka SAP2) seems to work with the latest playtest version.

The SAP2 improves the original game (and the AI in particular) without changing its concepts, it is the game as it should be. Now the programmers have the sourcecode, each version of the original game will come closer to the game as it should have been. The main problem is that the original AI is not really a challenge for the human player, this will have to wait until the programmers are ready to work on this.

If you are not sure of what you want to do, make a copy of your CtP2 folder, name it as you want (Call To Power 2 Playtest for example), install the latest playtest build in the new folder and start the game directly from the executable that should be in C:\Program Files\Activision\Call To Power 2 SourceCode Playtest\ctp2_program\ctp.

There is another suggestion from Maquiladora if you want to install the Playtest over a fresh install of CtP2. Rename your current Call To Power 2 folder and install CtP2 again from your CD-ROM. Once the game is installed, rename the new Call To Power 2 folder (Call To Power 2 Playtest for example) and give back its original name to your original Call To Power 2 folder.

Remember the playtest version needs to be installed over a patched CtP2. If you want to use the SAP2, you will have to install Modswapper [EDIT]or ModManager ( )[/EDIT] and then the SAP2. Once it is installed, edit the APOL_const.txt file and add the following line:

MAX_MATCH_LIST_CYCLES 10 # Amount of AI max match list cycles

between the line RIOT_LEVEL 73 and the line POWER_POINTS_TO_MATERIALS 1.

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by Tamerlin
If you want to use the SAP2, you will have to install Modswapper...

[plug]Or you could use ModManager instead .[/plug]

If you're of two minds, and have enough hard disk space, then a dual install is probably the way to go .

[Maquiladora]

Remember the playtest version needs to be installed over a patched CtP2.

This has never been clear to me. Ive read different people saying the playtest should be used without the 1.1 patch now and some say it should. Which is it? Is there any difference now?

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by J Bytheway

[plug]Or you could use ModManager instead .[/plug]

... If you want to use the SAP2, you will have to install Modswapper or ModManager and then the SAP2...

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by Maquiladora


This has never been clear to me. Ive read different people saying the playtest should be used without the 1.1 patch now and some say it should. Which is it? Is there any difference now?

I must admit this is not clear for me neither, many posts in the playtest thread assume you have installed the 1.11 patch before installing the latest playtest.

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by Maquiladora
This has never been clear to me. Ive read different people saying the playtest should be used without the 1.1 patch now and some say it should. Which is it? Is there any difference now?

It should make no difference at all. All the files that the official patch replaced are also replaced by the playtest zip.

[Gilgamensch]

Was the patch install not needed for some extra slic-files?

I remember vaguely that it was something like that..........but I might be wrong.......

[J Bytheway]

Locutus tested it on an unpatched install and it worked fine. If it doesn't work for anyone on an unpatched install, then we want to know about it, so please do try.

[Patryn]

Well, nice to return from a 2 year vacation and see some familiar names still hanging about. I played ricketyclick on a number of occasions, and on my pass through the CTP1 forums, I noticed many people I used to play are still actively involved.

I haven't yet played CTP2, but I spent alot of time in CTP1, and stayed away from #2 because of most of the civvers I played with stated flatly that CTP1 was far superior to CTP2 for various reasons...

I have both CTP1 and 2 on the way in the mail, and they should both arrive at roughy the same time.(2-6 business days) Anyway, question is, do I go back to my CPT1 roots, or would CTP2 be enough of an improvement over #1 to warrant a new setup?

What I would like to know is, what are some of the major things that sets CTP2 apart from it's predecessor? I have read various reviews, and skimmed through some forums and whatnot, but I would like to get some responses before I entrench myself in either game's strategies and such.

Some of my main concerns:
1) I see there is an addition of "flanking" units in CTP2. Would you call this a good addition, or is the old way better? How exactly do they work in the battle? Do air and/or sea units get this added feature? (ie. Attack subs/destroyers acting as the flanking units in your fleet of battleships/carriers)

2) How is multiplayer support? I am not sure of the condition of CTP servers, since the last time I tried hopping in a multi game for CTP1,(about a year ago) I watched the little bar swing back and forth for a good 15 minutes before I decided activision finally sold the CTP servers for scrap.(of course, I was in Korea at the time, so i figured that could be a factor in the problem) I would think that CTP2 servers would have at least a few more years in them before they get dropped, so that seems to be a plus... (probably the most important concern, the multiplayher support)

3) Multiplayer fun factor. Nothing like getting well into a good CTP game online and feeling your anticipation rise as you are racing your adversary to a huge fleet of SOL, or marching lines and lines and lines of cavalry, cannons, and muskets to the fringe of his empire. Nothing quite like getting deep into the end ages and building undersea tunnels all the way out to your enemies shores and rushing hundreds of tanks, walkers, and subversive units onto his beaches to his dismay. My question is, does CTP2 have the same blood as CTP1, or has some slight change or "upgrade" tainted or otherwise changed some of its excitement?

4) It seems that you can only build PW in your own territory... Does that mean that you can't march a road from a city out to the edges of the enemy empire to rush your forces in at a moments notice? And, like mentioning in the previous question, build an undersea highway all the way across the sea to plop your forces on their beaches would be out of the question in CTP2?

5) Trade changed at all? Still the basic monopoly, monoply, monopoly to multiply your riches?

6) Anything else that might make me want to choose one game over the other?

All I can think of for now, thanks for any answers in advance.

[Maquiladora]

[QUOTE] Originally posted by Patryn

Some of my main concerns:
1) I see there is an addition of "flanking" units in CTP2. Would you call this a good addition, or is the old way better? How exactly do they work in the battle? Do air and/or sea units get this added feature? (ie. Attack subs/destroyers acting as the flanking units in your fleet of battleships/carriers)

Its a good addition, but flanking units are most powerful in any age, but this doesnt make the other units useless. (not on the scale of CtP1 SoL)

2) How is multiplayer support? I am not sure of the condition of CTP servers, since the last time I tried hopping in a multi game for CTP1,(about a year ago) I watched the little bar swing back and forth for a good 15 minutes before I decided activision finally sold the CTP servers for scrap.(of course, I was in Korea at the time, so i figured that could be a factor in the problem) I would think that CTP2 servers would have at least a few more years in them before they get dropped, so that seems to be a plus... (probably the most important concern, the multiplayher support)

CtP2 uses the same servers as CtP1, except only one works for CtP2 (nlink), dont know why.

3) My question is, does CTP2 have the same blood as CTP1, or has some slight change or "upgrade" tainted or otherwise changed some of its excitement?

The biggest change youll notice is that unit movement and tile improvements are most important in CtP2, whereas trade and buildings were most important in CtP1.

4) It seems that you can only build PW in your own territory... Does that mean that you can't march a road from a city out to the edges of the enemy empire to rush your forces in at a moments notice? And, like mentioning in the previous question, build an undersea highway all the way across the sea to plop your forces on their beaches would be out of the question in CTP2?

You can build a fort anywhere in one of your units vision range, the fort gives an extended national border of 2 radius. The only way you could build a really long undersea tunnel is to use a sea engineer to build sea cities then place your tunnels, but the general higher move costs in CtP2 means it probably wouldnt last long in the water.

5) Trade changed at all? Still the basic monopoly, monoply, monopoly to multiply your riches?

I think this is one of the biggest reasons people stuck with CtP1, i still play CtP1 PBEM because of the more powerful trade monopolies but thats not to say trade is useless in CtP2, its essential in a long game to have extra gold coming in from trade but not half as important as CtP1.

Another big change related to this is CtP2 deals with the "commerce" resource on terrain and tile imps (where gold was) and this is split into science and gold, depending on your science tax, so gold from trade doesnt effect science at all, it goes straight into the treasury.

6) Anything else that might make me want to choose one game over the other?

Id say choose CtP2 because armies are bigger (12 units) and trade and SoLs arent so powerful.