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After day 1 and day 2, this is turning into "Ask MarkG with the 1000 answers", but what the hell....
Explanations, Replies
And now for some real impressions
Yes, 32 Civs!
Actually, it's 31(the 32nd are the barbarians). I tried it, it works. I'll continue to play my current game, I'll go back to the 32 civs when I end the first one....
I did manage to crash CTP2 btw(now some people can go to sleep), when I tried to start a game with 32 civs on the World Map. Apparently, a new version of the scenario file must be created for 32 civs. I'm sure someone will figure it out...
New Way For Resource Gathering
As explained in St Swithin's column, the city collects it's resource from all the tiles around it, no matter the size. There is no placing of workers anymore. This saves LOTS of time, since you dont have to worry where you place your tile improvements, or where to put each worker. As long as the improvement is inside the control area of a city it's going to help, end of story. Please Firaxis, don't give me settlers to do this stuff in Civ3....
AIPopCheat?
In userprofile.txt there is strange setting: AIPopCheat=Yes. What is it, I don't know....
Too Many Screens?
I think that that the first time player will think that there are way too many screens and tabs in CTP2. All I have to say is: it gets better
The game gives lots of information through many screens. Apparently, in order to fit all these on 800x600, you get screens with 2 or 3 tabs. I don't think there is a screen in the game with just one tab. Perhaps only the Army Manager. I don't know if something can be down through the layout(.ldl) files, which are simple text files. These existed in CTP1 as well, but only recently we had a mod of them, giving more space for the city screen(it's now added in the Med Mod). Perhaps a new set of ldl files for 1280x1024 users like me?
Borders and Trespassing
Well, borders are nice. You know where they are, you don't cross them. Unfortunately, you're not warned when you cross them. Given that trespassing means lowering the opponents regard towards you, I think there should be a warning. Perhaps there could be an option to request from the opponent to allow you to pass your troops through his land or water... Note that borders are over the water too, and getting into someone's waters is the same as getting into his land.
1280x1024 With "Clear" Map!
I think the top screenshot on this page is simply great. 1280x1024 Resolution with the control panel and the radar map hidden. With the exception of adding tiles improvements, I think you can play the whole game just like that!
ICS still there or not?
I dont know, I've never been an expert on the kind of calculations people do about ICS. Gedrin suggested a small test in one of the threads, and I think I followed it right. Check the result in the screenshot.
CTRL+S, CTRL+L
I'm ready for the big battle. CTRL+S to do a quick save(no save file screen pops up). I do the battle. I loose. CTRL+L to load the quick save....
Saving takes a couple seconds, but loading a bit more...
That's all for today, and check in, tomorrow!
Explanations, Replies
- Dida asks: "Are the AIs capable of launching a big scale invasion in your ctp2 game?"
I didn't see something like that in the 10 hours I've played the game so far. Dont ask too much guys!
"Do they do a good defense job?"
It is not uncommon to find yourself against 8 or even more units when you attack a big city, if that tells you something.
Btw, if you leave some units next to an enemy city to attack it on the next turn, dont be surprised if you hear the sound of catapult bombarding them...
"Once you capture their important cities, do they concentrate their troops to try to take it back?"
I haven't been in such a situation. Keep in mind that I'm currently playing at medium(prince) level
- John Amram asks: "How many units in an army?" Up to 12(from 9)
- Monkey posted: "What do the unit do when they retreat? Do they turn around and walk away with a sad musical tone in the background?" Nothing like that. The defending army just gets one more chance to hit and then the whole thing ends there. No turning around of your units to walk away or anything like that. I know, it would be cool if they run away or something...
- Monkey also asked: "do events trigger the mood in the music like in civ2?" It's been a long time since the last time i played civ2, and I dont remember that happening Anyway, the songs continue to play in the same(or random if you set it) order, no matter what happens. There are though sounds playing at some events: build of a new city, discovery of an advance, entrance into an enemy city, winning and loosing a battle and perhaps more.
- Atahualpa asks: "is there a way to append the Mill not to all cities but only to some (let say to those with size greater 6)?" Of course. You can select as many cities as you like, like you did in CTP1's city list. In the Empire Manager you can also sort the list of cities in various ways. See the screenshot on the right.
- Tiberius asks about the trade system: I haven't looked into it much. The economics of the whole game have changed(the gold you get now is much more than what you got in CTP1, but of course it's the same for everyone) so I cant make an easy comparison right now. What is certain is that it requires even less clicks that in CTP1.
- Big Crunch asked about the Citizen Loyalty attribute of each government: If I get it right, it affects the happiness of your citizens, not anything else(at least directly)
- Several people asked about the "view city feature": I don't know how this impression was created, but there is no city view ala civ2.
- Karol asks: "Can I name these rocks in the middle of my map as "Rocky Mountains" and then get the message "Barbarians appeared close to Rocky Mountains" ?" Nope, nothing like that.
- Atahualpa asks again "When in the game you select a Scenario, do the civs to choose from change according to those defined in the scenarios?" Yeap, see the screenshot from the Alexander scenario
- GP questions "What about the cow?" No cow in CTP2... :-D
And now for some real impressions
Yes, 32 Civs!
Actually, it's 31(the 32nd are the barbarians). I tried it, it works. I'll continue to play my current game, I'll go back to the 32 civs when I end the first one....
I did manage to crash CTP2 btw(now some people can go to sleep), when I tried to start a game with 32 civs on the World Map. Apparently, a new version of the scenario file must be created for 32 civs. I'm sure someone will figure it out...
New Way For Resource Gathering
As explained in St Swithin's column, the city collects it's resource from all the tiles around it, no matter the size. There is no placing of workers anymore. This saves LOTS of time, since you dont have to worry where you place your tile improvements, or where to put each worker. As long as the improvement is inside the control area of a city it's going to help, end of story. Please Firaxis, don't give me settlers to do this stuff in Civ3....
AIPopCheat?
In userprofile.txt there is strange setting: AIPopCheat=Yes. What is it, I don't know....
Too Many Screens?
I think that that the first time player will think that there are way too many screens and tabs in CTP2. All I have to say is: it gets better
The game gives lots of information through many screens. Apparently, in order to fit all these on 800x600, you get screens with 2 or 3 tabs. I don't think there is a screen in the game with just one tab. Perhaps only the Army Manager. I don't know if something can be down through the layout(.ldl) files, which are simple text files. These existed in CTP1 as well, but only recently we had a mod of them, giving more space for the city screen(it's now added in the Med Mod). Perhaps a new set of ldl files for 1280x1024 users like me?
Borders and Trespassing
Well, borders are nice. You know where they are, you don't cross them. Unfortunately, you're not warned when you cross them. Given that trespassing means lowering the opponents regard towards you, I think there should be a warning. Perhaps there could be an option to request from the opponent to allow you to pass your troops through his land or water... Note that borders are over the water too, and getting into someone's waters is the same as getting into his land.
1280x1024 With "Clear" Map!
I think the top screenshot on this page is simply great. 1280x1024 Resolution with the control panel and the radar map hidden. With the exception of adding tiles improvements, I think you can play the whole game just like that!
ICS still there or not?
I dont know, I've never been an expert on the kind of calculations people do about ICS. Gedrin suggested a small test in one of the threads, and I think I followed it right. Check the result in the screenshot.
CTRL+S, CTRL+L
I'm ready for the big battle. CTRL+S to do a quick save(no save file screen pops up). I do the battle. I loose. CTRL+L to load the quick save....
Saving takes a couple seconds, but loading a bit more...
That's all for today, and check in, tomorrow!