Call to Power 2 MULTIPLAYER README

[Martin Gühmann]

MULTIPLAYER README

Last Updated 11/1/00

Selecting Multiplayer from the Main menu will take you to the Multiplayer Setup screens.

Please note, Due to the complexity and length of the games, we highly recommend that the maximum number of human players in a game is limited to 4.

SELECT CONNECTION: Select a communication protocol form the connection Type list box. You must have a connection to the Internet to use the Internet connection type. You must be connected to a LAN (Local Area Network) to use IPX or TCP/TP. Selecting connection type displays information about the protocol in the Description text box. Click NEXT when you have selected a protocol.

• Selecting Internet will take the player to the Select Server screen.
• Selecting TCP/IP LAN or IPX will take the player to the Select Profile screen.

Note about Internet play: Call to Power 2 may be incompatible with some high-speed Internet connections. Those Internet Service Providers, which require the user to dial-in and establish a connection in order to access the Internet, and use PPPOE (Point-to-Point Protocol Over Ethernet), may be unable to play Call to Power 2 over the Internet. If you receive the message "Unable to join lobby" when selecting any server from the Internet Server List, Call to Power 2 may not support Internet play through your Internet Service Provider. LAN play over TCP/IP and IPX should not be affected.

Before contacting Activision Customer Support regarding any connection problems, please contact your ISP.

SELECT SERVER: All available servers are listed in the Server list box. Servers are sorted by PING (Packet Internet Groper) by default. Low PING numbers means a better, faster connection can be made. Anywhere PING times are displayed, the numbers will be color coded, green for good connection, yellow for some lag, red for high lag and a bad connection.

 

SELECT PROFILE: Choose a player name.

• Enter a name in the Player Name editable text box to begin the game without creating a profile, and then select NEXT
• If you have played before and want to use an old profile, select a saved profile from the Saved Profiles list box and then select NEXT
• To create a new profile, click the CREATE PROFILE button.
• To edit a saved profile, select the profile from the Saved Profiles list box then click the EDIT PROFILE BUTTON. The profile screen will then display the selected profile.
• To delete a saved profile, select the profile from the Saved Profiles list box then clicking the DELETE PROFILE button. The profile will be immediately deleted.

 

PROFILE: Create or edit a player profile. Your profile information will be available to other players.

• Enter a name in the Player Name editable text box. This is the only mandatory field on this screen. The profile cannot be created without this information. All other fields are optional.
• LOCATION: tell the other players where you are from.
• MESSAGING SERVICE NUMBER: If you have a messaging service account, you can enter your ID in the editable text box.
• EMAIL: enter your e-mail address in the editable text box.
• PLAYER INFO: Enter any personal information that you would like to share with others. For example, age, gender, occupation, or personal philosophies.
• EXPERIENCE LEVEL: Select your experience level (Beginner, Easy, Medium, Hard, Very Hard, or Impossible)

Click OK to accept the new profile information and to create the profile or CANCEL to return to the previous screen without any changes.

 

MAIN CHAT: Selecting a profile allows the player to enter the lobby

• The lobby name is displayed in the lobby text field.
• All players in the lobby are listed in the Players List box. Players are sortable by their status (Muted/Not Muted), PING, and name).
• Mute Icon: This indicates whether a player has been blocked from your chat channel.
• PING: This indicates the player's connection speed.
• All games are listed in the Games list box. Games are sortable by their column headers:
• Launch: A checkmark under the plane icon indicates that the game has already been launched and is in progress.
• Name: The game name.
• Lock: A checkmark indicates a locked game.
• No Access: A checkmark indicates that the game is password- protected.
• Players: Number of players in the game.
• Click the CHANGE LOBBY button to go to another lobby
• Click the CREATE GAME button to host and create a new game. This will take you to the Create/Join Game Setup screen.
• Select a game from the Games list box then click the JOIN GAME button to join a game. This will take you to the Create/Join Game Setup screen.
• The Chat editable text box can be used to send messages to all players or to only specified players.
• Enter a message in the chat editable text box, and then press ENTER to send the message.
• Select a player from the Players list box, the click the PROFILE button to see information about that player.
• Select a player from the Players list box, then click the MUTE button to stop displaying all messages from that player.
• Select a player from the Players list box, the click the PRIVATE/PUBLIC toggle button to carry on a private conversation. Your messages will only be sent to the selected player.
• Select a game from the Games list box and click the REVIEW button to review the rules and conditions of a specified game.

 

SELECTING GAME SETUPS: When you create a game, you will be asked to choose from a list of setup options. Each time you create a new multiplayer game, the rules, exclusions, and map settings for that game will be saved as a setup with the name of that multiplayer game. You can load an old setup by clicking on Load Setup in the Select Setup menu. If you create a new setup instead, all game settings will be returned to their defaults.

CREATE/JOIN GAME SETUP: Create a game that you host and in which you specify the rules or join a game that someone else has created.

Players are listed in the players list box. Players are sortable by their column headers:

• HOST: A checkmark under the crown icon indicates that the player is the host.
• LAUNCH: A checkmark under the plane icon indicates that the player has launched and is ready to begin the game.
• PLAYER: The player name.
• PING: The player's connection speed. Numbers are color-coded:
• Green indicates a fast connection.
• Yellow indicates an average connection.
• Red indicates a slow connection.
• EMPIRE: Select a Empire to represent. Clicking on the default Empire name will bring up the Empire selection list.
• Empire's names are on checkboxes. Select one tribe to represent. If an Empire is grayed out, then another player or AI has already selected that Empire.
• The leader name is displayed in the Leader Name text field.
• Select a gender.
• Click BACK when ready.
• GOLD: The client players' gold spinners are disabled unless the host switches Handicapping On in the rules. When Handicapping is Off, all players will start with the same amount of gold that the host sets for him or herself. With Handicapping On, players are free to set their own starting gold. Each player must set their own Gold and Public Works – the Host cannot.
• SETTLERS: Add the numbers of Settlers to start with, from one to nine. If Handicapping is turned on then the players will be able to set the amount of Settlers that they wish to play with. However, if Handicapping is turned off, then only the host can change this amount.
• GAME NAME: In the editable field, type the name of your game. The default game name will always be the Host's name.
• ADD AI: To ad an AI player to the game, click the ADD AI button. The host can specify the Empires, leader names, etc.for AI players the same way the host does his/her own.
• EXCLUSIONS: Click this button to open the Exclusions screen. Only the host can change the exclusions in the game. Clients may review the exclusions set by the host
• RULES: Click this button to open the Rules screen. Only the host can set the rules for the game. Clients may review the rules set by the host.
• GAME STYLE: Choose the type of game to play
• Normal: Turns will not advance until the Player clicks on the End Turn button.
• Speed Turns: Every Player has a set amount of seconds to complete his/her turn. You can designate the length of time in the field, which appears to the right of the Game Style menu. Once the time is up, the game automatically moves to the next player. It is highly recommended that turns be set to greater than 30 seconds.
• Carryover: Like Speed Turns, every player has a set amount of seconds to complete his/her turn. However, if the player completes his turn before his/her time is up, then that extra time is added to the Player's next turn. Thus, if the game is set for 30 second turns and the Player only uses 25 seconds during his turn, then the Player will receive 35 seconds on the next turn. However, the most a player can ever accumulate is double the game setting (in a game with 30 second turns – the most a player could have is 60 seconds).
• Speed Cities: Once again, every Player has a designated amount of time to complete his/her turn. In addition, the Player will receive more time as the Player establishes additional cities in the game. For example, if the game is set for 30 seconds turns per city and the Player has 3 cities, then that Player will have 90 seconds to complete his/her turn.
• LOBBY: To return to the Main Lobby, click on this button.
• LAUNCH BUTTON: If you are satisfied with the settings, click on the Launch button. If the game is already in progress, then you will be launched immediately into the game. If not, then you must wait until all players click on the Launch button before the game will begin.

The chat editable text box can be sued to send messages to all players or to only specified players.

• Enter a message in the chat editable text box, then press ENTER to send the message.
• If you are the host, and you wish, click the LOCK button to prevent any other players from joining the game. The lock is only in effect for unlaunched games. If the game is started with DYANAMIC JOIN on, other players will be able to join (see below for how to change DYANAMIC JOIN options).
• Select a player from the Players list box then click the PROFILE button to see information about that player.
• If you are the host, and you wish, select a player from the Players list box and click the KICK button to eject a player or AI from the game.
• Select a game from the Games list box and then click the REVIEW button to review the rules and conditions of the selected game.

EXCLUSIONS: This is a list of all units, improvements, and wonders. Only the host can select items to be disallowed in the game.

Click on the button that corresponds to the type of exclusions you would like to make. Activate a checkbox by clicking on it once. The button will depress and a green dot will appear in the box. Deactivate a box by clicking it again to remove the green dot. Scroll right or left to view more items.

• Clicking on the UNITS button brings up a list of checkboxes representing all of the units.
• Clicking on the IMPROVEMENTS button brings up a list of checkboxes representing all of the improvements.
• Clicking on the WONDERS button brings up a list of checkboxes representing all of the wonders.

Clicking the REVIEW button displays the current Rule & Map settings chosen by the Host.

RULES: This allows the host to set the rules for the game.

• POLLUTION: The default is ON. This option turns pollution Off. No pollution occurs in the game when pollution is Off. Click the POLLUTION button once to turn pollution Off. Click the button again to turn pollution on.
• DYNAMIC JOIN: This allows new players to join the game after it is in progress. This will not work if the game has been locked. The default is Off. To enable Dynamic Join, click the DYANAMIC JOIN button once. Click the button again to turn Dynamic Join off. When Dynamic Join is turned on, players, who were in the game from the beginning and had to rejoin, will retake the Empire, that he/she was previously controlling. New players will take the place of an AI Empire including the Empire’s name and diplomatic relations (pacts, treaties, and wars). New players are not allowed to change the Empire name unless the entire game is restarted.
• HANDICAPPING: When this option is On, all players determine their own starting amount of Settlers and gold. The default is Off. Individual spinners in the Players list box of the Create/Join Game Setup screen are active, and each player can set his or her own.

CUSTOMIZE: This allows the host to customize game options.

• MAP SIZE: Select a map size to play on. The default is small.
• CUSTOMIZE MAP: Set the world conditions and climate. Use the sliders to change the settings.
• WORLD SHAPE: Select whether you want to play either an Earth-like or doughnut shaped map.
• DIFFICULTY: Set the difficulty of the game. The default is Beginner level, with Barbarians in Ruins only.
• AGES: All players in the game will start with all the Advances leading up to the game's starting age. Players will only be able to research Advances up to and included in the game's ending age.

 

DURING THE GAME

The only way to win a multiplayer game is with blood. To be victorious, your empire must be the only nation on the map. Vae victus!!

In the game, if the host wishes to kick a player, then the host can press ctrl+n to bring up a list of all the players in the game. To kick a player, select the player, that you wish to click, and then click on the Kick button. Note: you can only kick human players from the game and not the AI. Also, if dynamically join is turned on, the host can choose to close off any Empires from being taken over by new players. To do this, select the empire and then click on either Open (allow human players to take over this Empire) or Close (to disallow human players from taking over this Empire).

Also, if a human player chooses to leave a game, then the AI will automatically take the place of the departing player. However, the human player will not be able to rejoin the game if dynamic join is not turned on. If this is the case, then the host will have to quit the game and restart a new one from a saved game.

Finally, to chat with other players in the game, hit the apostrophe key (') to bring up the chat window. Type your message in the editable field and hit ENTER to send hit. To close the box, hit ENTER when there are not words in the field. When a message is sent, all the other players will hear a chime and the message will appear in the upper left hand corner. While messages will appear on the game screen, they will fade away after a short period of time, however all messages can be reviewed in the chat window.

SAVING & LOADING: Only the host of the game has the ability to Save or Load the game and they can do it at any time. Please note: due to the length of typical games along with the inherent instability of the Internet, we strongly recommend that ‘Autosave’ be enabled to automatically store games in the event of a disconnection.

When loading a save game with AI players, it may appear that the AI is not present. They are, and once the game is loaded they will continue to play. AI opponents don’t appear in the Multiplayer Game Setup screens.

RESYNCHRONIZATION: Network latency (sometimes referred to as "lag") and lost packets of information, may occasionally cause a multiplayer game to go slightly "out of synch." This means that what one player is seeing might not be the same as what another player sees. Call to Power 2 will detect this and "resynchronize" all the players. During resynchronization, a message box will appear and pause all turns. If you lose your connection during this process, use the Abort button to cancel the resynchronization and immediately disconnect from the multiplayer game. If the Resynchronization box appears frequently during a game, double check your connection or try playing at another time when network traffic is lighter.

WHEN A PLAYER LEAVES: When a human player leaves the game, an AI player will fill in for them. This includes the host player or any of the clients.

NO RETREAT: Unlike the single player version of Call to Power 2, the attacker cannot retreat from a battle.

MOVING THE MAP DURING OTHER PEOPLE’S TURNS: If the map is scrolled rapidly during an opponents turn, the cycling of turns may be interrupted and the game will appear to be paused.