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Introduction
Call to Power II is an epic game of strategy and empire building. Nurture a fledgling nation into the most powerful empire in history. How you weigh your desires to explore the world, discover advances, conquer other nations, and maintain peace will mean the difference between victory and defeat.
Leading an entire nation of people is a Herculean task, and success is not guaranteed. Compelled by duty to your people, you will need to build cities, establish populations, and manage their needs. You will have to master the forces of nature and use land to your advantage without upsetting the delicate balance of the ecology. You must fend off barbarian invasions and engage other nations of all stripes in various arenas-on the battlefield and at the negotiations table. And, perhaps most important, you will shepherd your people through the cultural and scientific advances that will enable your progress through time.
You will have a vast array of resources available. How you allocate these resources will dramatically affect your empire's viability and prosperity. You may choose to sacrifice scientific advancement in favor of a strong military. You may concentrate on building a few large cities and minimize your expansion. You may set out to explore the world, only to find out that a sudden invasion of your homeland forces you to protect your people. Above all, you must manage your objectives thoughtfully and temper your personal desires by accommodating the needs of your ever-changing empire.
A variety of factors internal and external to your empire will affect your success as a leader. Such things as your proximity to rival empires, access to natural resources and goods, the defensibility of the terrain you control, and your access to navigable waterways will influence your choices.
The paths to victory in Call to Power II are many. You can conquer the world by destroying your enemies, or forge an alliance with every nation to achieve world peace. You can also win through technological supremacy by being the first to develop the magnificent Gaia Controller.
In Call to Power II, your destiny is intertwined with the destinies of the people you rule. Lead them to victory, and you will be immortalized in the annals of history. Lead them astray and your name may be forever enshrouded in the fog of time. The choice is yours.
Installing Call To Power II
Install Directions
- To install Call To Power II, insert the game CD into your CD-ROM drive.
- If AutoPlay is enabled, the installer splash screen should appear.
- When the installer splash screen appears, click on the Install button.
- For Electronic Registration and online help, click the More button.
- Uninstall Call To Power II Shortcut - If you wish to remove Call To Power II from your hard drive, you should always use this shortcut from the Start Menu. This option will remove all game files except your saved games and personal settings.
Note: You can return to the splash screen any time without affecting your installed game.
AutoPlay
If the Call To Power II splash screen
does not appear, try
performing the following steps:
- Double-click on the My Computer icon on your desktop, or right-click on the icon and choose the Open option.
- Select the Refresh option located in the View pull-down menu.
- Double-click on the Call To Power II CD icon in the window or right-click on the icon and choose the AutoPlay option.
- After the Call To Power II title screen appears, click on the Install button.
If the AutoPlay feature does not function, please check the following:
- Make sure the CD is clean and properly placed in the CD-ROM drive.
- Your CD-ROM driver may not be optimized for use with Windows 95/98/ME/2000. To verify this, perform the following steps:
- Open the Windows 95/98/ME/2000 Control Panel folder and double-click on the System icon.
- Click on the Performance tab. If any of your hardware drivers are not fully optimized for use with Windows 95/98/ME/2000, they will be listed here with an explanation of the exact problem and suggestions on how to fix it.
- Windows 95/98/ME/2000 may not be setup to autoplay CDs. To check, perform the following steps:
- Open the Windows 95/98/ME/2000 Control Panel folder and double-click on the System icon.
- Click on the Device Manager tab. Click on the plus sign next to CDROM, select your CD-ROM and choose Properties.
- Click on the Settings tab. Insert a check mark in the box to the left of the Auto Insert Notification and select OK.
DirectX 7a
During the Call To Power II setup, the install process will determine if Microsoft DirectX needs to be installed on your computer. If so, the Microsoft DirectX setup program will install the appropriate files on your computer. See the online Call To Power II Technical Help file for additional information.
Q:
What is DirectX 7a and why do I need it?
A: Microsoft’s DirectX 7a is a set of functions which gives Windows 95/98/ME/2000 games and other applications their power. Using these functions allows applications to perform advanced functions in networking, graphics, sound, and input beyond what’s possible on other operating systems and accounts for many of the performance gains associated with Windows 95/98/ME/2000 games.
Q: If I don’t install DirectX 7a when I install the game, can I install it later?
A: Yes. You will need to manually install it. To do so, use the following instructions:
- Place the disc in the CD-ROM drive and exit from any autoplay screens.
- Double-click on My Computer.
- Right-click on your CD-ROM drive and choose Install DirectX.
- Follow the installation process.
When DirectX installation finishes, you will need to restart your
computer for the new drivers to work.
A: If you already have other Windows 95/98/ME/2000 games on your computer, chances are you already have the initial version of DirectX installed. In this case, the Microsoft installer will detect and overwrite any previous versions with DirectX 7a. At that point, you will need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
If, however, you already have DirectX 7a installed on your computer, the Microsoft DirectX 7a installer will detect it and not overwrite any DirectX 7a files. You may not need to restart your computer after installation in order to run Call To Power II.
Goals of the Game
In Call to Power II, a successful leader must effectively manage three primary resources, food, production, and commerce. Food affects the ability of individual city populations to survive and grow, enabling these cities to expand. Production denotes the raw materials and labor required for building units and city improvements. Commerce represents your empire’s wealth and buying power.
Each section of the map, comprising individual tiles on land or water, has a varying and indefinite supply of these three resources. However, only a limited amount of each resource may be harvested in a given turn. To win the game, you must utilize these fundamental resources, as well as your wits and opportunities, to achieve the following basic goals:
Exploration: When you begin each game, most of the game map is obscured except for a small portion immediately surrounding your settlers. The black areas are parts of the map you have never visited. The gray parts are areas you have visited at one time but are no longer completely visible. You will be able to see things through the shroud, such as terrain, goods, ancient ruins, and foreign cities. If something changes on a grayed-out tile, for instance a unit occupies it or a city is captured, you will not know until you "visit" that area again. You can only see action on tiles if they are within the range of vision of your units, cities, or special, vision-enhancing tile improvements. As you begin to explore your surroundings, you will reveal new terrain, resources, and information critical to your survival and growth. Among other things, you will discover trade goods, friends and foes, roving units, and mysterious ruins.
Growth: An empire is comprised of individual cities which must prosper and grow if your nation is to thrive and expand. Accumulating sufficient food will enable population growth, giving you the resources to build additional cities.
Building: Increasing the production capacity within your cities will enable you to build new units, improvements, and wonders of the world. They will benefit your cities and overall empire by enhancing growth, science, production, commerce, defensive, or other capacities.
Conflict: A powerful military can be a blunt instrument, a surgical tool, or a powerful bargaining chip. Regardless, it is an effective means of achieving your empire’s strategic objectives. Maintaining a powerful military capability requires a significant investment of your nation’s production and commercial resources. A costly arms race could tax your civilization to its limits.
Science: By allocating a certain portion of your commercial resources to scientific research, you can achieve critical discoveries and advances that will in turn provide your empire with significant advantages.
Trade: Careful consideration should be given to what trade goods are available when choosing a location for your cities. These resources represent an important source of income within your empire, and form the basis for trade with other empires.
Diplomacy: Your wits and the opportunities afforded you are the key resources at your disposal when conducting diplomacy. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to speak softly and carry a big stick.
Setting up a Call to Power II Game
To start a game of Call to Power II, click the Call To Power II icon in the Call To Power II folder contained in the Programs section of the Start menu.
After you view the movie, the main menu screen will appear. Select one of the following options: Single Player, Multiplayer, Credits, or Quit. At any time, you may select "Quit" from any screen to exit Call to Power II and return to Windows.
To play a single-player game (and to play the in-game tutorial), click the Single Player Button. The next screen has the following options:
Main Menu
New Game
This is the starting point for launching a new game.
Load Game
Select a previously saved game that you want to continue. Note: Trading saved games between different versions of Call to Power II is not supported (e.g. saved games from one foreign language version of the game will not function correctly in another language version).
Options
Allows you to customize many of the game settings, including music, sound volume, keyboard layout, and gameplay options.
New Game Menu
After clicking the New Game Button, you will be given several choices regarding your game. Each choice consists of a heading and a button. Within the button, the default choice is listed. Your choices are:
Empire
Under the heading Empire you will see a button that says Romans. Click the button. If you do not want to play as the Roman Empire, you have the opportunity to choose a different name for your people. You can choose from 41 ancient and modern nationalities; and you can choose the gender of your leader persona, male or female. In the game, other empires will refer to you by this name. Your choice of nationality has no bearing whatsoever on the nature of your empire. In other words, there are no advantages or disadvantages to your choice. You can also change your name from this screen as well.
Leader Name
Under the heading Leader Name you will see a narrow white box with the name Julius Caesar in it. This is the name you will be known by in the game. As other nations will refer to your people by your empire name, they will address you directly by this name. Your in-game advisors will also occasionally call you by this name (although many of them opt for the customary "Sir" or "Madam." After all, you are the one in charge). If you would like to be known as Julius Caesar, leave this box as is. If you prefer another name, click once in the white box and type in your new name. You may select your own name, a colorful pseudonym, or the name of a great leader from history. Be sure to select a name you like. As the next ruler of a powerful empire, you'll be hearing about yourself a lot!
Difficulty
The default skill level is Medium. If you are new to turned-based strategy games and the Call To Power universe, you are strongly encouraged to select the Beginner level. It will start the game with a tutorial. The tutorial will walk you through the elementary steps of empire building. Keep in mind, you can always turn the tutorial off and forge ahead on your own. Experienced players may wish to up the skill level of the game to adequately challenge them. Higher skill levels pit you against shrewder computer players than the lower levels.
Under the difficulty level, there is also an option to determine the threat of barbarians. Novice players should keep it at its current level of Bandits. After you have selected your skill and barbarian threat levels, return to the New Game Menu by clicking Close.
Number of Empires
The standard number of empires for a game is five. This includes your empire
(e.g. a game of five empires would pit you against four computer opponents). You can lower the number of empires to three and up it to as many as eight. Generally, with fewer opponents, you will have less of a threat to deal with and more time and resources to put into building your empire. However, your rivals will have less to deal with, as well. Increasing or decreasing the number of empires will add subtle differences to the game and will require changes in strategy. Five empires is a good starting number, though, and novice players should leave this level unchanged.
Rules
You may choose to alter two important rules in the game. Those rules are:
Bloodlust
The Bloodlust option determines your options for winning the game. With it on, you have only one way to win-total conquest of your enemies. With it off (as is the default), you have four ways to win Call to Power II: Conquest, High Score, World Peace, and the Science Fiction victories. Consult the Call To Power II Objectives section on page 16 for more information on the various end conditions in Call to Power II.
Pollution
You may choose to play the game without the threat of pollution. The default choice is On. With the Pollution option on, you will have to deal with the pollution your cities create. Pollution adds a level of realism to the game, and you are encouraged to play with it enabled. Nevertheless, you have the choice to disable pollution in the game.
Select Scenario
Call to Power II comes with three pre-designed scenarios, as well as a custom "Earth" map. Some scenarios are historically based and some are fantastical. Each scenario has a series of objectives you must complete in order to win. They are recommended for experienced players only. If you want to play a scenario, click the Select Scenario Button and choose from the list.
World Shape
The World Shape setting determines how the edges of the map behave in the game. The default setting is Earth World and it is recommended for beginners.
Earth World
The Earth World option makes the map behave like a flat map of the earth. In other words, the map represents a spherical world, with the east and west edges of the map connecting. If you move a unit off the right edge of the map, it will appear on the left. The top and bottom edges of the map do not "wrap" around, and units moving toward them will reach a barrier.
Doughnut World
Unlike the Earth World, the Doughnut map connects the east/west borders and the north/south edges. Units traveling to any edge of the map will appear on the opposite edge.
Map Size
The map size option allows you to change the size of the world map. The larger the map, the more territory there is, and the more physical space there exists between nations. Smaller maps will usually mean you will encounter rival nations sooner and may be fighting over land more. Your map size has a profound effect on your strategic considerations. Novice players are advised to keep the default size of Regular. The sizes to choose from are Small, Regular, Huge, and Gigantic. Considerations of territoriality, resource shortages, strategic locations, and exploration should inform your decision on map size.
Please note: In the interest of preserving acceptable game performance, players on lower-end hardware computers should not play on Huge or Gigantic maps.
Customize Map
After you have selected the map size, you may want to customize the physical makeup of the world map. This can add new challenges to the game and make for a more enriching and rewarding experience. You can determine the following conditions for your world:
Wet vs. Dry
This determines the general humidity levels of the land. Jungles and swamps comprise most of the terrain in wet worlds, whereas dry worlds tend toward desert and sand dunes.
Warm vs. Cold
The general temperature of the world will have an effect on terrain as well. Warmer worlds tend toward deserts and savanna, whereas cold worlds contain a lot of tundra, glaciers and polar mountains.
Ocean vs. Land
You can choose between wide, expansive, deep oceans with small pockets of land or massive expanses of terrain interspersed with seas and minor oceans.
Island vs. Continent
This setting determines how dense the land is. Move the slider toward Island and the world will be made up of small archipelagos. The Continent setting will ensure that whatever land is present will be connected, forming for huge continents.
Uniform vs. Diverse
This determines the variety of terrain. A uniform world will tend to have large patches of the same terrain type, whereas a diverse world will look more like a patchwork of land.
Few Goods vs. Many Goods
The amount of goods will have an effect on the economy of your game. In general, less goods on a map means less of an opportunity to make money from trade. However, because the geographic availability of goods plays a role in market prices, abundant goods may equate to more trade routes that are, in turn, less profitable.
Launch Editor
Call to Power II includes a map editor that enables you to create an entire map exactly to your specifications. With it you can lay down any combination of terrain types you wish.
Launch!
Once you have made all of your choices, click the Launch Button to start Call to Power II. Consult the next chapter, The Basics, on page 8, for information on starting your empire.
Multiplayer Menu
So that you can engage your
friends in global domination, Call to Power II supports several modes
of multiplayer games over many types of connections including Internet,
TCP/IP, IPX, LAN.
- Max. # of Players
- Internet (TCP/IP) 4
- TCP/IP LAN 4
- IPX LAN 4
Internet Multiplayer
Click the Multiplayer Button on the Main menu, select Internet from the connection type and click the Next Button.
After a moment, a list of servers will appear. You are free to pick any server on the list, but you should consider picking servers geographically closest to you. In addition, you might want to pick populated servers, i.e. those with other players on them. Finally, you should consider the "ping" time of the servers. Higher ping times will equate to a lower game performance. Look for servers with green dots. These green dots indicate your ping time for that server will be low.
Once you have chosen a server and pressed the Next Button, enter your player name. People online will know you by this name. You can also create an optional profile. On the profile you can give more information (if you choose) such as where you are located, what skill level you like to play at, and ways to contact you outside of the game (such as an e-mail address). Once you are done entering your name and optional profile, press the OK Button.
After a moment or two, you will be connected to the server. Once you have connected, you will find yourself in the main lobby. From here, you can join someone else’s game or create your own.
Once all the players in the game room are satisfied with the settings, press Launch to begin the game. The game will play identically to the single player game, except your opponents are human beings rather than computer players.
TCP/IP or IPX LAN
Similar to the Internet
game, except all the players will need to be on the same LAN (Local
Area Network). Setup is the same, except you do not need to choose a
server.
The Basics
This section is intended for those players new to the Call To Power universe, and new to the turned-based strategy game genre. It will explain what Call to Power II is, how the game works, and some basic concepts you must be familiar with in order to derive the maximum amount of enjoyment from the game.
Although the game has a tutorial on the Beginner level of the game that walks you through the basics of building an empire, this section will introduce you to some of the basics of the turned-based strategy game.
What are turns?
Call to Power II plays much like a board game in many respects. In it, players take turns in which they perform actions to advance their position in the game. These actions could include moving units or building a city.
Why Is Most Of The Screen Black?
You may notice that your Settler is standing on the map surrounded by black. The black area you see is called the Shroud. This represents the parts of the map that you have never seen or explored. Behind the shroud could be fertile lands ripe for new cities, wastelands that will stunt growth, possible friends, or dangerous enemies.
Your settlers will move where you tell them to go, enabling you to explore your initial surroundings. Each settler is capable of founding new cities-a very important skill. It is important to start your first cities soon so your empire doesn’t fall behind. When the game starts, the first settler is already selected. A selected unit has a green circle around it and its health bar will blink.
Moving And Exploring
Begin to explore your initial surroundings. First close the dialog boxes (after reading them carefully). Click on the first settler, holding down the left mouse button. While still holding the button, drag your mouse away from the Settler. You will see his path stretch out. Numbers along the path indicate how long it will take the unit to get to a specific place. If the line is red, it is crossing a point that the unit cannot traverse (such as over the ocean for a land unit). If the line is yellow without numbers, the territory is unknown, so it is impossible to estimate the best path. You may also notice that units will travel faster along rivers. Release the left mouse button and the settler will begin to move. Don’t go too far-remember, you want to get settled as soon as possible.
Building Your First City
You’ll want to begin your first city quickly. You’ll also want to start your first city in an area in which it will be able to flourish. When your settler is not moving, you’ll see that he is surrounded by nine highlighted tiles (a 3x3 square). This represents the area of influence a city founded in that spot would start with. In other words, those are the areas the city would use for farming, production, and trade. Ideally, you want an area that has some grassland (green tiles) to grow food, access to waterways for easy transportation, some hills or mountains for production, and a Trade Good (see Trade, on page 70).
Just as some places are good for city growth, there are others that are bad. You will want to avoid large desert, swamp or snowy areas. Those will not provide as many opportunities to grow and may also slow the movement of units around it.
It is doubtful that you will be able to find the perfect spot. More than likely, you will need to strike a balance. You’ll want more good tiles than bad-sooner rather than later. Move your settlers around to find a decent spot for a city.
You will not be able to build a city if your unit has already moved in that turn. A Settler will usually only be able to move one space each turn (more along rivers). At the end of a turn, hit the End Turn Button. At the beginning of the next turn, click on the Settle Button under the Unit Tab (or right click the Settler and choose Settle from the context menu). The first city built will automatically serve as your new empire’s capital.
Once the city is built you will be shown the Build Manager. This is where you tell your city what to build. A city can build Units (troops), Improvements (city structures that add to growth, happiness, income, and more), or Wonders (magnificent achievements that can only be built once per game).
To begin, build two warriors and another settler. The first warrior will defend your city from chance encounters with barbarians or other empires. You will want to have additional defenders soon, but one is a good start. The second warrior will explore the map to uncover new lands and new areas to colonize. The settler will be used to grow your empire to an additional city.
Double-click on the warrior listed under Units. You will notice that he is added to the Current Queue. Double-click on the warrior again and you will see that now two are listed in the Queue. Finally, double-click on the settler. Next to each unit name in the Queue is the number of turns it will take to produce it. Progress takes time. Press the Close Button to exit the screen and return to the map. Click the End Turn Button a few times to move time along.
Congratulations! You’ve built your first city and started your empire on a glorious path. Now more than ever, it is important that you carefully weigh your decisions. As the leader, your people depend on you.
City Two
Continue to explore the map to find a good spot for another city. It is important to keep your cities close enough-but not too close. As a city grows, it will have influence over more of the surrounding tiles. If your cities are too close they will compete for the same tiles-one will win and the other will lose lose (only one city can control any given tile). It is best if your cities are far enough so that they have plenty of room to grow, and are not constrained by one another. A distance of five or six tiles between your first cities is usually a good start.
You don’t want your cities too far apart either. The large colored border that circles your city signifies your Empire’s territory. If your cities are too far apart you could end up with neutral territory between them. That could lead to other nations claiming that land, significantly dividing your empire. Not only that, widely separated cities are harder to defend from attack. Furthermore, you will only be able to build roads and other improvements on your own territory.
Once you have found a suitable location for your new city, move your settler and build it. Again, you will want to start your build queue with some units to defend, explore, and to continue the expansion of your empire.
Units
Once your first Warrior is built, you will see him standing in your city. Clicking on him will highlight him with a green circle (a red circle means the city is selected). For the first unit, we will want to Fortify him. A fortified unit is better at defending a city or territory. The world is a dangerous place. If trouble comes looking for you (and it will), it is best to be prepared. Press the Fortify Button under the Unit Tab. The Warrior will immediately disappear when fortified within a city. Press the End Turn Button to continue on (if you have the Auto Cycle Turns option on, your turns will end automatically until you have a new unit to move).
You will notice that a castle icon is next to your city’s name. The icon shows you that a unit is fortified within the city. If you ever want to get the unit out, select the city, and then go to the City Management screen by clicking the building icon on the Helm (the circle of buttons at the bottom-center of the screen)-or right click the city and choose City Management from the menu. You can Activate any units you want to remove from the city garrison from the Units Tab.
Press the End Turn Button again until your second Warrior is built. As you did with the Settlers, left-click the Warrior and drag a path out of your city in a promising direction. The Warrior will only be able to move one tile at a time. After you’ve completed your moves for a turn, press the End Turn button. Continue to explore to find new areas to place cities.
Research
At some point, you will see the Research screen pop up. The top box will tell you what new advance your people have learned. Each advance may allow your people to build new units, buildings, or wonders, and may lead to other advances. For more information on any advance (or anything else within Call to Power II), take a look in the Great Library.
The box on the left will tell you what advances your people could start on next. Choose wisely! The box on the right will briefly describe what the selected advance could get you. Click on any underlined word to hyperlink to the Great Library for more details.
Once you have decided which advance to research, press the OK Button to continue.
More Cities
Once your Settler is built by your capital, move him to a good spot to further expand your empire. The more cities you have, the stronger you will be. Balance the need to create additional Settlers to expand your empire, with the importance of building units and improvements within each city for their individual defense, growth and general well being.
The completion of the Settler unit in your first city will leave that city’s build queue empty. Hit the City Manager Button on the Helm. If the city you want is not selected, toggle to it using the arrows on either side of the City Selector at the top left of the City Manager screen (or click the city name and select the city you want from the pull down menu). Click on the Build Button once you have selected the correct city.
As your scientists discover new Advances, new things to build will become available. Look over the options of Units, Buildings and Wonders and decide what is best for the city you selected.
Choosing The Right Unit
Throughout the game, there will be many units available. Each has various attributes that enable them to specialize in a wide variety of tasks. Some are best for attacking enemies, while others are good for defending. Some are well suited for exploration while others are not. Some are special units which conduct special attacks (for example, the Slaver who enslaves). The Settler is a unique unit in that his sole purpose is to construct cities, the cornerstone of your empire.
Some units can move farther than other units in a given turn. The distance a unit can move is measured in movement points. The higher the movement points, the farther a unit can move when all other things are the same. Units will be able to move faster than usual over rivers and roads and slower over hills and tundra. Units on foot will be able to cross any land terrain, while vehicles and units on horseback won’t be able to cross over mountains without roads.
Decide what your goals are and then build the units best suited to them. For more information examine the Great Library or Unit Concepts, on page 42-or try your own combinations to see what works best for you.
Choosing The Right Building
To succeed in Call to Power II, you need food to feed your people, you need to maximize your production, you need to earn gold, and you will need to keep your people happy. Choosing the right buildings for your cities will have a direct impact on these requirements. Each improvement affects how your city will utilize these resources. When you select a building from your list of buildable items, the box on the top right will briefly describe its effect. For more information about the city improvements, examine the Great Library or City Concepts: Building Improvements on page 31.
Goods
You may notice objects representing natural resources or animals on the map like diamonds, bears, elephants, grapes, or alligators. These objects are called Goods. Goods form the basis of the Trade system in the game and are the best source of Gold for your empire. Hopefully you’ve built one of your cities next to a Good. If not, consider locating your next city near a Good. Once the Trade Advance is discovered, you will be able to build Caravans to sell these goods between cities inside and outside of your empire.
Seeing Enemy Units
Your units are always on the lookout. Any tile that they can see is colorful and bright. Some tiles are completely black-this means your units have never seen them at all. Other tiles are covered in a gray fog -this is called the Fog of War. If you see the Fog of War, you know that none of your units can currently see the tile, but you have explored that area at some time in the past. This area will not update to reflect information such as new units, cities, or tile improvements that have entered the area since you last visited. The information will be updated when one of your units revisits the area.
Global Settings
Now that you have two cities, it is important to understand that in Call to Power II there are sets of rules that affect your entire empire such as Rations, Workday, Wages, Government, and others. These are all important to the difficult challenge of maintaining your people’s productivity while sustaining happiness.
Click on the Empire Manager Button on the Helm. The Empire Manager screen is where you go to change your global settings. Notice that there are three sliders that say Rations, Workday, and Wages. The three main things that impact your people’s happiness are how much they work (workday), how much they eat (rations), and how much they are paid (wages). The more they eat and earn and the less they work, the happier they will be.
When you start the game, the sliders are set to the appropriate settings for your current government. If you move the sliders to make your people work harder, eat or earn less, they will become less happy. Sometimes the cost in Happiness is worth increases to Production, Commerce, and Growth of your empire. You can balance this with the other sliders.
In the top center of the menu is a Happiness status bar (this is also on the top right of the main screen). It displays the average happiness of your empire. If the bar turns yellow or red, you may have a problem as this indicates happiness has fallen below the minimum threshold. Angry citizens will riot, stop producing, and eventually revolt.
In the middle column of the menu, under Workday, you will find a box for Public Works. You can use the box to change the percentage of Production that will get allocated to Public Works. Public Works are used to build Tile Improvements such as roads, farms, and mines. On the upper right-hand side of the main screen you will see a hammer icon representing Public Works. This number signifies the amount of public works available. Remember, the more Production you allocate for Public Works, the less you have to build items in your cities and to maintain your military.
In the right column of the menu, under Wages, you will find a box for Science Tax. You can use the box to adjust the percentage of gold that goes to science. The more you put toward science, the faster new Advances will be discovered but the less money you will have left over for Rush Buying items your cities are building or Improvement upkeep.
The Government Tab is also available
under Empire Manager. At the start of the game, you will only know
Tyranny. Looking at the Government Tab you will see that overall,
tyranny is not an excellent government type. Later in the game, you
will discover other governments such as Monarchy, Republic, and
Communism. Each government type provides various benefits in
production, research, growth, and more. When they are available, you
should change governments by selecting them on the Government screen
and pressing the Enact Button. Between governments there is always a
period of anarchy so try to minimize the number of revolutions.
Quick Interface Overview
You’ve tinkered with some of the various menus and buttons on the screen, but most of them remain a mystery. Lets take a moment to quickly examine what does what, and where to find the information you’ll need to lead your empire and master Call to Power II.
The heart of the interface is in the bottom center of the screen. The Helm has shortcuts to all the critical managers of the game. Starting with the top button and working counter-clockwise:
- Empire Manager: From this screen you can change your global domestic policies such as Rations, Workday, Wages, Public Works percentage, and Science Tax. You can change your government from here as well.
- City Manager: Everything you need to know and adjust in an individual city can be found within this screen.
- National Manager: This screen provides powerful summaries and tools to evaluate and work with all your cities at once.
- Trade Manager: This screen allows you to establish Trade Routes, by assigning Caravans, to generate Gold from the sale of your various Trade Goods.
- Great Library: This is the fountain of all knowledge within Call to Power II. From here you can discover more information about any Advances, Units, Improvements, game concepts, and much, much more.
- Science Manager: This screen allows you to view what your empire is currently researching. Once you have embassies with other empires, you can compare what you know against what they know.
- Diplomacy Manager: Within this screen you will be able to view the other empires you have contact with, examine any intelligence about them, and engage in diplomatic negotiations.
- Unit Manager: If you want to quickly view all the units available in your empire, this is the screen to examine. This is also where you’ll want to go to adjust your military alert status.
- Calendar: In the center of the Helm is your calendar. By default it will show you what year your game has progressed to, in game time. By clicking on it you can switch between counting years and counting the number of turns you have taken. When you end your turn, a color bar will be displayed here, indicating the progress of the other empire’s turns.
Directly to the right of the Helm is the Control Panel. This will give you at-a-glance information, access to important functions, unit control, and more. The Control Panel is divided into five tabs:
- Empire Tab: From here you will be able to quickly see what your empire is researching (clicking the Advance will enable you to change it). You will also find critical information about the current status of your empire.
- City Tab: This tab will give you information about the currently selected city. You can see what that city is building (clicking on the item will enable you to go to the Build Manager). You can Rush Buy the item being built, see your mayor’s selected priority, or toggle between all the cities of your empire.
- Unit Tab: The Unit Tab is one of the most active in Call to Power II. Using the unit toggle, you can switch between your units with available movement. It will show you a picture of the selected unit and that unit’s stats (including available movement points, attack strength, defense strength, etc.). It also provides a control panel for the selected unit with quick access to that unit’s abilities.
- Msgs Tab: The Messages Tab is your ‘In-Box’ of information. All tutorial messages are stored within the Msgs Tab for reference. Critical messages that appear on screen will be stored in this tab after you close them. In addition, each turn you will be sent non-critical messages that will only appear in this tab (they will not appear on screen without opening them). Whenever you have an unread message, the tab will be red. You may right-click on any message to delete it from the Messages Tab.
- Tile Tab: From here you can select Tile Improvements to build, such as farms, roads or fishing nets. Placing Tile Improvements costs Public Works. As you discover new Advances, more Tile Improvements will become available.
Across the top of the screen from the left is the Menu Bar.
- Empire: Empire Manager, Trade - Open Market, Trade - Summary, Science Manager, Gaia Controller
- Cities: City - Build Manager, City Manager, National Manager
- Units: Unit Manager, Army Manager
- Diplomacy: Diplomacy Manager, New Proposal
- STATS: Great Library, Ranking, Score, Wonders.
- Options: This pull-down gives you the ability to tweak your game settings (sound, graphics, etc.) as well as the crucial load/save functions.
Also at the top of the screen are the Resource Indicators. These give you a quick view of resources available to you.
- Gold: You can spend gold to Rush Buy items you are building, to grease the wheels in diplomacy, or to raise the pay (and happiness) of your workers. This indicator shows you how much gold you have accumulated so far.
- Public Works: Farms, roads, mines, fisheries, fortifications, and terraforming, all cost public works. This will show you the amount of public works you have available to spend.
- Happiness: Happy citizens are productive citizens. Unhappy citizens lead to bloody uprisings. To quickly see the overall state of your people’s, you need look no further than this indicator. Green is good, yellow is average, and red means you have an unhappy nation.
- Pollution: As the empires of the world grow and modernize they will begin to produce pollution. If pollution gets out of control, tiles surrounding the heaviest polluters will die (no longer able to provide food or production). If pollution remains a problem for too many turns, oceans will rise as a result of global warming-possibly washing away costal cities! The Pollution indicator will show you what the state of the global environment. The indicator will fill up with red as pollution increases.
In the bottom left of the screen you
will find your critical minimap. The minimap will show you your world
at a glance. The white rectangle within the map indicates the area that
is currently in view on the main screen. The buttons across the top
will enable you to sort the map to best serve your needs:
- Units: This will turn on or off units from the minimap. With it on, your units and any enemy units within view will appear on the map.
- Cities: This will turn cities on or off in the minimap. With it on, your cities and any enemy cities you are aware of will appear on the map.
- Borders: This will turn empire borders on or off in the minimap. With it on you will see the known borders for each empire on the map.
- Filtered: This will sharpen or smooth the image of the minimap.
- Trade: This will turn Trade Routes on or off in the minimap. With it on, known Trade Routes will trace across the map in an intricate web of Commerce.
- Terrain: This will determine how terrain is displayed on the minimap. With it on, terrain is distinguished by color on the minimap so you can separate deserts from grassland. With it off, terrain is all one color making it easy to tell manmade items from natural.
- MINIMAP TOGGLE: This will minimize or restore the minimap.
Call To Power II Objectives
As you begin to play Call to Power II, you will be faced with many choices as to the direction of your empire. You may amass a formidable military for the purpose of vanquishing those who would stand in your path, or you may strive to get along with your neighbors and work toward a peaceful, tolerant, and just world. You may be drawn to science, and consume yourself with the pursuit of knowledge. Regardless of your path, there are four distinct ways in which you can claim victory in Call to Power II. You may set out to achieve one of these end conditions, only to change course midway through. You need not determine your goal at the inauguration of your empire. Your experiences, the unfolding of history, and a few surprises will play a role in your empire's direction.
Conquest Victory
In order to achieve the Conquest victory, you must conquer the world. No empire but yours must appear on the map. You will be required to raise an army of epic proportions, rule the seas, explore the world, and form strategic alliances. Although other nations may dislike you, they will come to fear the day your bloodthirsty soldiers land on their shores. Once you have either destroyed or taken over every enemy city on the map, you will have achieved world domination.
High Score Victory
As you progress through the game, you will accumulate a score based on your performance as a leader. AD 2300 is the chronological end of the game. The player with the highest score at the end of the game wins.
Diplomatic Victory ~ World Peace
You may not wish to destroy all of your rivals in bloody combat. You may instead long for a world without war and suffering. By engaging your neighbors in diplomacy, you can help win their regard and trust. When you forge a permanent alliance with every nation in the world, you win the World Peace Diplomatic Victory.
Science Victory ~ Gaia Controller
Much of scientific research
is in the pursuit of ways to improve the world, end its problems, and
make it more efficient. Throughout Call to Power II, you will have the
opportunity to research new scientific advances, which will, in turn,
provide you and your people with better ways of living through art,
culture, technology and understanding. The Gaia Controller is the
culmination of more than six millennia of human determination,
ingenuity and perseverance in the field of science. A device that makes
a limitless supply of energy available, the Gaia Controller opens the
door to a true world utopia, free from want, conflict, scarcity, and
strife. In order to achieve this magnificent creation, you must wind
your way through the Technology Tree of scientific advances in the
game. Once you research the Gaia Controller advance, you will be able
to build the Solaris Project, a wonder of the world. When the Solaris
Project is built, the whole world can race to build the Gaia
Controller. The first nation to build all the components of the Gaia
Controller wins the game.