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GUIDE TO CTP2 for newbies and (potential) buyers
Welcome to the CtP2 community on Apolyton, the only active CtP2 community on the Web!
(Feel free to prove us wrong, we'd love to know if we missed anything)
This thread is to be a collection of information (or links to information) for potential/new/inexperienced players. A lot of the threads in the CtP2-General are about the same subjects: should I buy this game? Why is it good? What mods are there? Can you give me some hints on how to play this game? This thread will hopefully serve as a starting point for answering such questions. It can never be complete and answer every question anyone could possibly ever have, but hopefully it will reduce some of the repetitiveness that can be found in the current discussions in the General forum. This thread is a constant work in progress, so feel free to suggest additions/changes/updates/corrections/etc...
Contents
Why would I like CtP2? What are the differences with Civ3?
Which files must I have if I want to play CtP2 and what other must-have info is there?
What mods are there and which one(s) should I try first?
What ways are there to play?
How should I play this game? (Strategy info)
Why would I like CtP2? What are the differences with Civ3?
For a comparison with Civ3, Solver wrote an excellent guide titled CtP2 vs. Civ3 - a guide. This guide, as well as the discussion that follows it, should answer most questions for Civ3 players interested in finding out if CtP2 is a game for them.
In addition to that, I would like to explain why I think there is so much hatred against CtP2 among old-timers (who can mostly be found in the Apolyton Off-Topic and Other Games forum, and to a lesser extend in the Civ3 section and on other websites such as CivFanatics). This widespread hatred has made many potential players (consciously or subconsciously) hesistant towards trying CtP2, so hopefully an explanation for this might easy some minds:
CtP2 is a sequel of CtP1 so people who feel Activision 'betrayed' them with CtP1 are equally p*ssed with CtP2. It's true that Activision didn't learn it's lesson and that CtP2 was just as poor as CtP1 (if not worse), but many of the critics don't even know about this as they've never bothered to try the sequel. The fact that CtP1 was so bad is enough for them to hate CtP2 as well. Those who did try CtP2 are at least as pissed because they 'got screwed' by Activision twice. Many people who never tried either game hear all these rumours about how poor the CtP series is and become very hesistant to try it, which has done the CtP community much harm over the years 
That was not the only reason why some people hate the game though, another reason has to do with has Activision marketed the game:
Welcome to the CtP2 community on Apolyton, the only active CtP2 community on the Web!
(Feel free to prove us wrong, we'd love to know if we missed anything)
This thread is to be a collection of information (or links to information) for potential/new/inexperienced players. A lot of the threads in the CtP2-General are about the same subjects: should I buy this game? Why is it good? What mods are there? Can you give me some hints on how to play this game? This thread will hopefully serve as a starting point for answering such questions. It can never be complete and answer every question anyone could possibly ever have, but hopefully it will reduce some of the repetitiveness that can be found in the current discussions in the General forum. This thread is a constant work in progress, so feel free to suggest additions/changes/updates/corrections/etc...
Contents
Why would I like CtP2? What are the differences with Civ3?
Which files must I have if I want to play CtP2 and what other must-have info is there?
What mods are there and which one(s) should I try first?
What ways are there to play?
How should I play this game? (Strategy info)
Why would I like CtP2? What are the differences with Civ3?
For a comparison with Civ3, Solver wrote an excellent guide titled CtP2 vs. Civ3 - a guide. This guide, as well as the discussion that follows it, should answer most questions for Civ3 players interested in finding out if CtP2 is a game for them.
In addition to that, I would like to explain why I think there is so much hatred against CtP2 among old-timers (who can mostly be found in the Apolyton Off-Topic and Other Games forum, and to a lesser extend in the Civ3 section and on other websites such as CivFanatics). This widespread hatred has made many potential players (consciously or subconsciously) hesistant towards trying CtP2, so hopefully an explanation for this might easy some minds:
Originally posted here
Oddly enough, many of the people who critize the CtP series have barely given it a decent chance (if they've played it at all), and usually, the more they hate it, the less they actually know/understand about the game. Much of this hatred probably comes from the fact that CtP1 was one of the first TBS games released in what I call the 'Internet era' of computer gaming, where you can't play a game properly without installing a few patches. This idea was pretty new back than and the fact that the unpatched game was rather buggy and unbalanced generated a lot of resentment. Today it's unfortunately industry standard and most people don't seem to mind nearly as much (how many patches did Civ3 have up 'til now? 4, 5, 6?
).
Oddly enough, many of the people who critize the CtP series have barely given it a decent chance (if they've played it at all), and usually, the more they hate it, the less they actually know/understand about the game. Much of this hatred probably comes from the fact that CtP1 was one of the first TBS games released in what I call the 'Internet era' of computer gaming, where you can't play a game properly without installing a few patches. This idea was pretty new back than and the fact that the unpatched game was rather buggy and unbalanced generated a lot of resentment. Today it's unfortunately industry standard and most people don't seem to mind nearly as much (how many patches did Civ3 have up 'til now? 4, 5, 6?
).
That was not the only reason why some people hate the game though, another reason has to do with has Activision marketed the game:
Originally posted here
[W]hen CtP1 came out, many exactly expected it to be like Civ2, only better; especially since it carried the Civilization name in the title (the exact same thing happened with Civ3). But for a lot of these people, Civ2 is already near-perfection. If anything, all that game needs for them is another patch or two to fix the most blatant bugs and exploits and maybe an update for the AI and the graphics engine. Any other change is almost by definition a bad thing. And CtP makes quite a few changes; as I’ve pointed out, it’s a very different game. So how dare these Activision people who are not Sid Meier touch our Sacred Game?! Some people went as far as to launch crusades against the names of specific units…
One could argue that it might have been better if Activision hadn’t marketed the game quite as prominently as a sequel to Civ2, but you can hardly blame them for wanting to ensure the game’s commercial success. And I’m not sure if I should feel sorry for someone who’s disappointed the game he bought isn’t what he expected it to be, when he bought it on the name only.
[W]hen CtP1 came out, many exactly expected it to be like Civ2, only better; especially since it carried the Civilization name in the title (the exact same thing happened with Civ3). But for a lot of these people, Civ2 is already near-perfection. If anything, all that game needs for them is another patch or two to fix the most blatant bugs and exploits and maybe an update for the AI and the graphics engine. Any other change is almost by definition a bad thing. And CtP makes quite a few changes; as I’ve pointed out, it’s a very different game. So how dare these Activision people who are not Sid Meier touch our Sacred Game?! Some people went as far as to launch crusades against the names of specific units…
One could argue that it might have been better if Activision hadn’t marketed the game quite as prominently as a sequel to Civ2, but you can hardly blame them for wanting to ensure the game’s commercial success. And I’m not sure if I should feel sorry for someone who’s disappointed the game he bought isn’t what he expected it to be, when he bought it on the name only.
), so make sure you get the correct version (the link provided here is the correct version). ModSwapper makes it possible to switch between mods for CtP2, so you can play with as many mods as you like (as well sa the original game) without having to make changes to the text files. ModSwapper is a tool which you run instead of ctp2.exe. When started, it gives you a dialog window in which you can choose with which mod you wish to play this session and then let's you launch the game with that mod. Important note: you can't swap mod mid-game: once you started a game with one mod, you normally can't just start your savegame with a different mod and continue to play with that other mod. You'll have to either finish that game with the mod you started it with or start another game with that other mod. Having different savegames that work with different mods is okay, but you'll have to quit and restart CtP2 and switch mods if you want to play a savegame that works with a different mod.
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