GENERAL: Will Call to Power ever continue ?

[Ktulu2]

Hi !
This is Adrian.
I'm writing this, 'cause I've heard that the team from activision has been disbanded. I also wrote to Dan Quick and he told me there could be a fan-driven, who's prepared to put up a new team and continue the work. I thought he could use some ideas.

I already bought the Call to Power II. I reckon it's harder than the first one, even though the hardest level I tried and won was "Prince" (on Call to Power).

I wrote to you, because I've got an idea, concearning future Call to Powers or future Civilizations. Perhaps somebody else shared this idea with you already. But perhaps nobody has thought of it, not even a glimpse.
Let's say during the play, somewhere between 2300-2600 A.D., you cand introduce a parallel map, being the most competitive idea so far & ever.

Let's say humanity/civilization/player has just sent a spaceship to explore, conquer and inhabit other planets (first, just ONE PLANET). Future game generations may include several maps at a time. Let's say that map is Mars' (or that Planet X's, they've discovered lately).

While confronting domination on Earth, the player can begin search for another planet, in order to colonize it.Then he can switch between two or more maps. Turns may remain the way they were.
Opponents may follow on discovering the same planet(s).
Please write to me!

My E-Mail: adrianarmas@yahoo.co.uk

[The Big Mc]

this could be a little too time consuming to play

[child of Thor]

Yes but for those of us who like to play games forever, its a nice idea - shame the suits will never let it happen, no money in making huge replayable games apparently

Oh Adrian, i will say that the CTP2 forum is a fairly quiet and honest place in the world of computer game forum's.......BUT its never a great idea to advertise your email over the internet, you might get spammed or worse. Best to use the PM function on the site or just leave it to the actual forum itself.

And yes that kind of huge never ending epic game is the one i'm waiting for

[Solver]

you might get spammed or worse.

Little can be worse...

The idea is quite a nice one, though. It could be a nice new layer to the game and everything, I can only see the little problem of games generally being endless that way. While I like long games (and I assume everyone playing Civ does), I dislike never ending games.

[Ktulu2]

"BUT its never a great idea to advertise your email over the internet, you might get spammed or worse. Best to use the PM function on the site or just leave it to the actual forum itself."

Make it clear !
'Cause I didn't quite get it
Being a Romanian, I don't know every detail (in English).
spammed=?
PM=?

As for the length of the game. I never thought of it. You can imagine it wouldn't take THAT

[Ktulu2]

"BUT its never a great idea to advertise your email over the internet, you might get spammed or worse. Best to use the PM function on the site or just leave it to the actual forum itself."

Make it clear !
'Cause I didn't quite get it
Being a Romanian, I don't know every detail (in English).
spammed=?
PM=?

As for the length of the game. I never thought of it. You can imagine it wouldn't take THAT long. Plus, that era would begin somewhere at the corner of the 3rd millennium. Thus the really rough part is relatively long.

[child of Thor]

How about this then Solver...............

Say at the begining of the game, in the setup screen you could choose the type of game you wanted to play, either a shorter or an epic one? That way its entirely upto the player how much time she can invest in the game

Now upto a few years ago software houses were allowed to design this way if they wanted, maybe a few still try to offer a great deal to their gamers(Bethseda pops to mind).
Still IMHO i think it should be a player choice, not an accountants one

And Adrian to remove you email address, when you next sign in, click the 'edit' tag on your first post(its next to 'reply with quote' at the top right of your first post) and you will be able to delete your email link

PM = Private Messaging, its a forum facility that lets you contact other members of the forum without having to post your email on the forum. Still i've only used it once or twice, usually i just post on the forum but never give out my email so anyone can see it.

Spamming = when nasty indivduals/companies send thousands of 'junk' mail to your email address, so much that it becomes difficult to use your email anymore!

Nice idea by the way, but maybe out of the scope of the current CTP2 source code project thing. But who knows? Maybe have a read of all you can find on C++, all the SLIC 'how to' guides and maybe you could give it a go

[Solver]

Ahh, well, I'd go crazy if I could decide as to when abandon the game myself. I just can't ever really decide, unless the game defines a clear goal for me. So that would be tough .

[Tamerlin]

Welcome Ktulu2...

As far as I remember your idea has already been implemented in Civilization2 : test of time. In the long game (you can choose between the normal game and the longer one at the beginning), the game goes on after your ship has reached Alpha Centaury. There are two parallel maps and you can switch between the two in order to manage your cities.

As far as I am concerned I already think the CtP2 games are too long with the Super Apolyton Pack. I have already reduced the science costs (they are still far higher than those of the original game) and I think I will reduce them again in the near future in order to speed up the latest part of the game which is IMO less interesting as the game is usually won before you reach the future eras.

[The Big Mc]

solver how about total domination of your enemys

the bit i am concerned about is if people take two hours to plan there turn people would get bored easy

[child of Thor]

Yeah Big Mc, i guess a huge scope type game should be single player only, the Multi player game would have to have different rules i guess.

And Tamerlin i played Civ: Test if Time, it was a strange experience! the movement of your units seemed slugish and with all the 'layers' thing added it just didnt feel that great? I liked the idea but the execution was a bit off. IMHO plain old Civ2 is a better game.

[Ktulu2]

Tamerlin,
I don't know that Civ2:Test of Time
I tried to remember today if there was any 2nd layer. I even asked a friend if he remembered being any 2nd map of a planet.
Yes, Alpha Centauri is another game, isn't it ?

[Gilgamensch]

SMAC (Alpha Centauri) is a different game all complete.
CIV2: ToT (Test of time) you can enable multiple layers. You then have 'Earth', and three(?) layers on top. Was quite interresting. As some units where able to jump between....... so you were never save

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by Ktulu2
Tamerlin,
I don't know that Civ2:Test of Time
I tried to remember today if there was any 2nd layer. I even asked a friend if he remembered being any 2nd map of a planet.

To know this feature you would have had to read the manual, though I do most gamers don't, or to play the longer version of the classic game or the science fiction scenario, that which I haven't done.

Yes, Alpha Centauri is another game, isn't it ?

Yes it is, and a very good one IMO. There are no multiple layers, only "Planet".

In Civ2: Test of Time (ToT) one of the goals is still to reach Alpha Centaury before the others do. But once you have reached Alpha Centaury you can choose to play further on, provided you had selected the right options when you started the game, on Earth and on the newly colonized Alpha Centaury where you have to build the ship or project that would allow you to come back on earth before the others do. The game ends when a ship comes back on earth.

The Alpha Centaury planet dscribed in Civ2: ToT has nothing to do with "Planet" in SMAC which, IMO, is much more interesting than Civ2: ToT or Civ3.

[Ktulu2]

O.K.!

I found something in the files of CtP II I found out I can modify some functions in a wide range. From millitary support costs to the cost of building a wonder.

I even modified the number of players (those controlled by AI=computer). It's written u can't have more than 32 (max. within the original game is 8), 'cause it'll work verrrry bad, so I entered 16

Anyway, by modifying the costs of building a unit, I'd have shortened the time of building it (No. Turns <). It wasn't fun any more

So... Do you know somebody, who'll actually continue CtP ?