NEW DIPLOMOD BETA FINALLY HERE
(18 March 2002, 18:06 | CtP2 | -1 comments) Peter Triggs has finally released the first Beta version of the most ambitious SLIC project in Call To Power II`s history. The new Diplomod is the successor to the already very popular Diplomod by Dale. The most important features it adds are the following.
1) AI-AI Diplomacy is [properly] implemented.
2) Embassys are established by negotiation. (Actually, they come virtually automatically after the discovery of Dynasty. This might be too easy.)
3) No Trespassing, Ceasefire, Peace, Trade, Research, Military, and Alliance treaties all have fixed lengths.
After the original Diplomod, this MOD is another complete overhaul of CTPII`s diplomacy system. However, it is still a beta and feedback is needed very much. You can download the beta from the Cradle v1.3 thread and post your feedback at this location. Thanks to `Locutus` for the news tip. - DanQ
SKAVEN RELAUNCH
(15 March 2002, 23:30 | CtP2 | -1 comments) (LNA) Tripa has announced in the forums that the Skaven clan has recently launched a new initiative with accompanying new website:
You would have all heard of Skaven Clan well as of the 2/04/02 we will be a Community with clan hosting. That`s right we are becoming the newest type of clan on the net the first clan that is open to anyone and everyone we can now be found at newskaven.com which is our new home. The site is still old until the 2nd of next month when the new design will be uploaded. [B]ut all the division pages are now as new as can be. Skaven CTP2 division page is all new and we are currently looking for new division council. If you would like to join skaven visit us at the site above. If you would like to just drop by our new Forums you are welcome there to Skavens Forums.
A few weeks ago GxNapeoplon made a similar announcement about the Guardian clan. So if you`re interested in clan gaming, these are certainly interesting developments. Thanks to `Locutus` for the news tip. - DanQ
MULTIPLAYER REGISTRY
(12 March 2002, 10:56 | CtP2 | 67 comments) (LNA) While some of the SLICers and MPers are trying to fix the infamous rush-buy bug, Oerdin has started another initiative to promote the - contrary to popular believe - still very much alive Ctp2 Multiplayer community:
After much delay I am here to announce the begining of the new Official Apolyton Call to Power 2 Multiplayer Registry. The purpose of this registry is to help MP players of CTP2 locate other players whom they can match wits against. This should make it easier for new people to find gamers to play against and hopefully it will help those of us who are old-pros to find new and interesting opponents. So please take the time and fill in the registry form.
If you play or want to play multiplayer CtP2, sign up for the registry here. - MarkG
SUCCESSION GAME 5 STARTED
(12 March 2002, 10:54 | CtP2 | -1 comments) (LNA) The fifth Apolyton CtP2 succession game (and the first succession game based on the Cradle mod) has begun. Locutus has kicked off the first turn as the Egyptians:
Along the banks of the great river Nile lived the people of [Egypt]. They lived in small villages and fed themselves by fishing the river, foraging the nearby forests and hunting the plains and grasslands next to the river. One day, in the summer of the year now known as 7000 BC, the Year of the First Revelation, a local chief called Locutus was hunting the plains south and east of the river. [...] Since everyone wanted to live as close to the Holy Site as possible, many houses were constructed near the Pyramid. Soon the village grew into a city with over 10,000 inhabitants and became known in the Sacred Language as Men-nefer, "established and beautiful", for beautiful it was. Popularly it became known as Memphis.
A second team of succession game players is waiting for everyone to get their computers in working order. In the meantime, they are still accepting new players, so if you want to join, sign up here. - MarkG
MODDING FRENZY
(7 March 2002, 10:48 | CtP2) (LNA) In the last few days the CtP2 modmaking community have spun slightly out of control and released and announced an unprecended number of new mods and scenarios:
- Cradle 1.3 beta by hexagonian. Latest version of the famous Cradle of Civilizations mod: it adds new victory options (Birth of an empire, Global empire and SETI Colony) and makes some changes to governments, units, science and disasters. Details and files can be found here.
- Space Scenario by Pedrunn. Pedrunn announced an exciting new project: he is working on a space scenario. The most striking feature will no doubt be the space graphics: units, terrain, trade goods, everything is planned to be redone for this scenario. To read more about it and maybe even to help Pedrunn, go here.
- Medieval Pack v2.1: Crusade! update by WesW. Did you also think Wes had stopped working on his legendary MedMod and moved on to Civ3? Well, think again, because he`s back! He released another update to his mod, including (among others) the following changes: reduced production and pollution to help the AI; improvements to the AI`s military strategies to make it more aggressive; changes to the personality switch routines; changes to the difficulty levels to make the game tougher on the higher levels; inclusion of the option for unit updating and frenzy code. Details and downloads can be found here.
- World at War! v1.0 beta by Dale. Yet another veteran has returned to CtP2. Dale is also back at CtP2 and his first project is a modpack (not a scenario) that plays in the first half of the 20th century, the time of the world wars. It includes a completely new tech tree, 50+ units, 16 buildings and 6 wonders, all based on the period. It also makes changes to the AI, the starting situation and adds historical events. See this thread for downloads and readmes and this thread for discussing ideas for the mod.
- Better Regard Faces by Pedrunn. This is a small mod by Pedrunn. It replaces the - sometimes hard to recognize - regard faces of the CtP2 diplomacy screens with the clearer ones from CtP1. Details and download can be found here.
- Habsburg Scenario beta by tigger. Not made by a veteran this time but that certainly doesn`t make the result any less good. A very fun and challenging scenario about Charles V. It is set in 1519 with {quote}the Habsburgs desperately trying to hang on (and expand) their empire in the face of hatred from the French and the Ottomans. Martin Luthers proclamations mean that the cities in the German states are on the verge of rebellion.{/quote} Download and more information can be found here.
- Europe Maps and Mapmaking Guide by FRITZ. Some enormous maps of Europe have been released by FRITZ: one of 250x346 and one of 350x484. To give you an idea of the size, on the largest one the Peloponnese alone takes up well over half the screen (on 1024x768, default zoom level). On the smaller of the two roughly all of Greece (excluding Macedonia and Thace) takes up the entire screen. See this thread for details. FRITZ also release a short guide on map-making, a very useful read for anyone who wants to make maps, see here.
All available now, at a website near you! - MarkG
SUCCESSION GAMES ARE BACK!
(23 February 2002, 18:02 | CtP2 | -1 comments) (LNA) A very popular way of playing CtP2 last year, succession games (where each player plays for 10 or 20 turns and then passes the savegame on to someone else), died out as the release of Civ3 grew closer. However, this tradition will soon be restored again, as a new succession game was announced in the forums recently. At the time of writing 3 players had shown an interest in participating but more players are still welcome. Visit the forum thread to read more and join in!
- MarkG
NEW SPRITES
(13 February 2002, 14:52 | CtP2 | -1 comments) (LNA) The forum user law has kept a promise and created a whole set of new sprites (17 in total, if I counted correctly). This set includes: many Star Wars units, some Star Trek units, various airplanes, some tanks, a zeppelin, a troll, a castle and others. These units can all be downloaded from law's website.
In other modding news, Dale and kaan have returned to CtP2 modmaking and various ambitious new mods and scenarios have been announced on the Creation forum. Go check them out if you haven't already!
- MarkG
RETURN OF THE DANE
(26 January 2002, 21:28 | CtP2 | -1 comments) (LNA) Good news for modmakers: after a hiatus of several months, Martin the Dane is back on the forums. And he immediately made good start by releasing a new version of his ReadZFSFile program (the .zfs viewer/extractor), which can be downloaded from this forum thread and Martin`s website. The new version includes
Extracts and displays text, graphics, and sound files from the .zfs files found in Civ:CTP and CTP2.
Save the .rim files found in the graphics-.zfs`s as either .rim or .tga-files.
New:
Added save multiple selected files.
Added a search feature so now you can search for a specific filename within the open .zfs-file and for files with a specific string.
Fixed Save All Files so now _all_ files are saved, not just the selected file.
In other modding news, sun_tzu_159 (aka Art of War) has finally found a way to make the AI terraform. See this thread for details. - MarkG
CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION V1.3 BETA
(26 January 2002, 12:25 | CtP2 | -1 comments) (LNA*) Hexagonian has released a new version of his mod: Cradle 1.3 Beta. It is a modification of the Deity Slayer version of his v1.2 mod.
One of the main features of this new version will eventually be greatly improved diplomacy, something Peter Triggs is currently working on. Most of the changes in the current beta however aim at making the game even tougher than it already was: the amount of gold that comes from city improvements has been reduced, various means to fight unhappiness have been made less effective, rush buying and unit upgrading have become more expensive. To quote the creator himself: I think this should make the game tougher so if you are not having enough difficulty in Cradle, give this one a shot. Any input is welcome too.
More details can be found in the Cradle 1.2 forum thread and the new files can be downloaded from The Land of Hexagonia.
*LNA=Locutus News Agency - MarkG
JUST AVERAGE, SAYS AFTONBLADET
(16 January 2002, 05:27 | CtP2) Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet has posted a brief review of Call To Power II written by staff member Henrik Rudin. It was awarded 3/5 possible "plus" points. According to the site, it was originally published in their print edition last January. On a related note, the site gave Civilization III 5/5 "plus" points. - DanQ