Call to Power II

Infobox VG
title = Call to Power II


developer = Activision
publisher = Activision
designer = David White, Tony Evans, Dan Haggerty, Winnie Lee
engine =
released = November 2000
genre = Turn-based strategy game
modes = Single player, multiplayer over TCP/IP, IPX
ratings = ESRB: E (Everyone (6+))
platforms = PC
media = CD
requirements = 166 MHz CPU, 64 MB RAM, 320 MB space, DirectX7 compliant video card (for the Windows version)
input = mouse, keyboard

Call to Power II (CTP2) is a PC turn-based strategy game released by Activision as a sequel to , which was, in turn, a game similar to the "Civilization" computer game by Sid Meier. The game could not have "Civilization" in its title because the word is trademarked by the makers of the original Civilization series. [cite web|url=http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/calltopower2/review.html?sid=2656251 |title=Call to Power II for PC Review |last=Geryk |first=Bruce |work=GameSpot PC Games" p. 1 |publisher=CNET Networks Entertainment |month=November 20, |year=2000 |accessmonthday=March 1 |accessyear=2007] In October 2003, Activision released the source code, enabling the Apolyton gaming community to debug, improve, and add new features.

Differences from Civilization: Call to Power

Call to Power II (CTP2) had a number of differences from the previous (CTP). Many reviewers and players criticised CTP for its interface, which prompted a complete redesign of the user interface in CTP2. Overall, the CTP2 interface is largely considered cleaner and easier to use, although not without its shortcomings, many of which were caused by programming bugs.

CTP2 also included several gameplay differences. Maximum army size was increased, some balance adjustments were made to avoid the balance problems from the original CTP (for example, Ships of the Line were so powerful in CTP that getting them first could mean winning the game), and the economic system in CTP2 was reworked so that controlling good terrain became more profitable. Another difference in CTP2 is that the player can receive bonuses for certain achievements, if s/he is the first to do the action (recapturing a city, sailing around the world, etc).

The diplomacy model in CTP2 is a major improvement over CTP diplomacy, with more agreements available for negotiation. Players could, for example, ask the AI controlled civilizations to stop researching some technology, or to reduce their nuclear weapons arsenal.

Space colonization and the space layer was removed from CTP2, along with the "Alien Life Project" victory condition. Another victory condition was introduced, which required the player to cover most of the planet's territory with Gaia sensors and build the Gaia controller wonder, winning the game.

Problems

After CTP2 was released, it became evident that the game had a number of very serious bugs and shortcomings. For example, there was no option of PBEM play, which had become popular among CTP players, and was also expected to be in CTP2. Later, one of the developers posted modifications to one of the game files that would allow access to PBEM mode, but it worked poorly, basically to the point of being unplayable. The conventional multiplayer mode was also buggy and almost unplayable.

The computer player A.I. in CTP2 was commonly considered weaker than in its predecessor, having trouble moving its units around its own bigger unit stacks, being unable to defend captured land (leaving cities it captures undefended on the next turn), and often ignoring defense of its own lands almost completely (it was quite possible for the human players to conquer a large portion of an AI empire with just one or two units).

CtP2 also had some other bugs, related to scenario editing, in-game diplomacy and other elements of the game.

To address these issues, Activision released a patch for CTP2. The patch did add some new functionality to SLIC (see below) and fixed some of the worst bugs in CTP2, but unfortunately, it still didn't fix the AI problems and didn't add PBEM support either. Conventional multiplayer became playable, although some bugs that could be used as cheats remained.

Not long after the patch was released, Activision officially announced that they were ending all support for the Call to Power series, and there would be no further sequels, expansion packs or patches. The developer team that worked on CTP2 left Activision.

Mods

One of the most remarkable features of CTP2 is its great support for mods. A large number of game rules are stored in text files, along with many AI scripts. Even more importantly, CTP2 had a fully documented scripting language called SLIC, with a C-like syntax, through which many things about the game could be tweaked. The sole released patch for CTP2 enhanced the functionality of SLIC, allowing creation of mods that change the gameplay significantly. The CTP2 community created many mods, with the primary goals of fixing the AI and balance issues that were in the original game. Later, new gameplay features were incorporated through mods as well. These mods allowed the CTP2 community to enjoy the game much more, as they fixed at least some of the worst problems in CTP2.

Past mods for CTP2 include the Super Apolyton Pack, Medieval Mod, Cradle, GoodMod, and Call to Conquest (see External links).

To improve the interface a Diplomod has been created featuring graphics from other games to give Civilization leaders pictures found in other Civilization games like Civilization 3 and Civilization 4.

Mods currently in development include the Call to Civilization Mod and Ages of Man, which has four complete releases.

ource code release

After Activision ceased to support CTP2, the Apolyton Civilization Site became the de-facto support center for CTP2, being the only active online community of this game and offering help with technical problems. That site is also largely where the modding efforts for CTP2 occurred.

At one point, the members of the Apolyton site contacted Activision and asked them to release the source code to CTP2. After several months of negotiation, Activision agreed and the source code was released in October 2003 exclusively to the Apolyton Civilization Site. There were limitations to how the source code might be used; for example, no commercial use of anything created with the source base was allowed.

ource code access

Currently, the source code project is accessible through a Subversion server. Initially, set up by user 'kaan' another apolyton member 'DarkDust' has provided a home for the code. Through Apolyton, those wishing to view the source code or wish to modify the code can find the SVN server forum at the Apolyton link below for more information.

The Apolyton Edition

Since then, continued work to improve CTP2 has made many improvements to general gameplay and the AI, fixed most known bugs, and added new features. The multiplayer modes are still only in a semi-working state, but the single player part of the game works much better with code modifications than it did in the original game. Work on the source code continues with a team of volunteers with several playtest versions available at the Apolyton website's playtest thread.

The [http://ctp2files.apolyton.net/source/2008.10.08.CTP2.Playtest.rar latest Call to Power II - Apolyton Edition] (October 8, 2008) is available at Apolyton. The playtest is a fan created "patch" with more stability and additional features. A website dedicated to these features and how to implement them can be found at [http://www.ctp2.info/ Bureaubert's CtP2 page] .

In October 2007, in celebration to the 4th anniversary of the source code's release, the "Playtest Revision 812" was published. Since October 2003 over 800 changes have been made to the game. [ [http://apolyton.net/civgroups/news.php?s=50203f3f112ccdeceeb0ab2afd055e44&civgroupid=54 Apolyton Civilization Site: CTP2 Source Code Project News, Page 1 ] ]

References

External links

* [http://ctp2files.apolyton.net/source/2008.10.08.CTP2.Playtest.rar Latest Call to Power II - Apolyton Edition Playtest (08-Oct-2008)]
* [http://apolyton.net/ctp2 Apolyton Civilization Site's CTP2 section]
* [http://www.theagesofman.net/ The Ages of Man homepage]
*moby game|id=/call-to-power-ii