View manual text
Greetings from Activision
Hello and welcome to Civilization®: Call to Power™!
The game in your hands is the product of hundreds of people's effort and dedication. As a group we
would like to thank you for purchasing our creation. We hope it brings you many hours of enjoyment.
This README (Version 1.0) has 10 sections:
A) Cool movies.
B) Gameplay notes.
C) Tutorial Notes – and why you should play the tutorial, even if you have played the previous
Civilization games.
D) Hotkey list.
E) Manual/Great Library errata.
F) Map and Scenario Editing.
G) Last-minute technical notes.
H) Optimizing game speed.
I) Additional detail on the combat system.
J) Multiplayer notes.
A) COOL MOVIES
For your enjoyment, we have placed on the CD a folder called "Cool Movies." In that folder are two
cool movies (surprise) showcasing upcoming Activision games. The first is for the 3D real-time strategy
game Dark Reign II, the sequel to Dark Reign. The second is for the action-strategy game Battlezone II,
the sequel to the award winning Battlezone. To watch these movies, double-click the My Computer icon
on your desktop, then select the drive letter that represents your CD-ROM drive. Double-click on the
"Cool Movies" folder, then double-click on the movie you want to watch. If the movies "skip", you may
want to copy them to your hard drive. The movies require the Intel Indeo video codec, which is
automatically installed when you install Civilization: Call to Power.
B) GAMEPLAY NOTES
1. The Forbidden City Wonder trumps the Philosopher's Stone Wonder. Meaning, if you build the
Philosopher's Stone (which establishes embassies in all foreign civilizations) but another player has or
builds the Forbidden City (which eliminates all embassies in your civilization) then you will not get
an embassy with that civilization.
2. The Forbidden City and ESP Center Wonders of the World both prevent other civilizations from
starting war with you. However, if a rival computer (AI) civilization builds these Wonders, it does
not prevent you from attacking that civilization. This means that in multiplayer play the Forbidden
City only closes down foreign embassies in your civilization, and the ESP Center only opens foreign
embassies in other civilizations.
3. You cannot trade goods with cities that are not visible on your map. This means that it is a good idea
to trade maps with any civilization that you want to trade goods with!
4. Special units are not affected by zones of control; it is also important to note that they don't create a
zone of control either. Naval units' zone of control does not extend to land; similarly, land units'
zone of control do not extend to the ocean. For more information on Zones of Control, please refer
to the appropriate section in the manual.
5. To see the current effects of all the Special Attacks your Civilization is involved with, go to the
Diplomacy Screen, click "Check Intelligence", and choose the "Special" tab. This will list how
much Gold, Production, and Happiness you are gaining and losing from Special Attacks.
6. If you occupy a tile around an enemy city, you will force any worker or slave who was working that
tile to move to another tile. It takes one turn before this takes effect.
7. If you are in the middle of building something in your city, and you switch what you are building,
you will incur a 25% production penalty. This is true even if you are switching within the same type
– from one unit to another, from one Wonder to another, etc. You will always incur the 25%
penalty.
8. If you are building a unit which becomes obsolete, or a Wonder which gets built elsewhere (even by
you), you will lose all the production that you accumulated towards building that unit or Wonder.
When this occurs, you will be sent a message that the city's build queue is empty. Watch out for
advances which obsolete units, and be careful in your Wonder races!
9. To load units onto Space Planes, sleep them in a city or Air Base and have the Space Plane drop by
and pick them up. Alternatively, if the Space Plane is already at an Air Base, moving another unit to
the Air Base will load that unit onto the Space Plane. This same process will allow you to load
Nukes onto Bombers.
10. Beware of attacking small mountain cities with units that cannot normally pass through mountain tiles
(like those mounted on horses or cannons/artillery/tanks). If you destroy the city with these units,
these units will die because they cannot survive in the mountains unless they are on a
road/railroad/maglev. The same is true if you use one of these units to pillage a road/railroad/maglev
on a mountain – the unit will not survive the mountain trek. The same is also true if a land unit
pillages an undersea tunnel (the land unit will drown).
11. When following a multi-turn path in space, units will stop if they see enemy units on the ground. We
recommend you pay special attention to this when you set long path lines in space. You should
check these units before ending your turn, as: a) they may have revealed an enemy unit that needs to
be addressed, and b) they may not have moved their full allotment of movement points.
12. The end-of-turn messages that give you warning information regarding potential rioting, starvation,
improvement maintenance, and your ability to support units is based on the current status of your
civilization. However, if enemy civilizations change your status before your next turn (say, by
conquering one of your cities), the outcomes may change as well.
13. The user interface only shows whole numbers – without decimal places. However, the computer
uses decimal places in its calculations. Very infrequently you may notice a slight discrepancy
between screens (less than 1). This is due to rounding. Be assured that the game engine is
calculating values correctly.
14. The funding for science is subtracted from surplus gold generated each turn rather than from total
accumulated gold.
15. Depending upon the difficulty level, the years per turn will progress at different rates. More
advanced levels progress more quickly, while lower levels progress more slowly. So for example,
Deity level (the hardest) covers 7000 years in approximately 475 turns. On the other hand, Chieftain
level (the easiest) covers 7000 years in approximately 575 turns. No matter the difficulty level,
games end after the first year beyond 3000 AD (no matter what year that ends up being). Also, years
per turn progress faster in the beginning and ending of the game compared to the middle.
16. Moving the "Military Support Cost" slider in the Unit Status Screen takes effect immediately. Do
not use the slider to see how much production you will save by standing down. The support costs will
drop from 100% ("At War" status) to 50% ("On Alert" status) to 10% ("Stand Down" status).
17. Most Special Units can be expelled by "attacking" them with a military unit. Expelling has no
diplomatic penalty, while killing them does. Units which can be expelled are: Abolitionist, Cleric,
Cyber Ninja, Diplomat, Eco Ranger, Ecoterrorist, Infector, Sea Engineer, Settler, Slaver, Space
Engineer, and Spy.
18. Some Special Units can be eliminated by being sued. Units which can be sued are: Corporate
Branch, Lawyer, Subneural Ad, and Televangelist.
19. In the Diplomacy Screen, strength rankings are relative to you not to other civilizations.
20. The keyboard commands Quick Save (default: #) and Quick Load (default: $) allow you to quickly
save your current game without having to use the save screen. Only the most recent Quick Save is
saved, and the saved game file (save.dat) is located in the directory where you installed Civilization:
Call to Power.
21. Following is some additional explanation of the Xenoform Laboratory ("X-Lab") portion of the Alien
Life Project end game sequence. The end game sequence itself is covered on pages 57-58 of the
manual.
Once you have build the X-Lab, you begin the first of the 3 stages of the Alien Life Project. To
complete each stage the player must build certain components and then allow the alien embryo to
develop over a number of turns. This is the only place in the game where you build multiple
Improvements of the same type. No matter what city you build the components in, they will be
automatically transported to the city where the X-Lab resides. If this city is ever captured or
destroyed, you will need to rebuild the X-Lab.
The 3 stages of development are:
Stage 1: Build the Embryo Tank, 2 Extra-terrestrial Communication Devices (ECDs), and 1
Containment Field
Stage 2: Build 2 more ECDs and 1 more Containment Field
Stage 3: Build 2 more ECDs and 1 more Containment Field
At the end of Stage 1 and 2 there is a chance of failure. With the single Containment Field, that
chance is 20%. Building more Containment Fields in advance of the second ECD during these
stages reduces the possibility of failure to 10% with 2 Containment Fields and 0% with 3
Containment Fields.
You may also build Gene Splicers which reduce the minimum number of turns required to advance
through each stage.
Successful completion of Stage 3 results in Victory!
C) THE TUTORIAL
We highly recommend you play the tutorial, which can be accessed in the game by choosing Single
Player, then Play Tutorial. If you're new to the Civilization experience, this is a great place to learn how
to play. If you have played one of the previous Civilization games, we still recommend playing through
the tutorial because Civilization: Call to Power introduces new elements that the tutorial explains. It
won't take very long, but will give you a huge head start.
1. If you have moved your settler, you will not be able to build a city on that turn. For this reason,
there is no shovel icon on the Units tab. It will reappear on the next turn, and disappear when you
move the settler. Settle a city at the beginning of a turn.
2. If you find yourself not receiving messages after entering the Diplomacy section of the tutorial (Level
3), this is most likely due to having clicked "Yes" to continue negotiations rather than "No" to end
them. To continue the tutorial, you must select a civilization name, click the "Send Emissary"
button, follow the on-screen instructions to send a peace treaty, and after sending the peace treaty
click "No" to end negotiations.
D) HOTKEY LIST
To print out a list of your hotkeys in the game, open the Options Screen, select Keyboard, and then return
to the game. After doing this you will find a "userkeymap.txt" file in the "ctp_program\ctp" sub-folder
of the directory you installed Civilization: Call to Power to on your computer. This file is re-generated
every time you re-map keys, and can be printed out for reference.
E)
MANUAL/GREAT LIBRARY ERRATA
1. On page 58, the paragraph "Dangers of Experimentation: The Importance of Gene Splicers" is
actually about Containment Fields rather than Gene Splicers. Replace "Gene Splicers" with
"Containment Fields" throughout that paragraph. Containment Fields decrease the risk of X-Lab
destruction, while Gene Splicers reduce the amount of turns needed to pass between the 3 stages of
the Alien Life Project.
2. On page 85, the manual states that a player can reopen the Espionage Screen for a city throughout the
turn in which the city was successfully spied upon. This is incorrect. The player can only view the
Espionage Screen at the time the action successfully occurs.
3. Two changes in Unit Costs were made after the reference poster went to press. The Ecoterrorist now
costs 3,750 and the Fusion Tank now costs 5,250.
4. In the Concepts section of the Great Library, Bombardment states that "bombarding units will not
take any damage unless the target tile has a unit capable of counter-bombarding." It should read
"unless the target tile has an Air Unit that is an Active Defender."
5.
On page 87, the manual states that the game will stop keeping score for your current game once
Cheat mode has been activated . This is incorrect. The game will continue keeping score, but your
score will not be saved.
F) MAP AND SCENARIO EDITING
We have created a separate section of the Civilization: Call to Power web site (found at
www.activision.com) which is dedicated specifically to map and scenario editing. On this part of the site
we will be putting up full map editing tools, new scenarios, new maps, links, and other fun goodies.
Please check the site for these free downloads, as well as all the latest information about the editing side
of Call to Power. Currently, would-be scenario editors can edit the Civilization: Call to Power text files
to modify the game. However, if you do so, please remember to back-up the original files!
G) LAST MINUTE TECHNICAL NOTES
1. If you set your resolution to a setting above your monitor's capability that prevents you from entering
the game, simply edit the 'profile.txt' file which may be found in the following directory: 'Program
files\Civilization-Call to Power\ctp_program\ctp' (assuming that you install the game to the
default directory). Using any plain editor such as Notepad, you should edit the line ScreenResWidth
to ScreenResWidth=800 and the line ScreenResHeight to ScreenResHeight=600.
2. (Note: this does NOT apply to Voodoo, Voodoo Banshee, or Voodoo 2 cards). At the time of
Civilization: Call to Power's release, all Voodoo Rush chipset based video card drivers do not fully
support the latest version of DirectX. Computers using a Voodoo Rush chipset based video card will
therefore experience graphic corruption of the control panel and the game screen. These screens can
be refreshed by scrolling the screen or ending your turn. There is no known fix at this time. Please
check with your hardware manufacturer for updated video drivers which fully support the latest
version of DirectX.
3. Using the Windows key on your keyboard when entering text into a text field will cause the interface
to freeze up. To free up the interface in this instance, press the Escape key.
4. You may be unable to switch resolutions from within the tutorial. For this reason, we recommend
that switch resolutions (if desired) in the main menu screen before you begin the tutorial.
5. There is a known problem with the TCP/IP LAN transport. If you have Windows configured to
automatically dial when you access the Internet, choosing the TCP/IP LAN transport will cause your
modem to dial, even though you're only accessing the LAN. To work around this problem, either
click "cancel" when the Windows Internet dialup dialog box comes up, or disable automatic dialing
by checking "Connect to the Internet using a local area network" (which will uncheck "Connect to the
Internet using a modem") in Control Panel / Internet / Connection.
6. The sleep mode on certain Compaq computer models may cause Civilization: Call to Power to lock
up or crash. There is no known fix at this time.
7. NT users may experience problems installing the game or graphical anomalies while running the
game. This may be due to your video drivers not being the latest DirectX compliant drivers. If so,
contact your card manufacture or visit Activision’s web site at www.activision.com for troubleshooting
information and updates on the latest drivers.
H) OPTIMIZING GAME SPEED
If you are experiencing slower in-game performance than you desire, trying one or more of the options
below may help:
1. Decrease screen resolution to 800 x 600 or 640 x 480. Depending on your installation choices, you
may be running the game in 1024 x 768 resolution. Decreasing the resolution to 800 x 600 or 640 x
480 (found in the Option Menu under Graphics) can provide a noticeable increase in game speed.
2. Play on a small or regular size map. As map size increases, hardware requirements increase.
3. Play with fewer AI opponents. As the number of opponents increases, hardware requirements
increase.
4. Turn off animations. Depending on your installation choices, you may be running the game with
animations on. Turning animations off (found in the Option Menu under Graphics) can provide a
small increase in game speed.
5. Make sure no other programs are running concurrently with Civilization: Call to Power.
I) ADDITIONAL DETAIL ON THE COMBAT SYSTEM
For those of you interested in learning more about Civilization: Call to Power, we highly recommend the
official BradyGames strategy guide written by Johnny Wilson and Terry Coleman. However, the details
of the combat system, while not necessary to enjoying the game, seemed worthy of some additional
explanation toward the end of the README file. For an even more in-depth examination, as well as a
host of examples and other good stuff, we again recommend you check out the BradyGames strategy
guide.
There are two basic combat situations in Civilization: Call to Power – those that have ranged attackers
and those that don't.
No Ranged Attackers
Combat in this situation is similar to many world building strategy games. A unit's percentage chance to
hit is: (its assault rating) divided by (its assault rating + the defender's defense rating). Each successful
hit causes one hit point of damage to the defender. Each failure costs one hit point of damage to the
attacker.
If multiple units are attacking multiple units, the battle becomes a series of one-on-one encounters. Units
line up in highest assault rating order for the attacker and in highest defense rating order for the defender.
If there are an equal number of units, the units will square off, attack, and results will be generated. Then
they will be re-ordered to repeat this until one side has no one left.
If there are an unequal number of units (say, 3 attackers against 1 defender), the best attacker will go
against the best defender. The computer will generate a result. If the attacker dies, then the next
attacking unit will go against the next defender. Repeat. And so on. No single unit will fight twice
before everyone on his side has fought once.
Ranged Attackers
Ranged attackers change things up a bit. If a ranged attacker is in the second row (meaning he has
another unit in front of him on the "front lines"), the ranged attacker will still strike first. He gets 10
chances. The calculation is the same as above except he uses his ranged attack rating against the target's
defense. So it's: (the attacker's ranged attack rating) divided by (the attacker's ranged attack rating + the
defender's defense rating). Again, each success does one hit point of damage. Importantly, the ranged
attacker takes no damage when he misses. After the ranged attack, the front line combat occurs as
described above in the "no ranged attackers" section.
If both sides have ranged units in the second column, the attacker's ranged units will fire first, followed by
the defender's ranged units.
J) MULTIPLAYER NOTES
1. Although Civ:CTP is a turn-based game, Internet latency and packet loss are still important factors in
establishing a stable game. Civilization: Call to Power supports a maximum of 4 human players (and
up to 4 additional AI players for up to an 8 player game). Increasing the # of players (human or AI)
will significantly affect the host machine's performance. Ping time colors are as follows: 0 - 300
green, 301-500 yellow, 500+ red.
Note: A good rule of thumb for setting up a 4 player game, especially if adding AI, is to use as many
green players as possible, allow no more than 2 yellow players, and exclude any red players. For
smaller games, and depending upon the user's own experience with high-latency players, the mix of
red, yellow and green players may be adjusted accordingly.
2. One of the options for Multiplayer games allows the Host to select the starting technological Age for
the game (Ancient, Renaissance, Modern, Genetic, or Diamond). When starting in any Age other
than Ancient, you will notice that your cities begin with a number of "pre-built" improvements.
While the improvements themselves are free, the upkeep is not. Therefore, it is best to start with a
sufficient amount of gold to keep the game playable until you can build up enough population to
support the improvements. This tends to be around 1,000 gold per settler multiplied by the Age
number. For example, with 4 settlers in the Modern Age, 1,000 gold x 4 settlers = 4,000. 4,000 x
rd
3 Age = 12,000 starting gold.
3. There are 3 different timed turn Game Styles which can be used to accelerate the pace of the game,
especially when playing with more than 2 players. When selecting any of these play styles, the
spinner modifies the base number of seconds per turn, as follows: 1) For Speed Turns, the spinner
sets time per turn; 2) For Carryover, the spinner sets time per turn, and any time not used in a turn
will be added to the player's next turn; and 3) For Speed Cities, the spinner sets the time based on
how many cities the player owns, using the equation time = t + (t x C) where t is the time set by the
spinner, and C is the # of cities the player controls.
4. The cheat tool is disabled in multi-player (surprise).
5. To chat privately to another human player, use the "/msg" command. Type: /msg <player number>
then your message. The <player number> is his or her order shown on the Network Control Panel
(accessed by pressing control-n). The top player is player 1, next player is player 2, etc.
6. Players can send and receive messages in-game through the chat window, which is accessed by
pressing the quote (' ") key. When chat messages are received, players are notified by a short audio
cue (3 quick beeps). If the chat window is closed, the players will not receive any notification other
that the beeps; however, they can open the window at any later point and review the messages.
7. When choosing "Internet" from the Select Connection screen, if you receive a "Waiting for servers"
message and are unable to see the server list, it is likely that you do not have an active Internet
connection. If this happens and you wish to play over the Internet, please make sure your computer
is connected to the Internet before starting Civilization: Call To Power.
8. When playing the Speed Turns, Carryover, or Speed Cities modes of play, we recommend turning: 1)
Unit Animations and Wonder Movies Off (found in the Option Menu under Graphics), and (2) the
BattleView Off (found in the Options Menu under Gameplay) . On minimum spec machines we
recommend playing 2 player games.
9. In a Multiplayer game, the name entered in the <Leader Name> field in the Select Civilization screen
is not applicable. Instead, the name you choose for your Profile will be used as the name for the
Leader of your civilization.
10. Only the Host can generate viable save games in Civ:CTP. In order for the game to load reliably, it
is best if the Host saves the game during his/her turn. Due to the volatile nature of the Internet, you
may experience disconnections or dropped players during Internet games. We advise you to save
your games often, and keep notes (year, civilizations in game) so that you can easily recognize the
saved game when it is loaded in the Game Setup window.
11. If the Host changes any game rules after a client has clicked <Launch>, that client will "de-launch"
and will receive a system message: "Attention: host changed game setup." This allows the client to
review the new game rules before clicking <Launch> again.
12. When in the lobby viewing the list of games to join, the ones that are indicated by a checkmark under
the icon of a circle with the slash through it, cannot be joined. This indicates that: 1) the game has
been locked by the Host who does not want any other players to join, or 2) if it is a game in progress,
indicated by a checkmark under the icon of the airplane, the game does not permit dynamic join.
Alternatively, games in progress that do not have a checkmark under the icon of a circle with the
slash through it can be joined.
13. When rejoining a game in progress (after either quitting or being disconnected), the rejoining player
is not assigned a Civilization in the multiplayer Game Setup screen. However the player will rejoin
the game as the same Civilization he or she had before.
14. When joining a game in progress, only human players appear in Game Setup Screen. No AIs will
appear.
15. Enabling Dynamic Join allows the host in the game to <Open> and <Close> AI slots to human
players who are trying to join a game in progress, and nothing more. These actions are available in
the Network Control Panel <ctrl-n> (see #16, below).
16. The Host can enable the Network Control Panel by pressing <ctrl-n>. In this panel, the host has
three options: 1) <Kick> will drop a human player from the game, and kick them back to the Lobby.
Please use with discretion. 2) <Open> will open an AI civilization to a human player if Dynamic
Join is on. Otherwise, it will do nothing. 3) <Close> will close an AI civilization to a human player
if Dynamic Join is on. Otherwise, it will do nothing. With Dynamic Join on, all AI slots will
default to open.
17. When a player is dropped (or drops) from the game, anyone can rejoin and take that slot. With
Dynamic Join off, the host cannot close the slot. With Dynamic Join on, the host can. Note that if
more than one slot is opened because of player dropouts, players trying to rejoin will not
automatically receive their original civilizations. Open slots are reassigned in linear order, not by
owner.
18. When Civilization: Call to Power receives a network error, it will display a generic "Network Error"
message. These messages are usually generated by the following issues: lost connections, network
protocol errors, or bad drivers.
19. If you receive the message "Network Connection Error" when selecting a network type from the
Select Connection screen, it indicates one of the following: 1) You have selected the IPX LAN
protocol without having a valid IPX protocol installed under Windows95/98/NT, 2) You have
selected the TCP/IP LAN protocol without having a valid TCP/IP protocol installed under
Windows95/98/NT or 3)You have been disconnected for the network and should exit Civilization:
Call to Power, reconnect and try again. If you encounter these problems, please consult your
Windows 95/98/NT documentation for information on properly configuring your network.
20. If you lose your connection to the Internet while in a game, you will be returned to the lobby and see
a dialog box with the message "Joining Lobby". Since your connection is no longer active, this
screen will continue to try and join the lobby for a few seconds and then time out to an error message.
When this error message occurs, you have options to select OK or Cancel. Selecting OK will repeat
the steps noted above, and pressing cancel will cause a "Leaving Lobby" dialog box to open. If you
have no connection, you will get stuck in the "Leaving Lobby" dialog box, the only method of exit is
to CTRL-ALT-DEL and end the program. You may be able to get back into the game by following
these steps. When the error message with OK and Cancel buttons comes up, before you click on the
OK button, ALT-TAB to your desktop and try and re-establish your Internet connection. If you are
able to re-connect to the Internet, ALT-TAB back into the game and click the OK button. You may
be able to reconnect to a lobby and get into a new game. Should these steps not work for you, please
CTRL-ALT-DEL and end the game, reconnect to the Internet and then restart the game.
21. We recommend turning Auto Cycle Turns Off (found in the Options Menu under Gameplay) when
playing Multiplayer, so that you always have an opportunity to address your Civilization’s needs, and
each of your cities and units.
This is the end of the ReadMe. Go have fun!
Archived by oldgamesdownload.com on 5th September, 2019