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#110 EXPECTATIONS OF CTPII Atahualpa would like to see us throw our support behind CTPII and give Activision an idea of what we would like to see in it. #111 HOW TO RUN BEFORE YOU WALK Earthing7 conveys why he will not by CivIII, but not CTPII. #112 CIV3 EXPANSION OR NEW GAME Grier grows weary as he explores the immense expectations imposed upon the upcoming Civilization III. #113 CIVILIZATION III: WARGAME OR DEVELOPMENT Be not a warmonger, Father Beast comandeers -- let peace lead you down a more enlightened path. #114 CIVII: DEITY STYLE Bauser discussed his strategies at winning at the Deity level in Civilization II. COLUMN ARCHIVE

Civilization II was an outstanding game. It had good units, good music (when it worked) and a good plot- domiante all oposition. But it needed something. It needed lines that showed just where your territroy ended. It needed the ability to make your own units. It needed a LOT more Advancements and Wonders of The World. Where Civ2 faltered, Alpha Centauri ran.

Alpha Centauri was most everything that Civ2 was not. It had better graphics, voice transmissions when you made a discovery, a lot of Secret Projects and Advancements. It also didn't have thta pesky little time limit that Civ2 had; once you reached the year 2000, the game stopped grading you. However, AC has it's downfalls as well.

The attacking and defending units only make one noise- the noise of a laser. AC, unlike Civ2, did not have the Secret Projects that automaticly updated all obsolete units. This meant you had to go back and manually delete each unit you didn't want, one by one. Another thing, you should have had different Ship classes. All there was were 'Foils' and 'Ships'. If you ask me, there should have been Battleships, Destroyers, Patrol Boats, ACTUAL Submarines...and you should have been able to give them names (I.e. The SS Idaho). Another thing, if you had a squad that reached a high status level, like Elite, you should have been able to give them something nice- like better weapons, better armor, better movement, or other, customizable special abilities. You should have been able to make 'Squads', 'Battalions', 'Wings', and 'Fleets' of units, which would be like joining more than one unit togeather. Hence you could have an icon of multiple ships moving around the seas that would always stay togeather and fight togeather. You should have been able to pick which unit shot at which unit. There should have been two pictures of leaders for every faction, so if a guy wanted to play Spartans but didn't like Santiago's picture, he could use the male picture. There should have been newspapers or something that would show the progress of a war, with little progress arrows, icons to show wins and losses, and it would give you details upon clicking on a certain battle. You should have been able to name your battles and skirmishes, and you should have been able to leave little flags symbolizing where a battle was fought.

You should have been able to have bio-warfare; engineering your own diseases and detonating them inside hostile cities via Spies, or load them onto a missile and lay the smack down from miles away. Can you imagine a Planetbuster with a Prometheus virus inside? Ye-OWCH! There should have been assasinations possible; sending spies out to try to snipe off the commander of an army, hence having half or more of the army disband, depending on the Commander's rank. You should have been able to name your Commanders. And on the topic of Assasinations, there would have to be Sniper Rifles, add-on scopes, which you could all buy for a cost.

There should have been floating cities, accesable from the ground only by teleporter or Air Lifer- sort of an up-and-down only troop transport.

These are just a few of my ideas on how to improve the next Sid Meier game. I'll probably send in another article- but dont blame me if I repeat myself.
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The author notes: "Alright, people...Ive played Civ2 for three years now and AC for 1 and 1/2...and I've decided to post all that needs to be done.".

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