Civilization Call to Power Linux port Game Review by Daniel Fick Basic Information Game Title Civilization Call to Power Linux port Company and Author Loki Entertainment Software originally Activision Loki Entertainment Software has now closed Type Turn based strategy Price 49 95 original suggested retail price can only find used copies on amazon com for 3 99 ESRB Rating E everyone Platform PC Linux Minimum System Requirements Linux Kernel Linux kernel 2 0 x or 2 2 x and glibc 2 x Processor Pentium 133 MHz PowerPC 133MHz or Alpha Processor CD ROM 4 speed CD ROM drive RAM 32 MB required 80 MB swap Sound OSS compatible sound card Hard disk Minimum 320 MB free disk space Video X Window System 16 bit color Misc Internet connection for Internet play Network card for net play Actual System Requirements Linux Kernel Linux kernel 2 6 and glibc 2 x Processor Intel Celeron 2 4Ghz CD ROM 52x speed CD ROM drive RAM 512 MB 1028 MB swap Sound OSS compatible sound card Hard Disk 40 GB disk space Video X Window System 32 bit color Misc Internet connection Network card History Civilization was originally created by Sid Meier with Microprose Civilization Call to Power was created by Activision without Sid Meier for Windows A company named Loki Entertainment Software ported that game to Linux The Linux port has a few improvements over the Windows version as well as incorporating some NIX keyboard shortcut standards Quick Overview You assume the role of leader of your civilization You start at 4000BC with a band or two of settlers just out of the hunting and gathering stage You must build cities research new technologies goto war make peace and grow Then have a couple options to choose from in order to win the game You can become the first race to successfully clone an alien or conquer the world by crushing all those who oppose you You have until the year 3000AD to accomplish one of these goals Installation The install is easy enough You simply run install sh and it brings up a gui install You choose the location you would like to install the game to rather you want to install just the game 320MB or install the game with all the movies 540MB Hit next and its installed You then have the option to play the game with or without the CD an option the windows version does not allow due to security restrictions using the option nocdrom Graphical User Interface A picture is worth a thousand words Demo of GUI Game Play 1 You start with your settler unit First things first you must build a city somewhere this first city will automatically have a capitol built in it This is where it all begins CCTP allows you to build three different types of cities under water cities space cities and of course cities on the land But at this first stage of the game you do not have the technology to build a city anywhere except on land Game Play 2 It is usually a good idea to have military units in your cities in case any ambitious other civilizations or barbarians wander by your city What to build you might ask Well you have a selection of 65 units to build Next to each unit in the PRODUCTION tab it lists the units assault strength range strength defense strength and movement points to aid you in your decision For a unit to guard your city you want a high defense strength There are units with special abilities if you highlight a unit in the build list it will tell you want the special abilities are and how they effect the game For example there are units that can set up franchises in other civilization s stealing production from their cities or you can use a slaver to capture slaves from a foreign city and put them to work in your own Game Play 3 You must choose something your your scientist to research Don t worry you have many many research options in the research tree The research system used in CCTP is more or less the same as in previous versions of civilization but they have made modifications to the technologies Game Play 4 Once you have done the above you will want to build some city improvements for your city such as a granary which will let you store food and allow your city to grow There are many many different city improvements to choose from You can highlight them and see what they do in the PRODUCTION tab You also have the option of building a wonder of the world which take more time to build than an improvement but usually have some drastic game effects toward not only your civilization but all civilizations You have 35 different wonders you can build Scoring The score is based on many categories so offer positive values toward your overall score while some have negative effects on your overall score The categories which effect your score in a positive manor include celebrations advances wonders population cities years at peace year of victory difficulty bonus map size opponents and victory by wonder The categories which have a negative effect on your score include units lost riots revolutions and pollution Special Features Built in cheat menu Multiplayer Even allows you to play a game via email like a game of chess Pros Runs on Linux Vast amounts of stuff to build research attack with and have happen to you Multiplayer including being able to play a game via email Hours of entertainment Challenging AI Balanced military units Cons Lack of a automated city manager makes maintaining multiple cities at once difficult Musical score is a little bit lame It s not open source Conclusion Civilization Call to Power is just plain and simply a great turn based strategy game If you enjoy playing strategy games such as civilization or master of orion then this would be a great buy for you If you want a great turn based strategy game for Linux this is a great choice If you have little to no patience or are an action junkie then this game is probably not the best choice for you and i would recommend looking elsewhere
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