Diffence betwem CivII. CivII Gold and ToT?

[Zahl]

On and off for years I've played CivII and today I sometimes play Civ3:Conquest (without conquest CivII beats Civ3's ass).
But me and some old friends started to play civII again - don't know why, but maybe because we started to talk about the great old game CivII - and I was thinking:
What is the difference betwem CivII, "CivII gold" and Test of Time (I know ToT has more then regular civ like middleages and so on, but besides that)
What I mean is: do the games have the same "things" in them and is the rules with the latest patches identically?

 

[Terrapin]

Never played ToT so I cannot help you there....

CivII and CivII Gold (Also known as MGE=multiplayer gold edition) are essentially the same game. MGE is different in that it can be played by more than one player, which you probably guessed from the name. There are some other, subtle, differences between the games. Most notably, in original CivII (aka version 2.42) the AI civs are much 'nicer' to the human player. The AIs sneak attack less and it is much, much easier to maintain alliances. In MGE games, the AIs attitude toward the human civ goes down to Hostile within a couple of turns of meeting the AI even if the human civ is not Supreme (yet ).

There are patches for changing the game on your computer from 2.42 to MGE and back in the CivII downloads page of this site.

 

[The Person]

I'll fill in on ToT for you, Terrapin. ToT is MGE with more scenario capability (larger events file, real support for multiple tech trees, etc.), animated units, and multi-maps. It's also got the ugliest graphics of the whole Civ series.

BTW, welcome to CFC, Zahl!

 

[scloopy]

T.P. is right about ugly graphics. TOT is the first CIV game I owned and it is like all the CIV games, could be better. I still like II MPG best, but I play Conquest sometimes. I find II can be harder than the III games.

 

[Specialist290]

This has probably been covered, but if you want the "cheat-sheet" or quick reference version...

Civ2 Classic (Classic/2.42): Regular, straight-out single-player Civ2

Civ2 Gold (MGE): Classic w/ multiplayer and more hostile AI

Civ2 Fantastic Worlds (FW): Classic w/ basic scenario-creating tools, no multiplayer

Civ2 Test of Time (TOT, ToT, etc.): Specifically created for making and playing scenarios (more advanced than FW), has multiplayer capability and special Extended Game option (you actually get to build stuff once you get to Alpha Centauri), also has Sci-Fi and Fantasy play modes

If I got any of this wrong, someone correct me.

 

[The Person]

You didn't mention the Sci-Fi or Fantasy play modes.

 

[Broken_Erika]

I don't think anyone here mentioned that TOT has like twice as many unit slots as MGE , too bad i cant figure out how to get the thing to work

 

[scloopy]

I don't think anyone here mentioned that TOT has like twice as many unit slots as MGE , too bad i cant figure out how to get the thing to work

I have it up and running on XP. Are you getting error messages or what?

TOT was the first Civ Game I had. My Grandson hooked me on Civ - not a nice thing to do to your Grandma.

 

[Catfish]

Ah, another FW vs MGE vs ToT thread… I own FW and ToT. From a scenario designer's perspective, ToT is the superior game engine. All of those fugly graphics, including the user interface, can be replaced (as I've done) – and ToT has better colour depth: 15-bit as opposed to only 192 visible colours in older versions. Between FW and MGE, I prefer the former because of its more benign AI diplomacy model and x3 city objectives - I don't play multiplayer Civ2.

I don't think anyone here mentioned that TOT has like twice as many unit slots as MGE , too bad i cant figure out how to get the thing to work

Not quite. FW and MGE have 62. ToT has 80.

I have it up and running on XP. Are you getting error messages or what?

I believe she's referring to this problem.

 

[AGRICOLA]

Originally posted by The Person
It's also got the ugliest graphics of the whole Civ series.

Originally posted by scloopy
T.P. is right about ugly graphics.

I agree, but there is an excellent alternative.

Originally posted by Wobbegong (aka Catfish)
All of those fugly graphics, including the user interface, can be replaced (as I've done)

Catfish is being too modest to mention Catfish's Cave. His website has downloads of his superb TOT terrain graphics as well as main window and city window improvements.

http://users.tpg.com.au/jpwbeest/

They make TOT look as good as the best MGE graphics.

 

[scloopy]

I agree, but there is an excellent alternative.


Catfish is being too modest to mention Catfish's Cave. His website has downloads of his superb TOT terrain graphics as well as main window and city window improvements.

http://users.tpg.com.au/jpwbeest/

They make TOT look as good as the best MGE graphics.

Those are really great. Catfish did good!!!

 

[gunkulator]

Some more differences:

ToT supports multiple maps, up to 4. Not all units are allowed on all maps. Some units can teleport between different maps. Makes for some interesting gameplay.

ToT added some new unit attributes like making a unit unbribable and turning off the automatic damage for helocopter units ending a turn outside a city.

On the downside, ToT requires the cd to be in the drive for the game to start. Not so with the others.

 

[scloopy]

Some more differences:


On the downside, ToT requires the cd to be in the drive for the game to start. Not so with the others.

When I play CIV II MPG it always needs the disk in the drive. Is there some way I can change this?

 

[BlackAdder60]

Some more differences:
...
On the downside, ToT requires the cd to be in the drive for the game to start. Not so with the others.

I dont! I have been playing with a CD image (of the gamecd) loaded in one of my VIRTUAL CD drives (DAEMONTOOLS). and it run just fine.

Funny thing: I could play *ToT* with a CD image of my Civ2 *CLASSIC* loaded instead of my ToT CD.

Also the ToT version1.1 patch that can be downloaded from this site can be patched with a NO CD patch . Have done that it works !!!

(I would want to post a link where but I fear The Wrath of the Moderators if you need it send me a *private* mess and I'll mess it (the URL) back to you.

 

[BlackAdder60]

When I play CIV II MPG it always needs the disk in the drive. Is there some way I can change this?

Dont know about MPG I always play Classic od ToT, and these could be run with a CD *image* loaded with DAEMONTOOLS, se above.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

When I play CIV II MPG it always needs the disk in the drive. Is there some way I can change this?

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ2utility.shtml

Part way down the page:
http://www.civfanatics.net/downloads/civ2/utility/Civ2_13crk.zip

Back-up your files before using!

(I would want to post a link where but I fear The Wrath of the Moderators if you need it send me a *private* mess and I'll mess it (the URL) back to you.

Well, we have one for MPG, so I don't see why we wouldn't allow one for ToT. PM me the link and I'll run it past TF.

 

[Mercator]

Funny thing: I could play *ToT* with a CD image of my Civ2 *CLASSIC* loaded instead of my ToT CD.

That's because the detection system is pretty meek. All it looks for is a file called Civ2.exe in a Civ2 folder on the CD. So any CD that has \Civ2\Civ2.exe on it will work for any Civ2 version. I don't think the civ2.exe has to be an actual Civilization II executable either, it just needs the right file name (I'm not 100% sure about this).

So if you're short on disk space and you still want to go for the CD image option, you could make a CD image of a 0-byte file called civ2.exe in a folder called civ2.

Wait a minute...

Yep! I just tested it with FW (which doesn't need a CD to run, but still gives a dialog asking if you want to look for it) and ToT and it works perfectly... The CD image is a massive 64kB!! In fact, zipped up it's only 777 bytes, so why don't I just attach it here...

Unzip it, mount the civ2.iso in Daemon Tools and you are go.

 

[scloopy]

Thanks much Duke - worked like a charm.

 

[Catfish]

Well, we have one for MPG, so I don't see why we wouldn't allow one for ToT. PM me the link and I'll run it past TF.

Well, I guess the answer is no then, based on the response to the other thread. Can someone explain why, when this site hosts the No-CD crack for MGE, allows links to a site that is clearly hosting illegal Civ2 patches and permits people to post methods to bypass CD detection, is posting the No-CD crack for ToT not allowed? Talk about hypocrisy. How about some consistency around here?

 

[Mercator]

I'm equally puzzled... (and they actually host some of Cedric's patches themselves too)

I'm having that discussion with a moderator at the moment.