If you are impatient waiting for the release of Civ IV you might want to play this ..

[Drakan]

If you guys are waking up every morning anxiously ticking off your calendar until the release on the 15th of November for THE game you might want to check-out this web for the next 120 days ... it's a completely overhauled CTP2 mod called Ages of Man by Stancarp which is more like an expansion pack with new gameplay features you've only dreamed of in a civ game:

http://www.theagesofman.net/about.html

Pdf read me: http://www.theagesofman.net/readme_final.pdf

If CTP2 was a medicore game (5/10) compared to Civ II (8/10) or Civ III (9/10), this MOD raises the yardstick to an impressive 8/10 for CTP2. Guaranteed to stop you drooling for the next three months.

Highly recommended and it's free.

You can download it free from Apolyton (albeit you need the original CTP2 game to play it):

http://apolyton.net/

Unique Features of AOM

Play one of 44 different Nations, each with its own Character
Succession with Kings and Great Kings
Bombardment, Counter Bombardment, Sieges, Supply and Supply Trains
Natural Disasters and Happy Events
Advances from Goods and Goods that help fight Natural Disasters
Multi Level Trade including Cartels
Each Period of History has its own Unique Flavour, Making AOM like 4 games in One
Quick Start Option and Different Starting Periods
Elite Troops, Generals, Wonder Units and Historical Heroes with Special Abilities
Civilisation Traits that Change with the Progress of History and Special Governments
Prisoners of War, Empire Surrender, Pillaging and Capturing Advances
Each Major Period of History has a Complete Range of Military Units
Many New Units are Less Generic and More Historically Accurate
Major Historical Events such as the Black Death and Mongol Horde
Aggressive Barbarians and Ai Players
And Lots More

 

[CoolioVonHoolio]

those cities look alot like civ2
and this swordsman looks a lot like the civ3 swordsman

 

[Drakan]

Well the game's graphics are below Civ III, but CTP2 was released before, in 2000.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/calltopower2/index.html?q=call+to+power+II

But it's the gameplay that really counts in TBS games. And the mod of Stan Karp is just great (and free !). It introduces many features we've yearned for in Civilization III and IV such as:

- civil wars
- empire surrender
- civilization traits
- goods
- great heroes
- historical events such as Mongol Hoard and Black Plague
- Great King units with successions and historical heroes and generals.
- New wonders and wonder movies
- New techs
- New units
- and lots more. It improves CTP2 vastly, completely overhauling it making it almost a new game with improved AI. It adds a whole lot of depth to CTP2.