When will PTW be required in GOTM ?

[Yndy]

After reading tens of terrifying posts about how many bugs PTW has and knowing that it won't be available in Europe by the end of the month I want to question you when will it be necessary to update civ to PTW to play GOTM.

I know that when v1.29 was released you immediately made it compulsory in GOTM so that I had to play a game with changed rules without understanding them.

I hope you will agree that the update to PTW should be delayed at least until December, if not January.

On the other hand if everybody buys it and use it then I'll do the same but for now I'm scared of the number of bugs reported. Hey, even the multiplayer doesn't seem to work.

Whatever your response I'm definitely not buying the game until I see some satisfied customers' posts.

 

[flexo]

There are game scheduled until Feb 2003, when we play the romans. After that might be a goog time to start to require PTW.

But will it be possible to play with PTW before that? (new units, wonders and such).

 

[Karasu]

What if someone does not want to buy PTW?

I mean, once you have CivIII it is only logical to update it with the patches -and consequently play the GOTM with the latest version.

But PTW is an expansion you have to pay for, and not everybody may be willing to purchase it: are those people going to have to quit the GOTM?

 

[Cartouche Bee]

Originally posted by Karasu
What if someone does not want to buy PTW?

You know your in trouble when a whole forum is created just to report the bugs. I did my beta testing on this game already (Civ III is still beta as far as I'm concerned), I'll see if the can actually produce the product now before I buy. Infogrames is on my "Releases Beta Products - Avoid" list, buy second hand copies from those that just want to throw it away.

 

[Kemal]

Maybe Matrix can put up a poll for players of the GotM to see who owns PTW and who doesn't and then decide, based on the results of the poll, whether implementing PTW in the GotM can be considered.

I share Karasu's concern regarding whether everyone will just go and buy PTW (I will, btw ), especially after reading in the GD forum about all the problems it still has, and the money one has to pay for it.

But I also fear that many players that have been using PTW for some time, especially if Firaxis can solve the current problems, will be reluctant to switch back to vanilla civ3 to play the GotM, as they have become used to the extra options and units PTW offers, not to mention a difference in tactical approach, for example regarding the AI of the barbarians, which seems to be much different compared to "regular" civ3.

I think ultimately the switch to PTW will have to be made in the GotM.

 

[Karasu]

Wow. Your experience surely doesn't inspire confidence in software houses (this one in particular)...
You do have a point there: seeing the PTW bugs forum is a bit scary.

I like your suggestion to go for a second-hand one, I might start some research in that direction.


Concerning the GOTM, anyway, I think I would not be too happy should PTW become compulsory. But maybe it's a bit early now to get worried about this.

 

[BlueWire]

There are already sooooo many gameplay options here at CFC that it really should not be necessary to require everyone to buy PTW.
There do however seem to be enough people here that there is room for more options.
As it is, playing just tournament and GOTM takes up a lot of time.
Some might want to just use the forum to find competitors for multiplayer.
Also, I dont know if the changes in PTW are more than cosmetic (civs, units etc...). If so, playing with it could no different than using a graphics mod.
Either way, even if it turns out to be a different game alltogether, people here still play Civ2.
there is room for everyone.

 

[Grotius]

I just bought PTW, but I haven't installed it yet, so I have a slightly different question. If I install PTW, will that mean I'm not permitted to submit a GOTM entry? I of course want to try PTW's MP features, but I also want to continue to play Civ single-player, and GOTM sounds fun. Any thoughts?

 

[oliver088]

i have PTW and single player is completely bug-free so far as i can tell, so there shouldn't be any worries with PTW and the GOTM

 

[Thunderfall]

Originally posted by Grotius
I just bought PTW, but I haven't installed it yet, so I have a slightly different question. If I install PTW, will that mean I'm not permitted to submit a GOTM entry? I of course want to try PTW's MP features, but I also want to continue to play Civ single-player, and GOTM sounds fun. Any thoughts?

You can still play and submit your GOTM results after installing PTW. Just make sure you use classic Civ3, not PTW, to play the GOTM.

i have PTW and single player is completely bug-free so far as i can tell, so there shouldn't be any worries with PTW and the GOTM

Yeah, PTW single player is alot better than 1.29f. 99% of the PTW complains in Civ3 General are about multiplayer...

 

[Grotius]

<< You can still play and submit your GOTM results after installing PTW. Just make sure you use classic Civ3, not PTW, to play the GOTM. >>

Ah, I didn't realize that PTW would still allow me to use "classic" Civ 3. Sounds good!

 

[flexo]

Not buy PTW? HELLO! This is CIVFANATICS after all ... Is not buying even an option ?

 

[Jove]

Arrr, one bug that's fortunately missing from PTW is that it doesn't seem to interfere at all with vanilla Civ3-they act like seperate files on your computer.
Also, even though Civ3 and PTW look very much alike, they really are somewhat different games. Why not have a seperate PTW GOTM? After hiring Matrix a secretary, of course.

 

[Matrix]

I wanted to post this before, but when I pressed "Submit reply" the forum appeared to have went down. Anyway...

Standard Civ3 still works, even if you have installed PTW. But you do have to play it with Civ and not with PTW. And that's the tough thing; a lot of people will be wanting to play with PTW (because of it's extra features/additions).

My thought is: we can't switch to PTW now. People will need to have time to buy it. But eventually I think we really must switch to PTW because standard Civ3 will simply become obscolete for the people that have PTW...

My suggestion is - and I'm quite determined about that - to continue with standard Civ3 and switch over to PTW after the last classic Civ (Romans, Feb 2003) has passed. Then do the eight new Civs, and then we're a year further already.

 

[God]

Thanks for the response Matrix!

I'll wait till Feburary to buy PTW then.

 

[Phillip_martin]

Good plan Matrix as (ahem) other parts of the world will have PTW and some experience in it, and this (cough) patch frenzy will hopefully have settled down.

If there is a groundswell of support for non-PTW civ then a new forum should be created by the supporters.

 

[Yndy]

I was hoping you would say that Matrix.

I'll also delay PTW at least for a patch. (hey, we could measure time by counting between patches that Firaxis publishes - one patch = unit to measure time equivalent to about two standard months)

Well good luck to you all.

 

[cgannon64]

Hate to put pressure in the wonderful people who bring us the GOTM, but would it be too hard to make a PTW and a vanilla version of the GOTM? Two games in a month, would that require too much time?

CG

 

[Nelson1379]

I have PTW and I agree that the single-player mode is almost bug-free, at least compared to Civ3 vanilla. The bugs in PTW shouldn't scare people away from buying it, it's a pretty decent expansion, even if only for the multiplayer and the swordsman upgrade, although I'm not sure if they're worth $30.
But for those of us who are too lazy to take out our expansion CD's and put in the vanilla ones, and then have to play without mideval infantry and stuff, it would be nice to have a GOTM to play, though we should wait for February to start with the 8 new civs. Personally, I would just like to play the same game with the same civilization and map size and so on. I mean, I could do that without a GOTM, but it would be cool anyway. Eh, it's just a thought. This is my first post, I don't know what I'm talking about...

 

[cgannon64]

Good plan, Matrix. So we'll probably start PTW GOTM in Mar '03? I can wait that long...

Welcome to the forum, Nelson1379. Enjoy your stay.

CG