The Better Civ - Genre Fans?

Alright team. My bud and I are involved in a major argument about the civilisation series and I thought I would get some different perspectives on what's better.

I am arguing that Activision's Call to Power 1 & 2 is the more enjoyable series as opposed to my bud's choice of Sid Meier's Civilisation 2 & 3. For me, it was the unique approach taken by Activision that sees me enjoying CTP 2 over CIV 3 to this day - yes, the graphics are dated but its the gameplay that I enjoy more.

My bud is obsessed with CIV 3, arguing its the more complete game.

Who's with me? Anybody?

Well.... I have played CTP 2 and Civ 2 & 3. My favourite was Civ 2. CTP is a close 2nd. I liked Civ 2 for all of the fun customization and the gameplay. Civ 3 is not nearly as much fun, way too serious. (Any game where one can conquer the planet/galaxy/... as a teddy bear is OK by me).
Did CTP ever have any player mods (similar to Civ 2)?

*A little knowledge is dangerous*

I absolutely loved Civ 2, and I feel that the follow-ups never really did it justice - they were great games, but I think we all hoped for more! The little videos with the advisors was great - I would have liked them to repeat that, but with more variation, rather than removing it. The lack of humour in Civ III and CTP might make them more appealing to some people, but not me.

I think the interface in CTP was better in many ways - I liked the buttons to the side of the screen, rather than having endless pop-up screens. Shame they replaced that in CTP 2. I liked the public works points too - moving engineers in Civ is a pain (assuming you don't trust the automate!)

CTP's main weakness is the sea and space element - did anyone ever find those making a big difference to the game? I normally found them to be a huge drain on resources, but offering little benefits. Maybe my tactics were wrong! But hovertanks rocked!

Oh, and although it's a different type of game, we can't mention TBS without saluting Master of Orion 2... )

Master of Orion 2 !!! Now, there was a great game. I do not remember the number of months of lost sleep playing that. Also toasted 2 CDROM drives as the game ran the CD at top speed all the time.

The hovertanks in CTP ruled. Once I has sufficient technology & production capacity it was hovertank blitzkrieg.

I agree with the comment about the Civ 2 advisers. Their removal in Civ 3 was a disappointment. I was hoping that one could have different settings for them, such as serious, fun, silly, etc.

Absolutely Alpha Centauri