Caesar III
Encyclopedia
Caesar III is a video game developed by Impressions Games
and published by Sierra Entertainment
; the third installment of the Caesar series, part of Sierra's City Building Series
. It was released in October 1998.
live in tents and shacks, while the richest patricians live in villas. Staple foods include wheat, fruits, vegetables, and pork, and wine is required for some festivals and houses. Citizens wander the streets in their various garbs and can tell the player their name and how they feel about the city.
The city is viewed in a two dimensional isometric view
with a fixed magnification level, and can be rotated ninety degrees
.
Access to services such as market goods, entertainment, hygiene, education, and taxation are represented by "walkers," which are people sent out from their buildings to patrol the streets. Any house that is passed by a walker is considered to have access to the services of the walker's building. All movements of goods and coverage of walkers are accurately reflected by citizens walking the streets: a player can watch a farm's crop progress, and when it's ready a worker will push a full cart from the farm to a nearby warehouse or granary; then return with an empty cart.
Battles are fought by instructing a legion to march to the enemy, then arrange themselves in a particular formation. After this the soldiers take over and fight the battle.
There is no terrain editing, other than permanently removing trees to clear land for building.
Short video clips are played for significant events, such as city milestones or messages from the Roman Emperor
.
A manual accompanies Caesar III, though there are minor discrepancies from the game in some editions.
Compared to other strategy games set in Antiquity
, Caesar III focuses more on city-building than fighting, though invaders will sometimes attack the player's city. There are two ways to play the game: Mission Mode, which is tantamount to typical "campaign" modes of other strategy games, and Builder Mode, in which the player plays one scenario from scratch.
Citizen and Clerk provide a gentle introduction to the game and are tutorial in nature. For every mission after Citizen, the emperor will set objectives in five categories: Population, Prosperity, Culture, Peace, and Favor. These increase with each rank, and peaceful missions have higher standards than military.
Population is the number of inhabitants in the city. Immigrants will come to live in the city if there is enough housing and work, the province is secure, the people are in a good mood, and other factors. High unemployment is one reason the population can be in a poor mood, and citizens will start to leave (and even riot) if unemployment is high for too long.
Prosperity is the hardest criterion to achieve in the game. It reflects the wealth of the citizens and is measured by the quality of their housing, and the city's ability to turn a profit.
Culture measures the level of literacy, entertainment, and temples available to the player's citizens. To make it rise as many citizens as possible need access to schools, libraries, academies, temples and theatres.
Peace rises every year there is no damage to the city from enemy soldiers, and no rioting.
Favor is the esteem the emperor has for the player. By default it falls every year, and will fall considerably when the player is in debt, under-performs, or pays themselves a salary higher than the current rank. The rating rises when the emperor's occasional tasks are accomplished, and when he's sent presents bought with the player's personal salary.
The advisors make suggestions to help achieve these ratings.
, Toletum
, Corinthus, as well as alternate versions of Mediolanum and Caesarea. In some of them the player will still face invaders, such as the Iberians
.
There are two types of housing: plebeian housing and patrician housing. Plebeians
(or plebs) work while patricians do not. When an immigrant pitches his tent, he becomes a plebeian and starts working at places like farms, prefecture
s, markets, schools, libraries, clinics, etc.
The first service that must be provided to housing is water. Once given water (from a well or fountain), a small tent will evolve to a large tent, which has a higher value. Soon they will ask for food, religion, entertainment, education, pottery, etc., and evolve into higher levels of housing. The grand insulae is the highest level of plebeian housing. If provided with even more goods and services, it will evolve into patrician housing, whose inhabitants don't work (but contribute more than plebes to the city's tax revenue). The final level of housing is a luxury palace, but it is difficult to achieve as it has exacting requirements.
The general progression of housing is as follows:
Tents: Basic housing, very prone to fires. Large tents need a water supply.
Shacks: Shacks require food provided from a market.
Hovels: Hovels require basic temple access.
Casas: Small casas are 'bread and butter' housing, requiring only food, basic education, fountain access and basic entertainment. Large casas require pottery and bathhouse access.
Insulae: Medium insulae
require furniture, and Large insulae, oil. Large insulae require at least a 2x2 plot of land, and will expand if necessary to do so. Grand Insulae will require access to a library, school, barber, doctor, two food types and 'some access' to entertainment venues (e.g. theatre + amphitheatre + 2 shows + average overall city entertainment coverage.) Grand insulae are the most developed form of plebian housing.
Villas and Palaces: Small villa
s require wine and access to temples to 2 different Gods. Large villas will expand to 3x3 plots. Grand Villas will require access to a hospital, academy, and temples to 3 different Gods. Small palaces will require a second source of wine (imported if the city's primary source of wine is local, or vice-versa.) Large palaces will expand to 4x4 plots. Steadily increasing entertainment values are the main requirement for patrician housing to develop, and those for a Luxury Palace are near-perfect.
Desirability can prevent a house from evolving. In order to evolve, a house also must have a certain desirability in addition to more services. Desirability is calculated from the nearby buildings. For example, a reservoir is an undesirable neighbour while a temple is rather desirable. A house requires more desirability as it evolves.
Prosperity is largely based on the overall quality of houses- a city with a large population of tents and shacks is considered less prosperous than one of equal size with more luxurious housing.
(The unnamed City, Brundisium, Capua, Tarraco and Lugdunum will never be invaded.)
Sometimes popular insurrections will occur. The insurgents are easier to kill, but there's no warning before the event happens.
To defend a city the player can build walls, ballista towers, and forts, which house Roman legion
soldiers. The soldiers in a fort can be trained as legionaries, or auxiliaries
including javelins, or cavalry.
, goddess of love; Mercury
, god of commerce; Ceres, goddess of agriculture; and Neptune
, god of the sea.
These gods will be displeased if not enough temples are devoted to them or if they do not receive equal treatment with the other gods. If a particular god is satisfied, the city may receive a blessing (i.e. Ceres' blessing causes all crops to grow at a faster rate for a short period of time), but if they should become displeased, the player should be prepared for a penalty (likewise, Ceres' wrath causes all crops to cease growing for a brief period of time). However, the player has the option to turn god effects off. With god effects off, the gods do not bless or penalize your town. This can be considered to be good or bad to do, depending on the general favor of the gods.
, vegetable
s, fruit
s, grape
s (used for wine only), olive
s, meat
, fish
, timber
, clay
, iron
, and marble
. Workshops can be built to process grapes into wine
, olives into oil
, timber into furniture, clay into pottery
, and iron into weapons. Selling manufactured products is often more profitable than raw materials (aside from marble), but they take longer to produce.
, amphitheater
, colosseum
, or hippodrome
. Actor colonies, gladiator schools, lion houses, and chariot makers will provide the trained entertainer personnel.
made an Editor available on their website. The editor allows players to produce their own scenarios from over twenty city locations, as well as choosing the identity of invaders (with new inclusions such as the Huns
, Seleucids, Macedonians
and Jews
), the available buildings, and everything that would appear on the map itself. The Caesar III page on Sierra's website is now down, but the Editor is still available for download from GameSpot
, and was also distributed with later releases of the game.
Impressions Games
Impressions Games was a video game developer founded by David Lester in the UK. He sold the company to Sierra Entertainment in 1995, who was then bought out by Cendant and eventually, Vivendi Universal ....
and published by Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
; the third installment of the Caesar series, part of Sierra's City Building Series
City Building Series
The City Building Series is the collective name of a series of historical city-building games for personal computers developed by Impressions Games, BreakAway Games, and Tilted Mill Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment and Myelin Media...
. It was released in October 1998.
Description
Cities in Caesar III try to accurately reflect the life of Roman citizens- the lowest plebsPlebs
The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...
live in tents and shacks, while the richest patricians live in villas. Staple foods include wheat, fruits, vegetables, and pork, and wine is required for some festivals and houses. Citizens wander the streets in their various garbs and can tell the player their name and how they feel about the city.
The city is viewed in a two dimensional isometric view
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
with a fixed magnification level, and can be rotated ninety degrees
Degree (angle)
A degree , usually denoted by ° , is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1⁄360 of a full rotation; one degree is equivalent to π/180 radians...
.
Access to services such as market goods, entertainment, hygiene, education, and taxation are represented by "walkers," which are people sent out from their buildings to patrol the streets. Any house that is passed by a walker is considered to have access to the services of the walker's building. All movements of goods and coverage of walkers are accurately reflected by citizens walking the streets: a player can watch a farm's crop progress, and when it's ready a worker will push a full cart from the farm to a nearby warehouse or granary; then return with an empty cart.
Battles are fought by instructing a legion to march to the enemy, then arrange themselves in a particular formation. After this the soldiers take over and fight the battle.
There is no terrain editing, other than permanently removing trees to clear land for building.
Short video clips are played for significant events, such as city milestones or messages from the Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
.
A manual accompanies Caesar III, though there are minor discrepancies from the game in some editions.
Compared to other strategy games set in Antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
, Caesar III focuses more on city-building than fighting, though invaders will sometimes attack the player's city. There are two ways to play the game: Mission Mode, which is tantamount to typical "campaign" modes of other strategy games, and Builder Mode, in which the player plays one scenario from scratch.
Mission mode
In Mission mode the player starts with a rank of Citizen, and each time the objectives set by the emperor are reached, the player rises a rank, until finally becoming emperor and winning the game. After the first two missions, the player chooses between two cities to build: one more focused on military, or one which requires more developing.| Missions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Peaceful assignment | Military assignment |
| Citizen | Nameless village | n/a |
| Clerk | Brundisium | n/a |
| Engineer Engineer An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,... |
Capua Capua Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now... |
Tarentum Taranto Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base.... |
| Architect Architect An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the... |
Tarraco Tarragona Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona... |
Syracusae |
| Quaestor Quaestor A Quaestor was a type of public official in the "Cursus honorum" system who supervised financial affairs. In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official whereas, with the autocratic government of the Roman Empire, quaestors were simply appointed.... |
Miletus Miletus Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria... |
Mediolanum Mediolanum Mediolanum, the ancient Milan, was an important Celtic and then Roman centre of northern Italy. This article charts the history of the city from its settlement by the Insubres around 600 BC, through its conquest by the Romans and its development into a key centre of Western Christianity and capital... |
| Procurator Procurator (Roman) A procurator was the title of various officials of the Roman Empire, posts mostly filled by equites . A procurator Augusti was the governor of the smaller imperial provinces... |
Lugdunum Lugdunum Colonia Copia Claudia Augusta Lugdunum was an important Roman city in Gaul. The city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus. It served as the capital of the Roman province Gallia Lugdunensis. To 300 years after its foundation Lugdunum was the most important city to the west part of Roman... |
Carthago Carthage Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC... |
| Aedile Aedile Aedile was an office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public order. There were two pairs of aediles. Two aediles were from the ranks of plebeians and the other... |
Tarsus Tarsus (city) Tarsus is a historic city in south-central Turkey, 20 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey with a population of 2.75 million... |
Tingis Tangier Tangier, also Tangiers is a city in northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000 . It lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel... |
| Praetor Praetor Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties... |
Valentia | Lutetia Lutetia Lutetia was a town in pre-Roman and Roman Gaul. The Gallo-Roman city was a forerunner of the re-established Merovingian town that is the ancestor of present-day Paris... |
| Consul Consul Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic... |
Caesarea | Damascus Damascus Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major... |
| Proconsul Proconsul A proconsul was a governor of a province in the Roman Republic appointed for one year by the senate. In modern usage, the title has been used for a person from one country ruling another country or bluntly interfering in another country's internal affairs.-Ancient Rome:In the Roman Republic, a... |
Londinium | Sarmizegetusa |
| Caesar Caesar (title) Caesar is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator... |
Massilia Marseille Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of... |
Lindum Lincoln, Lincolnshire Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779.... |
Citizen and Clerk provide a gentle introduction to the game and are tutorial in nature. For every mission after Citizen, the emperor will set objectives in five categories: Population, Prosperity, Culture, Peace, and Favor. These increase with each rank, and peaceful missions have higher standards than military.
Population is the number of inhabitants in the city. Immigrants will come to live in the city if there is enough housing and work, the province is secure, the people are in a good mood, and other factors. High unemployment is one reason the population can be in a poor mood, and citizens will start to leave (and even riot) if unemployment is high for too long.
Prosperity is the hardest criterion to achieve in the game. It reflects the wealth of the citizens and is measured by the quality of their housing, and the city's ability to turn a profit.
Culture measures the level of literacy, entertainment, and temples available to the player's citizens. To make it rise as many citizens as possible need access to schools, libraries, academies, temples and theatres.
Peace rises every year there is no damage to the city from enemy soldiers, and no rioting.
Favor is the esteem the emperor has for the player. By default it falls every year, and will fall considerably when the player is in debt, under-performs, or pays themselves a salary higher than the current rank. The rating rises when the emperor's occasional tasks are accomplished, and when he's sent presents bought with the player's personal salary.
The advisors make suggestions to help achieve these ratings.
City Construction Kit
In the City Construction Kit mode, there are no specific objectives; the player simply chooses a city and develops it for as long as desired. Some of the cities available include NarboNarbonne
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Toletum
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
, Corinthus, as well as alternate versions of Mediolanum and Caesarea. In some of them the player will still face invaders, such as the Iberians
Iberians
The Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC...
.
Housing
Houses are the buildings in which the citizens live. First the player designates plots for the future houses. If conditions in the city are reasonably desirable, immigrants will move in and pitch a tent on the plot.There are two types of housing: plebeian housing and patrician housing. Plebeians
Plebs
The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...
(or plebs) work while patricians do not. When an immigrant pitches his tent, he becomes a plebeian and starts working at places like farms, prefecture
Prefecture
A prefecture is an administrative jurisdiction or subdivision in any of various countries and within some international church structures, and in antiquity a Roman district governed by an appointed prefect.-Antiquity:...
s, markets, schools, libraries, clinics, etc.
The first service that must be provided to housing is water. Once given water (from a well or fountain), a small tent will evolve to a large tent, which has a higher value. Soon they will ask for food, religion, entertainment, education, pottery, etc., and evolve into higher levels of housing. The grand insulae is the highest level of plebeian housing. If provided with even more goods and services, it will evolve into patrician housing, whose inhabitants don't work (but contribute more than plebes to the city's tax revenue). The final level of housing is a luxury palace, but it is difficult to achieve as it has exacting requirements.
The general progression of housing is as follows:
Tents: Basic housing, very prone to fires. Large tents need a water supply.
Shacks: Shacks require food provided from a market.
Hovels: Hovels require basic temple access.
Casas: Small casas are 'bread and butter' housing, requiring only food, basic education, fountain access and basic entertainment. Large casas require pottery and bathhouse access.
Insulae: Medium insulae
Insulae
In Roman architecture, an insula was a kind of apartment building that housed most of the urban citizen population of ancient Rome, including ordinary people of lower- or middle-class status and all but the wealthiest from the upper-middle class...
require furniture, and Large insulae, oil. Large insulae require at least a 2x2 plot of land, and will expand if necessary to do so. Grand Insulae will require access to a library, school, barber, doctor, two food types and 'some access' to entertainment venues (e.g. theatre + amphitheatre + 2 shows + average overall city entertainment coverage.) Grand insulae are the most developed form of plebian housing.
Villas and Palaces: Small villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
s require wine and access to temples to 2 different Gods. Large villas will expand to 3x3 plots. Grand Villas will require access to a hospital, academy, and temples to 3 different Gods. Small palaces will require a second source of wine (imported if the city's primary source of wine is local, or vice-versa.) Large palaces will expand to 4x4 plots. Steadily increasing entertainment values are the main requirement for patrician housing to develop, and those for a Luxury Palace are near-perfect.
Desirability can prevent a house from evolving. In order to evolve, a house also must have a certain desirability in addition to more services. Desirability is calculated from the nearby buildings. For example, a reservoir is an undesirable neighbour while a temple is rather desirable. A house requires more desirability as it evolves.
Prosperity is largely based on the overall quality of houses- a city with a large population of tents and shacks is considered less prosperous than one of equal size with more luxurious housing.
Military
The game focuses more on city-building than military, but there will still be some fighting, even in some of the "peaceful" missions. The enemies in Mission Mode, from weakest to strongest, are:- Etruscans: TarentumTarantoTaranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....
and ValentiaValentia (Roman Britain)Valentia was the name of a consular northern province of Roman Britain.-History:Count Theodosius set up Valentia in 369 AD as part of his reorganisation of Britain following the Great Conspiracy, and probably named it after the reigning emperors, Valentinian and Valens.Ammianus tells of how the... - GreeksGreeksThe Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
: Syracusae and MiletusMiletusMiletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria... - Pergamum soldiers: TarsusTarsus (city)Tarsus is a historic city in south-central Turkey, 20 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey with a population of 2.75 million...
- EgyptiansAncient EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
: DamascusDamascusDamascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major... - NumidsNumidiaNumidia was an ancient Berber kingdom in part of present-day Eastern Algeria and Western Tunisia in North Africa. It is known today as the Chawi-land, the land of the Chawi people , the direct descendants of the historical Numidians or the Massyles The kingdom began as a sovereign state and later...
: Tingis and Caesarea - GaulsGaulsThe Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....
: LutetiaLutetiaLutetia was a town in pre-Roman and Roman Gaul. The Gallo-Roman city was a forerunner of the re-established Merovingian town that is the ancestor of present-day Paris...
and Massilia - DaciansDaciansThe Dacians were an Indo-European people, very close or part of the Thracians. Dacians were the ancient inhabitants of Dacia...
: Sarmizegetusa - Celts: LondiniumLondiniumThe city of London was established by the Romans around AD 43. It served as a major imperial commercial centre until its abandonment during the 5th century.-Origins and language:...
and LindumLincoln, LincolnshireLincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779.... - Carthaginians: MediolanumMediolanumMediolanum, the ancient Milan, was an important Celtic and then Roman centre of northern Italy. This article charts the history of the city from its settlement by the Insubres around 600 BC, through its conquest by the Romans and its development into a key centre of Western Christianity and capital...
and Carthago - CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
: All (He can attack if the player angers him by not paying back their bills) The first attack will be 2 legions of legionaries, which are very strong. If you kill them, another attack of about 6-8 legions of the same legionaries will follow. The attack will keep coming until you die (they also seem to stop if you get your favor over 35).
(The unnamed City, Brundisium, Capua, Tarraco and Lugdunum will never be invaded.)
Sometimes popular insurrections will occur. The insurgents are easier to kill, but there's no warning before the event happens.
To defend a city the player can build walls, ballista towers, and forts, which house Roman legion
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
soldiers. The soldiers in a fort can be trained as legionaries, or auxiliaries
Auxiliaries (Roman military)
Auxiliaries formed the standing non-citizen corps of the Roman army of the Principate , alongside the citizen legions...
including javelins, or cavalry.
Religion
There are five Roman gods which need to be satisfied by building temples, building oracles, or having festivals in honor of a specific god. They are Mars, god of war; VenusVenus (mythology)
Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...
, goddess of love; Mercury
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
, god of commerce; Ceres, goddess of agriculture; and Neptune
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
, god of the sea.
These gods will be displeased if not enough temples are devoted to them or if they do not receive equal treatment with the other gods. If a particular god is satisfied, the city may receive a blessing (i.e. Ceres' blessing causes all crops to grow at a faster rate for a short period of time), but if they should become displeased, the player should be prepared for a penalty (likewise, Ceres' wrath causes all crops to cease growing for a brief period of time). However, the player has the option to turn god effects off. With god effects off, the gods do not bless or penalize your town. This can be considered to be good or bad to do, depending on the general favor of the gods.
Commerce
In addition to benefiting citizens, goods are a valuable source of income and trade routes can be established with neighbouring cities either by land or sea. The resources available depend on the location and are wheatWheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s, fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s, grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s (used for wine only), olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s, meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
, fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
, clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
, iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
, and marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
. Workshops can be built to process grapes into wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
, olives into oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
, timber into furniture, clay into pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
, and iron into weapons. Selling manufactured products is often more profitable than raw materials (aside from marble), but they take longer to produce.
Entertainment
As the city becomes more prosperous, the citizens will demand entertainment. It can be in the form of theaterRoman theatre (structure)
The characteristics of Roman to those of the earlier Greek theatres due in large part to its influence on the Roman triumvir Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Much of the architectural influence on the Romans came from the Greeks, and theatre structural design was no different from other buildings...
, amphitheater
Amphitheatre
An amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for entertainment and performances.There are two similar, but distinct, types of structure for which the word "amphitheatre" is used: Ancient Roman amphitheatres were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were commonly used...
, colosseum
Colosseum
The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...
, or hippodrome
Hippodrome
A hippodrome was a Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words "hippos and "dromos"...
. Actor colonies, gladiator schools, lion houses, and chariot makers will provide the trained entertainer personnel.
Challenges
There are several challenges in the game, failing to meet which would result in delays in attaining the goal of winning the game or even in outright defeat:- Inefficient infrastructure: One of the main challenges in the game is the design and layout of an effective road network and proper placement of warehouses, granaries, services and industries necessary to support housing and maintain buildings (this problem can be particularly acute on larger maps with an awkward layout of terrain and associated resources.) Much of the difficulty presented results from the semi-random behaviour of your citizens, who cannot be directly controlled and are prone to make wrong turns when faced with branches in a road network. In consequence, many players deliberately constrain their road network to arrangements of simple loops and circuits, using gatehouses or gardens to bridge any gaps and permit shortcuts for walkers with more urgent destinations. This aims to force walkers to adhere to a set patrol route and prevents intermittent lapses in services. Regular patrols of prefects and engineers are essential for most buildings, conversely, nearly all buildings require nearby housing access for employment via citizen worker patrols.
- Failure to balance the budget: A game of Caesar III involves expenditure on the part of the player, to pay the workforce, construct new buildings, pay for imports and damages, holding festivals to appease Gods and mobs alike, and sundry expenses, such as covering thefts, or flattering the Emperor. Income generally comes from two main sources: Trade receipts, and taxation. Taxation is initially unimportant, but larger settlements with evolved housing (especially from villas and other patrician dwellings) may see the bulk of their income in tax receipts. Paradoxically, housing can potentially pay more than the cost of its own residents' wages in taxation. Trade income, by contrast, is derived from developing industries to export raw or finished goods to other cities of the empire. Trade is essential during the early game to cover outlays and expenses on construction, and remains important throughout play. In the later game, a city will almost certainly require imports of some form or another to support higher housing levels. Naturally, finished goods such as pottery, weapons and oil fetch higher prices than raw materials or bulk commodities such as olives or wheat (marble being the notable exception) so players generally attempt to export goods in their 'finished' form, but import in their 'raw' form, using local industry to complete manufacture. For example, a player might export furniture from local industries at a high price, but import cheaper clay and olives to manufacture pottery and oil for local consumption. Initial funds are specified by scenario, along with 'bailout loans' supplied by Caesar at a slight cost to Favour. The player can go into debt (up to 5000 denarii) but remaining in debt for long periods will inevitably incur Caesar's wrath, and is the single easiest way to lose the game.
- Inability to defend the borders: Although Caesar III's military aspects are minimal, many scenarios will feature heavy invasions from several directions and require the prudent establishment of walls, towers, forts and trained legions to deal with potential threats. Enemy armies have no interest in either bribery or occupation and raze buildings indiscriminately when given the chance. Aqueducts, granaries and warehouses are particularly vulnerable, and their loss can be devastating even if the invasion is repelled. In practice, allowing enemies to enter the city proper swiftly results in loss of the game. Different enemies with diverse troops compositions call for different tactics on the field, and a skilled general can greatly reduce losses through proper response to a given raiding party. Slow, heavily armed enemies such as the Carthaginians can be decimated by hit and run tactics with javelin auxiliaries, while ranged opponents such as the Numidians can be tied up with cavalry while your slower legionaries close for battle.
- Inattention to citizen mood: Citizens in the game make many demands on the player, which have to be satisfied to attract immigrants and prevent civil unrest. Low unemployment, adequate food supplies, reasonable taxation and regular festivals improve citizen mood, while the converse can lead to theft, emigration, or, most dangerously, outright rioting. Even in a city which is generally contented, individual 'slum' neighbourhoods can become hotbeds of unrest and disobedience if their general standard of living is poor when compared with affluent neighbours. Content citizens encourage immigrants to settle in your city and allow the player to establish higher levels of taxation without ill effect.
- Incorrect prioritisation: The industries receive labour from the workforce according to a prioritisation setting set by the player. Usually, this prioritisation is dynamic, depending on the problems facing the city at that particular point in time which the player is trying to fight. As an example, when Caesar makes an urgent request for oil, it is necessary to halt oil trade and focus the workforce on olive farming and the oil pressing industry, denuding the entertainment industry temporarily if necessary. An incorrectly deployed workforce could result in, as an example of a dangerous scenario, fully stocked warehouses but no docks to export the goods (having all collapsed due to an insufficient numbers of engineers). Some basic priorities, like firemen and engineers take priority over everyone else in most scenarios, as a lack of their essential services would result in the whole city falling down in ruins.
- Wrath of the gods: Although a minor aspect of the game and usually simple to satisfy, failing to appease the various Deities the player's people worship can be devastating. Normally, temples and oracles can offset any major divine disaffection. However, it should be noted that blessings from the Gods result only when a given deity has been 'displeased' before becoming 'exalted', so some players deliberately cultivate divine wrath in order to 'milk' blessings through a glut of temple-building and festivals.
- Health concerns: Again, though easily addressed via provision of clinics and occasionally hospitals, poor citizen health can lead to outbreaks of plague that ravage your workforce and eliminate housing.
- Natives: In the cities of Lugdunum, Carthago, Damascus, and Sarmizegetusa, the player will encounter natives. By building mission posts in their villages they can be convinced to ally with the player and even trade. But if some of them are still hostile towards the player, building something in their territory will provoke an insurrection.
- Wolves: Some maps have animals living in the wild. They can be sheep, zebras, or wolves. Of these animals, only wolves pose a threat to your city. A wolf may attack citizens or immigrants, affecting the size of the city's population, and in some cases preventing almost all immigrants from settling in your city. Military defenses can protect citizens from wolves, however a sufficient workforce is often needed to train and sustain an army of soldiers or wall guards.
- Everything is connected: Many problems in the game have knock-on effects that can greatly magnify their impact if not swiftly redressed. For example, labour shortages can cause lapses in essentials services, such as prefect patrols, which cause fires to break out, which destroys housing, which triggers a further labour shortage - a vicious circle best corrected early. If you choose to mothball industries to free up labourers, trade income will suffer, or housing may devolve as needed goods become scarce. If you raise taxes to compensate for reduced trade, your citizens' mood may sour, and riots could destroy a vital aqueduct, but cutting back on expenses may force you to skip festivals, thus incurring the wrath of the Gods. Cutting back on imports may leave you without access to weapons to furnish your legions or accommodate requests from Caesar. The great challenge in the game is that most of the problems you encounter will ultimately be of your own devising.
Editor
A few years after the game was released, SierraSierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
made an Editor available on their website. The editor allows players to produce their own scenarios from over twenty city locations, as well as choosing the identity of invaders (with new inclusions such as the Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
, Seleucids, Macedonians
Ancient Macedonians
The Macedonians originated from inhabitants of the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, in the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios...
and Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
), the available buildings, and everything that would appear on the map itself. The Caesar III page on Sierra's website is now down, but the Editor is still available for download from GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
, and was also distributed with later releases of the game.
Reception
External links
- Sierra official website
- Caesar III Heaven on the HeavenGames website
- Caesar III on GameFAQs (commercial website)