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For Readers who've not played previous games in the Caesar series here's the deal: You sign on as raw, indexperienced provincial governor and attempt to carry out the Emperor's wishes through progressively more challenging missions. Success brings promotion, wealth, and honor. Faliure brings a stint as a galley slave--if you're lucky. It's a bit like SimCity with monumental classical architecture, only it embodies a subtler and more complex economic model and, of course, in SimCity, you didn't have to worry about rampaging Carthaginian elphants. Readers who are already CaesarII addicts will immediatley want to know if this version is better enough , different enough, to warrant purchase. Yes, by Jupiter, it is! Here's a partial list of whats new and improved. The graphics. As lovely as were thoes of Caesar II, there are even more stunning. The sight of a bustling Roman metopolis, with its plazas, monuments, temples, and villas-streets thronged with colorful ( and opinionated)mulitudes-is something to to behold. To realize that you created this to experience a sense of wonder few games can provide. The "city level" and "province level"{ have been combined into maps that are generally much larger than thoes in the previous game. Now, when invaders threaten your city, you can see them coming and maneuver your military assets accordingly. No longer does the game segue into a board-game like view of combat;the fighting is now organtic to the whole setting, and therefore a higher priority should be assigned to walls, towers, and gates. No longer do you have to build each dwelling yourself. You simply zone areas as residential and after a while, you'll see settlers arriving and setting up their tents or hovels. When economic conditions permit, the occupants will upgrade their own housing. All you need do is monitor the desiraability of the neighborhood by making sure its inhabitants have water, access to a market and reasonable security. You must now build enginer posts. Engineers will patrol their neighborhoods and maintain all buildings in good repair. The godstake a very active role. If they feel neglected, They smite you with draughts, fire, earthquakes,etc. Placating them means dedicating expensive festivals to them or spending a fortune on temples. This feature i could have done without' its distracting and a serious drain on the treasury. |
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