CAESAR III
Caesar III logo

by Sierra Studios & Impressions Games

OK, here's the deal... I've finally bought this computer strategy game called Caesar III (by Sierra/Impressions Games). This game is great, but you can spend an inordinate amount of time on it and not realize it. This game is VERY addictive, believe me! You can download the demo from sierra.com. The demo is limited and you can't save anything, but it'll give you an idea. Minimum requirement is a Pentium 90.

So... exactly what is it?
This is a game similar to SimCity (I've heard) and Age of Empires (I've also heard)... it is basically a city building game with peaceful or military missions... you choose. There are 2 common levels then 9 levels each for the military and peaceful modes. On each level, once you reach the goals set forth by Caesar (Culture, Prosperity, Favor, Peace and Population), you are promoted to the next level. Military action is good, but limited. Overall, graphics are excellent and very realistic, and you can adjust the speed of the game, from slow to very fast (10% to 100%)... getting the speed of the game all the way to 10% gives you time to think. You can always pause the game if you want to anyway, though. And even better, you can save the game at any point using a different name every time if you wish. This allows you to go back in time if you really messed up! So... give it a try!!

For those of you Caesar III fans:
I've finished all the peaceful and military missions, and I'm now working on fan-made scenarios. I didn't describe each mission below, since they've all been discussed extensively in the forums I've included in the Links section below. As for fan-made scenarios, not all have been reviewed, so I've reviewed them here.

I also just finished "Tibur", as part of the mini-competition that was held by Marcus Lindicus at Caesar III Heaven. I've never been tops when it comes to timed scenarios, where the objective is speed, so I found myself pretty happy with my 10th place finish in the "Hard Difficulty" category.

In case you want to know, I'm a regular on the forums and I'm known as Fortuna (goddess of good fortune). You'll recognize me by my elephant, which usually accompanies me over there. ;-)

I don't usually sign up to "belong" to a forum. But this is one forum I'm glad to be a part of. The folks at the Caesar Heaven forum are the nicest bunch of people I know, and I'm still amazed that I could find such decent people online. What a joy it is to have them around!

Peaceful Missions:
¤ denotes missions I've successfully completed.

  • ¤ Citizen
  • ¤ Clerk - Brundisium
  • ¤ Engineer - Capua
  • ¤ Architect - Tarraco
  • ¤ Quaestor - Miletus
  • ¤ Procurator - Lugdunum
  • ¤ Aedile - Tarsus
  • ¤ Praetor - Valentia
  • ¤ Consul - Caesarea
  • ¤ Proconsul - Londinium
  • ¤ Caesar - Massilia

Military ones:

  • ¤ Citizen (same as peaceful)
  • ¤ Clerk - Brundisium (same as peaceful)
  • ¤ Engineer - Tarentum
  • ¤ Architect - Syracusae
  • ¤ Quaestor - Mediolanum
  • ¤ Procurator - Carthago
  • ¤ Aedile - Tingis
  • ¤ Praetor - Lutetia
  • ¤ Consul - Damascus
  • ¤ Proconsul - Sarmizegetusa
  • ¤ Caesar - Lindum

** Cities in the city construction mode have nothing to do with the "career" cities and are totally different, even if they do have the same name.

Fan-made Scenarios
Here's a list of the scenarios I've played recently
(all available at Caesar 3 Heaven):

Marseillaise
I was a bit disappointed with this scenario, because I thought the requests were enormous (sometimes 200 units of wheat!), and the military action was way too much for me. I mean, I had armies attacking my city from left and right, not even a year apart, sometimes 3 at one time. And each one was huge, 100+ people. My city was ravaged several times, and one time, I thought I'd just give up because my city was in ruins. I ended up finishing the scenario, but it wasn't my favorite one... Then again, I'm not exactly the military type either ;-)

Cyrenaica
Now, if you want a diabolical scenario, and you don't mind pulling all your hair out, then I suggest the tyranical "Cyrenaica". This is a scenario made by Caligula, and it's one of the most difficult out there. The main problem here (and what a problem it is!) is money. You have no forums/Senate (and therefore no taxes), and exports are extremely limited. Also, to add to the difficulty, wages become outrageously high toward the end, so that the city is not sustainable very long. After playing with it for weeks, I've finally succeeded. Very few people finished this scenario. What a relief it is to be done with it!

Arches
Arches was a nice change of pace. It is not too difficult; there's plenty of space; requests are reasonable. I really loved the shape of the map. BTW, the title "Arches" does not only refer to the map's shape (hint, hint). There is some military action, but it's not too bad, and can easily be handled with the usual defense system of walls, towers, and forts... as long as your cohorts are in them. ;-) I liked this scenario.

Isle of Celtia
I didn't really like this scenario. First of all, Rome supplies wheat (which I don't particularly like). The first challenge was to get a high population on high ground... that wasn't too hard. But then, there was the fact that there is an event that triggers a native revolt, and the revolt never stops... ever!!! If you allowed the natives to trade with you, you're done for. The natives kept coming, and coming, and coming... I fought them during the entire scenario, which took a little bit away from the scenario itself. I think the author may have redone it afterwards.

Right now, I'm playing the "New World" career by Dragon2, which is available from his website. I just started, so I'm on Iceland right now... doing good so far.

Hints and Tips:

  1. You can find an awful lot of tips on C3 Heaven. Probably more than you'll ever find anywhere else.
  2. Always pause the game at the beginning of a level, so you have time to take a look at what resources you have available and the terrain you're given
  3. While you're building your city at the beginning, slow the game down to 20%-40% to give you time to plan correctly.
  4. ALWAYS leave some kind of access to the Road to Rome.
  5. NEVER build houses more than 2 spaces from the road... they will disappear.
  6. Having more granaries gives you more cart pushers. A "getting granary"'s cart pusher has a much bigger cart.
  7. If you face a battle, slow the game down to 10% (but do not pause it) so you have time to take your legions from their fort to the the battleground. As soon as the flags are in place on the battlefield, bring it back up to 50%
  8. To kill wolves, use javelins or towers/ballista. To capture wolves, you can use either wells (cheap, but can always collapse), or aquaducts. If you're rolling in dinarii, you can always put up a wall.
  9. Giving wine to your people might get their houses turned to villas. People in villas are Patricians... there are only 40 of them in a small villa and Patricians don't work. Only turn houses to villas when you have unemployment.
  10. An angry Venus will send a plague to your town but will improve the city's mood if honored. An angry Mars will send angry natives and barbarians your way or curse your fort (and force all your soldiers out) but wipe out enemies if honored. An angry Ceres will wipe out your farms' production temporarily but will boost your crops if honored. An angry Mercury will destroy your granaries and warehouses with everything in them but will find hidden treasures in granaries if honored. An angry Neptune will sink all of your ships and your traders' ships but will send a year of good fortune to your ships and your trader's ships and will have your traders (both land and sea) pay you double during that whole time.
  11. Prefects will eventually (if slowly) kill rioters, angry gladiators, and native invaders. Use your legions if you have any to defeat them as well. Prefects also prevent and extinguish fires and keep the peace. On that same note, you don't need as many prefects in the Northern provinces, since buildings don't catch fire. You just need a few for peace-keeping. You always need engineers.
  12. Fountains only service 3 tiles in desert areas. They service 4 tiles in the Central and Northern provinces.

Links:
(Those probably contain everything you ever wanted to know about the game, incl. peaceful and military walkthroughs, sample cities, region maps, strategy questions, forums, screenshots, and even more scenarios made by Caesar III fans - in case you run out of levels)

Forums: (Your best source for help)

last update: August 2, 2000 e-mail