Games PC CAESAR III User Manual
QA Manager
Jon Payne
Lead Tester
Greg Sheppard
Quality assurance (UK)
Neal Sumsion
Niall Callaghan
Austin Parsons
Quality assurance (US)
Brian Coons
Frank Lavoie
Tony Leier
Wayne McCaul
Tom Rogers
Map & assignment
Doug Gonya
Designers
Eric Ouellette
Ken Parker
Greg Sheppard
Special Thanks to Chris Beatrice and Doug
Gonya.
Designer
David Lester
Programming
Simon Bradbury
Producer
Eric Ouellette
Art Director (US)
Darrin Horbal
Artists (US)
Ron Alpert
Adam Carriuolo
Bob Curtis
Mike Malone
Heidi Mann
Andrea Muzeroll
Dennis Rose
Artists (UK)
Gary Bendilow
Michael Best
Martin Povey
Daniel Shutt
Manual & Research
David Lester
Ken Parker
Wayne McCaul
Sound Effects
Edward Saltzman
Music
Rob Euvino
Credits
3
Credits
Riots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Prefectures & fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Engineering and Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
Paths & Roads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70
Bridges & Water Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Dock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
Shipyard & Wharf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
School, Academy & Library . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
The Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
Temples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
The Oracle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
Venues & Performer Schools . . . . . . . . . . . .89
Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
Amphitheater and Colosseum . . . . . . . . . . . .91
Hippodrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
Health and Sanitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
Sanitation: Bath-house & Barber . . . . . . . . .95
Doctor's Clinic & Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96
Government, Administration and Money . . . .99
The Senate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Triumphal arch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Costs and Controlling Them . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Taxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Tribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
5
Table of Contents
Welcome to the Roman Empire . . . . . . . . . . . .9
In-Game Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Installing Caesar III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Starting the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Your Career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
City Construction Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Losing the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
For Players of Caesar II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Roman Cities, and How to Build Them . . . . .23
How to Build a Roman City . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Recommended Order of Priorities . . . . . . . . .28
Game Ratings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Prosperity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Favor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Housing and Desirability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Desirability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Gardens and Plazas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Statues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
People, Employment and Migration . . . . . . . .49
Migration: Attracting People to Your City . .49
Population Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
Plebeians, Patricians, & the Workforce . . . . .53
Employment & Labor Allocation . . . . . . . . .54
People Walking Along Roads . . . . . . . . . . . .56
Mood and Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Table of Contents
Other Enemies of Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156
Information, Tools and Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159
Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159
Overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160
Advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167
Game Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
Other Game Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185
Answers to Common Question . . . . . . . . . . .186
Hints and Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190
Designer’s Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197
Building Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200
7
Table of Contents
Your Rank & Salary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
Governor's Residence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
Food, Farming and Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
Farming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Storage & Distribution: Granary,
Warehouse & Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
Special Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Clay Pit, Iron Mine & Timber Yard . . . . . . .124
Marble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124
Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
Oil, Pottery & Furniture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
Wine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Water Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Fountain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
Reservoir & Aqueduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
Military Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Walls & Towers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142
Gatehouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143
Fort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144
Barracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146
Military Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
Commanding Roman legions . . . . . . . . . . . .148
What to Expect in Battle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
Battles in Your Province . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
Fighting for the Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
Enemies of Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155
Native Tribes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155
Mission Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155
6
Table of Contents
ongratulations, citizen! Caesar has
approved your application to enter
the Empire's government. The
Emperor is eager to expand his settlements
and reward citizens who can implement his
will. The Roman Empire is so vast, and growing so rapidly, that even our divine Caesar
cannot hope to rule it alone. He needs capable provincial governors, and that is where
you come in.
Caesar appointed me, Pius Perplexus, to
teach you the skills of governing. Your scribe,
Clarus Lucidus, will add notes as we go
along. My main interest is in teaching you
what you should do, and why you should do
it. When Clarus thinks you need information
about how to do whatever I am discussing at
the time, he adds his comments in obvious
sections called Scribe's Notes.
Your goal is to build a thriving Roman city.
Caesar III has two styles of play: The Career
Game and the City Construction Kit. In a
Career, Caesar rewards success with promotions and more challenging assignments. All
new governors begin their careers with the
same sequence of two assignments. After
you complete them, Caesar lets you choose
between accepting a peaceful or a dangerous new assignment each time you earn a
promotion. As long as you continue to meet
Caesar's ever escalating expectations, you
win by becoming Rome's next Emperor.
If the second style of play, the City
Construction Kit, is more to your liking, you
can ignore the Emperor and set your own
goals. There is no winning in the
Construction Kit, beyond satisfying whatever
objectives you set for yourself.
Welcome to the Roman Empire
C
11
panels often include a few words in red type.
Click on red words to read related help
entries. You can also choose Help from the
menu bar at the top of your game screen to
view the Table of Contents for in-game Help.
10
Welcome to the Roman World
You can lose either type of game if you fall
very much out of Caesar's favor. The Favor
rating, which measures Caesar's current
opinion of you, is affected by your performance especially your handling of your
province's funds. Don't worry, though
Caesar may be a tough master, but he is fair,
and will give you the chance to recover if
you do fall far out of favor. Use the considerable information within the game to avoid
this unfortunate outcome.
Caesar III is not a war game, although you
might sometimes have to defend your city
against Rome's enemies. It's not a historical
reference or educational program, either. It
is about building cities where people can live
productive, happy lives, and having fun in
the process. Caesar III gives you a strong
feeling of what life might have been like in
ancient Rome, but the game does sometimes
depart from history. In some places, strict
historical accuracy would have made the
game complicated or restrictive. Wherever
they faced such choices, Caesar III's designers emphasized simplicity and fun.
In-game information
aesar III has lots of information built
right into the game. When you are in
doubt about anything, click on it with
your mouse's right button (right-click).
Almost everything displays a small panel
showing important information when you
right-click on it.
For more detailed help, click on the button in
the panel's lower left corner. These detail
C
Welcome to the Roman World
Installing Caesar III
ith Windows running on your
computer, put the Caesar III CD
into the CD-ROM drive. After a
moment, Windows' AutoPlay feature displays a screen with four buttons marked
Play, Install, Uninstall and Quit. Click Install
to begin.
If AutoPlay doesn't work on your computer,
put the Caesar III CD into the CD-ROM drive.
Click twice quickly (double-click) on the
My Computer icon on your Windows desktop. In the window that opens, find the icon
representing your CD-ROM drive. Click that
icon with your right mouse button (rightclick). Now click the word Open at the top
of the menu that appeared when you rightclicked. Double-click the item called
Setup.exe.
The Install program performs a brief system
test. Click the Yes button if you hear sound.
Read the Welcome screen that appears next,
then click the Next button. You are now
prompted to choose an Install path for
Caesar III. To change the game's location on
your hard drive, click the Browse button and
find the folder to which you'd like the game
installed. Click Next when your choice is displayed, or to accept the path Install chose. If
you're unsure where you should install the
game, just use the location chosen by the
Install program.
Caesar III's installation can take up to 10
minutes. When it finishes, you see a box
describing the additions Caesar III made to
your Start menu. Click OK, then tell Install
whether or not to add bookmarks to your
Internet browser.
Getting started
W
Your Career
he first two assignments are the same
for all new governors. Each assign-
ment in the Career Game has clear
goals that you must achieve to earn a promotion and move on to the next province.
At first, the Roman Empire is small, and your
choices of cities to govern are slim. As the
game goes on and the Empire grows (thanks,
in part, to your own success), Caesar lets you
choose among provinces to rule next. He
usually lets you choose between a peaceful
or a dangerous province.
When you have such a choice, you'll see a
map of the Empire showing the cities available. Click on each city for a brief description
of its characteristics. When you've made
your decision, click the OK button.
15
Getting started
T
Install now asks whether you would like to
view the game's Readme file. Click Yes if
you'd like to read it now. This manual went
to print several weeks before the game was
finished, and late changes or additions are
documented in Readme. Wherever Readme
and this manual conflict, Readme is correct.
(Readme doesn't display until the Install is
complete).
Click the Finish button. Install checks some
system components, and updates them if
necessary. It might then restart your computer.
Use the Sierra AutoUpdate feature accessible
from your Start button to check for any free
enhancements or upgrades to the game.
Starting the game
he Install program placed a shortcut
on your Windows desktop. Double-
click on that icon to start the game.
Or, insert the game CD and, when AutoPlay
begins, click the Play button. Or, click the
Start button on your Windows task bar and
launch the game from the location to which
you installed it.
You must have the Caesar III CD in your
CD-ROM drive while playing.
After the game loads, a short movie depicting the rise of Rome plays, followed by credits and the Caesar III title screen. Click on it
to proceed to the game set-up panel. Here,
you choose whether to begin a new Career
Game, load a previously saved game, play a
City Construction Kit game or exit the program.
14
Getting started
T
will give you every opportunity to succeed,
but his patience has limits. When he has to
find more money for your city, Caesar lowers
your Favor rating (see page 36).
After choosing the Construction Kit, you see
a map of the Roman Empire showing all its
major cities. Click on any city for a description of its unique challenges and resources.
When you decide which province to govern,
click the OK button.
Losing the Game
aesar III is simple to learn and play,
but difficult to master. It is neverthe-
less possible to lose the game. Should
you fall far out of favor with the Emperor, he
will send an army to come and reclaim your
city from you. Continual poor management
of city funds could lead to just such a problem, so be careful! This applies to both individual assignments within your Career, and
to the City Construction Kit.
For players of Caesar II
f you have played Caesar II, enough has
changed in Caesar III that your old play-
ing styles will need to change. While you
will find much that is familiar, you should
know about some of the more significant
areas that have changed before you plunge
right into the game:
The province level and the city level
have been combined into one larger map
(though early assignments within the career
are on fairly small maps). Should you
encounter any barbarians or invaders, you
will find that all combat now takes place on
17
Getting started
i
Some cities might need you to focus on
trade, others on industry; most blend the
two. Some assignments might require you to
rescue an existing city from a crisis. Some
provinces are in dangerous areas. Every
assignment is different. Remember, though,
that Caesar wants you to succeed. He
always makes his expectations clear, and
gives you the resources you need to accomplish the task at hand.
You begin your career as a Citizen. As you
successfully complete assignments, Caesar
will promote you through the following
ranks:
Clerk
Engineer
Architect
Decurion
Apparitor
Magistrate
Quaestor
Procurator
Aedile
Praetor
Proconsul
Consul
Senator
Caesar
City construction kit
lick this button if you'd rather forget
about the Emperor and his assign-
ments, and just build a city. All
options from the Career Game are open to
you, except for the career itself. There is no
winning a Construction Kit game, apart
from satisfying whatever goals you set yourself, but you can lose if you keep running out
of money. Caesar is a reasonable ruler who
16
Getting started
C
C
liable to collapse if they don't receive regular
maintenance.
You will quickly see a large variety of
people walking through your city. These all
perform valuable tasks for your city, and you
should think carefully about how and where
you build roads. Whenever a road junction is
reached, these little people must make a
choice about which way to take; the fewer
intersections you create, therefore, the more
control you have over the routes your people
will take.
Most services needed by houses are not
provided simply if a building is nearby, as
was the case with Caesar II. Instead, most
buildings generate people, who need to walk
past a house in order to offer that service to
the house.
Most buildings which employ people
must have road access to reasonably close
housing. If housing is too far away from a
structure which seeks employees, even
though there is road access and unemployment in the city, the building will not find any
workers.
The old Empire rating is gone, replaced
by a Favor rating, which indicates Caesar's
current opinion of you. Favor is important,
since you will lose the game if it falls too low.
Terrain has become an important consideration in city design, with higher land and
waterside plots being more desirable. You
will come across islands, and need to bridge
water at times to achieve your objectives.
And different types of land hold different
resources, from fertile land to areas rich in
clay or iron ore.
19
Getting started
this same map, placing your city in considerable danger should your defenses fail.
Unlike Caesar II, in Caesar III you desig-
nate areas for housing, rather than build
housing directly. You must make your city
attractive to immigrants if you expect people
to move in, and every growing city needs
plenty of new immigrants. Once people
move in, they upgrade their housing of their
own accord, should you provide a suitable
environment.
In most assignments (and almost always
in the City Construction Kit) you need to provide food for your citizens. This should
always be your top priority, since it is very
hard to attract new immigrants into a city
without food, and hunger can quickly turn
your population to crime.
Engineers are now needed to maintain
your city's buildings. Build engineering posts
to send out engineers on patrol. Buildings are
18
Getting started
21
Getting started
Religion plays a larger role in citizens'
lives. There are five gods to keep happy;
ignore them at your peril.
Entertainment, too, has changed: building
a theater or amphitheater is not enough to
please your people, as it did before. Build
actor colonies, gladiator schools and more to
provide performers for these otherwise
pretty (but dull) venues.
Caesar is a more hands-on Emperor than
he was in the old game, and will interact with
you more often. He is worth looking after
whenever you can.
Finally, you won't hear the phrase Plebs
are needed! any more. The computer automatically allocates your workforce to jobs.
This is all that you need most of the time.
When there is a shortage of employees, you
can assign priorities to categories of workers,
ensuring that whichever tasks matter most
to your city get first claim on the available
plebes.
20
Getting started
oman cities differed from modern
cities in obvious ways: No skyscrap-
ers, no motor vehicles, no subways,
no electric lighting, and so on. But they were
remarkably similar in some ways, too: Many
Roman cities were large, busy places where
hundreds of thousands of people lived (historians estimate that Rome itself housed one
million residents). Cities used road networks,
and had buildings several stories high.
People in ancient times had the same basic
needs that we have today: food, water, clothing and other goods; a job to provide income
to pay the bills; entertainment, education,
religion and other services and diversions.
For a Roman city, just as for a modern one,
the wide variety in kinds of people and buildings, the hustle and bustle, the noise and dust
all gave a city its character.
The center of a Roman city should be full of
fine buildings. The Senate, the center of government for a Roman city, should be the center point around which other buildings are
located. It will probably be surrounded by
lavish plazas, a governor's palace, and some
of the wealthiest villas imaginable. There will
be numerous large, grand temples, and perhaps an oracle, providing religious service for
the rich and powerful who live in and around
the city center.
The bath house, of course, will be close by.
This is where the wealthy come to wash
away the dirt, and also to see and be seen, to
talk and to plot. And after a bath, rich
Romans enjoy a stroll in one of the many gardens that are usually to be found in this part
of the city, perhaps bordered by statues
Roman Cities, and How to
Build Them
R
tents, hovels and shacks, these slums can
house an amazing number of citizens. You
would be well advised not to venture there
alone. As you create your own city, keep a
watchful eye on any such districts. They are
often the source of crime, occasionally even
riots! It's often not even worthwhile sending
tax collectors round, since the people there
are so poor there's precious little tax to collect.
No portrayal of Roman cities is complete
without mentioning their lifeblood: The people. How can I describe the feeling of abundant, thriving life that I get just from watching the city center as all manner of people go
about their busy lives? Of course, you expect
to see the many plebes, priests, prefects and
market traders, and maybe the cart pushers
as well. But would you imagine gladiators,
lion tamers, merchants from distant lands,
engineers, barbers and doctors, too? It is
quite a sight to behold.
25
Roman Cities, and How to Build Them
marking various triumphs of Rome's glorious
expansion.
Other grand structures, too, will be close by:
academies, schools, and libraries, where the
young are educated in the ways of Rome.
Theaters are there, and actor colonies to train
the actors who perform the drama so popular with the wealthy of Rome.
Not far away from that, though hidden away
so as not to upset the desirability of the very
center, will be the bases for the essential services needed: barbers and doctors, police
stations, markets and engineering stations; a
reservoir and fountains to provide the enormous volumes of water needed by such a
thriving metropolis; a granary to allow the
market traders easy access to food stores.
Beyond the tidy central core of the city are
the productive areas, where most of the
work gets done, and where those who perform that work live. Here you'll find farming
districts, mines and workshops, a thriving
port, and warehouses close to the main road
out of the province. These outer areas of a
Roman city also house more popular, if noisier and dirtier, entertainment venues like
amphitheaters, where gladiators fight to the
death to the delight of cheering crowds, and
the colosseum, where lions are brought to
battle each other and the better gladiators.
The finest cities of all have a hippodrome,
like Rome's Circus Maximus one of the
largest buildings I've ever seen; the fiercely
competitive chariot races held there are
surely the finest entertainment anywhere in
the Empire.
Some cities, it is true, also have areas they
are less proud of. Dirty and dangerous, full of
24
Roman Cities, and How to Build Them
crime. Beware very high unemployment.
There's more information about employment
on page 49.
Desirability: In addition to needing goods
and services, housing often requires its surrounding area to be made more pleasant
before it evolves to higher values. This
means prettying it up with gardens, plazas,
statues and temples, or removing some of
the more antisocial buildings nearby, such as
workshops or military buildings. You can
read up on desirability on page 43.
Water access: Water is critical to all life,
even that found in the slums of Rome's cities.
Poorer areas expect to either get their own
water directly from a river or lake, or to draw
it up from deep wells. But better citizens
want a nearby source of clean water, and
they'll soon demand a fountain before they
upgrade their housing. Of course, fountains
won't please anyone unless they actually
distribute water, for which they need access
27
Roman Cities, and How to Build Them
How to Build a Roman
City
here are a few basic concepts you
would be well advised to get straight
before embarking too far on your journey to become the finest Governor in the
Empire.
Housing: Designate an area for housing,
after which people will move in and set up
their own homes, which they will upgrade if
you provide them with the facilities they
seek. If there's not enough empty housing, no
one can move into your city, however much
they may wish to. You can find out more
about housing on page 41.
Roads: Citizens can walk only on roads.
Most buildings employ people, and need to
be both adjacent to road and reasonably
close to housing so that citizens can reach
the building to start work. For more on
roads, please turn to page 56.
Food: Not unreasonably, your citizens
need to eat food. People who live in tents,
the simplest housing, expect to forage for
their own food, but everyone else expects
you, as their governor, to provide it for them.
Failure to do so could lead to unhappiness
and possibly severe crime, as well as preventing immigration. You can read about
food on page 111.
Unemployment: Providing jobs is nearly
as important for luring immigrants as providing food. Unemployment quickly makes
people unhappy, and unhappy people are
likely to leave your city, talk other people
into not moving in, or, worse still, turn to
26
Roman Cities, and How to Build Them
T
Always make sure there is plenty of food
around. Check how full your granaries are
regularly; if they look empty, you are probably eating more than you are growing, which
suggests that you should build more farms or
import some more food. It is easy to forget
about food once your city starts to take
shape and grow rapidly, but your people
won't let you forget it for long.
Security: Build plenty of prefectures as
you expand; cities face all sorts of pressures
with rapid growth, and most governors I
know sleep much better knowing that there
are plenty of prefects around to put out fires
and take care of any signs of crime before
they get out of hand.
Unemployment: Try not to let the unemployment rate rise much above 15 percent,
and then only for a short time. In the early
months of a new city, just a few workers can
represent a large percentage of the workforce; if unemployment is high, add a new
farm, and kill two birds with one stone.
Water: Since reservoirs and fountains do
not need road access to their labor, it is easy
to forget that they need workers to function.
Think ahead about the routes your aqueducts
will need to follow to carry water from its
natural source (a river, or lake, say) to the
expensive residential areas that will need it.
Religion: Try to keep the gods happy.
Happy gods can be of help to you, while
angry gods can do you more damage than
you care to know about. Beware their wrath!
Money: Don't worry about how much
money you're spending until your population
29
Roman Cities, and How to Build Them
to a reservoir. Learn more about the city's
water supply on page 135.
Security: Prefectures help to suppress
crime, and they guard against fires in the
city. Engineers inspect your buildings for
structural flaws and keep them in top repair.
If you skimp on prefectures and engineer's
posts, your city will not last for very long.
Read more on page 66.
Recommended order of
priorities
any governors feel slightly overwhelmed when facing the stark
emptiness of a new province, and
don't know quite how to begin. It is tempting
to rush in to a new city and build some of the
finer structures first. Sadly, this can make citizens unhappy. They much prefer their governors to build carefully, starting with basic
needs. In addition to some areas of housing,
I recommend the following order of priorities
as the key to solid, long-lasting cities:
28
Roman Cities, and How to Build Them
M
31
Roman Cities, and How to Build Them
nears 1,000. By then, your city should be stable enough for you to consider raising taxes,
making sure everyone is paying their taxes
(use the tax Overlay to help you do this). And
then you should start to consider setting up
some trade to provide more income.
Defense: In some of the more dangerous
provinces, defense is an important consideration. You don't need to think about it much
before you get the basics up and running,
and in many provinces you won't need to
worry about it at all. But in those dangerous
provinces, scan the map first of all to see
where you may want to build some defensive walls, or place some forts, taking into
account where your farmland, water sources
and other important locations are.
The Rest: there are many other structures
to build and issues to consider, but it is hard
to go far wrong if you get the basics right
first.
30
Roman Cities, and How to Build Them
Scribe's NOTE:
Remember, if in doubt, right-click. If you right-click on the people
wandering around, they'll usually give you valuable information
about what they think the city needs, or what they're up to. If there
are problems, you can be sure they'll let you know! Right-clicking on
housing always tells you what that house needs if it is to evolve,
while right-clicking on other buildings tells you if, and how well,
they are operating.
Your Chief Advisor is a good fellow, too; he'll always tell you the
truth about the state of your city. Check in with him regularly, too.
here are several measures of your
city's progress in Caesar III, which I
call ratings. These are Peace,
Prosperity, Culture and Favor. Caesar is not
an arbitrary ruler. With every new assignment that you take, Caesar sets specific targets for you to reach for each of these ratings. You win a promotion to a new assignment when you achieve these goals (this
does not apply to the City Construction Kit).
You can see your current ratings on the city
map by looking at the Senate building; its
flags represent the four ratings, and they
move over time as your ratings change.
Mouse help for the building gives you the
precise rating numbers. Alternatively, you
can consult your Ratings Advisor, who will
show you the ratings and offer some advice
on how to boost them.
Culture
our Culture rating is a measure of the
culture in your city. Culture comes
from education, religion, and some
entertainment. Culture was very important
to ancient Rome; it sought to impose its culture throughout the Empire, which is why so
many languages today are based on Latin,
the ancient Romans' language.
The Culture rating is calculated by comparing the number of buildings your city has in
these categories with the size of your population. As the city grows, it needs more and
more buildings to offer the same level of culture to its larger population.
T
Game Ratings
Y
Wage rate (paying more than Rome
boosts Prosperity, while paying less reduces
it);
Housing levels (having quite a few villas
in your city boosts Prosperity, while a large
proportion of your citizens living in tents and
shacks reduces it);
If lots of people eat more than one type
of food, Prosperity rises;
The presence of an active hippodrome in
a city boosts Prosperity.
The easiest way to boost Prosperity is simply
for your treasury to take in more money than
it spends, not counting construction costs
(which are, after all, enhancing the city).
35
Game Ratings
The Ratings Advisor Panel
34
Game Ratings
Prosperity
The Prosperity rating is a measure of
the overall wealth of your city and its
people.
Factors which affect Prosperity include:
Unemployment (very low levels boost the
rating, high levels reduce it);
City profitability (excluding construction
costs, if your city takes in more denarii than
it spends, the Prosperity rating will rise, and if
it takes in less than it spends, the rating will
fall);
If the city needs additional funds from
Rome, its Prosperity rating falls;
Should the city ever fail to pay tribute to
Rome, its Prosperity falls;
To raise your Culture rating, build additional
temples, oracles, schools, libraries, academies or theaters (the only cultured entertainment form back then).
Note that all these buildings must be active
to count towards the Culture rating which
means that they must all have the employees that they need, and the theater needs
actors to perform plays.
Scribe's Note:
Click on your Culture rating, or any other rating for that matter, on
the City Progression Panel in the Senate to see brief advice for
improving it.
T
37
Game Ratings
Pander to Caesar's every desire. From
time to time, you may receive a request from
him. This may be for goods, or for cash, or
even an army. He will always tell you when
he wants this stuff, and getting it to him by
then makes him much more pleased with
you.
Send him gifts from your own personal
savings. You can send a small, medium or
large gift from your Emperor's Advisor.
Beware excessive use of gifts, since Caesar
has a tendency to take them for granted
after a while. The first should be in proportion
to your own personal wealth at the time.
Sadly, it is all too easy to displease Caesar.
Try to avoid the following, which will cause
him to think worse of you:
Poor progress towards the assignment
objectives; Caesar does not like time to be
wasted.
36
Game Ratings
Peace
he Peace rating is a measure of how
secure your people feel. As time pass-
es without any disturbance of the
peace, the initial concern people naturally
have about a brand new area begins to fall,
and they feel much safer.
Disturbances of the peace reduce the rating,
though. Theft and riots both reduce the Peace
rating, as does any destruction of property by
barbarians or invaders. The people understand that they live in a dangerous time,
where such evils as barbarians and invaders
exist, but they expect their governor to protect them from it. Any lapse will have a
severe effect on a city's citizens, reducing
the Peace rating significantly. Only prolonged periods of security can bring it back
up.
Favor
our Favor rating shows you what
Caesar thinks of you.
With every new assignment you
begin, your Favor rating starts at 50, which
means that Caesar is neither pleased nor displeased with you. If you please him, the rating rises; if you displease him, the rating falls.
It is important for you to understand that if
you do not come to Caesar's attention at all
in any year, the Favor rating falls slightly; out
of sight, out of mind, out of Favor.
You can please Caesar in several ways:
Make strong progress towards achieving
the overall objectives of the assignment.
T
Y
39
Game Ratings
Ignoring a request from him. If you can't
meet his deadline, it's still worthwhile to fulfill the request, although less beneficial than
fulfilling it on time. However, failure to ever
fulfill it is likely to make him very angry
toward you.
Poor cash management. This is the single
easiest way to anger Caesar. He respects
sound use of the funds he has entrusted you
with, but also expects you to make your
cities contribute as soon as possible. Should
he send you any specific instructions regarding your use of Rome's funds, try hard to follow that advice.
If you fall very far (a Favor rating of a meager
10 percent would be far enough, I fear) in
Caesar's favor, he will remove you from
office. He will send an army to enforce that,
ordering the army to stay beside your city for
up to one year. If you manage to please him
enough in that time to raise Favor to 40, the
army will return to Rome. Otherwise, the
army will enter your city to claim back for
Rome what belongs to her, and to place you
under arrest. I would not recommend trying
to fight the army, either; Caesar would not be
amused.
38
Game Ratings
ousing is probably the single most
important type of building in your
city. It is the source of labor, and
also of crime. It is also one of the best visual
indicators of the progress of your city: as you
provide more of the goods and services that
your citizens want, they upgrade their homes
and enhance the area around them. This is
clear right from the start: instead of building
houses directly, you select an area and designate it for sale, following which immigrants will move in and set up tents. These
tents will hopefully develop into better housing over time.
The house that a citizen lives in determines
his or her income: the better the house, the
higher the income. Fires spread more rapidly
among tents than among more permanent
structures, and crime is more likely to occur
within poorer areas than in wealthier ones. It
is always a good idea, then, to help housing
evolve from its initial tents into good quality.
As housing evolves into better structures, the
number of people who live in the dwelling
changes. Initially, most of the changes are
upwards: more and more people can live in
dwellings as they grow in size. This means
that when you need more workers in your
city, you will usually have two choices: designate some additional land to be used for
housing, or provide the services or goods
that some existing houses need in order to
grow.
This creates space in the newly evolved
houses. People living in cheaper housing
elsewhere in the city automatically move to
Housing and Desirability
H
Tent
Shack
citizens need access is provided by a building. That building generates a worker, who
wanders the streets near his or her place of
work, providing services to all the houses he
or she passes.
If you right-click on a house and are told that
it needs access to a bath-house, for example,
place a bath-house nearby on a road that's
likely to lead the bather to walk by the house
in question. The overlay reports (for more
information see page 160) are often an easy
way to see precisely which route different
workers follow, and hence where you may
need to place another building.
Desirability
esirability is a measure of how nice,
aesthetically, the area immediately
around a house is.
A neighborhood can provide food, water and
manufactured goods, and have good access
to a variety of services, yet still suffer a lack
of desirability. People simply don't like to live
too close to structures that cause noise, dirt,
danger or traffic. Let common sense be your
guide. Would you rather live next to a garden or a pig farm?
Different buildings have substantially different effects on the desirability of the area surrounding them. As you might expect, the
larger the building is, the stronger and farther
reaching its effect is likely to be. Industries,
military buildings and noisier entertainment
structures are all highly undesirable neighbors, as you might expect.
Markets are more unusual: they are bad to
be right next to, yet they have a positive
43
Housing and Desirability
a better home when room becomes available, freeing up space in their former homes.
Immigrants usually move into the nowvacant cheaper dwellings, as long as they
find your city attractive (for more details on
Immigration, see page 49).
Eventually, some houses evolve into villas.
This is a significant step. Villa dwellers are
much wealthier people, and can have all
sorts of positive effects on your city, from a
higher Prosperity rating to higher tax income.
But note that far fewer people live in a villa,
so whenever a house evolves into a villa,
quite a few citizens are made homeless; you
will see them dragging their meager belongings behind them as they search for somewhere else in the city to live.
So, how do you foster the growth of a tent
village into a neighborhood of expensive villas? The short answer is to right-click on a
house, and it will tell you what it needs next
in order to evolve.
The things that a house needs fall into two
categories: goods and services, and the quality of the surrounding area. Goods and services are largely what you would expect:
food, water, access to entertainment, education, religion, and so on. The needs change as
citizens become wealthier: rich citizens want
nicer water, a bath, different types of food,
manufactured goods and possibly wine.
They also want access to better education,
more entertainment, more religion, and to
have doctors and barbers close by.
When I say access to I mean that the citizens want these services within easy walking distance. Each of the services to which
42
Housing and Desirability
D
Small Villa
Large Hovel
Oh, I nearly forgot: housing that is high up,
and waterfront property are both somewhat
more desirable in and of themselves. People
like living near lakes, rivers and beaches, and
they love the views to be had from higher
ground. Bear this in mind as you think about
your city's master plan.
Give people good jobs, a varied diet, manufactured goods, access to services and pleasant homes. They will do the rest.
45
Housing and Desirability
Scribe's Note:
To reach its highest level, housing needs access to a nearby market
supplied with four different foods, pottery, oil, furniture and two
varieties of wine. Regular visits by workers from a bath-house, a doctor's clinic, a barber's shop, a priest of each god's temple, and representatives of a school, academy, library, theater, amphitheater, colosseum and hippodrome are also required. If you can supply all of
these goods, and access to all of these buildings, then reaching the
highest values is simply a matter of enhancing desirability. Rightclick on housing to discover why its growth is stagnant. The panel
that appears shows what the house lacks, or the nearest negative
influence on its desirability.
Plebes will only commute a certain distance to work. They travel
farther on straight roads than on winding ones, but will not walk
great distances. If you create a farm colony or industrial park far
from your urban center, provide cheap, nearby housing for workers.
effect on houses a little further away.
Nobody wants to live right next to a noisy,
smelly place which gets going at the crack of
dawn every day, yet they do want to live
close enough that they can just nip round a
corner to pick up some more wheat when
they run out. Wells also have a mild negative
effect on desirability.
Gardens, temples, oracles, educational institutions, government buildings, governor's
residences, baths, statues and similar buildings all improve a neighborhood's character.
To some extent, you can offset negative
influences on desirability by providing positive ones, but blocks near commercial buildings are unlikely to get much beyond medium values. If a neighborhood stops improving, and its residents complain about its
desirability, give them a new garden, plaza
or statue. If they still aren't happy, look for
unpleasant structures nearby and consider
relocating them elsewhere.
44
Housing and Desirability
Gardens and plazas
ardens and plazas share a simple
purpose: They make their surround-
ing neighborhood nicer. Of all the
many things you could live next too, wouldn't gardens be a top choice? Gardens don't
G
Garden
47
Housing and DesirabilityHousing and Desirability
need road access, a water supply, laborers or
maintenance. They cannot catch fire or collapse.
You can build gardens by placing them one
at a time, or by clicking and dragging a larger area.
Plazas work the same way, except that they
can only be built over paved roads. Even
paved roads are utilitarian, meant purely for
moving traffic as efficiently as possible.
When you replace a road with a plaza, you
cover the plain flat paving stones with mosaic tiles, adding beauty and instilling civic
pride in what was, before, nothing but a busy
thoroughfare. Plazas will not actually reduce
traffic or make the former road any less functional. They merely make a statement about
the value of the properties by which they
pass.
Both gardens and plaza are extremely valuable tools for governors to make their cities
nicer. Both have valuable desirability effects,
and are all the more useful since they can be
placed as a single small plot, or used to fill a
larger area.
Statues
tatues enhance a neighborhood's desirability. Monuments to prominent citi-
zens or noteworthy events show residents that their government cares about their
property values, and provide a pleasing
focus or reference point to a neighborhood.
Statues' effect on desirability increases with
their size.
46
S
Large Statue
Plaza
hile buildings cover most of the
physical space of any city, the
people who live and work within
these buildings, and who you can see scurrying about the streets, are the life and soul of
a city. In a thriving city, you'll see all kinds of
different types of people wandering around,
from school children to leisurely patricians
and busy workers.
When there are no people in a city, it looks
dead and it really is dead. People give life
to a city. When you first start to build a new
city somewhere, you start by placing some
buildings or housing area; it is only when you
see people moving in and setting about their
lives that you know the city is beginning to
work. For this reason, as you construct more
buildings, be sure to keep a fresh supply of
people coming into your city, to provide
workers to operate those new buildings.
Clearly, these people are absolutely crucial to
the success of your city. You would do well
to look after them. And they love to talk. I
humbly suggest that you talk to them regularly (by right-clicking on them); they often
have important messages about the state of
a city.
Migration: Attracting
people to your city
hen you first start a new city, it has
no population at all. As soon as
you designate an area of land to
be used for housing, some carts should start
to move into your province and set up their
People, Employment and
Migration
W
W
51
People, Employment and Migration
Scribe's note:
When you see people moving out of your city, right-click on them to
find out why. They will not hesitate to voice their grievances.
you talk to any of your people, they will be
only too happy to tell you what they think of
life; be careful, though, since they love to
moan, and will usually tell you of any problem at all, even if it is minor, given half a
chance. Your Chief Advisor can tell you very
reliably what the overall mood of the people
is at any time.
When immigrants arrive, they bring carts of
their belongings with them, looking for available housing. They will move in to any housing which has space for them. Once they are
settled, if space becomes vacant in a better
house in the city, they automatically move
into it, vacating their old home.
Sometimes houses devolve back to a more
primitive level than they were before. This
can happen if some of their goods or services
are cut off for some reason. This often means
that fewer citizens can fit into the building,
and so some of those who used to live there
become homeless. You will see homeless
people dragging a sack of their belongings
forlornly behind them, trying to find somewhere else to live. If they cannot, they will be
forced to leave your city.
Some of the citzens of your city
homes in this area. They know very little
about you and your style of governing, but
are willing to give you a chance. But after a
small initial group of people (probably up to
100 or so) have moved in, you need to
attract others by the way you govern.
Word about the mood of people in your city
spreads rapidly throughout the region. If your
citizens are pleased with you, then more
people will be keen to come in; if the existing population is upset, new citizens are likely to stay away, and (if they are really angry)
you might even find some of your existing
population moving out. See Page 59 for
more information about the mood of your
population.
Knowing what will make these people happy
in your city is fairly easy: they need food,
jobs, and a place to live. Note that people living in tents expect to find their own food
from the land; if you need more people in
your city but don't have enough food for
them, create an area of cheap housing, with
no facilities, and some immigrants should
move in. If a city has unfilled jobs, food to eat
and space in housing areas, immigrants will
move in unless something else is wrong.
What could be wrong? Understandably, citizens dislike very high tax rates and low
wages. If there has been a lot of sickness in
the city, that, too, could make people think
twice about moving in. Occasionally, you
might find that an angry god has frightened
others away.
Just remember to try to keep your people
happy, with job vacancies and plenty of food
being the two crucial ways of doing this. If
50
People, Employment and Migration
The health of your people can also affect the
natural changes in population; see Page 52
for more information.
Plebeians, patricians, and
the workforce
here are two classes of Roman citizens. Plebeians (plebes) are the com-
mon people whose daily efforts keep
your city functioning. Patricians are wealthy
aristocrats who don't work; instead, they
spend their days visiting one another, lounging in the baths, attending the theaters and
debating politics, philosophy and art.
In Caesar III, all the people who live in any
house which is not a villa (which will often
mean everyone in your city) are plebes; only
those people living in villas are patricians.
Patricians are very rich, and so pay high
taxes. Having a reasonable number of them
in a city also raises its prosperity. As your
city grows wealthier and more cultured, plebeian apartments eventually begin to evolve
into villas. Note that this will decrease your
workforce, without any reduction in the
number of people you need to feed.
You will soon learn to recognize the various
different people. All of them have a function,
and you can learn about problems the city
may have just by watching some of the people. If you see somebody standing still, for
example, when usually he is active, right
click on him to find out why he's not moving.
Or if you see someone who seems a long
Population growth
mmigration and emigration make the
most dramatic changes in the size of
your population, especially early in the
life of a city. I should mention, though, that
there will be some natural fluctuation in population size due to births and deaths. The
number of births is determined by the number of people of child-bearing age in your
city. People are more likely to die as they get
older, and not many live past the age of 50.
Newborn babies must be housed, of course,
and sometimes this will make someone else
homeless, to make way in his old building for
the new baby.
Your Population Advisor can show you a
useful graph with details of how many people of each age there are in your city. Note
that immigrants of all ages will move into
your city, not simply all young people.
52 53
People, Employment and Migration People, Employment and Migration
I
The Population Advisor Panel
T
Large Villa
55
People, Employment and Migration
homes to reach his building. There is a limit
as to how far people are prepared to commute to work, though. Sometimes a building
won't achieve access to labor, even though it
is on a road connected to some housing, if it
is a long way away.
Once a building has access to labor, it asks
the Labor Advisor for some workers. If there
are enough unemployed workers in the city,
they are immediately allocated to that building, and the building will commence operations. If there is a shortage of workers in the
city, though, the Labor Advisor decides
which buildings should receive labor, and
which should not.
You might want to make different decisions
about which structures should have the first
claim to labor, based upon the particular sit-
The Labour Advisor Panel
way out of his or her normal area, try following that person, which may show you what is
wrong.
Your workforce consists of approximately
two thirds of the number of plebeian citizens
between the ages of 22 and 50. Younger
people are studying, (in schools if you have
provided them, otherwise on their own)
while people over the age of 50 are retired.
Employment & Labor
Allocation
lmost every building in your city
needs to employ workers in order to
operate. Even if there are lots of
unemployed workers in your city, a building
cannot employ anyone unless it has access
to labor.
When you build a new structure that
employs people, it sends a recruiter in plain
brown clothing to look for a nearby source of
labor. As soon as that recruiter walks past
housing (which needs to be within two
spaces of the road), he knows that his building has access to labor in other words, that
workers can walk along roads from their
54
People, Employment and Migration
SCRIBE'S NOTE:
You can see how much unemployment you have right on your city
map. Any citizens sitting idly on the steps around your Senate building are unemployed. One or two people means that there is some,
but not too much, unemployment. Three or more people sitting
around is a sign of high unemployment, which you should try to
avoid.
a
57
People, Employment and Migration
There are two types of journey. The first is a
specific journey from point A to point B. For
example, when a wheat farm harvests its
crop, it sends a farm hand with a cart full of
produce to a granary. The farmer tries to take
the most direct route there, and also on his
return journey with the empty cart.
The second type of journey is more like a
patrol. An engineer's post, for example,
sends out an engineer to walk for a certain
distance, repairing any damage in the buildings he passes. Eventually, the engineer
returns to his post. The next engineer sent
out to repair buildings in the area tries to go
in a different direction overall than the last
patrol. This happens four times, with the first
patrol trying to head North, the next East, the
next South, and finally the last one West.
This way, they try to visit all the buildings in
their area.
But note that the more intersections there
are along any one of those patrols, the less
likely it is that the engineer will cover every
building in his area. This means that you may
need to provide more buildings to send out
patrols in areas with complex road networks,
to ensure that all buildings are covered.
People walking along
roads
our city will soon have lots of different people wandering along its roads
and paths. Citizens deliver their
goods or services while walking the city's
streets; understanding how that works is
very important.
56
People, Employment and Migration
Scribe's note:
Right-click on any building to find out how many people currently
work there, and whether the building has any other needs. Watch the
activity at your industries and trade facilities. When you see workers
moving at half speed or stopping work altogether . . . full or empty
carts standing idle . . . ships moored at your docks with no one loading or unloading them - then you need to define some civic priorities.
There will be many occasions when you have too few workers, especially in the early days of a city. You can either attract new immigrants into your city (see above, Page 49) or set priorities so that
only the work you would like to be done is done. You can also
instruct your Trade Advisor to temporarily cease activity in any of
the industrial or farming operations in your city, which would free up
labor.
uation in the city at that time. You can do this
by visiting your Labor Advisor and setting
some priorities for him, which he will always
follow. If you set fire prevention as your first
priority, for example, and food production as
your second, he will always allocate all the
workers he has initially to fire prevention,
and then to food production. Should there be
any workers remaining after that, he will
allocate them as he thinks best to the other
categories.
Y
Mood
very governor should be concerned
with the mood of his citizens. If they
are happy, you can take actions that
will benefit the city in the long run, but that
might upset a few citizens in the immediate
future. But taking the same actions when the
population is already in a foul mood could
lead to disaster.
Put simply, the mood of a city is a sense of
how the average citizen is feeling. The mood
of a city is calculated directly from the mood
of each individual dwelling in a city. Your
Chief Advisor will keep you informed about
the overall mood of your citizens. Be warned:
it is quite possible to have a few houses with
unhappy citizens even when the overall
mood is very good.
Mood affects two important mechanisms
within Roman cities: migration and crime.
The overall mood of the city is known to
people for miles around, and affects immigration. New immigrants will want to move
to a city which is pleased with its governor,
but they won't move into an unhappy city at
all. See Immigration on Page 49 for more
details on migration.
Both the overall mood of the city and the
mood of each individual dwelling determine
crime. As mood gets worse, the likelihood of
committing a crime rises.
Crime and migration are very important to a
city's success. For a city to thrive, you need to
know how to improve the mood of your city
Mood and Crime
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