Tarsus Walkthrough

by Cherub Marty Party

Career level: Aedile (salary 30 Dn)

Starting City Funds: 8000 Dn

Highest housing level (without Mercury blessing): Large Villa

Highest housing level (with Mercury blessing): Grand Villa

Overview

This is the 5th peaceful mission. Tarsus will put the finishing touches on your mastery of trading. From this level onwards, you must also make a concerted effort to meet the prosperity target.

Targets

Population6000
Culture65
Prosperity60
Peace60
Favor80

Trade Partners

Miletus (sea route)

  • sells 25 wheat [per year]
  • sells 15 clay
  • buys 15 fish
  • buys 25 marble

Alexandria (sea route)

  • sells 40 wine
  • sells 15 furniture
  • buys 25 weapons

Damascus (land route)

  • sells 25 wheat
  • buys 25 marble

Hierosolyma (land route)

  • sells 40 olives
  • sells 25 pottery
  • buys 15 weapons
  • buys 25 furniture

Important Events

Jan 120 BCThe level begins
May 117 BCEmperor requests 10 iron
Jun 115 BCEmperor requests 10 iron
Aug 115 BCMiletus now sells 25 clay per year
Sep 115 BCPergamum invasion from northeast (3 warriors + 6 archers)
Sep 115 BCMiletus now sells 40 wheat per year
Jun 113 BCEmperor requests 10 iron
May 112 BCPergamum invasion from northeast (4 warriors + 8 archers)
Mar 111 BCEmperor requests 10 iron
Jun 110 BCDamascus now sells 40 wheat per year
Jun 110 BCWheat price increased by 6 Dn
Mar 108 BCPergamum invasion from northeast (5 warriors + 11 archers)
Aug 108 BCEmperor requests 20 iron
Apr 107 BCOil price decreased by 15 Dn

Disasters

None

Hints & Tips

Tarsus is a transition level, and it will introduce you to the most difficult aspects of Caesar III. You are not required to master these difficult aspects right here, but you must show a reasonable grasp of them before your next career promotion. Assuming you have mastered the lessons of earlier levels, Tarsus should actually be pretty straightforward, because the enormous export trade will help you to overcome almost any mistake.

The new problems and tips on dealing with them:

  • Don’t believe everything you’re told in the mission briefing. Although you have no farmland, you do have fishing grounds on this level. Fish should be the staple of your people’s diet. 15 to 20 wharves should do the trick.
  • Goods distribution – When you import food (wheat), it will go from the docks to a warehouse to a granary to markets, and only then will it be distributed to your people. Considering this long distribution chain, you would be best served to keep the docks, warehouse, granary, markets, and houses all within a fairly close proximity. The wide-open spaces on this level are nice, but don’t build TOO far away from the coast. I’d recommend locating your city on the western side of the map, with a bridge connecting it to marble & iron industries on the large island. Build the warehouses and docks on the mainland side, to speed up wheat and clay imports.
  • Importing food – you will need to import wheat, but you must not rely on it as being your primary source of food. Imported food is for variety ONLY. This variety is required mainly for building villas, but that does not stop your market ladies from trying to get it and distribute it to plebian houses anyway! It helps if you locate the villas and their markets closer to the wheat granaries, than the plebian housing blocks.
  • Exports – the only new aspect to exports is the sheer scope of it on this level. If you maximise your marble trade (10 quarries) and weapons (4 mines & 8 workshops) you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank. Mastering the trade routes will make all your other problems MUCH easier to deal with.
  • Food preference – if you have a single granary which holds 100 units of wheat and 1500 units of fish, the market ladies will go for the wheat almost every time. There’s not a lot you can do about it, but keep it in mind as you are laying down your warehouses and granaries.
  • Larger invasion forces – the invasion force grows larger each time, but there is only one invasion point, so if you can manage to meet your targets and get out quick, you will not have to deal with any really big invasions. Of those that come, if you preempt them and surround the invasion point with walls and towers, you won’t even need any forts.
  • Prosperity – the prosperity rating requirement calls for a very deliberate effort to meet it. Not only do you need the majority of your people living in insulae level housing, you will even need some of those insulaes to evolve into villas.
  • Population control – Having an excessive population is NOT to your advantage. There is only so much food to go around, so if you have more people than you can comfortably feed, your houses will devolve frequently, which will keep your prosperity down. Stick to the population requirement (6000 people).