News Archive: April 2000

Prosperity Pointers…

Posted on April 30, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Wondering how to get those last few prosperity points? Caesar Alan has compiled a nice chart and lots of calculations for you number crunchers to salivate over…here is part of his essay:

Of all the ratings in the game, Prosperity is most often the scourge of Governors. It is almost invariably the first significant hurdle that faces most new governors, and can drive even the most experienced of us to the brink of insanity.

You can find the table and the rest of his excellent article Everything you ever wanted to know about Prosperity- and then some!.

And I am going to be outside in the Garden today, thinking about prosperity, of course 🙂

Busy Angels…

Posted on April 29, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Just to let you know Angel Draco has updated the Downloads section and there are 13 new cities added –including 5 cities done by that ET-lympic Grand Champ, Caesar Alan.

And our own Angel Reck, that man of mystery, the Fearless Clan Leader has reached the lofty levels of 4K in the post count department … you can leave your congrats and good wishes for him here. There’s some hints around the forum that we might be finding out more about ARR in the near future.. stay tuned.

Freaky Friday..

Posted on April 28, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Our own Cherub Marcus Lindicus has posed an interesting test in Bringing your city to the Year 2000 AD. Could you let the game run until the millenium? What would the Romans think of the Internet?… hmmm.. And more military matters are in the news, Legionnaires or Peltasts is today’s question.

Community Rec Rooms are going at warp speed these days. Fraid to give you a link, that one might be full (150 post limit) by the time you read it… Not only that, but there is now a virtual Beer Machine for your sippin’ pleasures..

Fishing around for answers…

Posted on April 27, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Angel Jayhawk has discovered Something fishy in the state of Tarsus which shouldnt come as a surprise, if you have ever visited that city by the sea. He has a nice walkthrough and thumbnail mini-maps showing his progress in Game Help.

And the Populations thread has proven popular, last time I looked they had moved on to a discussion of the gods and their moods. Kinda reminds you of the Sheep threads… 🙂

How to play the career scenarios?

Posted on April 26, 2000 by Angel Jayhawk

No, this thread isn’t filled with tips on winning them, but it does ask questions on how you play the maps in a more general way. Do you accept bail-outs? Do you use the multiple barracks trick? Do you use the palaces/casas strategy?
Citizen Paul is looking for your input.

There’s also the start of a Londinium thread. Our very own Cherub Marcus Lindicus and his brother in arms Caligua have arrived on the shores of Brittania and are planning their towns.
So far it seems Marcus has run into a spot of trouble…one moving along by chariot.

Warehouses and Web Wandering…again.

Posted on April 25, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

If you are having trouble with warehouses, dont feel like the Lone Ranger. Seems like several of our governors are wondering about Getting raw materials from warehouse to workshops and there is another plea for help from Jamus on the same subject here.

And if you are reading up on your Greek history to be prepared for the next city-building game by Impressions, Zeus, you might want to wander over to University of Pennsylvania World Cultures – Ancient and Modern fascinating site. There are sections on Egypt in case you intend to make a stop there before delving into the Greecian world.

Just dont forget to come back 🙂

Download statistics 2000.04.15 — 2000.04.22

Posted on April 24, 2000 by Angel Jayhawk

On this Easter afternoon I counted 3300 odd downloads.

Apart from that I just finished Lindum…those laurels came as a bit of a surprise.

a man’s home is his Palace…

Posted on April 23, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

If you have a favorite Palace Block design you are proud of, use Angel Jay’s handy-dandy
Housing Glyphalator to make a graphic and show us how us it’s merits and beauty. Follow the instructions on the strategy page and add it to the current discussion underway.

And, paultheo is asking in the Reviewer’s Corner has anyone ever beaten Cyrenaica, the scenario designed by Caligula. To find out what the challenge is, you can also check out Cyrenaica: Earning an Imperial Reprieval in Game Help. Good luck, I am not sure if anyone has been successful yet, but everyone seems to be enjoying the challenge 🙂

Zonkers .. it’s Zeus!

Posted on April 21, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Exciting news flash from Impressions:

April 21, 2000 (Cambridge, MA) – Impressions GamesTM and Sierra StudiosTM today announced the sixth game in their series of successful city building strategy games, ZeusTM: Master of OlympusTM. Set in ancient Greece, the youngest classical civilization portrayed in the series, Zeus serves up a world filled with heroes, gods, and other mythological creatures. With tasks that can be completed in less than an hour, Zeus promises to be quick to learn and the most fun city building game yet.

Zeus: Master of Olympus is a game of politics and trade, gods and heroes, immersing the player into the mythology and daily life of ancient Greece. Players will build legendary city-states like Athens and Sparta and guide their evolution by building colonies, invading or trading with neighbors, by attracting heroes to rid the countryside of monsters, or even calling on the gods themselves to help keep the mortals in check.

“Zeus is designed to be fun for strategy gamers of all levels,” said Chris Beatrice, director of design and development at Impressions Games. “Most goals can be completed in under an hour, and players have a lot of choice about how to develop their city-state. Even people who don’t normally play computer games should get a big kick out of this.”

“Gamers have really embraced the City Building Series to make it a great success – Caesar 3TM and PharaohTM have sold over one-million copies combined,” said Jim Veevaert, vice president of marketing for Sierra Studios. “With Zeus, and its quick-to-learn gameplay and humor, we are projecting another big success.”

You can check out the new website, Zeus not a lot of information yet, but I am sure they will be adding to it as time goes by..

Housing for the Homeless..

Posted on April 21, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Blocks seem to come in all shapes and descriptions. Donuts, fire-proof, 4xNs, 9x9s, S-blocks…stop by the Housing Block Discussion see what the governors have to say about their favorite blocks. Me, I am a convert to the Marty Party Concentric block 😉

And why do those little guys just pack up their belongings and drag them off the edge of the map? Especially after you built them that nice block of houses to live in! Join in Eric Lui’s thread on the Homeless and Prosperity for some hints as to why sometimes they turn around ….and sometimes they don’t.

Down Damascus way…

Posted on April 20, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

The city in the news today is Damascus… Caligula is Doing it Right and there are several, several threads bumped up full of interesting strategy and information.

And Angel ET, the prolific poster and organizer extraordinaire has a thread in Reviewer’s Corner with mini-maps and links to screenshots from the recent competition… you can be awed and impressed here.

Dang, this is making me homesick for Rome… now, where is my C3 disk?

Wandering around on Wednesday…

Posted on April 19, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

A grab bag of topics in Game Help today. The old problem of Collecting Taxes from your poor tent-dwellers to the la-de-da patricians has surfaced again and our own Angel Jay is experiencing Tremors in Taracco on his repeat trek thru the career path. And a new governor apparently has stumbled across the most frustrating and difficult problem to recognize in all of Caesar III. Can you guess what is going on in aPopulation problem which I cant understand?

Soldiers and … starting out..

Posted on April 18, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Maybe they went to see the Cyber-parade for yesterday’s ET-lympic winners, I dont know, but one of our governor’s is concerned about his Soldiers disappearance while in the forts so you might want to drop by and offer your condolences or comments.

And Angel Jay must have a lot of time on his hands while visiting Italy, he has replayed that Newbie Nemesis, Capua and is offering some tips and ideas for getting started on your career path. I have added some of my own misconceptions and mistakes as a beginner. Come on, tell us how you used to put gardens around forts to increase the desirabilty, we will laugh with you… 😉

Hail the Winners!

Posted on April 17, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Did the sound of trumpets wake you this morning? Perhaps a brass band and the roar of crowd? There is excitement in all the Empire as the winners of the ET-lympics Friendly Competition have been announced 🙂
Congratulations to our Grand Prize winners, well done!

1st Place: Caesar Alan
2nd Place: Stringbags
3rd Place: Theodoeraus

In the Economic/Prosperity Division the winners were

1st Place: Caesar Alan
2nd Place: Theodoeraus
3rd Place: Stringbags

For Military Might

1st Place: Stringbags
2nd Place: Proconsul Creaticus Dania
3rd Place: Caesar Alan

Peaceful Scenarios Winners

1st Place: Caesar Alan
2nd Place: Theodoeraus
3rd Place: Eraserhead

Big Congrats also to all the participants, and to quote our organizing Angel ET “All of you are Academy trained players now” Great job and be sure and enjoy the ET-lypmic Cyber Parade held in honor of all our winners and participants.

Download statistics 2000.04.08 — 2000.04.15

Posted on April 16, 2000 by Angel Jayhawk

Well, as promised, a day early.

It looks like there’s some nice new scenarios in this week’s batch.

Final day for the ET-lympics

Posted on April 15, 2000 by Angel Jayhawk

Today is the last day you can send in your finished scenarios to Angel ET Flavius. As of tomorrow he will star compiling all the data and score all those wonderful maps. Here’s the word from our wordy angel himself

The stroke of Midnight…my time which is ..Pacific Daylight Time….GMT-8 normally for those in the UK. Remember you need to submit two maps minimum to qualify for scoring recognition.

The scores will begin to be posted.. NOON on the sixteenth, and I will continue posting until all qualified map scores are listed. I am having an all night party for my office staff and programmers tomorrow..with four systems working C3 exclusively..just for you folks…and well they do get a free dinner

It seems I might see some scores before I move back to Mediolanum.

Mediolanum? Yes, I’m off to Milan again for the week. I may have a chance to do some posting but there won’t be much news from my side. The lovely Angel Gustavia will take care of your lust for news in te mean time.

However, I will try to put up the download statistics tomorrow. evening.

Friday report and reminders….

Posted on April 14, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Brutus Forci has contributed a great Tarraco Walk-thru to our ever increasing store of knowledge for those of you beginning this exciting earthquake prone assignment.

Now, some of you put off doing your taxes and your ET-lympic Maps both? Shame, shame… April 15th is the Deadline Day for getting your maps submitted and the numbers to Uncle Sam if you live in the US.

Quick news today, I have to call my accountant about something… 😉

Those Sheep do get around…

Posted on April 13, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Some animals seem to have mystical qualities and great powers.. no, not speaking of unicorns but the lowly sheep. In the fine forum tradition of wandering to the unknown, this thread on Sheep is hiding great military strategies for using wells and aquaducts for defense. Not bad, AoK recently had a thread on Sheep that morphed into a Grammar lesson…

Perhaps the governors are getting ready for the big Cyber-parade for the winners of the ET-lympics, but there are some questions on Chariot makers not building chariots for the Hippodrome in Game help. Hurry over and help, we want to parade those winners around and show them off…

Distribution woes and Deadlines…

Posted on April 11, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Are your citizens hungry? Nothing is worse than having a stuffed granary but no food in the distant market. Or a full warehouse dockside and hungry folks in the north of the city. Check out Questions About Markets And Food Distribution for loads of good information about moving the goods from here to there.

And, the days are getting longer in the Northern Hemisphere, but time is getting shorter to finish up your maps for the ET-lympics, our Friendly Competition. Check out the Reviewers Corner with any last minute questions and get those saved maps in the e-mail by April 15th. I hear there will be a big cyber-celebration for the winners…. hurry up, it could be you 🙂

Download statistics 2000.04.08 — 2000.04.01

Posted on April 10, 2000 by Angel Jayhawk

And here are the statistics for the first week of April.

Once more a mixed batch. I wonder if Angel Spineman’s remark about these lists being a self-fulfilling prophecy hold try here as well…?

Keeping the Big Guy happy…

Posted on April 9, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

How do you rate? Not with your citizens, ’cause we know you are benevolent and fair, but how does Caesar rate you? Find out all the nitty-gritty details on Prosperity and Favor, Culture and Peace in this Ratings thread in Game Help.

Give Governor Topanga a hand with sending her legions off to fight for the Glory of Rome in Emperor requests an Army and maybe a tip or two for the battles she is fighting at home in Valentia.

One more week

Posted on April 8, 2000 by Angel Jayhawk

The ET-lympics have entered their last week. For those of you that are still busy exporting fishoil in Crete, watching houses go up in flames in Caesaremia and Arabia or building up every last square of ground in Londonopolis, you’d better start to get things organised.
One more week and then our Olympic Angel will start filling in those score sheets for real.

There’s a different kind of challenge in the Game Help forum.
“How many people can you fit on a map?” is the question asked by Marcus Lindicus. The highest population located so far is in a city by ‘old-timer’ Tomek name Amphipolis.

Oh, I love a man in uniform…

Posted on April 7, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Need a helping hand to defeat those Greeks and Goths that keep you on your toes?

You might find some Jedi-inspired assistance at Use the Forts, Luke, Use the Forts, currently playing at your local Game Help Forum.

Governor EPS_CoCreator has posted another of his informative summaries, Tips for Mediolanum also. Careful, it may include some spoilers if you are the purist type that doesnt mind a nasty surprise or two…

Alright, you Weekend Warriors.. slay an Elephant or two for the Empire’s Glory.

Fighting and Frolicking …

Posted on April 6, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Lindum is in the news, how to defeat those treacherous Visgoths without losing all your men or your city.

Have a look at some walker data posted in Supply of Actors from Colony to see if you are giving your citizens enough entertainment to keep them happy. If not, maybe they need to visit the latest Reck-overy and Reck-reation Room in the Community Forum if it hasnt filled up with forumers already…seating capacity of 150 you know, but dont worry, they will just open part two..or three.. or four 🙂

A wonderful review

Posted on April 5, 2000 by Angel Jayhawk

I got an email today with a wonderful review of Caesar 3.
“What’s so special about a good review?” you might ask.
Well, this one comes from WomanGamers.com. So, if you want to convince a lady-friend or spouse that computer games aren’t just for boys, you may want to point their browsers here.

For those that are having a hard time with the military career in Caesar 3 there’s a couple of threads that might be helpful. One presents some military oriented questions the other offers some tactics.

the Mean and the Meaningful….

Posted on April 4, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

Restless natives again, and not those familiar ones in Lugdunum, but the invading mauraders in Carthago. I hear tell they are worse than the elephants, at least that what is being said in The Natives are Mean

In addition to joining the Millenium Club this week, our own Cherub Marcus Lindicus has a rather nice Open Letter to the C3 Community where you can add your thoughts about cyber-friendship and forum life. Stop by, it will warm your heart… 🙂

Download statistics 2000.03.25 — 2000.04.01

Posted on April 3, 2000 by Angel Jayhawk

Here we go again. It’s Monday which means it’s time for this weeks statistics.

A decent mix of scenarios and cites, and even a few career maps.

For those of you that like playing with colours in HTML, I’ve posted a little table that contains all the named colours. Have fun.

Last but not least, in Holland (again), in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, there is an exhibition with the title Asterix in Europe. It looks at the Roman world during the time of Asterix and will last until October 1st.

New Posting Guidelines..

Posted on April 2, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

If you are a visitor to Egypt, you probably noticed new guidelines for posting images in your replies and the primary opening post. Please read the Important Announcement in Community Forum, as the policy now applies to the Roman Empire, as well.

This will protect the servers and also help the folks with slower connections. Thanks for your cooperation..

Walking around the Empire..

Posted on April 2, 2000 by Angel Gustavia

There is a nicely illustrated walk-thru of Damascus for your forum reading pleasure today. And another information packed post for Londinium if that is your city of choice. Lots of good stategy tips and comments.

Me, I’m headed back to Egypt today to build a couple of quick pyramids 😉

For all the Dutch speaking Caesar players

Posted on April 1, 2000 by Angel Jayhawk

Some of you may remember a book by the name of Asterix en de waarheid, by René van Royen and Sunnya van der Vegt, which focused on the realism in the Asterix comics. Well, they’ve come with a new title, “Asterix en de Wijde Wereld.”
In this book they focus on the English, Spanish, Greek and Roman cultures as seen by Uderzo and Gosciny.
Now rumour has it the first title has been translated into German. So you might want to keep an eye open even if you don’t read Dutch.