News Archive: June 1999
Chat tonight
Posted on June 30th, 1999 by Angel Reckless Rodent
Just wanted to remind those who are interested that the chat with Impressions at Inside Mac Games is tonight. 10pm EST and 7pm Pacific is when you should be there if you want to win a copy of C3 for the Mac and meet the guys responsible.
The forums here at Caesar III Heaven are as alive as ever. The Game Help forum in particular seems to be a popular destination for people at the moment. Here’s a brief rundown of what’s being discussed at the moment. There’s something about building more than 1 barracks, the mystery of employees deserting their towers in times of crisis and taxation. Meanwhile, the Community forum is carrying on in its usual surreal way. At the moment, people seem to be having fun with banner ads. Curious? Then why not take a peek?
Chat with C3 for the Mac designers
Posted on June 29th, 1999 by Angel Reckless Rodent
I only post news twice in a day if there’s something really special going on. And this is one of those occasions.
Looks like Impressions got the chat bug after the one a couple of weeks ago about Pharaoh, because they’re doing it again. If you’re eagerly awaiting the arrival of C3 for the Mac, then this is your lucky day – Inside Mac Games will be hosting a chat with the guys who designed C3 for the Mac, and there will be some copies given away at the end, so it’s well worth a look.
I know about this thanks to our hosts, Gamestats – if I hadn’t read it there, then I wouldn’t know about it. Great newsie work guys!
What a load of blocks
Posted on June 29th, 1999 by Angel Reckless Rodent
The discussion in the Game Help forum about housing blocks which has been going for what seems like decades is going from strength to strength. Thanks to the glyphs created by Angel Jayhawk, the posts there are being illuminated like never before.
So if you’re wondering about what the perfect block is, then why not head over there and see what other people think?
Wondering what that wonderful bit of artwork is on the right? Well, it’s a dragon which appears in Tzar: Burden of the Crown. What’s Tzar, I hear you ask. It’s an RTS game which will be released over the Summer for which there is a Heavengames site (run in part by a certain small golden hamster). So why not head over to Tzar Heaven and see what it’s all about?
The Rodent’s back in town!
Posted on June 28th, 1999 by Angel Reckless Rodent
Yup, it’s bad news for everyone who liked their news in the straight, matter-of-fact way that Angel Jayhawk presented it. Now you’re going to have to put up with little old me, yakking off about God knows what every day. Never mind though, Angel Jayhawk is just taking a break from news here in Rome for a week, and has moved over to Egypt.
Here’s the new news system:
Angel Jayhawk and I will alternate on Caesar III Heaven and Pharaoh Heaven, 1 week I’ll be here and he’ll be there, and the next week I’ll be there and he’ll be here. As for our other news editor, Angel Alexander I, he’s returned to his spiritual home at http://www.heavengames.com. Well worth a look (and let me know if he gets out of line <grin>).
Right, now for some news of what’s happening in Rome at the moment. In the Community forum, a new society has emerged, hoping to deal with all those problems caused by those pesky kids (sounds like something out of Scooby Doo) who should provide school access to your housing. So, why not check out Romans Against Truancy and make this Empire a better place?
Days Get Lost in Time Warp
Posted on June 27th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
As at least one of you noticed (and reminded me!), I’ve been making time move even faster than it normally does. I’ll stop. So let’s get on with the news.
For help with the career games the Game Help forum is still the place to be. Now this might be a superfluous message as it’s alive as always with questions and answers.
And, another well known fact, if you want to get a way from the game, but not too far away, browse over to the Community forum for some light entertainment.
GameStats Presents New Age of Empire Contest
Posted on June 26th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
GameStats is giving away prizes again! On offer are the Gold Edition of Age of Empires/Rise of Rome, t-shirts and even an audio CD featuring music from the previous two games and Age of Kings.
All you have to do is sign up for the Golden Age contest.
Oh, the were hinting of signing up beta-testers for AoK at a later date.
Homegrown News.
The Scenario Design forum has an interesting thread going on with a wish list for the C3 Map Editor. For those of you that have some wishes, the thread can be found here.
The Second Little Piggy Built a House of Wood
Posted on June 25th , 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
The Game Help forum is still tangled up in various discussions about housing blocks. There more than enough information here to fill a few books…
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of the Caesar 3 Forums continues getting fascinating posts, so if you still don’t know what it is about, do drop by.
Another bit of alternate reality has reared it’s furry head in the Community forum. For the past five days the Midsummer Night’s Dream is getting more and more surreal.
Caesar III Did *WHAT* for you?
Posted on June 24th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Inspired by a post from Moquel, Cherub ET Flavius has started a thread, that goes by the name of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of the Caesar 3 Forums, where he asks us the simple question: “How have the Caesar 3 forums made your life better?”
With almost a dozen posts there, it makes an interesting read…
Apart from that the birthday thread meanders on and tells us today is Cherub mouse‘s birthday, a day she shared with fiona.
The Map Editing forum is once again looking for beta-testers, this time for scenarios from Hadrian’s wall to Mongolia and from Londonium to Austria. So if you have a few hours to spare…
All Is Quiet on the Nobel Front…
Posted on June 23rd, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
You might think the Caesar 3 Nobel Prize forum is dead… It’s not, not quite dead, yet. To break the monotony, Marcus Dominus has started a thread asking you: What are you doing this summer?
You can give him an answer here.
The people bringing you all these wonderful homemade scenarios are still looking for beta-testers in the Map Making forum.
Cherub Baltic wrote down some of his observations on devolving houses, which you can find here.
Wrath of the Gods? On Video?
Posted on June 22nd, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
The Technical forum has an interesting bit on the various ways in which the Caesar III pantheon shows their wrath. Now I had never seen them in anger, but the thread does make me curious.
The Scenario/Map Making forum has an interesting thread started Gordon Farrell, well known for his scenarios, on the future of military scenarios.
Please point your browser there and add a thought or two (or more) to this discussion.
Funny, I’ve been checking up on the Game Help forum the last few days, and noticed two things.
Both are incredibly pleasing. On the one hand there’s a whole lot of new names asking questions about the career levels, on the other hand, by the time I see the post most of the time the current/previous batch of forum regulars have jumped in to the breach and given solid answers.
A very nice thing to see the Spirit of our forum so very much alive.
Summer Solstice Anyone?
Posted on June 21st, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Summer will begin today at 7:49 GMT, with the solstice. Now does that sounds like time for a (heathen) party? Wasn’t this one of the Celtic festivals the Romans tried to abolish.
Maybe I’ll browse over to the Community forum and start another little celebration…
The Scenario Design forum is happily busy with gathering information and designing more scenarios. Give them all the help you can and they will make sure we won’t be bored this summer.
Judging from the Reviews, some of the scenario’s give the career ones a serious run for their money…and these are free!
Rule Britannia and Kick Out All the Celts…
Posted on June 20th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Our friend Bradius put up some words of advice for those that are having troubles with that wonderful British Isles map by Marcus Dominus. You can find it here.
A few people are looking for ideas on planning a campaign, among the James Blond and Duke Leto. Their questions can be found in the Scenario/Map Editing forum here and here.
Also, a bunch of answers has rolled in for Knight of Glory‘s question on Hard Military scenarios.
So there’s no reason to be bored even during the holidays.
As Queen Livia remarks in the Community forum, it is awfully quiet. This may have something to do with “summer” approaching on beach slippers and a breath of fresh air.
Could it be people are actually enjoying the weather more than the game?
Tell us that ain’t so here, please…
Mac Attack?
Posted on June 19th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Cherub ET Flavius tells us he’s getting ready for the Macintosh version on the Technical forum. So any Mac players out there with technical questions…do post them on the forum.
Apart from this the forum seems to be pretty quiet. Probably half the world is watching the Royal Wedding. There even is a post about it in the Community forum!
The New Challenges
Posted on June 18th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Just a quick note on the scenarios that were uploaded yesterday, they include the recently reviewed Massada: The Roman View, Gerainus, Jihad and Abergeveny.
So read the Reviews and Download the scenarios. Play as if your life depends on it and tell us about it in the aforementioned Reviews forum.
In the Game Help forum Mark Qian summarises a few of the tricks of the trade for us.
The Tiny Screen
Posted on June 17th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Far away, and yet so close, on Pharaoh Heaven Angel Reckless Rodent tells us about a trio of Pharaoh teaser movies.
So I went, I downloaded and I watched, which, I’m told makes me one of the happy few as the movies are in QuickTime format, which seems to give a lot of people a lot of trouble. Do yourself and Reck a favour video and head over to have a look.
If it doesn’t work, do say so on the video thread, thank you.
More Pharaoh news.
Tonight, there will be a Pharaoh online press and fan conference hosted by Sierra. So point your browser to the Sierra Chat Room if you want to know what it is all about.
It starts at 7PM/19:00 EST, which means midnight for us poor Europeans.
Please tell us about it on the Pharaoh forum?
Is there anything happening in Rome, you might wonder?
Well, actually, there is a few things happening…
Angel Monty’s Monkey has uploaded another couple of scenarios today. They can be found on the Download pages
Cherub Dragon2 treats us to an in depth review of Bob the Lethargic‘s Crete scenario (click to download).
The Scenario/Map Making forum is still alive with people looking for ideas. So if you’re thinking, now this would be a great idea for a scenario, but have to left hands when it comes to the Map Editor, why not post it here and see if somebody takes you up on it?
Lights. Camels. Action!
Posted on June 16th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Time for another Heavengames spectacular. Brought to you by the guys from Tzar Heaven, it’s the Tzar Movie.
And there is more, it seems that the game will actually record your gameplay, so you can sit back and relax and have some popcorn while your strategies unfold.
As for the home front the Technical forum is buzzing happily along and really seems to have filled a niche in our little Caesar 3 world.
For those of you that are really bored, have a look at the Anagram thread started by Angel Reckless Rodent.
Oh well, the times when I still had summer holidays….
Apart from that the fiber optic that supplies my work browser with the net was torn out by an errant construction worker, so I’m suffering from AFWS (Acute Forum Withdrawal Symptoms). I think I now know what Incontinentia must have been going through…
Mystery Buildings Unveiled
Posted on June 15th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Angel Reckless Rodent, together with the guys from Impressions, was holding a little Guess the Building competition over on Pharaoh Heaven.
Using one of the screenshots sent to him he asked the forum regulars to “Name the building.” Impressions had a look at the answers and confirmed the correct ones.One of the answers told us Seth the Destroyer will be part of the Pharaoh pantheon.
Now, aren’t you sad you weren’t there when this happened?
RSC started an interesting little thread in the Game Help forum on the relative hardness of the three map types: desert, central and northern.
In the Community forum Grumpus the Elder suggests an interesting contest: Can you build a “real” city? Apart from that Angel Draco‘s Caesar IV Wish List has resurfaced again.
Masada Revisited
Posted on June 14th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Two more scenarios have been reviewed: Masada II and Sargentum. Both are posted in the Review forum where Private Estate – Old Loyalties is still drawing comments.
The Community forum is a buzz with a Tribute organised by Octavion. If you want to find out who will be “tributed” go and have a look.
The Cleopatra program on Discovery was rather nice. It showed a computer reconstruction of what Cleopatra looked like (definitely not like Liz Taylor) and some interesting character profiles.
A lovely novelisation of this story was written by Judith Tarr, Throne of Isis. The story start shortly after Caesar’s death and ends with Cleopatra’s suicide.
Cleopatra on Discovery
Posted on June 13th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
For those of us in Europe, Discovery Channel is showing a documentary on Cleopatra tonight at 22:00 CET. Of course our friend Julius Caesar plays a role in this program as well.
The Game Help forum is still one of our busiest, again questions fly on topics such as worker shortages and trade problems.
As usual the Community forum is getting lots of visitors. The most active topics remain the stories and the birthday/party thread. So if you are momentarily tired of ruling an empire, browse over for some light hearted banter.
Heaven News Update
Posted on June 12th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
A lot has been happening in Heaven lately. Here are a few of the more noticeable items.
Heaven has it’s own marketplace nowadays where you can get Heaven memorabilia. We still have a few T-Shirts left. They carry Angel Hamlet‘s HGS log on the front and the one on the left on the back, so if you want one, you’d better hurry on over to the Marketplace.
Age of Empires Heaven is holding a Mongolian Campaign Contest. What do you need to do?
Well, in a nutshell, you have to write a camping consisting of 3 scenarios set during the time of the Mongols, from Ghengis Khan to Kublai Khan.
Even if you don’t want to compete, go there and check out some of the links on the Mongols that have been put up. If you want to know more click here.
Apart from that Gamestats is running a contest based around some of the favourite Westwood games: Dune2000 and the soon to be released Tiberian Sun. Follow the link if you want to know more.
As for the forums, it seems another party has started in Creaticus Dania‘s Hippodrome. It was a bit slow to start, but it might get busy tonight
Passage to Egypt
Posted on June 11th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Angel Monty’s Monkey has been busy for those who’ve had enough of the career games. He uploaded 10 (!) scenarios and 2 cities to the Download pages.
Included in these scenarios is one by Gordon Farrell with the intriguing title: Marc Anthony in Egypt.
The Game Help forum is moving into the numbers behind it all, prosperity caps, industrial efficiency, worker’s percentage and the ever popular, how do I get a palace..?
That’s all for today folks, with team-spirit training and a huge dinner, I’m bushed. Way past midnight…time for the hawk to catch a few winks.
Conquest of Paradise
Posted on June 10th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
It seems a group of people discovered the New World career Cherub Dragon2 created early this year. The Review forum is receiving it’s fair share of…reviews: Here’s Iceland.
The Game Help forum has some interesting thread going on about, what else could it be but, housing. These thread concern themselves with the numbers behind them. The question is: How do I get rid of 1×1 housing?
Too good to be forgotten.
What’s that, you might wonder?
Well it’s Cherub Baltic‘s HTML primer. Triggered by a discussion on HTML links he was kind enough to bring it back to our attention.
Our bedside story time has taken off for the faraway lands of AoE again in Quest for the Bowlsem Flower, the sequel to wacky Rescue on an Angel.
Tyrant Commits Suicide While Praetorians Watch
Posted on June 9th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
On this day in 68BC Nero, last of the Augustine Dynasty commits suicide while the Praetorian Guards proclaim Sulpicius Galba as Emperor.
Galba, who had promised the return of the Republic, was killed a short time later.
So much for the past, today we have a spirited discussion in the Game Help forum concerning palace building strategies. Want to know more? Just browse to the palace threads one and two.
Angel Reckless Rodent at Pharaoh Heaven has received another batch of screenshots. He put up the first four yesterday an will put up the other four up today.
Here’s a preview…
Bath Girl Seen on Desktop…
Posted on June 8th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
The Lady Incontinentia, Chair RSPCE, seems to have had some time left besides taking care of Tusky and his friends.
She busied herself making a lovely set of little C3 characters to inhabit your desktop. Check out the Download pages and grab the zip-file file containing such favourites as the bath girl, the gladiator and…the dreaded market lady.
The forums seem to be very much alive, especially the Game Help and Community forums.
New Cherub Joins the Ranks of Caesar III Heaven
Posted on June 7th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Just who might that be, I can hear you wondering..?
Well, you know him. He’s taken to the forums as a fish to the water. He even set a new record.
Yes, it’s Caesar Ishaius. He will assist us in doing reviews for the Download section, filling in the empty spots there.
Did you ever wonder what the real Forum Romanum looks like? Well, here’s you’re chance. One of our Italian friend, a real Roman by the name of Roberto Riccitelli sent us the following link. Don’t forget to browse the rest of the site.
Several “Essays” Added to the Strategy Page
Posted on June 6th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
A couple of tidbits by our very own Bob the Lethargic have been added to the Strategy page.
The first is a spreadsheet that can be used to calculate prosperity, the second is a Word document containing the statistics for the 40 cities on the Empire map.
Both were mentioned and discussed in various threads in the Scenario/Map Maker forum.
The Technical forum seems to be great success. Posts keep rolling in and most of our visitors apparently enjoy giving Cherub ET Flavius a helping hand.
Tzar Finds Publisher
Posted on June 5th, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Tzar, the game many of us are waiting for, has found a publisher. If you want to know more, just browse over to Tzar Heaven and read the news, that’s brought to you by our very own Angel Reckless Rodent, who just doesn’t seem to get enough of Heaven.
It seems we have a whole new batch of people that recently started playing Caesar III, as the Game Help Forum is overflowing with questions on the Career levels.
Either that or the new layout is pointing everybody in the right direction 🙂
Not to be outdone by the June-set, RSC started a new thread for all the July-people. This forum will be filled with celebrations from no until…well, whenever…
Need a Challenge?
Posted on June 4th , 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Angel Monty’s Monkey has added another seven scenarios to the Download page, two of which were recently reviewed by Bob the Lethargic in the Reviewer’s Corner.
It is obvious the Olympics are finished as more and more scenario reviews are rolling in.
The forum layout seems to have stabilised itself and threads are growing again.
The winning Alone Again thread has been restarted and seems to be drawing as much posts as the original. Apart from that the birthday review thread has expanded to take in anniversaries too. Looks like June is going to be one long party in the forums.
Last but not least the Abelius Caesar 3 pages have a new poll. This one concerns the fate of the modern world if those pesky Romans wouldn’t have build their city next to the river Tiber.
Caesar III Heaven Has Facelift
Posted on June 3rd, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
No, last nights changes weren’t enough. We had to change more.
The forum now has numbered topics. For all new visitors, the
No.1 Forum is for game help, the
No.2 Forum is to get to know each other.
The rest of the numbers were more or less randomly assigned.
Our sister site Pharaoh had a small facelift as well. There’s a cute little drop down combo box (can you tell I’m a software developer? 🙂 ) with links to some of the other hot items on the site.
A little golden hamster whispered in my ear that we might get one too…on our main page.
The Strategy Page already received it’s drop list, to quickly find the topic you are looking for.
Apart from that there are two game competitions going on. One concerns Civilization: Call to Power and is hosted by GameStats affiliate Apolyton. The other is held by GameStats themselves and concerns TriBond.
Just follow the links and see if you can be one of the lucky winners.
Hurricane Hits Forum: Thousand Go Into Hiding
Posted on June 2nd, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Some of you may have spotted the Topics thread, others may have looked in vain or some familiar forums. Thousands of mails may have already been send to the webmasters.
Here’s the story of what happened.
In order to make the forum a bit more clear to newbies the Career Forum has been renamed to the Game Help forum. This is the place to ask all your questions about the normal Caesar 3 game and the careers.
The General Forum has been renamed to the Community Forum. This is where we put everything not directly connected to gameplay, such as wish lists, trivia, stories and anything that tickles your fancy (preferably it has a link to Caesar 3 somewhere…)
The Olympic Forum has been renamed the Abelius’ Forum. Why do we need an Abelius forum? Well, this is the place to comment on Angel Abelius Caesar 3 pages. Of course comments on the Olympics can still be posted here as well.
It can be seen that the Olympics have finished, because it seems people have time to play and talk about scenarios again. The number of recent posts in the Scenario Review forum has increased dramatically.
Last but not least we had a few tragedies on the Community forum. After reaching an all time high of 267 posts the Alone Again thread reached critical mass and created a little black hole on the forum. Sadly it dragged the Did you smile today thread with it and both are irrevocably lost in the depths of cyberspace.
As a result of this Angel Reckless Rodent is forced to yet another new policy.
Any thread that reaches 150 posts will be closed and a new thread should be started to continue whatever was going on in the aforementioned thread.
Sad but true, this new policy means that the current record of 267 posts will never be broken.
We Have a Winner!
Posted on June 1st, 1999 by Angel Jayhawk
Well, with another 30 posts or so added today, the Alone again thread is definitely a winner. Last time I checked there were 217 posts, beating the previous record of 215.
A strange story of captured angels and well willing rescuers has snuck into the Greek or Roma thread. It seems like every thread is turning into a story thread.
Today I visited the Scenario Review forum for the first time and was treated on a wonderful introduction to Private Estate — Old Loyalties by Bob the Lethargic. A second review for Israel was added this morning (CT)
Boys and girls, if the scenarios are half as good as the review, they deserve our undivided attention.
Other than that it seems the Caesar 3 Nobel Prize event has been postponed to next Fall, if you want more details browse to Cherub Onoculator‘s thread.