Caesar III
シーザー3 -CAESAR III-
Caesar is traveling this winter on a matter which need not concern you. I, the Emperor’s proconsul for Roma, shall explain this next retro game on Shinkansen Retrogamer.
Note: This post has no affiliation and/or endorsement with Caesars Palace.
On September 30th, 1998, Sierra On-Line and first Caesar developer Impressions Games released Caesar III for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh. It is essentially the ancient Roman version of SimCity, but without motor vehicles. David Lester designed the game and Robert L. Euvino composed the music. Imagineer handled the publishing of the game for the Japanese release.
Caesar III features two modes of play: “Career”, in which players follow a progression of assignments of increasing difficulty with conditions for success, and the “City Construction Kit”, an open-ended mode without victory conditions. The Career mode of Caesar III follows a series of branching assignments requiring players to construct cities of increasing size and complexity. Assignments are set over time in historical Roman cities, such as Brundisium and Londinium. Players are given a choice at the beginning of each assignment to play a map that is “peaceful” or “military”. Military assignments include the risk of enemy invasion, whilst peaceful assignments contain more stringent requirements for victory, and additional challenges including earthquakes, fires, and other hazards.
The gameplay in Caesar III involves the construction of cities on a map displayed in a two-dimensional isometric perspective. Buildings are selected from an interface under submenus categorized by building type. Players are required to manage several interconnected supply chains to sustain the growth of their city, which increases as more needs are met, including the supply of water, food, religious services, entertainment, education, and health. Caesar III features significant changes to its predecessor, Caesar II. In Caesar III, all actions occur on a single map, in contrast to the province and city maps of its predecessor. Caesar III also features inhabitants that provide services to buildings by walking past them, adding the element of strategy to road pathing. In addition, different areas of terrain generate different resources and obstacles, including river channels, fertile land, and mining areas.
Progress in Caesar III is evaluated against the population of a city and four ratings: Culture, Prosperity, Peace, and Favor. Culture ratings are measured by the coverage of ‘culture buildings’ (such as temples, theaters, and schools) in a city. Prosperity takes into account factors such as employment rates, housing quality, and revenue. Peace ratings rise so long as no damage is caused by crime, riots, or invasion. Favor ratings are measured by whether players fulfill on time the requests from Caesar to pay a tribute or provide gifts. Players are provided with a series of advisors who can help them with various aspects of city life. These include a chief advisor, who summarizes key information and critical issues, as well as advisors who provide statistics and options for the provision and coverage of most services in the game, including labor, health, education, trade, and religion. The game menu also provides access to a map of the Empire to facilitate trade and identify threats from enemy invasions.
Following its release, Sierra made available for download a map editor for the game on their website. The editor allows players to produce their own scenarios from over twenty city locations, as well as choosing the identity of invaders, available buildings, and features on the map itself. The editor was also distributed with later releases of the game.
Impressions Games, the game’s developer, was shuttered in April 2004 when Vivendi Universal closed most of its game development studios. Caesar III is available for purchase at GOG.com and Steam. Activision Blizzard owns almost everything that Sierra On-Line made, except for the Metaltech license including the Tribes series which is owned by Hi-Rez Studios.
