The levels generally take longer to play due to the need to build the monuments - in the later levels I sometimes found these a tad boring simply due to the size and time taken - other people enjoy this more than the city building so it will be your choice. The trading is improved with some additional options. Pharaoh - in my view this is an enhanced version of C3, but without the choice on each level.
Although it's the earlier game it has some very difficult levels and is great fun - in fact I'm replaying C3 at the present time. In each level there is the choice of peaceful or military cities to build. They then trundle off and solve whatever needs doing without any involvement of your good self.Ĭ3 - I played this first and it gave me the required grouding in city building as well as the military side of things. Zeus - having played the other 2 first, the city building wasn't much of a challenge and many of the tasks are solved simply by calling a god (after building up suitable reserves). Having played all 3, my preference is C3, Pharaoh, then Zeus last. However, Caesar is good enough to play even though I also own Pharaoh. Finally, it comes with more missions than Caesar, and Cleopatra provides even more. It also adds some amusing restrictions, like no tax income without a palace (equivalent to the senate, not patrician housing), and the palace must be placed on 'damp' ground.
It provides finer control of some aspects of the game, with 1x1 roadblocks to control walkers, and more detailed orders available for warehouses, granaries and markets. If I were to have to choose between Caesar and Pharaoh, I would go for Pharaoh. This may be a basis for choosing which to go with. From what I have read, Zeus has much shorter missions, which can be completed in a single evening. I assume that later missions take longer. The missions in Caesar and Pharaoh can take several evenings to complete I am currently working on Caesar's career mission 5 (out of 10, I think), and 5 hours play has got me to 3000 out of 5000 population required. Naturally, this puts me in a good position to make a recommendation I am not particularly good at either of them. I have played both Caesar 3 and Pharaoh, but not Zeus. I posted this in the "Game Help" forum because a)this is the 'main' forum and gets the most traffic, and b)I need "help" choosing which "game" to play. I'll be posting this same thread on the main forums for the other two games as well, so if you respond to this one, please don't respond to either of the other two. Whether or not you own Cleopatra or Poseidon is also irrelevant, since I don't own either of them (and this poll is for my benefit, after all ).ģ. Please don't respond unless you have played all three games enough to be familiar with most aspects of gameplay (this doesn't mean you have to be an expert by any means, however). Please don't post to say "All three games are great!" If you truly believe that they are all completely equal in terms of entertainment value, fine just don't bother telling me so (in this thread). NOTE: I'm trying to make this a 'formal' poll, so a few 'rules' (guidelines?) for respondents are in order.ġ. So, I'm surrendering responsibility for the decision by asking you folks to make it for me. I ask because I'm trying to decide which game I should play myself, and can't decide. A simple question for those of you who have played all three of these City-Builders: