Strategy & Tactics: Caesar III by Randy Overbeck In Caesar III, everything revolves around your ability to build and grow your city around the needs of your citizens and the goals of the scenario. There are no perfect cities, or optimal building blocks. I will however work to uncover strategies and guidelines to use on your quest to become emperor of Rome. The game begins with you being given the chance to govern a small plot of land. You are to attract people from nearby lands to build your cities that will eventually rival Rome. This basic premise is the foundation for the game but on top of that several layers of strategy and tactics must be employed for your journey toward Emperor to be successful. The lands and problems you encounter will vary greatly, but hopefully the following strategies and tips will allow you to be successful. General Hints Even random appearance of small band of raiders will devastate your city. You can stave off disaster by building series of walls between your city and invaders. Auxiliaries do not need weapons from a weapon shop. Put cavalry in harm’s way and then keep them moving. Put forces behind wall and let enemy breach it. Ballistas will wear them down and they will come through the wall in small groups. Your legions can cut them apart while light infantry throw javelins overhead to further weaken foe. Second option is to put infantry out in front of wall and to use artillery on walls to support them. It is smart to put Actor Colonies and Gladiator Training Grounds on one side of the city and the Theaters/Ampitheaters/Coliseums on the other. In the beginning it is best to eliminate taxes and just earn your money through trade. Even with the best and biggest cities it is near impossible to sustain your city without trade. Try to build all military structures far away from your housing. Perfects - Keep an eye on your Perfects. Make sure they are regularly passing by all of your buildings. Pay particular attention to your highest paying tenants. The Overlay -> Risk -> Fire will give you an idea of how well you are doing. Taxes: Forums - Don't forget to build forums when your percentage of people registered for taxes goes significantly below 75%. Take a look at your Financial advisor to see your current standing and use the Commerce-->Tax Income overlay to see where the forums are needed. The Gods and beating the AI The gods in Caesar III can be tough to please. The rewards though when they are happy can be an enormous boost for your city. Timing is critical for take advantage of these "gifts". Keeping a god at the exalted state is the key to winning their blessing. Happy Gods Neptune Gives merchants a smooth journey and they pay you double for the next batch of exports they buy from you. Mercury Fills your warehouse with many foods Ceres All farms instantly become filled with fully ripe crops, ready to be harvested Mars A spirit is granted which will strike down the next army that attacks you. This will not kill off the entire force (unless it is a small one.) Venus Boost city sentiment by 10 for everyone. There are two levels of discontent with the gods. The first is along the same lines as those listed below except it is usually less damaging, and doesn't have the "delay in rebuilding" effect. Angered Gods Neptune Sinks all ships. Trade will stop for 3 months if he sinks any trade ships. Mercury Burns down a granary, preferably when it is full. Ceres Sends a plague of locusts that kill off all of your crops, and prevents them from growing again for 3 months. Mars Curses your strongest fort causing the soldiers to run away. Again you will have to wait 3 months before new recruits can replace them Venus Reduces city sentiment and causes disease. One key thing to keep in mind is the AI doesn't keep track of where employment comes from. You can destroy low desirable housing just after filling the guard tower or what ever is causing it be undesirable. Your total count of employees will go down but you will simple be short based on your labor advisors allotment. See the picture on the right for an optimal arrangement for food distribution by Markets. Generally the markets are very inefficient but this simple road with no intersections forces them to do a better job of distribution. Individual Scenarios Strategies Part 1 Brundisium: Strategy - Build farms on the farmland, and then surround the area with the necessary support housing, granary, reservoirs / fountains and markets. Make sure to add a sufficient number of Prefectures and Engineering Post's so as not to lose any of your buildings to collapse or fire. Add a few schools and theaters when the become available. Tarentum: Strategy - Build two Vineyards and 4 workshops to trade and fill Caesar's demands (3 requests for 10 Wine each), and build 2 Mines and 4 weapons workshops to trade and use for troops. Your first attack will be in 347BC but with one good fort of Legionnaires you should be able to fend them off. Up to 2 more attacks will follow but should be easy to beat with a full fort of troops. Import Clay and use a few workshops to convert it to pottery for your upscale housing. Syracuse: Building Strategy - Farmland is critical in this scenario. Make sure to import as much food in as possible (Meat). Balance out your need to produce Olives for oil (and export) with the need for Wheat and vegetables to feed your population. Do not place any other building (with the exception of Prefectures or Engineering Bldg) in this area. Also focus on mining and weapon production for defense and export. When you can build a dock and open up trade routes with both cities. Syracuse: Military Strategy - Both attacks against my town were relatively weak. The first came from the west and the second from the south. The first was stronger and I ended up building a 2 guard towers and a wall to defend against it. Make sure to keep enough room for your city to expand though as tearing down walls and guard towers can get expensive fast. Shortly after the second attack I added an academy to my Legion fort. Make sure to keep around enough weapons (don't export them all) so that you can fill up the fort with troops. Only one barracks was enough. Syracuse: General Strategy - You must make sure to effectively use your farmland in this scenario. Since wheat is the most efficient stick with it a build 2 or 3 olive farms for trading. Also make sure to setup plenty of Weapons and Oil workshops along with 1 or 2 docks for all trading is via the sea. Military wise 2 legionaries and a Javelineer's is all you should need. Caesar will request at total of 20 oil. Requests come every 3 years starting in 267BC for 5 Oil and finishing with 10 Oil. Mediolanum: Caesar - This scenario has requests for both TImber and an army. The Timber request will be every 5 years fro 15 timber, and the Army request will be in 210BC. I sent 1 Legionnaires group and 1 javelinear group and they did win but I have seen in suggested by others that 2 legionnaire groups and 1 javeliner group might be a safer bet. Mediolanum: Markets - If your better housing constantly complains about food or Pottery not being available from a local market you will need to build additional markets. Make sure that you build them so that the "Market Lady" has to walk past the housing to get to the granaries and warehouses. In this scenario it is very difficult to maintain the necessary pottery levels for a lot of Insulas, so make sure to move the better distribute your pottery by having closer warehouses only go after pottery in one central warehouse. It helps to have your pottery warehouses close to trade center. Mediolanum: City defenses - It is important to keep sufficient defenses to repel the Carthaginians. Make sure to build a wall with towers to block the left and right mountain pass. Concentrate on the Left one for there will be two attacks with elephants that need to be repelled. Around Dec of 319BC there will be a much bigger attack on the right mountain passage. The best method is to try and get your population above 7000, because I haven't been able to repel the attack. :-) Mediolanum: Defense Strategy - Here is a big one. The enemy AI looks for holes in your walls that lead to your city. So you can lead them to your better defended pass (more towers and walls) by simply leaving a gap in the wall that goes all the way through. Then when the make the decision to attack the pass you want you simply fill in the gap and add a few more walls. See the 3 screenshots below for an easy way to beat the huge wave of Carthaginians in Nov 203BC. Individual Scenarios Strategies Part 2 Carthago: Caesar - In this scenario you need to have a lot of supplies. Caesar's first request will come in 167BC for 10 Oil and it will alternate with Wine for a total of 6 requests. The last two are for 15 units instead of 10. Each request will be given 2 years for completion. Carthago: Attacks - You will face repeated attacks in this scenario. The first of which will come in 166BC. There will be a total of 10 attacks with the last one in 149BC. The biggest attacks will be from SE and the SSE with Carthaginian troops and Elephants. There will also be a few smaller native attacks from NW. Carthago: Strategy - Concentrate on putting down the initial revolt with Missions as quickly as possible. Then you will want to destroy some of the original buildings to establish Vines and Olive farms. Also build up your workshops for Oil, Wine, and Weapons and beginning trading to become profitable as quickly as possible. Tingis: Caesar - This scenario has requests for both Pottery and a furniture. The Pottery request will be every 3 years for growing amounts starting in 118BC (ranging from 5 to 20 units), and there will be 2 Furniture requests starting 110 BC for 5 an 10 furniture. Tingis: Military - Militarily this scenario is less difficult than the last two. There will be many attacks but they are from less organized groups than the Carthaginians. Just stock up on Javelins and calvary, with 1 or 2 legionaries and you should be set. Tingis: Strategy - To make this scenario profitable make sure to produce a lot of furniture (25 per year) and pottery (50 per year). With a dock in the NE section you should be able to trade enough to produce the high levels of prosperity needed. Wine and weapons imports are costly but are needed for success in this scenario. (although weapons need is limited as the attacks are weak.) Lutetia: Strategy - Trade early to survive the "low funds" that you start with. Farming should include a few Meat and vegetable farms with the majority being wheat. 2 distant battles will require one group of each types which will give you very good favor in Caesar's eyes. A Gladiator revolt will occur in 62BC but should be pretty easy to put down with your perfects. The prosperity target can be reached with 5 luxury palaces and long lines of housing to support them. Lutetia: Caesar - Vegetables and Distant Armies are all that needed in this scenario. Send an army with 1 full group of each unit type to be able to earn the a great favor rating. Lutetia: Military - Except for the first attack all attacks come from the NE portion of the map. With a good wall and tower setup it is very easy to defend your city. Damascus: Caesar - Caesar requests Weapons and Wine in this scenario starting in 53AD. First it is two shipments of weapons (10 each) and then two wine (also 10 each). In the second group the pattern is Weapons, 2 wine, and then a Weapons all of 15 each. The last request should come in at 78AD. Damascus: Strategy - The imports of pottery and clay for this level are costly but necessary. Make sure to spread out these resources so that you can achieve the necessary prosperity. Farmland isn't really an issue, but you can import wheat if you need to. If you saved up enough personal funds in the last 2 scenarios the Money challenges in this level should be much easier. Oh and make a few extra doctor and hospitals for this level. (bad water) Damascus: Military - Damascus has the added challenge of fighting off the Egyptians along with the Natives (and at the same time no less). Almost all of the attacks after 57AD are from the SE section of the map, but one in 70AD actually comes from the NE. THe first attack is in 54AD and there are a total of 11 attacks which in 80AD Sarmizegetusa: Caesar - Furniture and a pair of Armies are all that Caesar requests in this scenario. It is always 10 or 15 furniture and they are 5 years apart starting in 53AD. The invaders can be a problem, but just make sure to build enough ballistas, especially to guard the SE in 74AD. Sarmizegetusa: Military - There are numerous invasions in this scenario. They are mostly Natives and Goths and they usually attack from the SE. The wolves in the beginning of the scenario can be very annoying so it is best to corral them early. For the foreign campaigns it is best to only send 1 or 2 legionaries plus 1 or 2 auxiliary (3 total groups each case). Sarmizegetusa: Strategy - Like in almost all of the last few scenarios, you will need to use your personal funds to build up your city fast enough in this case. You will also need to build at least 3 Mission posts (1 in each village) to make sure the natives do not attack your city. By winning the battles you will gain great favor with Caesar. Ballistas are a necessity for good defense. Lindum: Caesar - Caesar requests a lot of furniture and vegetables in this scenario. There are no foreign engagements to deal with but there are a lot of raids. It is best to eliminate your salary for the favor boost. Lindum: Military - In this setup your military must be quick and strong. The attacks always come from the NW section of the map. It is necessary to build a large force of legionaries and ballistas. By donating all of your money to the city one can build your troops fast enough to fend off the attacks. Iron Mines are relatively far away from the best starting point near the bottom of the map. Lindum: Strategy - This is the final scenario. If you can complete this you will be Emperor. Military is your primary objective but don't forget the Prosperity and culture of your city. Entertainment via Amphitheaters, Coliseums, and a Hippodrome. Try to secure one area for Luxury Palaces. Use the surrounding population to supply their exorbitant needs. Cheating So you want to cheat do ya. Well it is actually pretty easy to do with Caesar III. Look in your Caesar III: Data directory for the file "C3_models.txt" This file contains the costs and effects of building each type of building in Caesar III. The first number listed is the number to purchase this building. (ie. 10 equals 10Dn to create) The second number is the desirability of the building. For an undesirable building this a negative number (like the dock) or in the case of the Garden or Plaza this is a positive number. The third number is the amount of falloff for the desirability for each step. (ie. a -1 would represent a building with a desirability of 3 with a 2 at 1 space away and 1 at 2 spaces away.) The fourth number is the range for this falloff to occur. This can never be more than 6 spaces. so Here is an example: Plaza (15,3,-1,0,0,0) and the modified Plaza (-15,6,-1,0,0,0) Note that you can change the cost of a building to a negative number which means they actually pay you to build it. It is also recommended that you back up your C3_models.txt original so you can easily restore it. Links to Other Caesar III sites Caesar III Heaven Sierra Studios- Caesar III Site Berkeley Multimedia Caesar III Unlimited Online Guide to Julius Caesar Well I hope you enjoyed my guide to Caesar III. With these strategies in hand you might just be the next Emperor of Rome!