~Caesar

Starting Tips, uploaded to the Cheet Sheets BBS.


~Getting started on the heady road to success:

1. Try to start building your city between two rivers or better still
   and area of land where two rivers converge. Instead of building 
   walls to enclose the city put down a line of wells - the 
   barbarians can't cross water or destroy the wells so your city 
   always gets off to a good start.

2. Raise your personal income to around 100 denari so you can build 
   up a personal fortune. Thay way you can use your wealth to invest
   when times get hard. Only accept promotion when you've got 
   maximum personal fortune.

3. Don't build houses close to industry and workshops - people won't 
   live there and the houses won't get past the second stage of 
   development.

4. People want to live close to the forum - bath houses and oracles.
   Make sure houses have the necessary water supply and if you build
   roads near them they're much more likely to grow.

5. Don't forget to take care of the provincial level - you must keep 
   the barbarians out of your city. Increase the slave wages and army
   wages straight away - it's worth making the army wages absurdly 
   high. Assign more slaves than you need to all the duties 
   (particulary fire prevention) and when you've recruited plenty of
   soldiers switch to the provincial level. Place a couple of cohorts
   as a precautionary measure and make them patrol around your city.

   Spend some time on the provincial map watching for where the 
   barbarian ships are landing and when you see where the troops come
   ashore. Put a line of wall along the coast. The next time the 
   barbarians land they should be trapped on the beach and they won't
   be able to knock down the wall. You can now carry on building your
   city in peace just make sure the walls don't deteriorate.