Caesar III - Challenges

Challenges

There are several challenges in the game, failing to meet which would result in delays in attaining the goal of winning the game or even in outright defeat:

• Inefficient infrastructure: One of the main challenges in the game is the design and layout of an effective road network and proper placement of warehouses, granaries, services and industries necessary to support housing and maintain buildings (this problem can be particularly acute on larger maps with an awkward layout of terrain and associated resources.) Much of the difficulty presented results from the semi-random behaviour of your citizens, who cannot be directly controlled and are prone to make wrong turns when faced with branches in a road network. In consequence, many players deliberately constrain their road network to arrangements of simple loops and circuits, using gatehouses or gardens to bridge any gaps and permit shortcuts for walkers with more urgent destinations. This aims to force walkers to adhere to a set patrol route and prevents intermittent lapses in services. Regular patrols of prefects and engineers are essential for most buildings, conversely, nearly all buildings require nearby housing access for employment via citizen worker patrols.
• Failure to balance the budget: A game of Caesar III involves expenditure on the part of the player, to pay the workforce, construct new buildings, pay for imports and damages, holding festivals to appease Gods and mobs alike, and sundry expenses, such as covering thefts, or flattering the Emperor. Income generally comes from two main sources: Trade receipts, and taxation. Taxation is initially unimportant, but larger settlements with evolved housing (especially from villas and other patrician dwellings) may see the bulk of their income in tax receipts. Paradoxically, housing can potentially pay more than the cost of its own residents' wages in taxation. Trade income, by contrast, is derived from developing industries to export raw or finished goods to other cities of the empire. Trade is essential during the early game to cover outlays and expenses on construction, and remains important throughout play. In the later game, a city will almost certainly require imports of some form or another to support higher housing levels. Naturally, finished goods such as pottery, weapons and oil fetch higher prices than raw materials or bulk commodities such as olives or wheat (marble being the notable exception) so players generally attempt to export goods in their 'finished' form, but import in their 'raw' form, using local industry to complete manufacture. For example, a player might export furniture from local industries at a high price, but import cheaper clay and olives to manufacture pottery and oil for local consumption. Initial funds are specified by scenario, along with 'bailout loans' supplied by Caesar at a slight cost to Favour. The player can go into debt (up to 5000 denarii) but remaining in debt for long periods will inevitably incur Caesar's wrath, and is the single easiest way to lose the game.
• Inability to defend the borders: Although Caesar III's military aspects are minimal, many scenarios will feature heavy invasions from several directions and require the prudent establishment of walls, towers, forts and trained legions to deal with potential threats. Enemy armies have no interest in either bribery or occupation and raze buildings indiscriminately when given the chance. Aqueducts, granaries and warehouses are particularly vulnerable, and their loss can be devastating even if the invasion is repelled. In practice, allowing enemies to enter the city proper swiftly results in loss of the game. Different enemies with diverse troops compositions call for different tactics on the field, and a skilled general can greatly reduce losses through proper response to a given raiding party. Slow, heavily armed enemies such as the Carthaginians can be decimated by hit and run tactics with javelin auxiliaries, while ranged opponents such as the Numidians can be tied up with cavalry while your slower legionaries close for battle.
• Inattention to citizen mood: Citizens in the game make many demands on the player, which have to be satisfied to attract immigrants and prevent civil unrest. Low unemployment, adequate food supplies, reasonable taxation and regular festivals improve citizen mood, while the converse can lead to theft, emigration, or, most dangerously, outright rioting. Even in a city which is generally contented, individual 'slum' neighbourhoods can become hotbeds of unrest and disobedience if their general standard of living is poor when compared with affluent neighbours. Content citizens encourage immigrants to settle in your city and allow the player to establish higher levels of taxation without ill effect.
• Incorrect prioritisation: The industries receive labour from the workforce according to a prioritisation setting set by the player. Usually, this prioritisation is dynamic, depending on the problems facing the city at that particular point in time which the player is trying to fight. As an example, when Caesar makes an urgent request for oil, it is necessary to halt oil trade and focus the workforce on olive farming and the oil pressing industry, denuding the entertainment industry temporarily if necessary. An incorrectly deployed workforce could result in, as an example of a dangerous scenario, fully stocked warehouses but no docks to export the goods (having all collapsed due to an insufficient numbers of engineers). Some basic priorities, like firemen and engineers take priority over everyone else in most scenarios, as a lack of their essential services would result in the whole city falling down in ruins.
• Wrath of the gods: Although a minor aspect of the game and usually simple to satisfy, failing to appease the various Deities the player's people worship can be devastating. Normally, temples and oracles can offset any major divine disaffection. However, it should be noted that blessings from the Gods result only when a given deity has been 'displeased' before becoming 'exalted', so some players deliberately cultivate divine wrath in order to 'milk' blessings through a glut of temple-building and festivals.
• Health concerns: Again, though easily addressed via provision of clinics and occasionally hospitals, poor citizen health can lead to outbreaks of plague that ravage your workforce and eliminate housing.
• Natives: In the cities of Lugdunum, Carthago, Damascus, and Sarmizegetusa, the player will encounter natives. By building mission posts in their villages they can be convinced to ally with the player and even trade. But if some of them are still hostile towards the player, building something in their territory will provoke an insurrection.
• Wolves: Some maps have animals living in the wild. They can be sheep, zebras, or wolves. Of these animals, only wolves pose a threat to your city. A wolf may attack citizens or immigrants, affecting the size of the city's population, and in some cases preventing almost all immigrants from settling in your city. Military defenses can protect citizens from wolves, however a sufficient workforce is often needed to train and sustain an army of soldiers or wall guards.
• Everything is connected: Many problems in the game have knock-on effects that can greatly magnify their impact if not swiftly redressed. For example, labour shortages can cause lapses in essentials services, such as prefect patrols, which cause fires to break out, which destroys housing, which triggers a further labour shortage - a vicious circle best corrected early. If you choose to mothball industries to free up labourers, trade income will suffer, or housing may devolve as needed goods become scarce. If you raise taxes to compensate for reduced trade, your citizens' mood may sour, and riots could destroy a vital aqueduct, but cutting back on expenses may force you to skip festivals, thus incurring the wrath of the Gods. Cutting back on imports may leave you without access to weapons to furnish your legions or accommodate requests from Caesar. The great challenge in the game is that most of the problems you encounter will ultimately be of your own devising.