Caesar III - Housing

Housing

Houses are the buildings in which the citizens live. First the player designates plots for the future houses. If conditions in the city are reasonably desirable, immigrants will move in and pitch a tent on the plot.

When an immigrant pitches his tent, he becomes a plebeian and starts working at places like farms, prefectures, markets, schools, libraries, clinics, etc.

The first service that must be provided to housing is water. Once given water (from a well or fountain), a small tent will evolve to a large tent, which has a higher value. Soon they will ask for food, religion, entertainment, education, pottery, etc., and evolve into higher levels of housing. The grand insulae is the highest level of plebeian housing. If provided with even more goods and services, it will evolve into patrician housing, whose inhabitants don't work (but contribute more than plebes to the city's tax revenue). The final level of housing is a luxury palace, but it is difficult to achieve as it has exacting requirements.

The general progression of housing is as follows:

Tents: Basic housing, very prone to fires. Large tents need a water supply.

Shacks: Shacks require food provided from a market.

Hovels: Hovels require basic temple access.

Casas: Small casas are 'bread and butter' housing, requiring only food, basic education, fountain access and basic entertainment. Large casas require pottery and bathhouse access.

Insulae: Medium insulae require furniture, and Large insulae, oil. Large insulae require at least a 2x2 plot of land, and will expand if necessary to do so. Grand Insulae will require access to a library, school, barber, doctor, two food types and 'some access' to entertainment venues (e.g. theatre + amphitheatre + 2 shows + average overall city entertainment coverage.) Grand insulae are the most developed form of plebian housing.

Villas and Palaces: Small villas require wine and access to temples to 2 different Gods. Large villas will expand to 3x3 plots. Grand Villas will require access to a hospital, academy, and temples to 3 different Gods. Small palaces will require a second source of wine (imported if the city's primary source of wine is local, or vice-versa.) Large palaces will expand to 4x4 plots. Steadily increasing entertainment values are the main requirement for patrician housing to develop, and those for a Luxury Palace are near-perfect.

Desirability can prevent a house from evolving. In order to evolve, a house also must have a certain desirability in addition to more services. Desirability is calculated from the nearby buildings. For example, a reservoir is an undesirable neighbour while a temple is rather desirable. A house requires more desirability as it evolves.

Prosperity is largely based on the overall quality of houses- a city with a large population of tents and shacks is considered less prosperous than one of equal size with more luxurious housing.