CaesarIA

CaesarIA is an economic strategy game about planning and building a Roman town, managing its economy, maintaining relations with Caesar and neighboring towns, and preparing for military campaigns. You oversee the town’s resources, services and population, balancing its needs against the demands of trade, construction and defense.

Manage the economy

Your town relies on extractive industries, including mines, sawmills, outcrop mines and farms, as well as production buildings such as factories, armories, wineries and brandy kitchens. When a resource is scarce or unavailable, trade with neighboring towns can help. The economy accounts for taxes, imports and exports, population, healthcare and unemployment. Developing houses with higher income can help keep the town in the black, but may also increase unemployment and lead to problems such as municipal embezzlement.

Build for the town

Construction depends on the town’s needs, including healthcare, supplies and building security. You need to bring workers into an area to provide services: actors entertain the public, engineers maintain shabby houses, and vigils fight criminals. City folk prefer quiet, picturesque places such as gardens, away from dirty barns and noisy barracks. Buildings can be constructed or demolished, and the surrounding environment affects how houses develop.

Keep the people content

The city folk’s attitude toward you matters. A poor reputation can prompt emigration, raise crime and lead to riots, fires and other problems, so you need to identify shortages and care for the population. Hospitals and bath houses provide healthcare; entertainment includes fence play and chariot-riding. Farms and the sea supply food, while the regular army oversees religion and security. The game also includes education, water facilities, advisers, and workers such as prefects, engineers, apprentices and soldiers.

Deal with Caesar and the gods

Caesar may demand goods for his personal use, sometimes in large quantities and at inconvenient times. Ignoring his demands leads to game over, so you can maintain his favor with donations or exotic animals. Neighboring towns participate in the Empire’s trade network and compete with your town in deals.

Five gods offer different benefits when worshiped in the right way:

• Ceres: doubles the yield capacity.
• Neptune: can help merchants make a successful voyage.
• Mercurius: can fill barns and storage houses.
• Mars: protects the town from attackers.
• Venus: improves the mood of the city folk for a long time.

Prepare the army

You must protect the town from barbarian invasions. A bastille can house soldiers, barracks and a recruit depot, which recruits velites and equites. Legionnaires form the Roman army’s heavily armored troops, equipped with helmets and shields; producing them requires ore and iron, which can be difficult to extract. A military academy gives soldiers further training in survival and ethics.

Town systems

The game includes dynamic town modeling, population migration, farming and product distribution, raw-material extraction and manufacturing, and a map upload feature for maps from the original Caesar III game. Its military buildings support the town’s defenses.