I have a feeling that Emperor is going to be my favorite game when it comes out in the fall. I have all three city building games, and what a trilogy it is indeed! My personal favorite is Zeus/Poseidon, although I think the best one so far in the series is Pharaoh. I only wish that Impressions had brought out an expansion for C3 that included naval warfare, and lots more extra cities to play. I could go on for much longer, but to summarise, I like C3, Pharaoh and Zeus in that order for overall game-play, and C3, Zeus and Pharaoh for military maneuvres. I have to admit that I prefer the economic challenges generally, but the military side has got to be a part of the scenario in these games. Militarily I like the C3 javelin/cavalry auxiliaries and legions combination very well balanced compared to the cumbersome armies of Pharaoh, although I do have a soft spot for the hoplite/cavalry/rabble setup in Zeus. Zeus I see as a different game altogether - it is much simpler and more forgiving (almost relaxing!), but also much less of a challenge than either of its predecessors. I need to put much more thought into the overall layout of cities and the design of housing blocks in C3 than in Pharaoh.

and the ease of walker control using neutral desirability roadblocks takes away a big part of the challenge. While I appreciate the innovations of Pharaoh, I find that the ability to micromanage markets/warehouses etc.

Caesar 3 for me gives the greatest challenges and the highest sense of achievement once victory is achieved. Sorry if I'm out of line here.įor me too the original is the best. I posted this in the 'Game Help' forum because a)this is the 'main' forum and gets the most traffic, and b)I need 'help' choosing which 'game' to play. I'll be posting this same thread on the main forums for the other two games as well, so if you respond to this one, please don't respond to either of the other two. Whether or not you own Cleopatra or Poseidon is also irrelevant, since I don't own either of them (and this poll is for my benefit, after all ).ģ. Please don't respond unless you have played all three games enough to be familiar with most aspects of gameplay (this doesn't mean you have to be an expert by any means, however). Please don't post to say 'All three games are great!' If you truly believe that they are all completely equal in terms of entertainment value, fine just don't bother telling me so (in this thread). NOTE: I'm trying to make this a 'formal' poll, so a few 'rules' (guidelines?) for respondents are in order.ġ. So, I'm surrendering responsibility for the decision by asking you folks to make it for me. I ask because I'm trying to decide which game I should play myself, and can't decide. A simple question for those of you who have played all three of these City-Builders:

Caesar 3 games like