History VideoGame / CityBuildingSeries

* EarthquakesCauseFissures: Introduced in '''Caesar III''' and kept in ''Zeus'' and ''Emperor'. Earthquakes are represented by a fissure in the ground that starts in a random spot and then webs around. Any building on the path of those fissures is instantly destroyed, and, far worse, they ''stay'' on the map, making that area impassable until a road is built over them. No buildings can be placed there, ''ever''. Short for [[NotTheIntendedUse bombarding the area with fireballs]] from a cheat console in ''Zeus'' and then removing the resulting "rubble", there is just no way to remove the fissures.

* EarthquakesCauseFissures: Introduced in ''Zeus'' and kept in ''Emperor'', earthquakes are represented by a fissure in the ground that starts in a random spot and then webs around. Any building on the path of those fissures is instantly destroyed, and, far worse, they ''stay'' on the map, making that area impassable until a road is built over them. No buildings can be placed there, ''ever''. Short for [[NotTheIntendedUse bombarding the area with fireballs]] from a cheat console in ''Zeus'' and then removing the resulting "rubble", there is just no way to remove the fissures.

* The ''{{Videogame/Caesar}}'' series AncientRome:

** ''VideoGame/ImmortalCitiesChildrenOfTheNile'' (2004) was the first title published by Tilted Mills, and is more of a SpiritualSuccessor than a direct continuation. It radically breaks with established concepts (such as walkers, apartment blocks for workers or active gods). It was also the first in the series to go fully 3D, but the graphics were found to be a bit lacking. It remains something of an odd one out among the games.

** ''VideoGame/ZeusMasterOfOlympus'' (2000) and its expansion pack ''VideoGame/PoseidonMasterOfAtlantis'' (2001), set in UsefulNotes/AncientGreece and {{Atlantis}} respectively, change the mood from relatively realistic and historically accurate-ish to myth-centric with a dash of humor. It gives monsters, gods walking (or destroying) your city and some of the more famous heroes of Myth/ClassicalMythology a much more prominent role than in earlier games. This created somewhat of a BrokenBase between those who saw these two games as too childish and cartoonish and those who thought it was a new, creative and funny approach.

** ''VideoGame/EmperorRiseOfTheMiddleKingdom'' (2002) was the last 'traditional game', with walkers, housing blocks, etc. It featured a good deal more SceneryPorn and ArchitecturePorn than its predecessors. The only one not designed by series creator Chris Beatrice.

* SpiritualSuccessor : If you count the games made by the staff that went on to create Firefly Studios, then the ''{{VideoGame/Stronghold}}'' series is probably the best example.

* ElectricBoogaloo: For original games, even.
** ''Queen of the Nile: Cleopatra''
** ''Master of Olympus - Zeus'' and ''Master of Atlantis - Poseidon''
** ''Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom''
** ''Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile''

** The games got supposedly easier as the series progressed, but they also got just less ''frustrating'', as lots of quality-of-life features were added later that are lacking in earlier entries. Most notably: the all-important Roadblock. Prior to ''Pharaoh'' the games lacked a roadblock the player could drop on a road to tell walkers to stay within a given area. As a result, an efficient road and supply network could turn out pretty darn weird as good players tried to avoid crossroads at all costs, often resulting in one lonesome meandering road snaking around the entire city. Hope nobody's in a hurry to get anywhere. By ''Emperor'' players had access not only to roadblocks, but could toggle certain gates to allow some walkers to pass and not others.

** The games got easier as the series progressed, but they also got just less ''frustrating'', as lots of quality-of-life features were added later that are lacking in earlier entries. Most notably: the all-important Roadblock. Prior to ''Pharaoh'' the games lacked a roadblock the player could drop on a road to tell walkers to stay within a given area. As a result, an efficient road and supply network could turn out pretty darn weird as good players tried to avoid crossroads at all costs, often resulting in one lonesome meandering road snaking around the entire city. Hope nobody's in a hurry to get anywhere. By ''Emperor'' players had access not only to roadblocks, but could toggle certain gates to allow some walkers to pass and not others.

** The games supposedly got easier as the series progressed, but they also got just less ''frustrating'', as lots of quality-of-life features were added later that are lacking in earlier entries. Most notably: the all-important Roadblock. Prior to ''Pharaoh'' the games lacked a roadblock the player could drop on a road to tell walkers to stay within a given area. As a result, an efficient road and supply network could turn out pretty darn weird as good players tried to avoid crossroads at all costs, often resulting in one lonesome meandering road snaking around the entire city. Hope nobody's in a hurry to get anywhere. By ''Emperor'' players had access not only to roadblocks, but could toggle certain gates to allow some walkers to pass and not others.

** The games have been described as having gotten easier the further the series has progressed. While to some extent this is true, what they also got was simply less ''frustrating'', as lots of quality-of-life features were added later that are lacking in earlier entries. Most notably: the all-important Roadblock. Prior to ''Pharaoh'' the games lacked a roadblock the player could drop on a road to tell walkers to stay within a given area. As a result, an efficient road and supply network could turn out pretty darn weird as good players tried to avoid crossroads at all costs, often resulting in one lonesome meandering road snaking around the entire city. Hope nobody's in a hurry to get anywhere. By ''Emperor'' players had access not only to roadblocks, but could toggle certain gates to allow some walkers to pass and not others.

** The games have been described as having gotten easier the further the series progressed. Actually what they got was simply less ''frustrating'', as lots of quality-of-life features were added later that are lacking in earlier entries. Most notably: the all-important Roadblock. Prior to ''Pharaoh'' the games lacked a roadblock the player could drop on a road to tell walkers to stay within a given area. As a result, an efficient road and supply network could turn out pretty darn weird as good players tried to avoid crossroads at all costs, often resulting in one lonesome meandering road snaking around the entire city. Hope nobody's in a hurry to get anywhere. By ''Emperor'' players had access not only to roadblocks, but could toggle certain gates to allow some walkers to pass and not others.

** Inverted in ''Zeus'' and ''Emperor'': Rise of the Middle Kingdom: both allow you to simply bribe invading armies to go away. This is much faster than actually fighting, which cuts into your manpower, slowing down production for months, and frees you from having to maintain expensive troops. That said, if you maintain zero troops whatsoever other cities will happily attack you.

* OffscreenMomentofAwesome: Zeus and Poseidon feature quests given to you by the gods, where you need to summon a hero such as Hercules, Achilles, or Perseus, to your city, who must then be sent to fulfill some sort of important task (such as Perseus retrieving the items needed to fight the Medusa, or Hercules performing some of his labors). Said tasks takes place entirely offscreen, with nothing but an eventual message telling you that the hero has succeeded. Averted when a hero is summoned specifically for the task of slaying a monster attacking your city.

** Prior to ''Pharaoh'' the games also lacked a roadblock the player could drop on a road to tell walkers to stay within a given area, and those of Caesar 3 blocked all walkers, including those that have specific destinations(in the later games, only walkers that have specific destinations can pass through roadblocks). As a result, an efficient road and supply network could turn out pretty darn weird as good players tried to avoid crossroads at all costs, often resulting in one lonesome meandering road snaking around the entire city. Hope nobody's in a hurry to get anywhere.

* SequelDifficultyDrop: ''Zeus'' is considerably easier and way more forgiving than ''Pharaoh''; buildings are automatically staffed, as there are no labor-seeking walkers anymore. A single building provides maintenance and fires can be put out before the building is consumed. There is only one single type of food and fewer types of goods and services required to fully evolve houses, and no fertility system. Taxation can be implemented from the start, as unlike in ''Phraoh'', the infrastructure to set it up is quite cheap. Wages can quickly lower or rise the labor pool. There is no rating system, no gods to appease by default (the hostile ones can still damage the city), and no painfully slow recruitment system, as the basic housing provides weak but free and numerous soldiers from the start to defend the city, with elite housing providing strong soldiers and cavalry. Invasions are not always inherently deadly, as the enemy can be bribed off or the city can lose/surrender once and become a vassal, even to several cities. Everything is cheaper, and fortifications are no longer prohibitibely expensive. In campaign mode, all the treasury is carried over from one mission to the next, which usually translates to only the first episode being a financial challenge. ''Emperor'' is a slightly less simplified game and regains some of the complexity from ''Pharaoh'', specially in the food and wares department.

** [[ArtificialBrilliance Thus inadvertently simulating a free market economy.]]

* CriticalStaffingShortage: Somewhat lessened (compared to ''Pharaoh'') in ''Zeus, as buildings get workers automatically instead of looking for staff in nearby housing, and standard housing won't turn into IdleRich neighborhoods. However, as the army is taken from the population, drafting large amounts of Rabble units will cause services to bleed workers.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Most of the tropes of the series were standardized by ''Caesar III''. I and II have their own quirks, such as being far less battle-focused (if such a thing is possible), having separate city and province maps and the "loot and scoot" strategy (where you pour your city treasury into your personal chest right before you get promoted, leaving yourself rich and the city badly in debt).

** ''Emperor'' has the Song and Jin Dynasties defeat UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan and prevent the establishment of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_Dynasty Yuan Dynasty]].

** The first games also lacked a "stop sign" the player could drop on a road to tell walkers to stay within a given area, and those of Caesar 3 blocked all walkers, including those that have specific destinations(in the later games, only walkers that have specific destinations can pass through roadblocks). As a result, an efficient road and supply network could turn out pretty darn weird as good players tried to avoid crossroads at all costs, often resulting in one lonesome meandering road snaking around the entire city. Hope nobody's in a hurry to get anywhere.

* PunnyName: ''Zeus'' features apothecaries named Aspiridos.

** ''Caesar I'' (1992) and ''Caesar II'' (1995) started the series off, but are mostly forgotten nowadays, even by the hardcore fans of the series.

A series of [[SimulationGame Simulation]] {{Space Management Game}}s in which your primary task is to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin build a city]]. First developed by Impressions Games, then Breakaway Games and finally Tilted Mill Entertainment, most of the titles were published by {{Creator/Sierra}} and are among its few games where not [[EverythingTryingToKillYou everything is trying to kill you]] - only your neighbors, their gods, ''your gods'', wild animals...

* AncientGreece:
** ''VideoGame/ZeusMasterOfOlympus'' (2000) and its expansion pack ''VideoGame/PoseidonMasterOfAtlantis'' (2001), set in AncientGreece and {{Atlantis}} respectively, change the mood from relatively realistic and historically accurate-ish to myth-centric with a dash of humor. It gives monsters, gods walking (or destroying) your city and some of the more famous heroes of Myth/ClassicalMythology a much more prominent role than in earlier games. This created somewhat of a BrokenBase between those who saw these two games as too childish and cartoonish and those who thought it was a new, creative and funny approach.

[[http://www.games-arena.ro/2012/10/26/interview-chris-beatrice-medieval-mayor/ A new installment]], ''Medieval Mayor'', was announced as being under development by Tilted Mill and originally scheduled for a 2013 release. Set in medieval Europe, it would have returned to a 2D representation and a walker system. Unfortunately, the game felt to [[DevelopmentHell development hell]] due to funding issues.

* The ''{{Videogame/Caesar}}'' series (UsefulNotes/AncientRome):

* UsefulNotes/AncientGreece:
** ''VideoGame/ZeusMasterOfOlympus'' (2000) and its expansion pack ''VideoGame/PoseidonMasterOfAtlantis'' (2001), set in UsefulNotes/AncientGreece and UsefulNotes/{{Atlantis}} respectively, change the mood from relatively realistic and historically accurate-ish to myth-centric with a dash of humor. It gives monsters, gods walking (or destroying) your city and some of the more famous heroes of Myth/ClassicalMythology a much more prominent role than in earlier games. This created somewhat of a BrokenBase between those who saw these two games as too childish and cartoonish and those who thought it was a new, creative and funny approach.