Caesar IV demo hands-onTweetNews ID: 339 Date: 2006-08-15 Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2006/08/15/caesar-iv-demo-hands-on Players will get a chance to build their own Mediterranean Utopia. BY DAVE "FARGO" KOSAK These days it seems like you can't swing your toga around without hitting a Roman city-building game. Glory of the Roman Empire tried to make a name for itself this summer, as did CivCity: Rome. But the granddaddy of all Roman city builders is saving its entrance for last. "The Conqueror Returns," as the demo announces. Earlier this week we got our hands on the Caesar IV demo, which will be released on FilePlanet Wednesday August 16th. Long-time fans of the series should comfortably slip right into the demo, despite the 3D engine. You can zoom right in to see things from the street level or pan out to view your metropolis from any angle, but the core gameplay will feel comfortingly familiar. As governor of a city you'll mark off areas for housing (which will improve over time if you provide the right resources), then place industries and public services in the hopes of creating a self-sufficient economy with lots of fat (taxpaying) citizens. The demo focuses on the town of Narbonensis, which begins as nothing but a ribbon of road near a small river. For the sake of the demo, the resources are almost unlimited, so we got a chance to really play around with the economic model. Narbonensis has it all: lots of fertile land, iron and gold deposits, an easy supply of fresh water and even timber and clay for pottery and furniture.  As with the previous games in the franchise, Caesar IV requires striking a careful balance as you build so that your economy can sustain the city's growth. But fortunately for us, the demo starts players with more cash than "Donald Trumpus," so it's hard to make a mistake. A strong economy starts with a pool of labor (low-income housing), buildings to collect raw materials (iron, timber, clay, etc.), and factories to produce finished products (weapons, furniture, or pottery for example). A sure source of income is trade with nearby cities -- in the demo, raw timber and raw iron can earn you a steady stream of cash from your neighbors. You'll also want to build plenty of warehouses to store the extra goods while they're waiting to be sold. But the big bucks come from having a wealthy populace that you can tax. That means building nicer houses, which have steeper requirements. Fresh water has to be pumped in by building a pumping station near the river, then building aqueducts leading to reservoirs scattered throughout the city. Luxury goods like wine and utensils will have to be created locally or imported from neighbors. Wealthy landowners are also picky about their city services: they want education, they want to live near parks, and they don't want to live near the noise and stink of factories. In fact, the toughest part of the demo is trying to cram all of this into the relatively small buildable areas of the map between the river and the hills. Hardcore city-builders who want to know everything that's happening can just click on an advisor panel to see what his or her city advisors are saying. Here the depth of the simulation is pretty clear: you can look at education, population growth, income, trade, taxes, etc. Map overlays on the main city screen show you information about things like property values or your water grid. This information is hidden until you ask for it, which is nice for players who don't always want to micromanage. Of course not all the game options are available in the demo, so we weren't able to build many of the really high-end buildings. It's also not too hard to 'win' the demo -- Narbonensis has all the raw materials to build a thriving metropolis in no time. What will be really interesting to see is what kind of challenges you face in the final game, where resources are constrained and you need to trade with other cities just to get the essentials. You'll be able to see the game in action soon enough - the demo will be released on FilePlanet on Wednesday, August 16.
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