If granaries are empty, you know food isn t getting to them. If little animated figures are running through the streets with torches, you know the citizens are unhappy. If goods pile up in the markets, you know that you ve got to do something to get trade going. It might not always be obvious why something s going wrong, or what you have to do to fix it, but at least now it s much easier to see that there is a problem before your whole city falls apart on you. If you wish to take the time, you can even click on the individual plebe on the street and get a brief report from that individual on his or her situation-if, for example, the cart pushers don t seem to be pushing, just click on one and you might find out why.
Religion also plays a part now.
The Romans had a whole slew of gods, and you ve got to keep them all satisfied through temples and festivals. While you may certainly build a choice city for the Empire and sit back, the successful governor, to bask in the activities of a new cosmopolitan center, you may also wish for continuing challenges, new frontiers and more power within the Empire. And it s here that the Caesar series splits with the SimCity -style play by providing a campaign mode. In Caesar II this mode consisted of building a province from the ground up, getting promoted to a rougher area of the Empire, and doing it all over again and again, and again. Players got tired of always starting from nothing for each new region, so Caesar III will offer you different challenges as you move up in the ranks.