Grand Ages: Rome

Grand Ages: Rome is a game developed by Kalypso. A city builder. So far a nice relaxing game but I haven't done any combat yet. The campaign starts out with a bunch of peaceful missions. You have to achieve a balance of happiness with you people. Of course the Equites and Patricians are harder to keep happy. My patricians keep deserting me. Fussy beings. The detail of the game is very good. Here is a close up shot of one of the towns. This is a pleb area. Pretty nice homes for the unwashed masses.

A temple to Saturn is to the right. The only temple available to a plebs only town. The other gods want equites and Patrcians.[img][/img]

Is it challenging? I love when you have to struggle you don't have enough money or you have to fight a lot of guys, so the game keeps you under pressure?

What I didn't like in Children of Nile is that you don't have struggle for money.

Depends on how you play it. Right now I have personal pressure and don't need game pressure which is why I am playing it. You can choose between a base character which starts you out with very little or you can choose a Level 25 Character and start out with perks. I am using my level 25 guy right now. They do have a gold mine which if you can get one early in the game is a cheat. You get money from the mine automatically. So far the only problems I have had are laying out the aqueducts and the patricians. I haven't figured out to keep popularity up either.

It isn't the best city builder I have played but neiher is it the worst;

@RYUchan and anyone else interested.
I restarted the Campaign with a start-up character. No perks. It does make a difference in the play. The first mission is quite simple but without all the perks takes a bit more thought. I now have one perk the first three houses built are free. 1500 dinari saved. I will accumulate a little money to buy a decent estate which will give some extras at the start of each mission.

So far I see it as a game to be played when you just want to relax but take your mind off other things. Keep you citizens happy try to get the bonus objectives which give you a little extra cash. I would only recommend it if you can get it cheaply.

Thanks Nakia, maybe I'll give it a try when I have time.

As for my play style it's a bit crazy some times. In 4X strategies(Civilization, Fallen Enchantress, Warlock Masters of Arcane and etc.) I always play without tutorial, I die a lot then restart, die - restart, die - restart. After some time I start to win, so I restart, switch to harder difficulty and the cycle repeats itself. I also almost never play to the very end because playstyle just becomes repetetive. I usually play to the breaking point where I understand that I will win no matter what and no matter how many nations I have to conquer.

All the tutorial does is show you how to place buildings and form an army. Most of what I have learned I do by experimenting and reading the little notes on the building buttons and pop-ups. The game is as challenging as you want to make it. I am having problems with one of the campaign scenarios because I keep running out of money. I have some screen shots up on Steam. Nothing particularly interesting but they show some of the buildings.

I have figured out how to get popularity up.

I love Civ. Been playing it since early 90s and it is my number one game of all time. It looks like GA Rome might appeal to me. Have you played civ and if so do you think I would like GA?

The analog_relic lives.

Good to hear from you Analog. I hope all is well. Right now things have been rather hectic in my life but hopefully we can get together for a nice chat. I have missed you, my Ozzie friend.

I've been wondering if the gameplay is similar to Ceaser 3 rather than Civ.

Can you please give us an idea of whether the game is similar to either of these Nakia?

Sue, I would say no. Definitely not Civ. Slightly more to Caesar II. There is no interaction with the citizens. I would categorize it as a puzzle/strategy game. Trying to lay out the city is a challenge. I like an efficient city. I go for efficiency over beauty. As you move along you get more buildings and if you do certain things you get popularity bonuses so I try to figure out how to lay out the city to get the most for the least.

Not a bad game for those times when you just need to think rather than the immersion you need for RPG or Online games like Planetside 2. I had one city going beautifully and there was an earthquake and everyone left town. Happened so fast I missed why. I think the earthquake may have wiped out the food chain. Very important to keep your residents well supplied with food. Also Entertainment. So far I have had no problem with religion.

If you can get the game cheap do so. I spent 15 USD. If you see it for less than that great. It is by Kalypso, forgotten the publisher but it is on Steam.

Sounds a bit like simcity. Ja oder nein? AR

I have only played the old SimCity games which I did not like so I cannot compare. It is not a self-evolving city. You are responsible for each building except for the Forum which does evolve as you obtain certain achievments.