Caesar (DOS)

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Description

The first in the strategy series set in the Roman Empire’s peak era starts off with you as ruler of a small province, although if you’re successful you will get tougher assignments.

You must build the city, placing crucial features such as housing estates, roads, policing, water supply, social events and the like. You’re not restricted to one city – you can build another area, linked by roads, once you’ve got the first one running smoothly. You have slaves at your disposal to build and maintain everything.

All this would be easy if you had an infinite supply of money, the civilians didn’t complain about anything, there was no threat of combat, and you didn’t have to keep the people above you happy. Needless to say, all of these problems crop up.

Via the forums, you will get public opinions, which are affected by how high taxes are, and whether people feel they’re getting value for money. If they don’t they could riot;– what will you tell the Emperor if that happens?

Barbarian threats are commonplace, so you need to maintain an army, and at times send it into battle. If you own Cohort II, you can fight the battles using that, but otherwise you just issue the orders then learn of the result.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "凱撒大帝" -- Traditional Chinese spelling
• "凯撒大帝" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
• "Caesar I" -- Sierra Originals re-release media title

Part of the Following Groups

• Caesar series
• Impressions Games' City Building series
• Setting: Ancient Roman
• Sound engine: AIL/Miles Sound System

User Reviews

Enjoyable to begin with, but not enjoyable enough to complete

krammer (260)

Critic Reviews

Gambler	Dec, 1993	80 out of 100	80
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	Jun, 1993		70
PC Joker	Dec, 1992	67 out of 100	67
Joker Verlag präsentiert: Sonderheft	1993	66 out of 100	66
The Retro Spirit	Dec 13, 2009	2.5 out of 6	42
Power Play	Dec, 1992	21 out of 100	21
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	Jun, 1993	Unscored	Unscored

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Rome Wasn't Built in a Day	2	Kabushi (257508) Jan 06, 2016
Freeware status questions	3	MrFlibble (16741) Dec 28, 2014

Trivia

Cohort II

Caesar can be linked with Cohort II, a strategy game focused on battles and also set during the Ancient Roman era. When linked, the battles in Caesar can be played through the Cohort II game. However, because Cohort II was released later then Caesar, this feature is only available in re-releases.

Temporary giveaway

In the late 90s — early 2000s, the full DOS version of Caesar was available as a free download from Impressions Games' website. The download link was removed from the official game page on Sierra's website sometime in late 2002. Vivendi Universal Games later confirmed that Caesar is not redistributable freeware.

Information also contributed by LeChimp