Pharaoh, the Egyptian city-building sim!

[Perihelion]

There's been a lot of talk about this in IRC lately (I am responsible for most of it), so I figured I'd make a thread. I'm currently playing through it for the first time, and it's a lot of fun! It uses a few simple mechanics that have profound implications on your city design, and I learn something new every map I play. It's also gorgeous, especially when you consider that it came out in 1999.

So, discuss here. I'm particularly interested in how you other Pharaoh players lay out your cities. I realized that my housing plan sucked, so I just spent a bit of time working out a better one in Paint.

Spoiler

I'm currently on the map where you first build a pyramid, so there might be more things later I need to account for, idk. The idea with this was that I shunted all the undesirable things that need to be close to the housing block off on a side street, plus the apothecary and dentist because they're small. The bazaar is also one square from the granary and storage yard for easy access. In the current map, farming will be to the right of the granary, so it should be very conveniently situated. The entrance to the housing block is a little far from the main road, though, and I'm concerned about workers not being able to find their way from the far end with how long it is. I'm not sure what the actual radius is for that. I also might need to stick another pavilion or two in there on the far end, as I'm not sure how much entertainment you actually need per area, which'll mean an unnecessary side street or two. Ergh. Anyway, thoughts? How do you do it? Any other special layouts you use?

Also, gah, I hate maps where you need to mine really far away from water. Slums are bad, but how am I supposed to avoid them if I can't put my workforce near some water? :\

 

[Gray]

Screenshot? I've been lately drawn to this type of games. Might give it a try.

 

[candle]

i just looked it up, but it doesnt look like anything but an egypt themed civ clone with simcity elements

 

[Perihelion]

I haven't actually played Sim City or any of the Civilization games, so if it's a knock-off, I'm not too bothered.

The quality of this isn't excellent, but here's a screenshot:

Spoiler

 

[Venetia]

i just looked it up, but it doesnt look like anything but an egypt themed civ clone with simcity elements

you can't sum up this game that way. it's so much deeper than that.

yes, you maintain alliances with neighboring cities and the pharaoh, a la civilization.
yes, you do economical city building and management, a la simcity.

but it's deeper than that. it's a puzzle, actively running at all times, on how to allocate and distribute resources in the most efficient manner possible. Through incredibly simple rules, you are tasked with making incredibly complex configurations to make a working, thriving city. And defend it against attackers as well.

It kicks your ass at first because it SEEMS SO SIMPLE! and then you realize that your configurations and limited options are kicking your ass if you don't PLAN PLAN PLAN and treat the thing like a constantly changing puzzle.

Anyway a while back I devised what I think is the most perfect solution to making perfect Palatial Estates in Pharaoh. I'll draw it up when I get home :3

 

[Perihelion]

Ven summed up why the game is fun quite nicely!

It kicks your ass at first because it SEEMS SO SIMPLE! and then you realize that your configurations and limited options are kicking your ass if you don't PLAN PLAN PLAN and treat the thing like a constantly changing puzzle.

This. This keeps it interesting even though you do basically similar things each map. You run into new problems as your cities get bigger and more sophisticated or as certain resources are limited.

 

[Venetia]

plus once you spend like 4 real-life days straight making a monument like the Grand Pyramid Complex, all while maintaining your borders and keeping your people happy and afforded with luxury, you feel like this crazy accomplishment because it was a fucking bitch to do and you fucking got it right, son

and when all your little water carriers tell you your city is cool and your little bazaar traders don't have any complaints, you realize that you are a fucking badass mammajamma, and hell yeah you're the best city planner this side of the nile.



p.s. peri if you liked this game you should try out Tropico. I made a thread in this forum for it but almost no one replied . It's not as deep as Pharaoh but it's pretty addictive.
Also Pharaoh is similar in gameplay to Caesar III and Zeus, so they're worth checkin out, but I liked them less.

 

[Perihelion]

:O It looks cool from the wiki article. I'll check it out at some point!

 

[Venetia]

oh man i was going to post my own takes on the perfect blocks but here we go, this has almost exactly what i was gonna draw:

Spoiler: source: Pharaoh Heaven Games

normal housing blocking (workers' pool):

estate blocking:

industry blocking:

massive estate blocking:

massive housing blocking (^5000 people):

 

[Guest]

;D

 

[Venetia]

ah poop hold on

edit: fixed :D

 

[Perihelion]

Oh hey, that's interesting. I kinda got glued into one layout, but it's cool to see other ideas, and that looks good. I'm gonna try that, or something like it!