It's different to Pharaoh, but I expected that and am enjoying the difference. I played Caesar III, Pharaoh, Cleopatra, Zeus, Poseidon, and Emperor to death over a several year period, and a change is good. That's not to say I don't want any more games in the Impressions mould, just that I like to see other approaches to the same subject too. It's nice not to need to worry about market ladies, and I'm really hoping they keep the pull economy in Caesar IV, instead of the old push economy. But to balance, there are also things I miss or preferred from the Impressions games too.

So far the main attraction with CotN is that it’s not such a numbers and resource based game. I don’t plop down a clay pit, know that it will support precisely 2 pottery shops, which in turn will support exactly 50 houses. I also like the way the focus is on people, not on resource numbers and funneling walkers.


My shops all have plenty of food, plus plenty of resources, so I suppose they must be too much demand. Oh well, I'll just have to try plopping down another set of 4, bringing the total to 5 sets, and see if that helps. I don't want to build too many, and then have some shops fail and the owners turn into vagrants.


I answered my own question on the campaign - yes, all of the campaign mode scenarios are available as freeplay scenarios, identical in every way. So I'll drop campaign mode and mutter about the game now not having many scenarios at all, plus having a very deceptive set of playing modes. Gah!