When fire breaks out, just press escape!

[Kuplo]

I bet you thought I had found some cheat huh? Nope, but what I have found is that I allowed the barbarians to attack my city of Alexsandria figuring the damage that they will end up doing will be far less than the insanely high 5400d that they want to be bought off. And I would have been correct because the total damage that they did in destroyed buildings was about 800d at most.

I would have been correct, if the only damage that was done by what they actually destroyed in the terms of prices of buildings destroyed by them.

But it seems that Alexsandria soon went up in flames, even though I had an extra 20 prefect offices, fires started to sprout up everywhere (oh, and I was playing on normal, not fast, so that rules out the theory of the fast game speed causing fires in *this* particular game), even in places that were not near any of the other buildings that were burned down by the barbarians.

And it just accellerated, even with great coverage of prefects in my city and adding an extra 20 offices of them, the fires just got out of control and popped up nowhere near each other, so it wasn't like the fire was actually spreading from building to building.

So my tip (hence the title of this message) is when the fires are out of control, just hit your esc key then hit the exit or leave city button, because chances are very good that your city is going to soon be toast (yes, pun intended), and theres little to nothing you can do once you have many many buildings that are now on fire.

So go get another cup of coffee and start over, it's what Im about to do now.

Taxpaying Public: Wonderfull
Gardens around my Governors Villa: Beautifull
Prefects: Almost Useless

I shall next time however, sit in my palace and play my fiddle while the city burns to the ground, heck next time I might even help it along and remove all of the prefects and watch it spread even quicker because I know theres little that I can do to help matters.

Oh, and don't take this as a complaint, because it's really not meant to be at all!

[MarkDuffy]

When invaders strike, Kuplo, Prefects turn into soldiers & stop doing their other job as well. ;)

This is why you need Fortifications: Walls, Ballistas & Calvary Forts with SPEED! Also, spreading out the Slower cohorts by preplacing when you get the 3-month warning invasion message. Find all of the invaders, cuz they appear randomly in many different locations at the same time. Some even appear a bit after the first. Do not assume the one you find from the GoTo popup is all of them. Win quickly so that Prefects go back to being Prefects! :)

Oh, I DO have a funny story. I found out the hard way that Towers collapse, but very slowly. It takes a looong time. OK, I added a Engineer there at the remote Gatehouse. They don't catch fire, so no Prefect necessary, right?

The Engineer burned down! :D

[Kuplo]

Yup I understand that, I just figured that while I was waiting on my fort to start recruiting my army (though the recruitment facility) then I would only sustain minimal damages in my city (which it would have been if the fires didn't popup out of nowhere) during this first incursion into my city which really didn't last very long at all. And since I had 646 plebes that were out of work, so when I put down the 20 new prefect facilities they were manned immediately with new prefects, however it seems that prefects stand there going "duhhhhh" for a short time after starting their employment while some buildings go up in blazes. But I can understand this "duhhhh" time as they are probably thinking which building they are going to try to put the fire out for.

Do you know, how does the prefects stand up to an invading force (not the forces from Rome, because I've heard they are really tough to try to beat back), but rather the barbarian type invaders? So for example if I have an army of 54 prefects, would they be as strong as say an army of 54 light infantry? Im guessing they would be pretty useless since they wouldnt have any weapons persay.

[MarkDuffy]

Prefects are better soldiers than you might think, Kuplo. When they die, the Prefect Office spawns a new one quickly. When soldiers die, you have to immigrate a new Recruit & that is basically useless in an invasion.

However, Prefects can stop doing their other job. I wouldn't want to ever depend on Prefects & you now know why!

PS ~ The game will not allow you to build Prefects during an invasion. ;) Also, Unemployment is NOT a good thing to EVER have! :)

[Need_Help]

I have no war in Alexandria. All I do in the beginning is buy off. They just want to have mpney, I just give them and all is ok. My trade as usual, all the things as usual especially money coming in as usual:D

Thanks:)

[JadeDragon]

*I shall next time however, sit in my palace and play my fiddle while the city burns to the ground, heck next time I might even help it along and remove all of the prefects and watch it spread even quicker because I know theres little that I can do to help matters.

Actually Kuplo, you would most likely "fiddle with your lyre" as Nero was rumored to do.
Just finished watching the DVD on Rome that came with the game. I had forgotten about it til now. It was very entertaining. Have you watched it yet? :) JD

[Kuplo]

I have no war in Alexandria. All I do in the beginning is buy off. They just want to have mpney, I just give them and all is ok. My trade as usual, all the things as usual especially money coming in as usual:D

Thanks:)

It's fine and Well to pay off the invaders if you have plenty of d to spare, but this was on my test map, so it was rather late in the game for me since the trade systems tootip was either bad advise or I didn't interpit it correctly so there was no money to pay them off to begin with, and of course I could have still spent the 5400d if I really wanted to and just gone into the red, but I didn't want to get into a financial hole that would take forever to get out of, especially since the damage calculations initially thought up by myself told me that the damange the invaders would do, would be far less than paying off the invaders. Obviously I can't count on that.

[Kuplo]

Actually Kuplo, you would most likely "fiddle with your lyre" as Nero was rumored to do.
Just finished watching the DVD on Rome that came with the game. I had forgotten about it til now. It was very entertaining. Have you watched it yet? :) JD

Ummmmm, I think that's where I came up with the fiddle playing ;)

[Need_Help]

Sometimes, I need to use my own money to get out of debt;) I can donate all my money (about a few thousands) because of opening trade depot, buying off invaders etc. Why I will do that? Because I'm sure that I can earn back because I'm selling my over produced jewellery, clothes, weapons, marbles.

Thanks:)

[Kuplo]

Yes, I often forget about that since I rarely visit the imperial screen unless I keep in my mind that Rome has requested something that I may think I then have enough of to fufill, so I rarely see my salary at all.

I wonder if I click on the governors palace (villa, estate etc) if it will allow me to adjust my wages and or donate to the city from the gov's palace itself instead of going into the advisor screen since I avoid the advisors like the plague at times to avoid hearing them tell me that Im doing a really crappy job even though things are moving along nicely.

I'll have to try that next time I build my own palace.

[Zamolxes]

I find this very weird, the city going up in flames very fast. But prolly if u didnt had any walls around your city, invaders went straight for downtown, so all prefects in city were alerted and became soldiers, hence the fire.
By the time 1st invasion comes, most of my cities are walled and towered, so few invaders ever make it pass the walls, and if they do, they killed on spot by prefects at edge of the city. I guess prefects becoming soldiers is triggered by proximity with the enemy, so while few prefects at perifery fights the enemy, the rest of them keep doing their job.
On a funny note, i should prolly fire all my prefects, let city burn a bit, i never had a fire lol. :eek:

[vic_4]

I find this very weird, the city going up in flames very fast. But prolly if u didnt had any walls around your city, invaders went straight for downtown, so all prefects in city were alerted and became soldiers, hence the fire.
By the time 1st invasion comes, most of my cities are walled and towered, so few invaders ever make it pass the walls, and if they do, they killed on spot by prefects at edge of the city. I guess prefects becoming soldiers is triggered by proximity with the enemy, so while few prefects at perifery fights the enemy, the rest of them keep doing their job.
On a funny note, i should prolly fire all my prefects, let city burn a bit, i never had a fire lol. :eek:
Alaso the city is a desert one, so much more prone to fires. When I get invaders, I always buy them, even if I go in debt. If the city is well organized and if cityzens are happy, I can get out of debt even with a high request as 5000 denarii.

[bexgames]

Actually Kuplo, you would most likely "fiddle with your lyre" as Nero was rumored to do.
:eek: ;)

[JadeDragon]

I'm sorry Kuplo, what I should have said was,
Since the fiddle was not invented until many centuries after Nero's reign, you would most likely have to fiddle with a lyre.
Actually in Nero's case he was just fiddling around.
Hey, I know I'm annoying but after tomorrow I won't be around much.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled posting. :D JD