C2 or C3?

[Lannes]

Of those of you who played both I'd like to know what setup of maps you preferred, CII with the separate City, province and battle map or CIII with all elements combined on one map.

Btw, this is NOT intended as a popularity contest. The poll is concerned solely with the representation of space in the game. Those who haven't played both games I would like to ask not to vote unless they have a strong preference based on reviews etc. Everyone is course welcome to post their ideas here too.

Lannes

[Fishrob]

I prefer CIII,with all combined,the reason for this is simple, i prefer things to be not too confusing,ease of play make games reach a wider audiance :) in my opinion

[Azeem]

I preferred CII's setup. It gave the feeling that you were more of an actual governor rather than just some mayor of some town.

[prof786]

i haven't played caesar II. i've only played caesar III. so i wouldn't know.

[Schmophit]

i haven't played caesar II only caesar III, so i wouldn't know.
Same here :(

[Thucydides]

The concept of separate gaming spaces in CII would work for a more complex Caesar game, rather than try to fit everything on the same screen as in CIII.

[Kenneth M. Hinds]

From a strictly map point of view I prefered the CII layout. it made city layout much easier to only have the city housing and essential services on that map and the production facilities on the Provence map. Having battles on a third map kept that contained as well so that it was easier to make sure that you got them all and that none were hiding inside a building and thus letting it get trashed when you weren't looking.

What I did not care for especially, was having to guess the bounce on the trade ships so that I could place harbor facilities correctly, nor was I real happy with the pre-set locations for resources which made things one to one match ups.

Ken

[Lannes]

I think it's important to note from the developer's point of view the map-layout choice is tied to crucial choices about what gameplay is going to be like.

Choose a realistic representation of space (=multi-map) and the trade-off is that elements on province scale aren't managed at the same level of detail as are things on the city scale. Choose equally detailed management (= one map) of activities that in reality operate on different scales and the trade off is compromised realism.

This choice between realism and gameplay is quite inescapable and, if you ask me, it's perhaps the most crucial of all as far as the appeal of the final product is concerned. Die hard city builders are, I think, prepared to sacrifice realism for gameplay. However, there's also a large audience who's interest is topical (Rome) and who will be less forgiving. To some extent the talk about the military could be viewed in this context. Personally I'm more concerned with the restoration of a clear separation of city and rural economy.

Lannes

[Ares]

For battle : I like a single map, but want it be larger, showing also "edge" area of a city with no resources (plain/mountain/forest/swamp/desert), only for battle and wall purpose so that enemies won't suddenly appear on the streets -- who ever plans to defend his city so late? That'll look cool, a city of everything, and enemies appear outside the protective wall... (I don't like RTS in which players simply extract the resources on the ground and just fight and kill but nothing cultural or wealthy (colonialism?) BUT I LOVE WAR IN CITY BUILDING! I build up something that I wish fight to protect! )

[Anguille]

I prefer the concept of Caesar II and hope it's coming back in Caesar IV...

[arcan]

I have both C2 and C3. But C3 got out just a few months after I got C2 so that I didn't play C2 too long. I didn't see much difference in the CB part (I try not to go into battles and so on).