Urban Empire
Don’t buy this game. Avoid.
It’s not worth the asking price, whatsoever. If you must get it, I recommend you pay as little as possible.
Keep in mind, this is a political simulator masked as a city building game, with an incomplete feel. If this interests you, then keep reading. I wanted to like this game and played it over 100 hours, but I strongly dislike it.
Here is why I strongly dislike it:
- Entirely imbalanced game mechanics at all stages; early-, mid-, and late-game. At best, consider this game at midway Beta-level test development, requiring a significant rebalance, not ready for prime time. It’s abandoned by the development team, and therefore they’ll never fix its problems.
– Real player with 131.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best City Builder Political Sim Games.
Wonder why so many people hate this game? There’s a long winding answer.
Urban Empires was origonally marketed as having the following game play niches.
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It it was a decent city-building strategy game.
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It had a political aspect: you would have to manipulate the political parties and make deals to pass key legislation.
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It would have a branching plot over multiple generations that would tell the story of both your family and the city.
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Your choices would effect how the story plays out.
– Real player with 64.1 hrs in game
Citystate II
Don’t buy.
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Unfinished game
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Bugs
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The “realistic economics” in this game leaves a lot to be desired and calling it realistic is laughable.
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The dev has been MIA since early October (within weeks of release).
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Developer is either a huckster or lacks any sense of professionalism.
The misrepresentation that you are buying a finished game on the store page and the fact that the developer just disappeared makes me feel as if I’ve been had. The excuse on discord by some person who is not the dev is that he has a family and he takes long breaks. Make of that what you will, but I will not buy another product from this developer.
– Real player with 65.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best City Builder Economy Games.
You simply can’t play more extreme ideologies anymore (Left & Right) which Is kinda where alot of the fun came from. Everything needs to be balanced. It’s okay but at some point you’ll run into bugs that remove zones not just buildings and tank everything. Tbh it gets boring after it happens a few times. Oh and after many hrs my political leaning instantly went from 47-53 to 100-0 to the left which sent everyone into a riot and the whole city was destroyed. That right there is a game breaking bug. I’d honestly say buy the first one. I’m not hating btw, I actually really wanted to like it.
– Real player with 25.3 hrs in game
Citystate
First off, I must say I love this game. It seems I have already put 30 hours into it.
Graphics.
While many complain of the “Old school” graphics, I happen to like them. While yes, they are not the ultra-high definition 3D graphics like in other new city builders, It is still very good. The architecture is detailed and modern. It is different and original, which I like very much. Plus, the graphics don’t make my computer crash like other city builders.
Gameplay.
The gameplay is relativaly easy and simple. It may be a bit confusing at first without a tutorial, however, I recommend viewing one of the many gameplay videos on youtube. Many reviewers complained it had “No point” and was boring, but I disagree. In their logic, what is the point of playing simcity 4? or cities XL? They too don’t have a “story mode” or missions. Since there is no in-game goals or tasks, you do have to set your own goals. I find that great, as I aim to build a rich city, or aim to have a socialist city without going broke, or try to make a farming city. And remember, this game is a political sandbox to try out several political and economic models, not an adventure game. Set your own goals, and you are good to go.
– Real player with 222.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best City Builder Political Sim Games.
Citystate may be the only city builder sim I can think of where you can politically influence your city and eventually go into space, but it’s difficult to recommend the game given all the bugs, performance issues and barebones design choices present.
First of all, the game was plagued with some rather serious bugs that came with the 1.2.3 update. Though many of these have been patched out, some such as the “NaN” resources bug which occurred on space colonies require you to completely reset your region and start from scratch to fix them. Another one that screwed one of my playthroughs was where I managed to click a policy multiple times in the middle of a lag spike and ended up applying its effects seven times over. I know it applied multiple times because I lost around 70% stability as a result of this and since then my city’s environmental score has plummeted to 0 regardless of what political changes I made in future.
– Real player with 118.7 hrs in game
Tropico 3
Day 1:start game ,listen to a overly excited probably bribed anouncer welcome you in,build house,no one lives in said house,
Day 2:i want to build a farm,builders refuse to build farm,i get mad,i use army to “convince” the builders to build,
Day 3: the people no longer like me now, i have 8 rebels on my small island…my army still cant find them,
i cower in fear in my palace.
Day 4: They have attacked, i’m the only one left, the one last man in the army. i’ve taken out only 2, now i retreat in shame. where are my people?
– Real player with 733.9 hrs in game
El Presidente Version 3
This is my first Tropico Game and after some time of frustrating restarts and head meets desk moments,
i finally figured out how to be a good El Presidente.
Sure some folks are always bothering me, but meh i got a prison.
You have many ways of getting rid of negative people as well as options to make your people happy.
Beating these small shacks, your worst enemies, can be difficult, since they tend to pop up in the worst moments.
Also your workers are damn lazy, they dont build your houses and ignore the big ass transport ships in your harbor -.-
– Real player with 30.5 hrs in game
Retaliation Path of Rome
Retaliation Path of Rome is a very complex game, with several unique features
MISSIONS
About 100 different missions, with either single or multiple objectives, like:
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reach a population target (a minimum number of patricians and/or plebs)
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reach a target happyness
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earn a certain amount of money
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complete the mission in a given time
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win a certain number of battles
5 difficulty levels, from very easy to very hard: with different world resources, starting money, initial reputation…
Every mission is created parametrically to offer an ever changing challenge, each time a mission is re-played.
STRUCTURES
The player has the possibility to build more than 50 structures to complete the missions. Some example structures:
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Slaves' quarters
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Plebs' houses
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Patrician villas
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Wheat field
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Olive grove
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Vineyard
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Farm
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Fishing house
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Market
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Stables
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Workshop
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Dirt road
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Paved street
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Archers' barracks
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Ballistaari' barracks
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Equites' barracks
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Legionary barracks
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Velites' barracks
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Defence tower
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Signaling tower
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Watch tower
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Wooden wall
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Wooden gate
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Stone wall
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Stone gate
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Forum
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Theatre
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Amphitheatre (arena)
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Gladiator ludus
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Stadium (chariot races)
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Gardens
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Groves
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Fountain
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Well
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Butcher
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Olive maker
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Wine maker
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Lumber mill
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Clay pit
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Iron mine
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Stone quarry
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Marble quarry
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Gold mine
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Potter workshop
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Blacksmith
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Academy
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Library
..
Each structure needs specific resources in order to be built.
And of course each structure has different function and features, and some structures have to be properly positioned in order to yield the desired result: for wine production it is necessary to create both vineyard (to get the grapes) and a winemaker (to get the wine).
CITY AI
In each city there will be some AI controlled competitors: other patricians whose goal is to increase their riches and extend their influence. They will be vying with the player, acquiring resources and building structures, trying to get to the best spots before the player.
The competitors appear in advanced levels, and each has a different strategy: some concentrate in the real estate market, others in trade or in resource production.
DESIRABILITY
When new structures get built, these can differ in desirability. Usually this depends on what is present (or built) around them. For example a patrician villa has higher desirability (and hence higher market value) if nearby there are gardens, fountains, other villas, theatres.. It instead loses value if nearby there are stables, farms, wheat fields… Residents will at first go to dwell or work in the structures with higher desirability, avoiding those of little value.
For production structures, for example a wheat field, the value depends on the amount of the produced resource is available in the nearby city and in the global market. If the market needs grains, the value of the field will rise. Conversely, the field would become less desirable and its value decrease.
DAMAGE
In time, structures deteriorate. Every week mainteance works are done to keep them operative and pleasant. If there are not enough money for the basic upkeep or if extraordinary work is needed, the player will need to acquire the necessary funds and repair it as soon as possible (or see its profitability vanish and possibly even arrive to the point when the whole structure eventually collapses).
CITY BUILDING
The city management part of the game depends chiefly on money, people’s satisfaction and resources available.
Dealing with these three amounts, the player needs to complete the missions.
Careful and efficient exploitation of the resources allows to save money and gain with the trade. A wheat field created in a fertile area will yield much more and hence cover its operation costs and bring profit.
It is best to plan the city growth in order to efficiently exploit the resources and reduce the expenses. It is important that cities be self-sufficient: for example a global event like a drought could push prices of imported goods to very high levels.
It is also fundamental to avoid discontent in the populace. If discontent is too high there could be revolts that would seriously compromise the possibility to successfully complete a given mission.
HAPPYNESS
To be happy, people needs to have their basic needs satisfied: food, dwelling, work, water, protection from enemies.
Increasing the people’s life conditions will also generate new needs. In particular the patricians will start to require luxury goods (good wine, gold, silk, refined pottery, statues…).
Entertainment is another fundamental need: populous cities will require stadiums and arenas (and famous people competing inside those structures..)
When happyness is low, the city structures become less productive and hence less profitable.
WORKERS
All structures need a certain amount of workers or worktime, even for the simple upkeep/maintenance.
All productive structures are tightly bound to the number of workers available in the city: with not enough available workers the production would decrease or even become null. Structures with the highest desirability will be the first ones to attract the workers, leaving the others without.
Different structures will require different amounts and different type of workers. For some jobs only slaves will be requested. Plebs are needed for crafts and trade.
Unemployment will cause collapse of happyness and increased risk of revolts.
PATRICIANS / PLEBS / SLAVES
Patricians are the wealthiest citizens, they have expensive needs and cannot accept to see their needs not satisfied. Their weight over city happyness is very relevant.
They also expect to be given high prestige jobs: army generals, high clerics, administrators, politicians, proprietors.
Plebs are mostly involved in crafts and trade. They are fundamental for the management of the city but they don’t have much political weight.
Their class gives the major turnout in tax income.
Slaves are the major work force. Satisfying their primary needs (food, lodging, water) is important as they deal with the production and resource gathering of the city. Correct management of the slaves is fundamental to make the city desirable to the other classes.
RESOURCES:
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Gold
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Wood
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Stone
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Marble
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Iron
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Clay
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Wheat
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Meat
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Fish
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Grape
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Olive
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Wine
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Oil
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Pottery
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Jewelry
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Leather
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Cloth
These are the resources that can be traded, produced or transformed.
TRADE
To evolve the city it is mandatory to correctly manage the trade of all goods: selling the city production to obtain the resources needed for the evolution and improvement of the city.
Prices of resources are managed at two distinct levels: local and global.
Locally: they depend on the city demand and the amount of that type of good that has been bought or sold (selling a lot of wheat will make its price decrease).
Globally: the entire nation’s demand is evaluated and several other factors also influence the price (e.g. events like plagues, droughts, wars..). For example the global price of wheat could be much higher than the local one because of scarcity due to droughts in several areas of the nation.
So if there is a global crisis, even if your city sells a lot of wheat, its price could still be increasing instead of decreasing. But when the trend changes (for example the drought ends) its price could suddenly crash.
AUTOMATIC TRADE
To simplify the game and avoid micromanagement, it is possible to automate trade setting some “limit orders”.
E.g. “buy if there is less than .. %”
The automatic system won’t consider the price, but the quantity set as requirement.
STRUCTURES' MARKET
In Path of Rome it is possible to buy or sell the structures (with the exclusion of those like walls, streets, barracks) according to its market value.
Once the building of a structure is complete, the player has the possibility of selling it, to the value defined by its desirability and the kind of resources it produces.
Selling a structure gives an immediate income, but could be disadvantageous in the long term:
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no money will be collected for rent of properties or sale of production
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resources produced by sold structures will not be managed by the player
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and hence those resources won’t be available to build other structures
Nevertheless a good sale would still benefit because of immediate cash flow…
DANGER AND ENTRENCH
Every structure you build makes your city more appealing to enemies who could invade or pillage it, according to the kind of structure: a patrician villa, a thriving market or a golden mine would increase the risk of enemy incursion much more than a new wheat field or a stone quarry.
To compensate, it is better to spend some money and time on defending the city, creating walls, towers and military units.
Defensive structure will also contribute to raise the desirability and hence the values of the other structures of the cities, whose occupants will feel safer.
All choices in the game are two pronged, bringing both advantages and problems.
For example, continuing on the topic of city defense: if there are few or no defensive structures, there will be many enemy incursions, but very light (small bands of brigands mostly).
Conversely, excellent defensive structures won’t guarantee that the city becomes untouchable, will deter and block small offensives but will attract the organized war sieges of big enemy armies: a city so well defended MUST be rich and full of bounty!
BATTLES
Retaliation Path of Rome is a hybrid RTS/TBS, a combination which makes the game very tactical. You’ll need to plan how to move the troops, how to arrange them and expecially what kind of army units to train. Different movement ability (velites, with barely no armour, are much faster than full armoured princeps) and different attack types and attack speeds make unit types (and how you’ll use them in battle) very different.
Each battle is managed by a parametric AI system with almost endless combinations and possible states and developments.
COHORTS
Units are arranged in groups, which are commanded by officers, controlling the movement and formation of the groups.
Each group can have a different formation: for example you’ll probably be depolying the archers in a long line (or in two/three lines), rather than massed as a square.
The commanding officer will also decide the state for the group: defensive, aggressive, berserk…
Continuously changing the state, formation, movement or attack orders of a group when the battle is already started may seed confusion on some members of the group, which may then fail to follow some of the orders and in the worst cases a total confusion could even provoke the disbandment of the group.
GENERALS
The army general will give commands to the officers and these will command the groups under their command.
The closer a general is to a certain group, the faster the issued orders will be received and carried out correctly. If the general is far away, the group for which the order is meant will react more slowly to the new commands.
If your general dies during the battle you can still command the army, but in a much slower and less coordinated way, with a high risk of confusion and messy coordination. Furthermore, the loss of the general will take a huge toll on the army’s morale, and could cause the whole army to flee the battlefield.
COHORTS AI vs SINGLES AI
Control AI will be managing separately groups and single soldiers.
Each group is treated as a single autonomous entity and orders given to the group will take priority over orders and states of the single soldiers. Nevertheless if the group disbands, its officer dies or the army general dies, then single soldiers will not be bound by group cohesion and will follow a behaviour dictated by their last orders, mediated by their own particular demeanor, state and parameters (called " stats").
SOLDIERS
Each soldier has more than 20 “stats”, parameters defining the single unit, similarly to many RPGs (like strength, intelligence, agility, accuracy, movement speed, orientation ability, luck, tactical acumen, battle experience… ).
Every cohort will include units with very different characteristics, which will affect their performance on the battlefield.
For example: a very strong archer will shoot very fast and very far, possibly inflicting more damage when hitting… but the same archer could have a very bad aim and rarely hit the intended target.
Unit types:
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General
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Legionary (heavy infantry)
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Velities (light infantry)
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Ballistarii (siege and field artillery operators)
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Sagittarii (archers)
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Equites (cavalry)
TRAINING
All cohorts can undergo specific and additional training (up to 5 levels) to become more efficient and to improve the stats of the individual members of the cohort.
Training will improve things like speed of execution of orders, combat ability, manouvering, aim… but no amnount of training, obviously, will affect such things as individual soldiers' intelligence or natural agility.
Tropico 5
A good successor to Tropico 4, but with some missing features and less micromanagements. If you like city building games, I would recommend. Unlike most city builders, you can fail multiple ways. It has more innovation, challenging offers, and playstyles than Tropico 4.
Comparing to Tropico 4
Pros
Technology system and Era - Progress through eras to unlock new managers, buildings, and amendments. An awesome addition.
Constitution- allows you to run your nation. Form militias, create a free market, establish as theocracy, many different playstyles are available. A drawback is that some amendments are overpowered, and some are underpowered, but for the most part they are balanced.
– Real player with 159.6 hrs in game
The Tropico series has always played it safe, never pushing too hard to renovate making sure people know what to expect each time. Tropico 5 is no exception, with the same infrastructure and demands those familiar with the series will know exactly what to expect. With that said, significant changes have been made to the economy, development and elections systems that Tropico 5 holds its own unique identity within the series.
One new feature is a redesign of the campaign, while in previous games each mission would start on a new island beginning with the basic building blocks each time. Now players are given the choice between two islands, once the player completes a mission on the choose island the player must then complete the next mission on the second island. Levels are not reset and any development on the islands remains throughout the campaign. This change allows players to watch an island flourish over time, crawling up from its colonial roots to its own independent metropolis. Each choice becomes a much greater decision as it will not only effect the player for that level but for later missions that follow. While it provides a much greater sense of accomplishment it’s a system with many drawbacks. The greatest of this being put into an automatic lose situation.
– Real player with 114.0 hrs in game
Persian Empire Builder
Persian Empire Builder is an economic strategy game focused around building and managing ancient cities in an empire that stretched from Balkans to the Indus Valley. As a ruler of these lands player will face a variety of tasks and challenges.
Claim the land and shape your empire in every detail, from smallest houses to largest works, plantations and military buildings. Construct it’s vital infrastructure such as roads, bridges, fortifications and qanats (persian aqueducts). Make sure you choose optimal location for
each link in the chain of your growing economy.
Mind the amount of resources and secure growth of your population. A properly managed empire never runs out of crops, gold or hands willing to work. Society living under your rule consists of people with their problems and aspirations. Provide them with opportunities of education and trade and settle their disputes to avoid internal unrest.
Once your city prospers you will need more land for your growing society and economy.
Build your army and fleet to conquer both land and sea providing your people with safety
and welfare. Hostile eyes will sooner or later grow jealous of your riches.
Tropico 6
Fun game if you like running a city
– Real player with 998.6 hrs in game
One of the best mission based city-building game, ever!
– Real player with 199.9 hrs in game
Tropico 4
Power corrupts, absolute power… is pretty neat.
Tropico 4 is the magnum opus of the Tropico franchise. It has the best gameplay, graphics, story and characters of the whole franchise. This game took the torch from Tropico 3 and made everything absolutely better. The soundtrack is amazing and gives you the Caribbean immersion you need to rule the proud nation of Tropico. The interface is clean and to the point, and the game communicates very well to the player what he is supposed to do, and the colour palettes in this game are gorgeous even by today standards. Also the jokes are hilarious and never get old.
– Real player with 817.6 hrs in game
At first, I wanted to be a kind, benevolent dictator, in charge of my island which of course would be perfectly green, a land of equality, equal pay, a high living standard, jobs for every Tropican, a high level of schooling and a good member of the United Nations.
However, people kept complaining. At first, this was fine. Free Speech and all. But they were not working. Worse, they began to become rebels and attack the work of innocent, hard working Tropicans. “Right,” I thought, “no more of that.” I built guard posts around the nation to protect my other civilians and the economy which kept everyone fed and housed. After a while, the strikes became too much. “This right to protest is too inefficient”, I thought, “and we just missed that freighter. We needed that boost to the economy.” In a moment of Thatcher, I had the newly raised guards gun down some of the strikers. The rest returned to work. The right to protest had been removed, but people were happier as everyone got richer.
– Real player with 258.9 hrs in game
Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic
Given 9,221 hours with W&R:SR, it seems I like this game. Right now, I’m enjoying the 1908 early start and the steam-powered vehicles from the mods. I recommend the game.
– Real player with 9682.1 hrs in game
After almost 1000h in game, I can say it’s undisputed champion among city builders. And it’s still EA.
Currently, the main drawbacks, especially in comparison to competition:
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lack of comprehensive tutorial or training missions to explain game mechanics in painless way - beginners need to browse forum or ask its users for help
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some bugs,
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graphics are rather inferior, comparing to CS - it’s not really a game to make beautiful screenshots,
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certain mechanics could be reworked.
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probably game will need more optimalisation before you’ll be able to build 100k citizen metropoly
– Real player with 970.8 hrs in game