January 31, 2000 1:17 PM EST
Best of 1999
potted over on the Sierra Studios site that Pharaoh has been voted "Best PC World Builder Sim" of 1999 by Future Games Network's newsletter, Gamer's Gazette.
Congrats to the Impressions crew 
!
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 31, 2000 12:57 PM EST
NOVA on Egypt
ere's a message Angel Draco asked me to pass on to y'all:
In 1994, NOVA went to Egypt to recreate one of the most impressive feats of the pharaohs: the raising of a massive granite obelisk to perfect perpendicular - using nothing but ropes, dirt, sticks, stones and human muscle. But the effort fell tantalizingly short of its goal. Now, NOVA is back for another crack at this ancient mystery with a new set of theories. "Pharaoh's Obelisk" airs on PBS Tuesday, February 8, 2000, 8:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) as part of the, SECRETS OF LOST EMPIRES: A "NOVA" SPECIAL PRESENTATION.
You can find out more about what sounds like being a pretty cool programme by clicking here.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 31, 2000 10:32 AM EST
Still looking?
f you still haven't bought the game because you were waiting to see it come down in price, then perhaps today is your lucky day. The chaps over at Gone Gold (good friends of Heaven as well 
) have included Pharaoh in their weekly "Value of the Week" roundup:
PHARAOH - $34.99 @ BestBuy -
CAESAR 3 in Egypt, according to some. Yet, reviews are in the 70 – 80/100 range, with Games First’s 4/5 rating being representative. They viewed it as “a great game that provides an in-depth look at life in ancient Egypt while providing many hours of engrossing gameplay.” [Must Have. ~Rich]
So, if you've been waiting for Pharaoh to go under $35 and have a Best Buy nearby, then today could be your lucky day .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 30, 2000 5:46 PM EST
Calling you, calling me...
he calling craze hasn't died down over the weekend, worse even more of these threads have popped up, with now people looking for Icelanders, Belgians, Bond Fans, and Wacky People.
Proconsul Creaticus Dania, is specifically not calling all Danes.
Baldur's Gate remains high on our topic list. Angel Reckless Rodent is giving stratey tips...
Angel Jayhawk
January 30, 2000 3:25 PM EST
Want an IE Pharaoh?
f you're using Internet Explorer (and our stats suggest most of you are), then here's something which might be of interest to you:
Over at Hotbar.com, you can get a Pharaoh skin for Internet Explorer, which looks pretty cool. You can take a look for yourselves here. Thanks go out to Terrie for pointing this one out .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 30, 2000 10:20 AM EST
New look for WWTT
rumpus the Elder, one of the forum regulars both here and on the official site, has given his Pharaoh site (called Which Way to Thebes?) a new look.
You can take a peek here.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 29, 2000 3:58 AM EST
New IntelliPoint Drivers
his has pretty much zippo to do with Pharaoh (unless, like me, you use an Intellimouse to play it), but I thought I'd post it as a bit of a public service anyway.
I spotted on VE that Microsoft has released a new version of IntelliPoint. Here's what you need to run it:
Microsoft Mouse or IntelliMouse® pointing device installed
Microsoft® IntelliPoint 1.1 or later installed
One of the following operating systems: Windows 95; Windows 98; Windows 98 Second Edition; Windows NT® 4.0 with service pack 3,4, or 5; or Windows 2000
13.5 MB of available hard disk space
The downloads itself (English version) is 4mb in size, so not too large .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 29, 2000 3:50 AM EST
News from Buggi
uggi, the chap who designed (with the help of a couple of others) the unofficial Pharaoh Editor, has posted information on his site about a new program he's currently working on.
It's called Pharaoh FileEdit, and you can find out about it here.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 28, 2000 4:25 PM EST
Calling all...Pharoah Players?
here's a new craze in the Senet House. Pounce the Unfortunate started it with tryng to figure out how many Ozzians were playing this game and visitng these forums.
Then somebody started looking for Canadians and the Americans didn't want to be left out.
Next there was this English Angel looking for his fellow countrymen, while he's stuck in Germany.
Now have a look! We have people looking for Swedes, Brits, cars, Aussies, Hosers, Americans, leprachauns...oh, and Cloggies.
I wonder who put that thread up...
Angel Jayhawk
January 27, 2000 3:12 PM EST
Empire winner announced
ongratulations go out to Mark Faulkner for winning the Empire contest map:
All Hail the Mighty Pharaoh!
Congratulations are due to Mark Faulkner, winner of the Empire contest mission. Mark's city featured nearly perfect ratings and was very well-designed. See his impressive city through the Eye of Ra!!
The winner of the final contest mission, Henen-nesw, and the Grand Prize winner will be announced next week. A hearty thank you goes to all who submitted entries. You made the contest a great success!
That's taken from the official site's main page, where there's also mention of some strange fansite contest going on. Don't know what it's about though... .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 27, 2000 2:42 PM EST
How old are you?
ssassin has been scouring the forum and all the introduction threads to see if he could gather enough to get some valid statistics.
Well, I can say only one thing, it worked. It seems the average age of people playing Pharaoh and dwelling in our forum is...about 28 and a half.
The Teens strike back and have opened a thread to counter the When I was your age... thread. So if you're a teen and want to tell the old folk what you normally do during the week, go there and tell us.
Angel Jayhawk
January 26, 2000 6:06 PM EST
A little contest clarification
ust a quick additional note to the contest I posted about earlier today.
Urls from any other HGS site rather than Pharaoh Heaven won't be accepted - only URLs which begin with "http://pharaoh.heavengames.com" will be accepted. If you've already entered and put http://www.heavengames.com or something as 1 of the urls, then you may re-enter.
Just this once, mind .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 26, 2000 5:29 PM EST
Recruiting time
h, well, it seems I truly put my foot in it, when I tried to give advise on Abu. Maybe I should play it again...just so I know what I'm talking about?
Loosing recruiters? Want to know what your fellow players have experienced? Why not look here.
Problems with building monuments? Impressions Nuthinenkamhen has compiled a list for us. It concerns Access, Season, Proximity and a whole lot more. Have a look.
Angel Jayhawk
January 26, 2000 7:10 AM EST
The contest is go!
ell, I promised there'd be a contest of sorts up this week, and here it is, and the prizes are pretty good if I say so myself. The overall winner will walk away with a signed copy of Pharaoh, a bunch of other Impressions games (Civil War General 2, Caesar III and Lords of Magic), a copy of Prima's Official Pharaoh Strategy Guide, a Pharaoh t-shirt, and an HGS t-shirt. The other prizes available aren't too shoddy either.
You don't need to own Pharaoh to win here, you just need to be a loyal visitor to Pharaoh Heaven (or at least, one with plenty of time on their hands ).
Anyway, if you want to find out how you can win all this great stuff, then take a look here.
Huge thanks go out to all the chaps at Prima and Impressions for helping us set this thing up. Thanks guys :)!
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 25, 2000 4:28 PM EST
Abu not-so-simple
bu is proving troublesome for one of our visitors, so please lend a hand?
Then most of the information that has surfaced on docks now has its own thread. It contains ideas on storayge yard placement, multiple dock use and much, much more.
You can find it here
"When I was your age..." is stil going strong. It might get in to a little side issue every now and then, such as cultural difference in space, not time, but it remains a wonderful read.
Angel Jayhawk
January 25, 2000 4:33 AM EST
New Gamestats contest
amestats have posted another contest for your delectation:
GameStats is proud to be able to offer our readers yet another chance to win some goodies!
We are going to make this contest as simple as possible... That's right it's a drawing!
We will select one person at random each week to win the following great hardware prizes:
Week One: DIAMOND VIPER 770 (OEM) 32MB AGP
Week Two: 3DFX V3 3000 AGP W/16MB
Week Three: APOLLO RIVA TNT-2 32MB AGP (RETAIL)
Week Four: SB PCI 512 (OEM)
You may enter the drawing once per day for a total of seven entries per week. Winners will be chosen on Mondays.
If you're interested, then you can find out more here.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 24, 2000 5:14 PM EST
The Riddle of the Hieroglyphics
emember the thread started by Onoculator, wondering about what the hieroglyphic message on the box means?
Well, look not further. Here's what Impression's Xander has to say:
A better familiarity with hieroglyphs might have inspired me to hide a secret message on the inside cover, but I must claim ignorance in ancient Egyptian. That particular line of symbols was done by our designer at BlueSpark studios. AFAIK, the purpose is purely decorative, and doesn't hide any secret message.
An oldish post on Kingdom Ratings has resurfaced, that will also put building a personal mansion ina different light. You can find it here.
There is also some interesting information surfacing in this thread that poses the question: "What do I do when I have an "Extortion by another city" request?"
Angel Jayhawk
January 24, 2000 4:26 AM EST
Downloads Update
rom Angel Draco:
Woo-hoo! 100 cities and counting! Added 25 new cities, including several from our own glorious Angels and Cherubs. Be sure and check out Reckless Rodent's Hetepsenusret (i.e., the final level) and Cherub Baltic's 9 steps to a better Rostja! There also contributions from Angel Jayhawk and Cherub Gustavia. Check out the MISC. section for Tomislav's "Tax Rate Calculator" Excel Spreadsheet! It's a really handy item!
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 23, 2000 5:18 PM EST
From the forums
irst of all, a relic from the Caesar 3 forums has popped up in Egypt. It's the Birthday Thread, this month is...January, so if you want to see who has a birthday this month, or want to tell us about your own birthday, you can do so here.
Then if you're still wondering about the who's who? The second instalment of the introduction thread is picking up speed.
Here's some interesting thoughts on giving gifts. One thing you'll find out is, more is not necessarily better.
Det is offering us some advise on Menat Khufu. One of his tips involves giving many a festivals to Bast.
Cherub Mouse threw in a few tips on the making of monuments. I have to admit, this sounds very familiar
Angel Jayhawk
January 23, 2000 4:52 PM EST
Free shipping at Gamestop
lthought this story has nothing to do with Pharaoh, I just spotted it on Avault, and thought it might be worth reporting to y'all. Here's the news piece:
Online games retailer Gamestop will be running a free shipping promotion beginning Monday, Jan. 24, and ending Jan. 31 at 11:59 p.m. This includes free 2nd day Federal Express shipping for all new orders, including products that are in-store or need to be ordered, and pre-release products. The offer is good in the 50 U.S. states; Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories and international orders not eligible, nor are existing orders.
The promotion is valid for any product Gamestop sells, so if customers pre-order a PlayStation 2, they will get free 2nd day shipping when the console is released. Although the online shopping cart will show a freight cost when browsing, Gamestop will credit orders for the shipping after it has received and processed the order. Gamestop will also credit customers for any tax that resulted from the freight cost. Customers who want to upgrade their shipping will get a credit applied to their account for the amount of shipping it would cost to send it 2nd day.
You can read the original article here.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 23, 2000 6:38 AM EST
Military numbers added to Strat section
s the title suggests, I've taken a look through one of the .txt files that accompanies the game, and have compiled the data on enemy troops into this table.
I might go through the other .txt files and put up similar tables if there's any demand .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 22, 2000 5:42 AM EST
Final news about Mac version
ell, a few days ago I reported on some rumours which were doing the rounds saying the Pharaoh for the Mac had been cancelled. Seems like those rumours have been verified. Impressions has posted this open letter to Mac users on their website, in which they give reasons for why you won't see Pharaoh Mac in the stores. It's not terribly long, so here's the whole statement:
An open letter to Mac gamers,
After much consideration, Impressions Games(TM) must announce the cancellation of our Macintosh version of Pharaoh(TM). We know this will disappoint our loyal Mac fans, no more so than us, but sales of our Mac titles no longer justify the development costs of doing Mac games.
In June of 1999 we released our award-winning PC title, Caesar(TM) III, on the Macintosh. Caesar III has sold nearly 600,000 units world-wide on the PC. As of the end of 1999, the Mac version of Caesar III had sold around 12,000 units. With sales like this, the prospects for Pharaoh Mac did not look good, but we held out hope that the 1999 Christmas selling season would dramatically improve the overall picture. Unfortunately, it did not.
The disparity between Impressions' Mac and PC sales isn't proportionate to the difference between the Mac and PC home installed base. As Mac owners make up more than 5% of all computer owners, we realize that there is some other issue out there. It isn't an issue with quality -- Caesar III Mac was very well received by both press and players alike, garnering a number of awards and recognitions. It isn't an issue with machine viability. The Mac is a solid machine for our games. Our titles run well and trouble-free on it. It's not that we are new to the business. We've done Mac games since 1993. But when the Mac version of our last game sold about 2% of the volume of its PC counterpart, we knew that we had to re-evaluate our commitment to make games for the platform.
It is our sincerest hope that as the market grows and matures, the Macintosh will again become a popular platform for our games, as young and old alike take advantage of the entertainment powers of their machines. The entire Caesar series is available on the Mac, as well as some older titles like Lords of the Realm 2. When it makes sense again, we would like to see the rest of our titles available on the platform. We are a small developer; we are only able to focus on a few projects at a time. After much consideration, we arrived at the conclusion that our time must be spent on products with the greatest possible reach.
We want to thank our fans for their loyalty and patience. It is our sincere hope that someday soon it will once again make sense for us to create games for the Mac, and that once again Mac gamers can claim Impressions Games among their favorite Mac developers. In the meantime, make yourself heard at retailers where you buy your favorite products, and among other gamers, who need to support this platform to make it viable. And us? We will continue to make great strategy games.
Sincerely,
Impressions Games
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 21, 2000 6:07 PM EST
Sound under Win2K?
ere's a post made in the Technical Forum which might be of use to those of you who run Pharaoh on WindowsNT or Windows 2000:
I must give credit to MisterXX who's post on a different Pharaoh's website helped me to enjoy sound whilst running Pharaoh under W2k.
Go to: http://home.istar.ca/~giq_tam/files.htm
Download setwin95.zip from there and unzip it.
Copy the 2 Files to the Pharaoh-Directory !!!
1 execute the command : attrib pharaoh.exe -a
2 execute cmd: setwin95.cmd pharaoh.exe
3 execute cmd: attrib pharaoh.exe +a
thats all !! If you now start the game you will have
full sound... it may work on other exefiles too
The post can be found here. Use these fixes at your own risk - we take no responsibility for any irreparable damamge which may be done to your computer blah blah blah... .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 21, 2000 5:23 PM EST
Pharaoh walker?
nnovandora has treated us on a tantalising post. In answer to Local Yokel's question about the Pharaoh wave file he's found she replies:
I believe once you reach the game point where you're pharaoh, the walker will be a pharaoh instead of a govenor, with the different sound sample active
Want to read more? Click here
Angel Jayhawk
January 21, 2000 3:25 PM EST
Still not got a copy?
f you still haven't picked up a copy of Pharaoh, then all is not lost - you can win one! Computer Games Online has this nifty little contest whereby you can win 1 of 12 copies of Pharaoh. Here are the conditions:
Two entries per household per day, please. The contest will run until February 16, 2000. Contest winners will be posted in the February 18, 2000 edition of the CG Online Strategy Newsletter. The winners will have 48 hours to claim their prize. 12 prizes will be awarded.
Sadly, it's another case of US-elitism. Check out the miniscule print at the bottom of the page (US citizens only) 
.
Speaking of contests, keep an eye on this very page over the next few days - chances are you might find out how to win a load of cool Pharaoh- and Impressions-related stuff. 1 thing's for sure - you won't have to live in North America in order to win 
.
My lips are sealed...for the moment at least .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 21, 2000 10:41 AM EST
Worried about losing workers?
here have been a few people in our forum and in the official forum who have been wondering when workers become scribes (ie when housing evolves to such an extent that the inhabitants no longer perform any manual labour). Here's the word from Nutheninkamhen, posted here on the official board:
When you have Fancy Residences, they require luxury goods to evolve into (Common) Manors. People who live in manors and estates do not contribute to the work force.
You can instruct your bazaars not to buy luxury goods to prevent this from happening.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 21, 2000 10:35 AM EST
General History section finished
ell, I was beginning to wonder whether I'd ever get this done, but I have. I've uploaded the rest of my General Egyptian History series.
This bit covers the history of Egypt from the First Intermediate Period right up to the end of the New Kingdom (the point at which the game ceases).
Enjoy !
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 21, 2000 9:56 AM EST
When I was your age...
unthebath has started this nice thread where the "over twelves" can reminice about the Good Old Days. Of course the "under twelves" are allowed to go and have a look.
Angel Jayhawk
January 21, 2000 4:16 AM EST
A new contests
rue to expectations, Impressions released another scenario for their weekly competition. Your goal in Henen-nesw is to get everybody to like you. So if you live in the US or Canada (with a few exceptions) and like to win yourself a Pharaoh t-shirt and some other goodies...why not give it a go?
Back early from Norway, but suffering from a cold...so my news may sound a bit...woozy
Angel Jayhawk
January 21, 2000 3:27 AM EST
Waiting for the map editor?
t shouldn't be long now until the official map editor is put up for download or sent our to gaming mags to put on their cover CDs, but if you just can't wait a few weeks, then you can still get the unofficial map editor at Buggi's Pharaoh Hideaway.
Remember though, that it is unofficial, and that the Impressions chaps won't be providing any support for it (but then that's pretty obvious ).
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 21, 2000 3:06 AM EST
New contest up
ver on the official Pharaoh site, they've posted the map which will carry this week's contest:
Everybody Likes You! They Really Like You...
...at least that's your goal in this week's contest mission, Henen-nesw. In addition to earning a Kingdom Rating of 100, you must make Henen-nesw the hippest, most happenin' city in all of Egypt. As usual, a bevy of baubles awaits the winner, including a Pharaoh t-shirt and the official soundtrack, Music to Build Pyramids By. And of course, the Eye of Ra will turn its attention toward the winning city. Click here to download the mission. Good luck!
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 20, 2000 12:54 PM EST
Bridges winner
nd it's congratulations to our resident number-cruncher Nerdicus, who came away with 1st prize in last week's Bridges contest:
Phastest Pharaoh Phoils Phoes
Congratulations are due to Andrew Antoniewicz, winner of the Bridges contest mission!! He completed the Obelisk in just 89 months. Click here to see Andrew's city through the Eye of Ra, and find out just how he managed to build a city on all those little islands.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 20, 2000 5:40 AM EST
Rowarty Walkthrough Updated
ne of the world's best C3 players, Emperor Tomek, emailed me a list of all the events he encountered in the course of playing Rowarty. I've added those to my Rowarty walkthrough.
Now a little request. If anyone out there has a completed Khmun, complete with all the messages received during the scen, could they please zip it up and email it to me - I need to do the Khmun walkthrough and don't have the time right now to play the scenario in full.
Credit will be given, of course .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 19, 2000 5:13 PM EST
More transport ship tips
ou might remember a little while ago me mentioning Ironrod from Impressions's tips for making troops get on those pesky transport ships. Well, we've now been visited by another Impressions chappie, Nuthinenkamhen, who has provided the following additional hints:
1) Troops seem to load easier if they are in proper formation. That is, if you've got your troops right on the shore, they tend to hug the coastline and are not in a straight line (like they are when standing on open land). It seems to be harder to embark them in these cases.
Try rotating your formation perpendicular to the shore, keeping one end of the 2x8 company of soldiers close to the water's edge.
2)Often you may feel rushed to embark your troops, to get them to the battle on time. You send your troops to the shoreline, and in your hurried state, embark them as they get there.
I always wait until every soldier in the company has arrived (and come to a complete stop at the waterfront), then embark them.
I can't say for certain, but I've found these two steps greatly reduce the instances where you find yourself shuffling transports and troops up and down the coast trying to get them of to battle.
Hope this helps!
The thread in which those were posted is here.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 19, 2000 2:02 PM EST
More Pharaoh Mac news
t looks like today will go down in history as "Mac Day" here at Pharaoh Heaven. Anyways, I was browsing the official forum and soptted this comment from Xander, aka the Marketing Weasel:
In that case, "we are required to remain utterly silent."
We will address this issue on our site shortly. Keep watching. - Xander
So there it is. Keep an eye on this page for information about the Mac port (perhaps any announcement will appear on either this page or this one too, but you get the idea ).
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 19, 2000 10:45 AM EST
Mac Pharaoh kiboshed?
auntering around a couple of newsgroups today, I found a piece saying that, according to Inside Mac Games, Pharaoh for the Mac has been cancelled. Here's what they say:
Impressions Games, Pharaoh is a real-time strategy game set in ancient Egypt. According to the February issue of Computer Gaming World:
"Impressions is canceling the Mac port of Pharaoh. They're not happy with the support that Apple is providing for games, and the market isn't exactly huge, either. The more things change..."
Our contact at Impressions Games, Alex Rodberg, was unavailable for comment as was our contact at Sierra. It should be noted that Pharaoh Mac was scheduled to ship in December, and that missing a Christmas launch date may have sealed its fate. Posts in the Impressions forum regarding the port of Pharaoh to the Mac have also remained unanswered by Impressions employees.
For what it's worth, if it's true, this wouldn't surprise me. The Marketing Weasel hasn't been responding to my questions about the Mac release either. There's also a suspicious absence of any mention of Pharaoh on Mac-Games.com, Impressions's Mac gaming site. Looks like you Mac folks out there will have to buy a PC if you want to play Pharaoh .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 19, 2000 8:36 AM EST
GamePower Review
ere's another Pharaoh Review (GamePower are at it this time) I found today, whilst browsing around at Blue's News. 3 and a half lightning bolts out of 4 is the prognosis, and here's why:
What's the final verdict? If you're a fan of city-building games, especially Sierra's now-classic Caesar trilogy, you simply owe it to yourself to run out and pick up a copy of the newest installment. If, on the other hand, you've been hesitant about the entire city-building concept, now may be a good time to see if you have what it takes to build a monument that will stand for all eternity.
Guess what? It's been added to the reviews page .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 18, 2000 4:14 AM EST
Crash Rotation
ere's the word from Itchy on building rotation and crashes:
There are certain complex actions involving Temple Complexes (and rotation thereof), undo-ing a TC, and then accessing the overlays that will cause problems.
The reason that very large structures like pyramids are not rotatable is that it would require 4 times as much graphics (one for each facing) and would definitely require a lot more CPU/RAM horsepower since the grphics files for the monuments are pretty darn big. It's just a guess on my part, but the min sys would probably then be at least a PII200 with 64 MB of RAM.....
This thread is the place to be if you want to comment.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 17, 2000 5:45 PM EST
New Cheat?
eems like even the Impressions guys like to stop by the Senet House for a cool beverage from time to time. Itchy appeared in this thread, and I think he officially revealed a new cheat:
"Pharaohs Tomb" and "Fury of Seth" are the only 2 cheats that have been released. Just for the (broken) record, living large and help homeless are NOT cheats.
Perhaps my memory is failing me, but I don't recall "Fury of Seth" ever having been officially released - it's been bumping around some websites for a while, but I think this is the first official confirmation.
Anyway, it's been added to the cheats page.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 17, 2000 3:57 PM EST
Email woes
ere's something that seems to happen to most of us from time to time. My email's been unreachable since last Saturday evening (don't know why, I guess my provider's been having server problems).
However, I've managed to hack up a temporary solution which will work just fine until everything's back to normal. So, if you sent me an email since about 5pm EST on Saturday evening, then please re-send it and I'll deal with it .
Thanks for your forebearance.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 17, 2000 3:54 PM EST
Go crunch those numbers!
f number-crunching is your game, then the Game Help forum has a couple of threads that you just won't want to miss. Having played and cogitated, a couple of our forumers (Nerdicus and Nero Would) have exposed the numbers behind Pharaoh. Here's a snippet from Nerdicus's Musings on Production and Walker Speeds:
Theory #1: "The 4 Day Work Week Theory"
There is short time period which I will call a "day" which is the smallest period of time in which the game does production. All production building's % completions are increased once at the end of a day and the % completions do not change until the end of the next day.
Game Data #1: There are exactly 16 days per game month.
Nero Would has also come up with some Farm Production Rates.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 16, 2000 7:01 AM EST
Off to Viking country
'll be away for the whole of next week, as I have to go to Oslo, Norway. This means I will not be updating the news (or even participating in any of the quizes running in the Senet House.
I hope to be back Friday afternoon.
There's a nice tread on trader management in the Game Help forum. Now for the number cruncher special this week, have a look at Nerdicus' post. He even managed to get a response from one of the Men in Blue.
Docks seem to offer a bit of controversy as to which one is the primary target of the river traders. Is it the dock closest to the entry point? or the one that's furthest away? Any comments?
That's the last you will hear from me this week.
Have fun!
Angel Jayhawk
January 16, 2000 6:58 AM EST
Spew the review!
nother review of Pharaoh for you today. This one's from ESCMAG, and can be put in the burgeoning "positive reviews" folder. 8/10 is the score, and here's the obligatory snippet:
At any rate, here’s the prequel, and it’s pretty damn fun, if not as monumental as the pyramids. Before Caesars spread Rome across Europe and Africa, Egypt made itself the crossroads of the world. In the process, its rulers constructed some of the wonders of the world. But even those triumphs are in the future as the game opens.
It's been added to the reviews page. If you happen to see any reviews out there which we don't have there yet, then drop me a line and I'll put it up.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 14, 2000 6:13 PM EST
1602?
an you imagine? Pharaoh has only hit the shelves a short while ago and there are people in the forum discussing this weird European game called 1602. If you want to know more, have a look here.
Cherub Dragon2 has put up a modified version of Bubastis for the next contest. His little change requires you to build a obelisk and a mastaba, instaed of the two obelisks in the original scenario, the thread has a link to the actual file.
Angel Jayhawk
January 14, 2000 2:52 PM EST
New contest mission posted
arlier today, Impressions posted the latest contest map on their site:
This Week's Contest: Striking a Balance
In this week's contest, the civil war has just ended, but unrest still plagues Egypt. You must find a way to respond to requests from cities loyal to you while rebuffing repeated threats of rebellion from cities who do not respect your new-found power. Meanwhile, you must construct a Pyramid Complex at your new capital at Itjtawy and meet the needs of your people. Balance your attention among these competing interests, and success will be yours. Download this week's mission. A treasure trove of prizes, which includes a Pharaoh t-shirt and soundtrack, not to mention the attention of the Eye of Ra, is yours for the taking.
There is already a post in our forum with some thoughts on this week's map.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 14, 2000 6:28 AM EST
AAARRRRGGHHH!
on't you just love the good old poll? Just when everything seems to be going ok, it decides to give up the ghost.
While our codie Angels are searching for a better alternative, I've re-posted the old poll. Votes will, of course, have to be recast .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 13, 2000 5:03 PM EST
Bridges of Pharaoh County
he recent Bridges contest from Impressions has triggered some wonderful threads on the intricacies of obleisk building. It seems 89 months is the fastest time through in our forum, which was reached by Nerdicus. You can find out the details here and here.
Meanwhile a the official site they've announced the winner of the Enkomi challenge: Alan Chow. I don't know if he's one of our visitors, but I offer him my congratulations anyway. His city looks quite lovely.
Judging from the previous release dates of their scenarios, December 31 and January 7, another one is going to hit us tomorrow.
There should be a message here.
Angel Jayhawk
January 13, 2000 4:51 PM EST
Enkomi winner
mpressions have just posted the winner of Enkomi's contest on their site:
Drum Roll Please...
The winner of Enkomi is Alan Chow!! Alan completed his beautiful city well within the time limit. Check out his city through the Eye of Ra. Congratulations, Alan!
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 13, 2000 10:44 AM EST
Monumentia Indestructabiliata
oiks, those red\blue (depending on which forum you frequent) have really got the posting bug today. Here's one from Nixon made here on the official board regarding monuments, and whether they can be destroyed:
No, your monuments can not be destroyed. When we were testing Pharaoh and saw that monuments could be destroyed we immediately disabled that because we could totally see that it would only frustrate people; it frustrated us. Also, for the same reason, monuments can not catch on fire. Trust me, you do not want to see a large pyramid on fire!
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 13, 2000 10:37 AM EST
Doddering in Dakhla?
ere's a post made by Balshazaar in this forum thread regarding how Dakhla Oasis works:
There is a request for 15-20 wood or bricks at the end of April, 4-5 years into the mission. (These are variable)The request is from Dunqul. If you fill the request late, the trade route to Dunqul will open. If you fill it on time, you will be offered a gift of meat. Basically, to make things simple, do not refuse or forfeit the gift of meat. Accept the gift of meat. Then the trade route to Dunqul will open and granite will be available.
If you do not comply to the request for wood/bricks (in other words, if you refuse it) then your Kingdom Rating will drop and Dunqul will never open as a trade city, you will never get granite, and you will have to restart the mission in order to win.
Is it just me, or are we getting to hear about more and more "no-win-if-you-do-things-the-wrong-way" scenarios? Nothing wrong with that, just thought I'd make the observation . Also, has anyone noticed an increase in postings by the Impressions guys, both here and on the official forum, in the last few days? Does that mean that they've finished testing the map editor and are having a bit of a break?
Once again, just wondering...
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 13, 2000 3:30 AM EST
Gamestats is hiring!
ur hosts, GameStats are on the lookout for staff members. Here's what they're after:
Are you the person that everyone goes to when they want to know the tricks and secrets for all of the hottest computer games? If so, then we definitely want to talk to you. Head over to the Tips & Tricks Job Description and see what the job involves and then check out the actual Tips & Tricks Section to see how it looks. Email kryptonite@gamestats.com with your experience and why you would like to join our team.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 12, 2000 5:37 PM EST
News? What News?
h well, seems I've not really gotten used to being on both front pages simultaneously.
Apart from that I've been going crazy in Sauty for the past few days. Nothing went the way I wanted it, things didn't really fail, but neither did they do what I expected, some were stupid mistakes others more like quirks of the game.
I got so fed up with it that I ended up restarting after some 20 years of plodding on. Yûch...
So what is happening on the forums?
The Senet House is hosting the biggest quiz yet. Thanh and his friend the Great Maximus are putting up questions on several subjects such as history and literature, but also ask for complete essays.
You can sign up here.
There's also a bit of remeniscing going on in the Classic Game thread. Remember Colonization? SimCity? WarCraft? Lords of the Realm?
Angel Jayhawk
January 12, 2000 3:11 PM EST
Thinis troubles?
ver on the official board, there have been people reporting problems in the second Thinis scenario (Middle Kingdom), which revolved around the lack of papyrus. Well, here's the official explanation, as provided by Balshazaar:
There is an event at the end of April, 11 years into Thinis, where Men-nefer, as a trade city, comes under siege. At the same time, there is a requst for troops at Men-nefer. You have 6 months to dispatch troops. If you win the battle, trade with Men-nefer becomes available, and so does Papyrus. If you lose the battle, your kingdom rating falls and the troop request is called again until you either refuse it or win. If you refuse it, you will lose access to papyrus and Men-nefer trade will not open again.
The thread can be found here on the official forum.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 12, 2000 3:03 PM EST
Enhancement pack on the way...
hat with all these rumours going around about possible scenario editors and what have you, I decided to ask the Marketing Weasel what was going on. Here's what he said:
It's true, we do have what we're calling around here an "enhancement pack" in the works for you guys. This will include a number of additional scenarios and a mission editor. I won't say anything about the release date except "soon." We're working on synchronizing the release of the US and all the localized versions, so we don't know exactly that will come together.
He also said this would be put up for free download. I guess that scotches the rumours going round a while back that we might have to pay for it...
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 12, 2000 4:55 AM EST
240 Seconds of Pharaoh
he chaps over at AGN have posted their feature called 240 seconds of gaming: Pharaoh. It's basically a 240 second video of someone reviewing Pharaoh. To be honest, it seems like he played the game for about 240 seconds as well .
The basic view of the reviewer is that it's just C3 with a lot more sand, but you get the chance to vote for the game yourself - last time I checked, the "Yes, I would buy it" votes were in the lead...
Thanks to Ken Finkel for pointing this one out.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 12, 2000 4:46 AM EST
Strategy Gaming Online Review
fter a break of a few days in the review torrent, we have another one for your browsing pleasure today. This one comes from Strategy Gaming Online, and gives the game 9/10:
Sierra has created a wonderful addition to any strategy gamer’s library, and a game that does justice to the subject matter. Fans of the Caesar series should not miss out, and anyone interested in a complex and challenging test of strategy will be utterly addicted. The pyramids have been around for thousands of years, roughly the same amount of time Pharaoh will be on my hard drive.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 10, 2000 7:32 PM EST
A little light competition?
f all this stuff with Small Oases, Shaat, Enkomi and scenarios that involve more bridges than Venice, then why not participate in the various informal "who can do X level quickest?" compys which are going on all the time in the Game Help forum.
Cherub Dragon2 has just put up a thread asking which the next competitive mission should be. So, if you think you can beat the world at On, or reckon that you're the Best in Bubastis, then let him know there.
Oh, and you can live anywhere in the world to take part in these informal little compys .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 9, 2000 4:20 PM EST
And a round dozen...
endoolicus has started on the twelfth instalment of the Pharaoh Quiz.Intriguingly thread twelve hosts round thirteen, but the quiz doesn't get much more confusing than that.
There's still time to join, as there's a special part to get some quick points if you feel the distance between you and the leadders of the pack is too great.
There are two more games going on, one about books the other is more of a general knowledge and history quiz.
Angel Jayhawk
January 8, 2000 7:03 PM EST
Downloads Section Update
dded 17 new cities. Very high scores! Also added a Pharaoh Theme for your Windows Desktop to the Misc. Section that included a wallpaper, icons and cool animated curosors! Check it out!
Angel Draco
January 8, 2000 2:02 PM EST
And 100,000 it is!
t seems Hawk 182 was there on either side of it. We also have a mention of #100,003 but no one has claimed the 100k honour.
If you have been wondering about the difficulty levels, don't worry, you're not the only one. There's a nice thread in the Game Help forum that might shed some light on this subject.
For those of you having trouble with Meidum, I found a nice thread for all of you. Gill Britannica asks who spent the longest time here. It makes a nice change from the "Who did XXX fastest?" threads, now doesn't it?
Angel Jayhawk
January 8, 2000 10:05 AM EST
Nearing 100k!
udging by the counter on the right hand side of this page (scroll down a bit if you want to see it), we will hit visitor number 100,000 today .
If you're the lucky person, send me a screenshot of the magic number (complete with background please, to avoid cheating ), and you'll get a mention here, and perhaps even some HGS or Pharaoh goodies. I'll have to see what I can dredge up...
Added note: Please send me the screenshot in .jpg format - it's less arduous on my mailbox and on yours. Thanks.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 7, 2000 6:02 PM EST
Approaching the 10th Millenium.
ope, I haven't been drinking too much. I'm refering to the counter on the News page. Last time I looked it said 99402.
I wonder how will be our 10,000th visitor...
Angel Zen has been digging in his bag of tricks again and added a nifty feature to speed up the forums a bit.
At the bottom of the thread list you will now see a little navigate tool which will split up the number of available pages, based on your preferences, in to chunks of 20.
Last but not least, if you want to know more about your tax returns, have a look here.
Angel Jayhawk
January 7, 2000 5:01 PM EST
Message from Zen
ur forum King, Angel Zen, asked me to post the following:
If you are getting "Error 500: Internal Server Error" messages while accessing any part of the forums, please refresh the page a minute or two later. Please note that if you were posting/replying you might get a message about "duplicate messages being detected". That's normal - your post made it. If it still gives you the same message, please write an email to Angel Zen ( zen@heavengames.com ), and include in the email which forum you were using, and what you were doing at the time of the error. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 7, 2000 2:33 PM EST
Forum registration
f any of you have been having problems registering for the forums here at PH (I know of at least 2), then try re-registering now - Angel Zen has had a look at the forum and reckons he's fixed it.
By the way, a quick message here to Stark, who emailed me about this - I replied, but your email address bounced. Just in case you thought I was ignoring you .
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 7, 2000 3:27 AM EST
4 new cities
lthough he hasn't updated the downloads front end, I see that Angel Draco has added 4 cities to the "Player Completed Cities" area. There look to be some pretty good ones in there - 2 of them have scores in excess of 20,000.
To take a look, follow the "downloads" link on the left...
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 7, 2000 3:25 AM EST
New contest map for download
mpressions have put up the next competition map for download from their site:
Last One to Finish the Obelisk is a Rotten Egg
Your challenge in this week's contest mission is to build an obelisk as fast as you can. If you dilly-dally, pharaoh will invade your city. Download the mission by clicking here and get cracking! A Pharaoh t-shirt and Music to Build Pyramids By (the official Pharaoh soundtrack) await the winner! And, the Eye of Ra is eager to look upon a fine, quickly-built obelisk.
In fact, you have to build 2 obelisks - 1 large and 1 small.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 6, 2000 5:24 PM EST
Can't get enough smiles?
ell, Angel Zen has been busy and added the animated smilies Empress Rachel found for us. If you want to see what you can do, have a look here.
Would this work... 
?
Some of our visitors dabble in poetry, some , I might say, do it quite well. So if you want to read a bit of poetry, or even add some of your own, have a look
Angel Jayhawk
January 6, 2000 2:31 PM EST
Shaat winner!
ell, they took their time to announce it, but Impressions have finally announced the winnder of last week's Shaat contest:
The Envelope, Please..., Part I
The winner of the Shaat mission is Brad Bailey! After much wrangling and heated exchanges, the judges selected Brad's well-designed, nearly problem-free city. Take a look at it through the Eye of Ra. Congratulations, Brad!
The Envelope, Please..., Part II
The winner is Pharaoh!! Pharaoh earned the prestigious Wargamer Award for Excellence. Wargamer bestows this award only when its entire staff of forty contributors agrees unanimously that a title is one of the best gaming titles in the war, strategy, history or military simulation genre. We at Impressions are quite pleased and very honored.
Pharaoh also cleaned up on the Strategy Shrine awards, and we have our fans to thank. Thanks to you, Pharaoh was voted the Strategy Game of the Year. It also won awards for Best Storyline, Best Intro, Best Gameplay, Best Single Player and Best Music and was runner up for Best Graphics and Best Sound Effects. Thanks to everyone who voted for Pharaoh!!
Hmm...hang on, let's have another quick look at that Wargamer award thing...
We at Impressions are quite pleased and very honored.
Only "quite" ?
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 6, 2000 11:25 AM EST
New poll
ince the old one had expired, I've put up a brand new one. This time, we're wondering if and how you plan to get yor hands on the map editor.
This poll will last for 21 days - who knows...perhaps we'll have the map editor by the time it expires.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 6, 2000 11:15 AM EST
Send someone a postcard...
his has been mentioned before, so old timers around here can ignore this. However, if you're new to the site within about the last month, then this might be of interest to you.
Sierra's Pharaoh site has got a few Pharaoh goodies on offer - you can download Pharaoh screensavers, an entire Pharaoh Theme Pack, or send your friends and relatives Pharaoh postcards.
If you're interested, then take a look here.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 5, 2000 6:28 PM EST
GameTropics Best of 1999
ameTropics, run by ex-Angel Ogre, has put up it's top 5 games of 1999. They are as follows:
1. Age of Kings
2. Pharaoh
3. RollerCoaster Tycoon
4. Thief: The Dark Project
5. Half Life: Opposing Force
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 5, 2000 5:53 PM EST
The Rostja Challenge
tuck in Rostja? Want to make a great time? Want to learn a lot about Pharaoh? Have a look at Cherub Baltic's thread on Rostja. It's filled with hints and tips and trciks and even a link to download a hands-on guide to Rostja.
For those that want to rise to the occasion, read SenetEr's post on Rostja.
Now there's a challenge.
Angel Jayhawk
January 5, 2000 2:07 PM EST
GamesWeekly tips
arlier on today, I posted about GamesWeekly's Pharaoh review. Well, they've followed that up with some hints and tips. As always, the obligatory snippet:
Food production is only the first step in the development of your cities. The second, industrial development, is the next most important to turn your material into usable goods. Pottery, beer, linen, and papyrus, all required for housing development, cannot be made without farms producing everything from Flax to Barley. Importing all these items would soon have you living on borrowed time as your money is quickly used up. To prosper, you must trade your surplus. By doing this you bring in extra income and this is only possible if you have an organized and well run industry of your own.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 5, 2000 2:05 PM EST
Playtesters review
et another review came along today (courtesy of Gone Gold) - this one's by Playtesters and is yet another positive assessment of Pharaoh. The reviewer gives it 86%, and here's why:
All in all, I'd say Impressions has managed as complete a simulator of ancient Egypt as one might have hoped for. Though this isn't conventional strategy, it is an interesting exercise in resource management. Though it lacks the spark of greatness, it kept me awake more then a few nights pondering how to defeat one dilemma or another, and I even learned a few things about living conditions in ancient Egypt along the way.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 5, 2000 10:43 AM EST
Games Weekly Review
ontinuing out "one review a day" streak, we have another review to show you today, this time from GamesWeekly. And now for the obligatory snippet:
Overall, Pharaoh is control freak heaven. If you like telling people what to do and controlling almost every little aspect of your life and others’, then you should seek professional help (hint, hint, Scribbler). :~)
Oh, and you should also get this game. Unfortunately, I guess my attention span is too short - I really can’t understand how some people can sacrifice months of their life on this sort of thing. My apologies to the die-hard “Sim” fans out there, but I felt it was long and frustrating.
Overall, it got 7.36 out of 10.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 5, 2000 4:29 AM EST
Working for Impressions
f you've played C3, Pharaoh, or other games by Impressions, then perhaps you might be interested in getting a job there? Well, now's your chance, as the chaps from Cambridge, MA are looking for people to fill the following posts:
Senior computer game artist
PC GAMES Producer
In-House Testers
Experienced Senior Game Designer
For more information about these positions, and how you can apply, take a look here.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 4, 2000 4:01 PM EST
From the Forum Ferret
here's quite some activity in the Test Forum. Mainly people playing around with their existing or creating new signatures.
Why not join the fun?
Plebus has set a new record for North Dashur (Hard) and finished in 214 months. Even when you're not playing this game for speed the tips in this (and the other 'speed' threads, like Abedju) are invaluable.
The housing size thread, that was started by Brugle is another goldmine of useful information.
When you are curious as to whom you are sharing this site with, have a look in the Introduction thread.
You'll be amazed at the diversity...
Angel Jayhawk
January 4, 2000 12:35 PM EST
Gamer's Choice Awards
eceived the following email today - head over there now to nominate Pharaoh, and back again after January 17th to vote for it should it make the final list:
Gamer's Voice is currently soliciting nominations for several award categories for our Gamer's Choice Awards for 1999. Nominations will be accepted through January 16, 2000 and the final ballot will be available for voting the week of January 17, 2000.
This year's categories include Best Game of 1999 as well as the Best of the following: Action, Adventure, Role-Playing, Board & Puzzle, Kids & Family, Sports, Strategy, Simulation, Wargame, Multiplayer/Online, Game Controller, and PC Accessory.
The URL for submitting nominations is below. Gamers will find there all instructions required for nominations.
http://www.gamersvoice.com/special/gca-1999-nom.asp
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 4, 2000 7:00 AM EST
And another review
ow, the reviews sure are coming in thick and fast at the moment. We seem to have had one every day for about the last week or something . Anyways, here's another positive assessment of Pharaoh, this time from GamesFirst. The reviewer gives it 4 stars (out of 5, I would assume), and here's why:
Overall, Pharaoh is a great game that provides an in-depth look at life in ancient Egypt while providing many hours of engrossing gameplay. Players who enjoy building and managing cities, strategy gamers, and anyone who would like to learn more about Egyptian culture, as well as anyone who enjoyed the Caesar games, should give Pharaoh a try. They won’t be disappointed.
Just a quick mention of my source for all of these reviews - Blue's News does a daily roundup of all the most recent reviews out there on the Web, and that's where I pick them up.
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 3, 2000 3:54 PM EST
New feature
f you look a little bit to the right, then you'll see a new little section called "Most recent headlines". This shows the 10 most recent news items, and lets you go straight to them.
For this to work properly, however, then you need to be viewing the following page:
http://pharaoh.heavengames.com/index.shtml
Angel Reckless Rodent
January 3, 2000 10:43 AM EST
MPOG Review
ollowing on from yesterday's news about a review, there's another one out there today, this time written by the chaps at MPOG (whatever that stands for ). Here's a snippet:
Pharaoh is a great game for the city building fan or those looking to give the genre a try. An excellent manual, online help system, and interface make the game both fun and easy to play. While there is no multiplayer support, the sheer time length of gameplay should be more than enough for all but the most hardcore city builder. For them, Pharaoh has multiple difficulty levels and a scoring system so they can replay and try to beat their old records. It has its share of problems (like all games), but these problems are fairly minor. A game doesn't have to have action or RTS to be fun. Pharaoh is proof of that.
