Contest 126: Arabian Bizarre (a Caesar 4 Economics Contest)
Welcome to the contest pages for Contest 126: Arabian Bizarre.
This is a Caesar 4 contest, and should only be played with Caesar 4 with
the latest patch. Check the Sierra
site for the latest version. Use the links below to download the starting
positions:
Arabian Bizarre (Hard Difficulty)
files are in .zip format
Arabian Bizarre (Easy Difficulty)
files are in .zip
format
Arabian Bizarre (Novice
Difficulty)
files are in .zip
format
Arabian
Bizarre (French Language files)
files are in .zip
format
Procedure for extracting files-
The zip file will contain a number of files (this can vary depending on the scenario). Firstly, the file with the extension C4s should be extracted to the directory Saved Games in your C4 installation
(Default location C:\Program Files\Sierra\Caesar4\Data\Save Games).
The remaining files should be extracted to the directory Scenarios
(default location C:\Program Files\Sierra\Caesar4\Data\Scenarios). You start the save from the Main Menu in C4, selecting Load Save. The save Arabian Bizarre Easy or Arabian Bizarre Hard or Arabian Bizarre Novice should appear in the list. It is not necessary to alter game difficulty.
Story:
You have been ordered to Arabia Petraea by the new Emperor, the decidedly unpleasant Caesar Commodus. He has charged you with building the city of Bostra, which is to be the capital of that province. Trade will be the key to your success, but therein lies a major problem. Strange and lurid tales have been told of this place - of the mysterious artefacts floating in the pool, and why the land adjacent to it is so fertile - not to mention the unpleasant odor all around.
Traders are (not surprisingly) reluctant to come to Bostra.
But Commodus has ordered the governors of other provinces to send their
traders here, regardless of their fears. Not wishing to directly go against
Caesar's wishes, each governor is now busily thinking up excuses as to
why they can't trade with you just yet. Commodus expects you, as governor
of Bostra, to overcome these obstacles.
The anxiety of your citizens must also be allayed, for
such a bizarre land is bound to make them feel a little edgy, and prone
to random acts of destruction. Therefore, says Caesar Commodus, you must
make your city the most beautiful the Empire has ever seen, for beauty
will bring peace of mind to all. He has assigned a special beauty advisor
(whom some claim to be a direct descendant of Caligula). You must have
a sizable population too, with a significant and contented community of
patricians. Eight years is all the time Caesar has allowed for you to
justify his trust. Good luck!
Rules
Completion Criteria- (minimum)
Novice Difficulty
5,000 population
8 grand mansions
No defeat events have occurred.
Easy Difficulty
6,000 population
12 grand mansions
No defeat events have occurred.
Hard Difficulty
8,000 population
16 grand mansions
No defeat events have occurred.
Defeat Events:
Novice Difficulty
Debt of 7500dn or more
Caesar dismisses you (normal game function)
Easy Difficulty
Debt of 5000dn or more
Caesar dismisses you (normal game function)
Hard Difficulty
Debt of 2500dn or more
Caesar dismisses you (normal game function)
Winning Criteria (All Difficulties):
1. Beauty Rating at the end of December 187AD.
2. Points score, determined at the end of December 187AD, totalled
as follows (highest wins):
25 points for each point of (beauty + favor + security + culture + prosperity).
Maximum 12500 points.
1 point for each denarii in personal savings. No maximum.
1 point for each 10 denarii in the city treasury (rounded down). Maximum
2500 points.
3. First month when 100 beauty rating is achieved and the target
population is met (earliest wins).
4. First month when all 14 trade routes have been opened
by your trade partners (earliest wins).
In the case of WC3 and WC4 a message is displayed and recorded in the
message log when a beauty rating of 100 is reached (if the target population
is met) and when all trade routes are opened. All winning criteria are
recorded by the script so that they can be recovered by the contest designer
if needed.
Designer's Notes
A victory screen will appear when all completion criteria have been met
at any point from the end of December 187AD. When this occurs, you should
select Keep Playing and save your game. Note that for a save to be valid,
it must be made before the end of January 188AD.
A defeat screen will appear if any of the defeat events listed above occur.
If this happens, you should revert to a recent saved game and correct
the circumstance that caused defeat.
Whilst this is fundamentally an Economic scenario, there is a small military
element to the game. However, the completion criteria can be met without
any military at all, and in particular all invasions can be bought off.
Not all buildings and decorative items will be available at the start.
Patricians will become enabled (and remain enabled) when your city has
achieved 24 security, 24 beauty and has a governor's residence (any size).
Other buildings and items will become available as trade routes open.
Two trade routes are "hidden"; that is to say, they are not
visible on the Empire Map. They will be opened when certain other trade
routes have also been opened. When this happens a message will be displayed,
and the trade depots may then be placed.
The map is situated in a Desert region. Occasionally, players have reported
problems with such maps, where the save file may become corrupted. You
are therefore advised to keep many saves, such that you can easily recover
by returning to an earlier save before the corruption occurred.
Beauty Rating
The 'beauty' of your city will be rated from 0 to 100 by a special advisor
assigned by Caesar. The rating will be displayed at least every month
in the form of a one-line message appearing at the top of the screen.
To see this message you need to ensure that the "Disable in-game
warnings" box is unchecked (Interface settings). At around 6 monthly
intervals the advisor will suggest what you should build to improve the
rating.
Roughly half of the rating comes from decorative items such as statues,
trees and bushes. Different items have different weightings: the key to
improving the rating is to ensure you place sufficient of each type of
item.
The other half of the rating comes from "impressive" looking
buildings (generally these are the larger service buildings).
Conversely, unappealing buildings such as factories and forts will tend
to detract from the rating.
Novice Difficulty
This contest includes a novice difficulty level to attract new or inexperienced
players to our contests. It particularly aimed at those who normally play
Caesar 4 on 'Easy' level and/or feel they would benefit from a small amount
of private assistance. Players may play novice difficulty only if:
• They have never placed in the top three in a CBC Caesar 4 Easy
(or, obviously, Hard) difficulty contest, and
• They have never earned a medal or placed in top 3 in Caesar 4 online.
Players in Novice difficulty will be permitted to obtain strategy assistance
from the contest designer, but only on the CBC private message forum.
Strategy Forum
This contest will have a strategy thread, started by the designer when
the contest starts. Players in easy or novice difficulty may discuss strategy
or ask strategy related questions in this thread but may not divulge their
scores. It should be borne in mind that some players may not be prepared
to share their strategies. Players entering hard difficulty are not permitted
to post in this thread. The thread will be carefully moderated by the
contest designer (who is King) and who will remove posts not considered
to be in the interests of the event.
Arabian Bizarre was designed by Hieronymus and tested by
aramann (with assistance from her husband Brent) and JuliaSet.
Special thanks go to cesar20 for the French translation of
the XML files (which was itself a huge task to undertake).
When forwarding entries to CBC, only the C4s file of the final save is
required, not the other files.
This contest will close at 11PM EST (US), on Sunday March 16th, 2008.
Please note the date!
This contest has ended.
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