/r/impressionsgames

Photograph via snooOG

Impressions Games was a game developer founded by David Lester in the UK. He sold the company to Sierra Entertainment in 1995.

This is a subreddit dedicated to their games!

Impressions specialized in historical strategy games, and is most well known for its City Building Series, which include Caesar, Pharaoh, Emperor and Master of Olympus - Zeus.


Intro

Impressions Games was a video game developer founded by David Lester in the UK. He sold the company to Sierra Entertainment in 1995, which was then bought out by Cendant and eventually, Vivendi Universal (now known as Vivendi SA). Today it is succeeded by Tilted Mill Entertainment.

Impressions specialized in historical strategy games, and is most well known for its City Building Series, which include Caesar III, Pharaoh, and Zeus.

A complete list of their games can be found here.

All the games are either abandonware, re-released on GOG with better support or readily available online.


Links

Heaven Games is a source for patches, scenarios and game help for Caesar III, Pharaoh, Zeus and Emperor.

Caesaria is an open source remake of Caesar 3.

Some of the games can be found here: http://www.abandonia.com/en/game/all

You can download Caesar II as abandonware or purchase it from GOG.

You won't get widescreen support though. For that you have to try some of these options...

How to play in widescreen for:

How to get this game to work on Windows Vista/7/8/10:

Lag/Slow Animations in Zeus and Poseidon:

Want to learn how to make full-sized screenshots of your city? Details here.


Subreddit Rules

  1. Mention what game your post is about in the title.

  2. Discussion of strategy games by Tilted Mill Entertainment is allowed as it is the successor of Impressions Games.

  3. In fact, all discussion vaguely relating to Impressions Games is allowed!

  4. No spam, scams or trolling.


Related Subreddits:

/r/retrogaming

/r/gog

/r/Sierra

/r/SimCity

/r/Pharaoh

/r/impressionsgames

7,185 Subscribers

14

I have just beaten the Ferocious Level AI in Emperor: ROTMK, has anyone else done so?

3 Comments
2024/12/02
22:03 UTC

24

Thought your insight would be valuable here.

25 Comments
2024/12/02
15:41 UTC

50

Wanted to share: Poseidon running on the new M4 iMac! Haven't played this game since ~2008

5 Comments
2024/11/29
21:37 UTC

18

Greek vs Atlantis

Anyone else love the culture of the greek buildings and the games and absolutely hate the science buildings of the Atlanteans?

19 Comments
2024/11/29
14:48 UTC

17

Walkers and Augustus: going big above 20000 people

I have a problem. I am trying Londinum and once I pass 20000 people, my food infrastructure becomes retarded. I have full granaries everywhere yet homes collapse into tents.

Is there a walker limit?

EDIT: Solved. Disabling Buying Market Ladies' autodistribute as they carry the goods home corrected balancing the distribution load.

19 Comments
2024/11/26
19:58 UTC

25

[Zeus + Poseidon] The Mayan Revolution is such a mean Adventure.

6 Comments
2024/11/24
15:16 UTC

49

I created a game like "Zeus: Master of Olympus" with multiplayer, and I am now ready to share it with you.

I told you I had created a game like Zeus, but with multiplayer, and many of you asked me for the link. I didn’t want to do this without giving you a preview of what I’ve made. So here’s a screenshot of a game session with some friends.

https://preview.redd.it/u7zhpqv8r33e1.png?width=3840&format=png&auto=webp&s=a2182b8ae499210a2a93c7dd4866b32010ff4d62

I also recorded a session I played with a friend. You can find it on YouTube. That way, you can make your own opinion.If you’d like to try it out for yourself, my game is available on Steam.

I’m still working on this project. I truly hope you’ll enjoy it and that you’ll see it as a tribute to the excellent game that is Zeus: Master of Olympus.

Let me know if you would be interested for further updates and more videos. It would be my pleasure!

Edit: I completely forgot. If you want to learn more about the game, follow updates, need help playing it, or have suggestions for improvements, I invite you to join the Discord server I created for this purpose.

11 Comments
2024/11/24
12:16 UTC

50

After Ceasar 3, Pharaoh, Zeus and Emperor, which civilization would you like to play in a game of the same style?

Hi everyone ! 👋

I've a question for you, fans of city builder of Impression Games. As a regular player of city builder games, I've always wondered what civilisation would have followed that of China in the game ‘Emperor’...

So let me ask you, the players, which civilisation would you have liked to see in the next game?

Personally, I'd have liked to see one of these civilisations:

  • Maya
  • Aztecs
  • Viking
  • Sumerian
  • Etruscan

I know, that's a lot of civilisations I'd have liked to play in a game from this series. You're going to tell me that ‘other games exist about these peoples’, certainly, but not in the format/gameplay we all like here. 😭

So tell me, which one(s) would you have liked to play?

Thank you in advance for your feedback !

======

[EDIT 21/11]

There have been some comments about the integrity of this post, so I'd like to reassure you:

  • No, this isn't about marketing studies or some ghost operation by studios to find out what you want.
  • As far as I'm concerned, I'm a solo developer with a passion for city builders, who's currently working on a city builder, which I hope to release in 2025, that takes place during a historical period that's listed in this post. (But I won't tell you which one).

Finally, thank you for all your feedback.

It's very interesting to know that so many of us have civilisations in common that we would have liked to see in a game at the time.

40 Comments
2024/11/20
20:10 UTC

32

Augustus is not Caesar 3. Flair your threads correctly.

Hey y'all, do us a favor and flair your threads appropriately. There are a lot of things you can do in Augustus that you can't do in Caesar 3, and we don't want folks looking for vanilla C3 info being confused by people posting Augustus stuff and tagging it with "Caesar 3".

If you're not playing vanilla Caesar 3 or Julius (which is supposed to recreate C3 as accurately as possible), don't use the Caesar 3 flair. Use the Augustus flair instead. Thanks!

2 Comments
2024/11/20
14:47 UTC

14

Not sold yet? Here’s why Machine Gun Javelins should be your go-to army: 💨 Faster than legionaries (those slowpokes couldn’t chase a turtle). 🛡️ Fewer casualties than horses (probably—don’t ask the horses). 💰 ZERO cost—keep weapon exports and raking in that sweet, sweet Caesar-approved Denarii

2 Comments
2024/11/20
12:31 UTC

55

Looking for a budget-friendly, highly effective army? 🎯 Tired of Caesar breathing down your neck for importing too many weapons or not being quick enough to dodge with your javs? 🤦‍♂️ Say hello to Machine Gun Javelins—the ultimate solution for dominating the battlefield with precision and power.

13 Comments
2024/11/20
09:15 UTC

44

My people!

I’m so thrilled to learn there’s a whole community of people like me that love Caesar 3. I’ve spent years trying to find a modern equivalent to no avail. On mobile pay to win has ruined everything. I’ve ordered a PC, excited to get back into it. Salutations!

22 Comments
2024/11/16
18:56 UTC

73

A familiar face here:)

5 Comments
2024/11/16
18:29 UTC

138

Finally Fulfilled an order for P Diddy

11 Comments
2024/11/16
15:21 UTC

4

Trade issues - Augustus stable build

Hi,

I am really struggling with Londinium on Very Hard. This isn’t even the reconquered version, just the regular campaign. I cannot maintain a good budget no matter what I do. It appears that part of the issue is buggy traders.

The trader buying weapons and the one buying vegetables will randomly stop buying for a year. I don’t get a pop up prompt saying some natural disaster occurred either, so there doesn’t seem to be an in game explanation provided to the player.

The trader buying pottery and lumber will buy about 50% of the max despite full warehouses available on January 1. If I stop producing lumber and only sell pottery to maximize profits from that trader, it doesn’t really change my trade profits. I’m lucky to get 35/36 out of 40 traded.

Any advice? Is this a bug or is it a feature of the game difficulty to have traders not trade efficiently?

3 Comments
2024/11/15
22:19 UTC

31

Angkor Wat rebuilt in Emperor: ROTMK

1 Comment
2024/11/12
21:24 UTC

45

I rebuilt the glorious Angkor Wat

Hi guys I am back!

I rebuilt the ancient city of Angkor Wat in Cambodia in ROTMK: Emperor. The map can be found here, the map maker is Gweilo2 and all credit of map making goes to him. Check out how closely he mimics the real city with the map maker. Guy is a genius!

In-game map

Real layout of Angkor Wat

I played with the following conditions on Open play. Here are my notes for the win conditions.

  1. Steel age: Angkor Wat was built between approximately 1113 and 1150 AD, during the reign of King Suryavarman II of the Khmer Empire. This corresponds to the Steel Age in ROTMK, with paper required for taxation.

  2. Very Hard difficulty: Starting funds 24k gold. This is required to set up 2 common housing blocks, weapons production, 2 forts, full agriculture (millets, cabbage, tea, and hemp).

  3. The City density is kept at high else the game has so many sprites in the late game, you cannot send out armies to conquer your rival cities.

  4. The mood of the rival cities is Aggressive. So expect attacks on Year 2 itself! I managed to get 2 cavalry forts running with 2x horses in each to beat the first invasion. I could not man the fortifications as my harvest was coming in and that was far more important in the long run.

  5. Disaster frequency was kept to "none" for the following reason: there are 3 kinds of disasters, famine, floods, and earthquake. IF not kept to "none" they might trigger despite keeping all your ancestor gods happy. The first 2 are manageable but earthquake is a game ender (although there is a way to minimize the damage).

  6. The 3 wonders are the following : Splendid Temple (mimics Preah Khan Temple), Temple complex (mimics Angkor Wat), and finally Large palace (mimics Suryavarman II's palace).

Final city had 2 common housing blocks using my patented (its not patented) block

My (un) patented common housing block with 49 houses

I had some pretty epic fights in the late game as I went on to subjugate all cities or ally with them. You are either with us or against us! It was super fun. Hope you will like the pictures and leave your thoughts.

Gameplay options

City Large Palace (mimics Suryavarman II's palace)

I built the city keeping the historical sites in mind. This is the final layout.

City Temple Complex (mimics the Angkor Wat Temple Complex)

Splendid Temple (mimics Preah Khan Temple)

Common housing to house the workforce

City Palace and Administrative city

Heavy Industry

Huge fight in the tea gardens. Guan Di (the god of War) is supporting his sons. (see top left edge)

Elite housing. 3x complexes give around 100k in tax per year

3 Comments
2024/11/12
20:54 UTC

42

I created a game like "Zeus: Master of Olympus" with multiplayer, and I'd love to see more games like that!

I'm a huge fan of "Zeus: Master of Olympus" and classic city-builders. I played them a lot as a kid, and I've always dreamed of being able to play them in multiplayer with my friends. All this time, I hoped that one day a game like this would come out. But after 20 years of waiting, I finally decided to create it myself.

Working alone, I finished an initial version some time ago, and now I can play it with my friends via Steam. I can't even imagine what could be achieved with a small team working on it. That would be amazing! Yet, even now, with several city-builders about to be released, none of them offer a multiplayer mode.

What do you think? Would you also like to see more games of this kind with a multiplayer option?

26 Comments
2024/11/12
13:08 UTC

5

Caesar - food transportation

Why is my imported food not getting to granaries? It stays in Warehouse forever. Sometimes cartpusher gets some small amount and thats it.

Granaries are almost empty and set to accept goods.

Closest granary is 10 tiles away to the Soith. Next granary 19 tiles away to the West.

No mods like Julius or Augustus used. Base game.

15 Comments
2024/11/12
09:12 UTC

87

Ever seen this before? Built Zeus' Stronghold in Zeus "Open Sandbox 2" and the big statues in front are of Dionysus and not Zeus.

13 Comments
2024/11/11
15:31 UTC

9

Zeus and Poseidon modding

Im trying to figure out a way to moddify ingame sprites. Does anyone know a proper tool? Ive only got Pecunia Sgreader but it only allows to read and download png sprites, but cant upload them back. Thanks in advance!

0 Comments
2024/11/09
19:36 UTC

2

How much money do I get from the Mint?

It is said that if there is Gov’s residence and the City Mint is minting coin, I can get some personal money out of it. Can I see how much exactly?

10 Comments
2024/11/08
20:03 UTC

2

I downloaded C3 on Steam and after a few campaigns my sound and visuals are bugged.

The sound clips will replay over and over, the music restarts after a few seconds over and over, a lot of the animations don't work. Any way to fix this without losing my save data?

8 Comments
2024/11/08
13:51 UTC

35

Lutetia 6 lux palace, 22 medium palace, ~60 grand insulae

1 Comment
2024/11/08
07:27 UTC

5

[Zeus + Poseidon] The wrong landslide triggered

In a map I'm creating I had four landslide zones (marked in pink). I placed a landslide point (the flag) on the landslide zone I wished to trigger, but in-game while playtesting a different landslide zone was triggered.

Weird, but ok. I'll just put some rocks in the other landslide zones to disable them, I thought to myself (at least the pink zones disappear when I do).

But no, in-game I still get the wrong landslide zone triggering for some reason, even though in the editor the only viable landslide zone is where I have put the landslide point, which does nothing apparently.

How do landslides actually work?

3 Comments
2024/11/03
22:57 UTC

6

How to quickly set a warehouse to not accept anything?

Most of my warehouse have a narrow function, eg. accept Timber and Furniture but nothing else. Every time I want to set up a warehouse like that I have to go though all the materials after each other and set it to "don't accept". Is there some hidden hotkey etc. to just set everything to "don't accept"?

4 Comments
2024/11/03
16:05 UTC

13

Caesar III - First Time Recommendations

So I've played Pharaoh, Zeus/Poseidon and Emperor many many times but I never played Caesar III. Been browsing here for a few weeks and I've seen a lot of mentions of 'Augustus' and 'Reconquered'

Can someone run through the recommendations for a first time player in terms of mods, etc? I just bought it on GOG.

Also while we're at it, do any of the other games I mentioned have mods that are generally recommended?

Thanks in advance!

4 Comments
2024/11/03
15:32 UTC

141

15 000 inhabitants city in Tlatoani, very nice if still feeling a bit early-access.

25 Comments
2024/11/03
14:13 UTC

4

Need instructions on how to install zeus heaven website custom adventures

As the title says does anyone have any guide on how to install custom adventures from zeus heaven?

I have tried searching online or youtube but i just cannot find any

2 Comments
2024/11/02
15:09 UTC

73

Tlatoani Aztec Cities - a cool new city builder that reminds me of Caesar and Zeus.

12 Comments
2024/11/01
14:55 UTC

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