Zeus: Master of Olympus: 2000: Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom: 2002: Children of the Nile: 2004: Pharaoh: A New Era: TBA: Key points. Has adventure editor for. Zeus: Master of Olympus is already the sixth game with a superb series of economic strategies of Impressions Software. This time the creators of Caesara and Pharaoh move player into the world of ancient Greece, filled with heroes, gods and mythological creatures.

Official walkthrough written by Impressions Games

» Episode I: A New Way of Life

Goals

500 people in a Homestead or better
Produce 20 skeins of fleece in one year
Yearly profit of 500

Hints & Tips
Welcome to Argos! The Argos playing area is huge and inviting, but you will need to start small before moving on to greater things. In the first episode, your only available resources will be fleece and fish. You will construct a small settlement of fishermen and shepherds who trade fleece overseas for profit.

Start by building a common housing block near the southern entrance of the river. Build Fisheries to provide food and Carding Sheds to produce fleece. A Carding Shed can produce around eight skeins of fleece per year, so you will need at least three or four operating to meet the goal of 20 skeins in a single year. Provide food, fleece, and at least one form of culture to your houses to evolve them to Homestead level. Right-click on your houses to see what they need to evolve further. Do not overbuild your city. You only need enough people to produce and export fleece, and take care of basic services. Overbuilding can result in high unemployment, which is bad for your popularity. It can also increase the wages you pay each year, making the profit goal harder to achieve.

For the moment, money will seem hard to come by. You begin with no allies to trade with, and since you cannot tax your citizens yet, the profit goal may seem out of reach. But eventually, your explorers will open up a trade route with Troezan for fleece export. When you receive a message that “Troezan buys more fleece” you can set up a Trading Post with them and begin exporting fleece. Though selling only 12 skeins of fleece may seem too little an amount at first, they will soon expand consumption and buy 24 per year, allowing you to reach a profit of 500 in a single year. You can also lower wages to help meet the profit goal, but remember that doing so can hurt your popularity, and reduce workforce participation.

When you have met the three goals, you will be ready to move on to the next episode.

» Episode 2: The City Grows

Goals

640 people in a Tenement or better
48 slabs of marble for colony
12 jugs of olive oil for colony

Hints & Tips
In this episode, you will introduce two new industries to your city: olive oil and marble. Establish an olive oil industry between your housing and the meadow where you plant the olive trees. Also set up Masonry Shops to collect marble. These do not necessarily need to be near the marble quarry. Once the first large blocks are delivered, the Shops will keep up a steady stream of marble production, sending out stonecutters in advance when they need new supplies.

Follow the advice of the episode introduction and build a Palace. Build a Tax Office amongst your houses. You can adjust taxes and wages to control the size of your workforce, your income level, and your people’s happiness. These also have a major effect on your popularity. You might try setting both wages and taxes to “very high”. This will maximize the size of your workforce, and also increase the ratio of taxes collected to wages paid.

Provide your people with a college and a podium to evolve your houses into Tenements. You may also wish to distribute olive oil to them at this point.

You may find that your growing population has outstripped your food supply. Build more Fisheries further along the river. These will send out fishing boats to collect fish. When the boats return to the Fishery, they will unload their fish, and a deliveryman will take the fish to the nearest Granary. However, each Fishery only has one deliveryman capable of carrying only one load of fish at a time. So if the ships are bringing in fish faster than they can be delivered to a Granary, then the slow delivery will be reducing fish production. To avoid this backlog, construct a Granary next to the Fisheries set to “accept” fish. Then set the Granary near your houses to “get” fish. The “getting” Granary continuously send out two deliverymen to collect four fish each from other “accepting” Granaries, ensuring a steady flow of fish to your people’s houses.

Troezan buys very little fleece these days. But you can still use excess fleece as gifts. If you curry favor with Troezan now, they may be able to pay you back further down the road.

When you have evolved your houses, and stored up enough marble and olive oil, set aside the colony goods and proceed to the next episode. You will be able to choose between Calydon and Miletos for your first colony. Whichever one you don’t choose will be played later in the adventure. For this Hints and Tips, we’ll use Miletos as the first example.

» Episode 3: Miletos Colony: The Eastern Frontier

Goals

Slay a monster (Kraken)
Fulfill a forthcoming quest (Hermes’ Winged Sandals)
Rule Ethiopia
16 sheaves of wheat for parent city
24 planks of wood for parent city
8 bars of bronze for parent city

Hints & Tips
Miletos is one of the tougher episodes in Zeus. But if you follow these tips, you should be able to make it through unscathed. First, note that the Kraken will show up about a year after you start and will prowl the waters, destroying everything within reach. So resist the temptation to develop a fishing industry or to build any trading Piers.

As suggested in the introduction, when you kill the Kraken, Ethiopia will appreciate the deed, and will voluntarily become your vassal. Therefore, you do not need to develop the Elite Housing required to conquer them.

The resources you have available include boar, timber, silver, and fish.

Start by building a Common Housing block near left-hand side of the playing area, to the right of the mountains. Build two boar Hunting Lodges near the boars to the left, and two more near the center of the playing area to hunt the boars in the lower-right corner. Build five or six Mints as close as possible to the silver deposits to supply a steady stream of income to fatten your treasury. You will need plenty of money to import goods for your city. Don’t forget to tax your citizens as well.

Soon, explorers will discover the city of Cyprus, and you can open up trade with them by land. Here you will buy the bronze you need to manufacture the sculptures for your Sanctuaries. But you may want to hold off on buying any bronze until your financial situation is more secure.

When your population becomes large enough, start harvesting wood and storing it away. You will need it later.

Soon, Hermes will announce his quest, and you can build the Hero’s Hall to Perseus. Perseus is probably the toughest Hero to get, since he requires the following before deeming your city worthy of his noble presence:

A Sanctuary to Athena
A Sanctuary to Hermes
3,000 Drachmas
16 skeins of fleece
6 pieces of sculpture

As you can see, summoning this hero involves a mountain of goods that you can’t produce in Miletos, so you’d better get crackin’ (Kraken?) on acquiring them right away! You can produce wood yourself, and you can import or request bronze to make sculptures. Argos supplies marble, which you will have to request because of the Kraken cutting off sea-trade. But since you don’t produce any goods to sell or any goods that these cities want as gifts, it’s going to be tough to get everything you need.

Limit your city’s population to around 1,000. With food and culture you can get your housing up to Hovel-level, which should be enough to house 1,000 people and supply them with a single Agora. If your population gets much higher than 1,000, you’re going to have trouble feeding all those people.

Begin building the Sanctuary to Athena or Hermes. You can decide which to start with first, but it’s probably better to finish one before starting a second. Athena’s will provide you with olives and olive oil, though neither is of

Zeus Master Of Olympus