The changes to trading also introduced a per-city favour feature: unlike in previous games where cities would be open all the time (unless they were scripted to close temporarily), cities can stop trading, be destroyed or invade if they feel that you have no military strength or if you ignore their requests too often. One of the larger changes was trading: unlike in previous games, the player cannot see the types of goods that a city buys or sells (unless the city is already trading at the start of a mission), which requires the player to either send gifts to other cities or send diplomatic requests. The player also gets to build the Grand Pagoda, a large structure that signified the coming of the Buddhist faith within China itself.Īlthough many critics complained that the game had no originality and was too similar to previous games, the game does introduce some useful changes. True to the historical nature of the game, many of the monuments are built in their actual locations and the player also has the opportunity to build sections of the Great Wall of China, both of dirt and stone.

Unlike Pharaoh, the player is unable to select any of the missions individually, even after completion, and is required to make saves of missions if they wish to repeat them later.ĭuring some campaign missions, the player will be expected to build a variety of monuments to complete the mission.

Unlike previous games, the player is not required to complete any dynasty in order and may elect to play any dynasty they wish, although the dynasties get harder and novice players may find the Song-Jin Dynasty campaign to be extremely difficult if they have not completed the basic tutorial missions of the Xia dynasty. The game starts during the prehistoric Xia Dynasty and leads the player through most of the major dynasties, up to the construction of Zhongdu during the Jin Dynasty – the city that would become the present-day Beijing. As such, similarities between the games can be seen, which include the separation of housing into Common Housing and Elite Housing, more varied mission goals and separate trading posts. Like most of the previous games in the series, Emperor follows the historical route of an ancient civilisation: in this case, it follows the ancient history of China, the only civilisation known to be continuous and never conquered and converted to another civilisation's ideologies.Įmperor builds upon the game engine designed for Zeus: Master of Olympus.

Rise of the middle kingdom