Quick Start Guide - Your Empire’s Interface
Leading a Roman city will need you to do a combination of several activities for it to flourish. Below is a screenshot as reference while we go through the menus and icons.
Progress Level Bars
On top of the interface, you will see 4 bars that show the status of your empire. The first two involves your current wealth. Your empire’s tax money is shown and Playfish cash. The next bar shows how famous you are. Earning fame points is synonymous to level points. Mousing over the bar will show how many points you still need to get to the next level. Clicking on it will open a window to show you what items will unlock when you reach the next level.
The last bar will show your current population, its capacity and maximum number of citizens to keep it happy.
Goals Notification
Certain milestones will appear under your wealth bars at the left side. Depending on what level you are at, you will need to fulfill these goals to get specific rewards.
Claim your Empire
Just below the Fame or Level progress bar is your Empire’s Name. Claim this city by clicking on the default name and a window will open for you to change it.
Tax Collection
Towards the bottom left, just above the neighbor list, you will see a button for you to hire a tax collector. This will open up a window and give you a choice from 4 collectors. Once you hire one, a countdown will appear to let you know when to collect your taxes.
Main Menu
Here are the following icons seen on the main menu, found at the bottom right:
- Build - construct functional and happiness buildings, decorations and historical wonders.
- Research - build a village academy (level 8) to activate this for you to research and unlock buildings
- Messages - receive and write messages. Interact with your neighbors to ask gifts or thank them for helping you build and accomplish goals.
- Organize - move, delete or store items within your city
Hire a Tax Collector
By hiring a tax collector, you can have a continuous influx of coins to help you build your empire. The window will show you how much each will collect in a certain period of time. In the example below, you have 4 collectors to choose from. Totti, Pictor, Donni and Bagio.
Totti will work for free for 5 minutes. He starts collecting 100 coins in total when you have less than 100 citizens and will go up as you add people in your empire. The screenshot above shows an increase of 20 coins once 100 citizens have been reached. It further increases when you’ve reached 500.
It’s highly recommended to hire Totti if you have time to stay in the game. You can earn more coins in a shorter period of time. When you are to close the game for the day, then you can choose from the other 3.
Build Houses
Provide shelter for your citizens and build houses for them to move into your empire. Using the build tool, you can choose from different types of houses. Before choosing, look at the benefits. A straw hut will add 50 more citizens to your population and you will gain 100 fame points. As you progress, lodges will be available, which will give you 150 more citizens and 300 fame points. When ready, you will be guided by a green box around your building. Seeing red in any portion of the box means you can’t build on that spot of land.
Visiting Neighbors
Adding neighbors and visiting them will earn you coins every 24 hours. If you have a new neighbor, make sure you visit their empire. You will be given the First Visit Reward and get 500 coins for each new neighbor. By visiting old neighbors, you will get a random amount of coins.
Construct Happiness Buildings
Most buildings under this category have to be bought with coins but some can be built for free. Mousing over each building will show the number of happiness and fame points you will gain from constructing it. The free buildings will only be constructed with the help of your friends.
Helping a friend construct these buildings doesn’t mean sending them materials to complete it. You have to publish the notice to your wall and tell them to click on the help link to make it count. You can check who helped by clicking on the progress bar on it (if not completed).
Organizing and Expanding your Empire
As you progress through the game, some levels will automatically expand your empire’s land every 2-3 levels. There is no need to purchase it with coins. Being famous is what it takes. There are also buildings like halls and temples that will eventually be upgraded in higher levels. You can opt to delete, store or keep them in your city. It’s recommended to store them first so you can use them to increase happiness when needed. You’ll find the stored items within the build tool and see a box with a number beside the item, as seen below.
Take note that when you delete an item in your city doesn’t mean you’ll get the coin value back. If you’re deleting a decorative item, the happiness level will be deducted from your happiness points but will not get the value back. There is no selling old items at this point.
Expanded Guide - Game Elements
- Here you will see a detailed description of the game screen's elements.
- A. Game Currency - Here you can see how much of each type of currency you have on hand. You can also purchase more currency through these links.
- B. Fame Meter/Level Indicator - This measures the amount of Fame (XP) you have and tells you what level you are at. If you place your cursor over this area it will tell you exactly how much you need to reach the next level.
- C.Happiness/Population Indicator - You will see a red number here indication how much population you have. If it is red you do not have enough housing for your People. Placing your cursor over this area will also tell you if their happiness needs are being met or not.
- D. Game Controls - Here you can toggle the game's sound and music on and off as well as zoom in and out of the scene and save before you exit the game.
- E. Instant Resources - Click here if you wish to purchase resources all at once with Playfish Cash or ask for help from neighbors.
- F. Free Gift Icon - Click here to send free gifts to your Neighbors once every 24 hours.
- G. Tax Collection Indicator/Countdown Clock - Here you will click when you need to hire a Tax collector and it will turn into a countdown meter until taxes are ready and until you collect them.
- H. Build - Click here whenever you want to purchase a building to build whether it is for function or decorative purposes.
- I. Research - Click here to access the Research menu to research and upgrade your Resource Buildings.
- J. Mail/Notifications - Click here to read notifications as to who has visited you or sent you a gift. You can also send and receive mail from this menu.
- K. Delete/Storage/Move Items - Click here if you want to delete, or place an item in storage.
Advanced Game Tips and Strategies
- As soon as you reach level 4 immediately Purchase the Mill, Quarry, and Mine. You will need the resources these businesses produce to build wonders and it takes 24 hours to produce just one item from these businesses. Each one costs 280 coins and you will also need to pay for research on on these items which is 1140 coins each.
- Keep your eye on the upper right corner of the screen to make sure you have enough housing and happiness items.
- Keep your eye on the tax collecting counting down at the lower left corner of the game screen. If you do not collect them on time you will lose the money to bandits.
- If you share your email address with Playfish when you join the game you will be given a free Olive Tree which will increase your villagers happiness.
- Temples are free and you can build as many as you like! They give 110 happiness and 360 Fame so be sure to build several of these to keep your people happy! There is a catch they require you to have 3 to 5 of your Neighbors help to finish them. You can post a message on the live feed and when your friends respond you have a free building that gives a lot of happiness. They are quite large so make sure you leave space for them.
- When a building is demolished to make space for a bigger building you do not lose fame earned from that building just the happiness level associated with it. Once you're established in your game you could demolish some of the free buildings to make room for bigger ones.
- Do NOT spend all your money on houses even though the game might be encouraging you to. Try to keep happiness up with the free buildings and spend money on research. The faster you can get through the research the faster you will level up.
- DO NOT Upgrade your Mine, Quarry or Mill until you have completed your Stonehenge Wonder. If you do they won't produce the items you need to complete it and you will have to rely completely on gifts to build it which can take much longer. Start research after Stonehenge is complete!!!
- For the same reason listed above DO NOT start a Wonder until the one before it is complete. Be sure to look at the information below which tells you what is needed for each Wonder before you do research and upgrade. It will save you a lot of time and headaches!
- Goals will appear listed for you on the upper left hand side of the game screen. Be sure to follow these in the order listed for the best outcome. Sometimes you can't rush ahead or you will make it harder to complete upgrades.
- Be sure to scan the live feeds a few times a day for free coins and resources.
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