Alex: You still need to pay to open a trade route because it costs money to create roads and send gifts to people in the other city. The big difference is with the Empire map, in that it’s dynamic. You’ll be able to see an army moving from one city to another, and the position of any trade caravans relative to your city. There’s a lot more information there, making it easier for you to make decisions. Say for example a friendly city has requested help to fend off a military assault, you can see where the enemy army is on the map so you can decide whether any troops you send will get there in time.

ARR: Will you be able to send your troops out of your city to intercept any enemy forces that are approaching?

Alex: You’ll have to wait for the enemy troops to arrive in your city. As a pharaoh, there’s no way you’d be able to control your troops when they left your city limits. Remember, Pharaoh’s still a city building game, not a war simulation.

ARR: How about natives?

Alex: I haven’t seen any natives in Pharaoh. Of course, that may change as we plan the campaign out. Right now, I can’t give any answer with certainty.

ARR: It’s been said that, in the campaign that ships with Pharaoh, you’ll play the head of a family as it rises through the ranks of the Egyptian nobility. How are things like lifespan reflected?

Alex: There are time limits, especially on scenarios where you have to build monuments and tombs. If you fail to finish the monument before you die, then the head of the next generation takes over where you left off, needing to finish the old monument before starting one of his own.

ARR: Does this mean that you’ll be able to go back to a city you’ve done previously and restore old monuments that have since fallen into decay?

Alex: No, not that I’m aware of. There are enough cities to keep you busy as it is.

ARR: How does this fit in with your successor finishing off your tomb then?

Alex: You carry on playing the city until the monument is completed (which we’re going to give you every opportunity to do), and only then can you move on to the next scenario.
When you pick your name at the start of the campaign, you can either type in your own or pick one from a list of pre-prepared Egyptian ones. Then, as the campaign carries on, your name carries on but gets a number on the end denoting how far down the generations you are.

ARR: Can you change your name when the campaign’s started, or could you end up being called Ramesses XVIII or something?

Alex: The name will stay the same because it’s a family name rather than a first name.