November 21, 1999 11:00 EST
Walkthroughs updated
've been reading with interest the comments that Cherub Dragon2 of Caesar III Heaven has been making in the Game Help forum about the various scenarios he's played so far during the career.  After consulting with him, I've decided to include his postings in my walkthroughs, as he often goes into more detail about how to build up your city than I do.  Besides, he's done most (if not all) of the scens so far at the "hard" difficulty level, so I think it's safe to say he's more of an expert than I am.

Currently, his postings are included in the walkthroughs for On, North Dashur, Bahariya Oasis, Iunet, Abedju, Buhen, and Serabit Khadim.  There are also links to the forum threads in question so you can post comments.  I will update the rest as he posts about them in the forum.  To celebrate this, he's moved over to Egypt from Caesar III Heaven, so please make him feel welcome.

If anyone else has some strategies for beating any of the career scenarios and want to share them with other people, then either post them in the forum or mail them to me and I'll consider adding them to the walkthroughs.

Angel Reckless Rodent
Comin' to getcha ;).

November 20, 1999 13:10 EST
Got AoK?
k, maybe this isn't directly Pharaoh-related, but it's HGS-related, so therefore worth posting.  Our sister site Age of Kings Heaven has a competition to win a cool Sybex AoK strategy guide.  Here's the blurb from Angel Washizu himself:

Age of Kings Heaven is proud to announce an opportunity for agers out there to win a copy of Bruce Shelley's strategy guide published by Sybex. This extremely in depth guide will help you get to know the ins and outs of AOK, despite its complexity. It features civ descriptions, screenshots, campaign walk throughs, and expert multiplayer tips from the likes of Out4Blood, Helegator, IX_Medierra, and The Sheriff. It's 360+ pages packed with the info you need to rule the Medieval period. Now, you're asking, "Ok, how do I win one?" Just write a short story (1000 words or less) about the pic to the right and our judges (Angel Washizu, Angel Thorfinn, and Angel Mack) will determine the best ones. Try to incorporate Age of Kings technologies and features, but keep the readers' interest. The prizes are as follows:

Best Stories (2 winners): 1 Strategy Guide, 1 AOK Poster, 1 Ensemble Studios hat
Runners Up (3 winners): 1 Strategy Guide, 1 AOK Poster
Honorable Mentions (22 winners): 1 AOK Poster

Check it out here.

And now for some Pharaoh-related news.  Impressions's official site has put up a little Hints and Tips section to help you out if you get stuck in the game.  At the same time, they added 3 new tunes to their music download section.

Angel Reckless Rodent
Bedouin warrior extraordinaire ;).

November 19, 1999 11:00 EST
Tech FAQ available
mpressions have made a technical FAQ available over on pharaoh1.com.  It's well worth a read if you've been experiencing problems running the game.  Here's a snippet:

Problem: Pharaoh crashes immediately after executing the program.
Answer: Try the following:
Ensure that the system date in your computer is set to the current year. Pharaoh uses a Windows function that does not work properly after the year 2038.
If you recently uninstalled and reinstalled Pharaoh, then the Pharaoh.inf file that resides in your root Pharaoh directory may be out of date. Try deleting Pharaoh.inf before reinstalling or executing Pharaoh.
There could be a system-specific problem; please refer to the General Troubleshooting Guide section (found below) of this document.

I was walking around a very snowy Hannover today (do the blizzards always start in mid-November round here or is this unusual?) and popped into one of the department stores to take a look for Pharaoh.   Sure enough, there it was.  I didn't pick it up, because I want an English version, but I thought our German visitors might like to know it's available.  We have also had reports of a sighting in the UK, at "Game" in Coventry.

We've had a couple of posts from Impressions in the Game Help forum regarding the fluidity of the missions in Pharaoh:

Conan: Thinis is a great example of how the story line can change. It's in the middle of a Civil War between Henen-nesw and Waset. A set of trade routes will shut down near the beginning depending on who you support (through complying to requests or accepting bribes.) Unless you continue to support the wrong side, the trade routes you need to win the mission can be reopened, though it will probably cost you.

Balshazaar: The storyline in Thinis is quite important to your decision-making during scenario play. Make sure that you read the mission briefing carefully enough to be able to determine who the good guys are, and who the enemies are. Think of yourself as a neutral city at the beginning of a civil war and then use the information in the mission briefing to determine which gifts from which cities to accept or refuse. One "path" is quite a bit more difficult than the other...

That thread can be viewed here.

Angel Reckless Rodent
Bedouin warrior extraordinaire ;).

November 18, 1999 06:04 EST
More cities added
ver to Angel Draco:

Added 8 new cities to PH downloads.   Two of them are from the Custom Missions.  Dynomite's has a population of 26,000!  Both of these custom maps are very well done and an excellent example of game play. 

Draco

As always, if you have any cities you're proud of, then you know who to send them to.

In the Senet House, we have confirmation that I'm one of those nasty Bedouin chaps who appear from time to time to lay waste to your city:

If you happen to see me, then say hello before you wipe me out ;).

1 more this for the moment - I've added another review to the reviews page.   It's from our friends at GameTropics, and gives the game 5/5.

Angel Reckless Rodent
Bedouin warrior extraordinaire ;).

November 17, 1999 14:32 EST
And another review
et another review has miraculously made its way onto the reviews page (how does the guy who updates that page do it ;)?).  This one's from Gamecenter, and gives the game a rather disappointing 7/10.

I meant to post this yesterday, when it appeared in my inbox, but forgot.  It's a newsflash from Impressions regarding the winners of the competition run in the last Pharaoh newsletter:

*NEWSFLASH*

Pharaoh Tee Shirts Awarded to Lucky Winners
 
There were so many responses to the Pharaoh Tee shirt question, we've decided to give away twice as many as originally planned. Congratulations to Dawn Cartwright, Koala, Hoss Mans, Don Klym, Paul Brinkley and Samantha Smith for quickly and correctly answering the trivia question at the end of the last issue of the Pharaoh Newsletter! The answer we were looking for was "deshret," which means "red earth" in ancient Egyptian. Thanks to all who responded, and keep looking for other ways to win Pharaoh tee shirts.

If you are one of the lucky winners, please email your mailing address and phone number to alex.rodberg@sierra.com to receive your Pharaoh Tee shirt.

If you're amongst the winners, then congratulations to you!  Don't forget to send that email :).

Angel Reckless Rodent

November 16, 1999 16:28 EST
More reviews added to the collection
ave you purchased Pharaoh yet?   Still not sure whether it's worth your hard-earned cash?  Check out our reviews page and take a look at what sort of a reception Pharaoh's received in the online gaming press.

Innovandora, when she's not dancing round your city (see this thread for an explanation of that), is puzzling about how one might use chariots most effectively:

I'm wondering if there are better ways of using chariots than just melee slugfests. I'm theorizing that making a chariot charge at enemy infantry/archers then pulling them away just before contact will still reduce the enemy morale because they were charged at. Haven't gotten enemies to break ranks and run yet, however, so can't tell. Anyone else having better luck understanding chariots?

If you can help her out, then you can do so here.

Angel Reckless Rodent

November 15, 1999 15:23 EST
New files
've received a couple of submissions from people today that I've uploaded to the site.  first off, Cherub Gustavia mailed me an updated version of my Career Path Trade Cities Word document.   That's now been re-uploaded to the Strategy section.

MRed94 sent me another of her famous spreadsheets, this one detailing many the requests \ gifts etc you'll encounter in the North Dashur scenario.  To pick it up, take a look at the North Dashur walkthrough.

Angel Reckless Rodent