The radar map is always present on the Overview tab. There's a toggle at the top of the Control Panel that lets you swap between the information panel and the radar map on any tab. It's literally one click away at any given time.

From what we've seen so far, Impressions is on track to offer a more widely appealing game. Clearly people like this type of realtime strategy; this city-building series has sold millions of copies, Sim City has sold millions of copies and there are folks around the office that enjoy Age of Empires II because of the city-building aspect. The series has been a big success for Impressions so far, and we think Zeus will carry on that tradition. Look for it in October.

The team somehow keeps pushing harder, even after working overtime for many weeks. The game is nearing completion, but we'll use every available hour until our deadline to keep improving it. We're confident that Zeus will ship on time as a fun, highly polished game that won't disappoint you.

It's a double-edged sword. It is very convenient to simply be able to send "food" (any type of food) to fullfil a request. But, on maps where there are multiple food types available to grow/manufacture, there really wont be any practical reason to grow more than one type of food.

Kraken: You underrate our Adventure creators, Draco. You will still be happy to have multiple food types available in some Episodes, mainly because of the logistics involved in producing each type and the limited nature of meadow terrain. Farms and goats (cheese) must sometimes compete with olive trees and grapes (industries) for valuable meadow space. In such cases, urchins or fish will be welcome indeed.
Combining individual foods into generic "food" greatly simplifies the distribution and trade interfaces. It's a change for the better.

Chris Beatrice says he and the whole Zeus team want to make sure that Zeus: Master of Olympus is not only easy to pick up and learn but an enjoyable experience from start to finish. "[Gamers] will not have a hard time building a beautiful, thriving city, but that's where the game really picks up. They may face an invasion, or be beseeched by a god for a favor. Perhaps they will want to start a colony that could provide the city with more oil and fleece." Throw in the original Olympic games, the great philosophers, random attacks by mythical monsters, and visits from Heracles and the other great heroes, and you have a city-building game of amazing depth that Beatrice and team hope is "a very refreshing gaming experience."

"Pigs" are wild boars. They range freely and must be hunted. Urchin collectors and fishing wharves are separate buildings. Urchins inhabit shallow waters, and their collectors wade to retrieve them. Fish are found in deep water. Cheese comes from goats.
To simplify the role of foodstuffs on the world level, all food types become generic "food" for purposes of sending gifts, making requests and trading -- that is, any food type will satisfy a food request. Multiple food types are no longer required for housing evolution.

So, while there's considerable variety in the way individual foods are obtained, the actual distribution and exchange of food is a bit easier.

Of course, a strong city is much better able to handle itself in the open world. Impressions has beefed up the world interaction aspect so you have more opposing city-states to fight off, ally with or ignore at your leisure. Heroes will be wandering the countryside as well, fighting off random monsters or helping people at leisure. It's likely that no hero will be "yours" - they just do good deeds all around.

Any building that needs workers has access to them, provided it has a road connection and the city has an available labor pool. No radius or distance rules apply.

Tin is not a commodity in Zeus. If you have copper, you can make weapons and armor.

The only assembled buildings in Zeus are Sanctuaries to the gods. The Sanctuaries vary in size according to each god's importance, but none are as large as the big pyramids in Pharaoh. Sanctuary-building is not the major challenge in Zeus, although some of the larger ones will require significant time and resources.

> Pharaoh roadblocks were like "stop signs" for random
> walkers and of course, peasants looking for workers
> would stop there too.

That was the main problem with Roadblocks. Rather than making Roadblocks configurable, Zeus removes labor access walkers altogether. A building that has road access gains workers automatically, assuming your city has sufficient labor. That simplification makes Roadblocks much, much more effective.

Zeus will require a graphics card with 2 MB of RAM, capable of displaying 1024x768 resolution in 16-bit color.

I know you all have been anxiously awaiting more news on the beta test - we've been pleasantly overwhelmed by the response and it has taken some time to sort through the more than 10,000 people who signed up. Anyhow, e-mail invitations to participate in the beta test will be going out by Friday, so watch your mailboxes!

Thanks to all who signed up and good luck!