Children of the Nile

Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile is a Simulation Game developed by Tilted Mill Entertainment and part of the City Building Series. It's the Spiritual Successor of Pharaoh. Like its predecessor, the game is set in ancient Egypt, and in campaign and scenarios it follows the exploits of several dynasties throughout history. You'll get the chance to construct massive Mastabas and Pyramids, battle against other tribes and neighbours, and cultivate the fertile banks of the Nile, to provide places to worship the many Egyptian gods and to give a safe passage to the afterlife to your citizens and Pharaoh.

Children of the Nile radically breaks with established concepts from previous games (such as walkers, apartment blocks for workers or active gods). It was also the first in the series to go fully 3D, but the graphics were found to be a bit lacking. It remains something of an odd one out among the games.

It received a minor Expansion Pack, Alexandria.

Official Site

This game provides examples of:

 * Zero Percent Approval Rating / Apathetic Citizens: Your citizens will go on strike, protest in front of your palace and finally leave your city (this is very harmful if they are educated) if you don't cover their numerous demands and needs properly.
 * Ancient Egypt: Merged with Ancient Greece in the expansion, Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great.
 * Build Like an Egyptian: Often the goal of a campaign includes building certain pyramids.
 * Command and Conquer Economy:
 * Present regarding construction but minimized when it comes to logistics, the citizens must personally attend to their own needs as opposed to previous games in the series where things were delivered to their doors.
 * Alluded, the citizens can occasionally be heard speaking of a golden age when a market lady brought pottery and linen right to your doorstep
 * There is a kind of dual economy as your civil servants get food (money) directly from your distribution facilities, but the rest of the citizens are a private group that have to trade and sell their wares in order to get it. They can scavenge for food if there is not enough, but this makes them quite unhappy.
 * A Commander Is You: As in previous games you are the administrator behind the recrutiment, training and composition of the army, but you only get to (tactically) command your troops if your city is invaded. You can strategically decide to invade other cities in the world map, but those battles happen offscreen.
 * Dual Mode Unit: Educated professionals can switch between several tasks; Commanders can train the army, lead the army, the navy or the local militia. Priests have four social roles and scribes and overseers have various censual and construction related modes available.
 * Due to The Dead: Afterlife is a fundamental aspect of the Egyptian culture, your citizens get very upset if there are not mortuary facilities available and your prestige suffers a big hit if a recently dead Pharaoh does not have a magnificent burial site.
 * An Entrepreneur Is You: You are the Pharaoh, but the city must be managed like any other business in many aspects in order to survive.
 * Founder of the Kingdom: You in the campaign. Founder of Alexandria too in the expansion.
 * Generational Saga: You play as a member of the Royal Family, as a dinasty; when your current Pharaoh dies you keep playing as his heir and have to bury the dead one. Every time a new ruler rises to the throne your prestige takes a hit as you are not renowned yet.
 * Gods Need Prayer Badly: Subverted, in a major departure from Pharaoh and the rest of the series, the gods are not supernatural beings but mere symbols. That's all, no help, no curses, just indirect results; the people get angsty if they can't worship them properly. Some gods are more important than others and their demand is dynamic (e.g people will want to worship Osiris a lot if a flood is expected to be poor).
 * Non Entity General: Averted, you character, the Pharaoh is another inhabbitant of the city and moves around carried on a litter. He is buried in a specifically designated tomb when he dies.
 * Oddly Named Sequel 2 Electric Boogaloo: In a way: Inmortal Cities Children of the Nile, Spiritual Successor of Pharaoh.
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist: The priests; they provide healthcare, teach students at schools, tend the gods at worship facilities and provide funerary services.
 * Rags to Riches: Most of your citizens are farmers and some even vagrants or muggers, but their families can and eventually will climb up the social ladder if the adequate jobs and education opportunities are available.
 * Real Is Brown: The game departs from the bright yellow tones of Pharaoh and the brown soil and dirt is one of the factors that make it look less cartoony are more realistic. That and years of computer and graphical improvements of course.
 * Ridiculously Fast Construction: Averted, the buildings need bricks and a constructor to be physically present. And the monuments need a lot of special resources, workers and an overseer coordinating everything to have any work done. Then it realistically takes a huge amount of time to build huge structures.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: The Pharaoh or his heir usually preside over the courtroom and move around inspecting the buildings. The wife and her entourage buys household goods.
 * Space Management Game: Comodity game sub-genre.
 * Top God: There are a lot of gods -over a dozen-, but some -depending on the scenario- are more important than others for your people and require greater buildings and complex temples accordingly.
 * Urban Segregation: Optional. Ideally, to minimize walking time farmer houses would be placed near the river. The Palace and upper class houses are larger structures usually placed inland over a flat explanade. Shoopkeeepers and middle class services can be located between the two or mixed. Military camps, far away resources and construction sites usually need to be supported with a new small neighbourhood to maximize efficiency.
 * Videogame Caring Potential: You sure can make all your citizens happy. Have your granaries full of food, give them jobs, have a good medical and mortuary coverage, keep the city safe with your soldiers and full of places to worship their favourite gods. Add lavish houses for the elite, fancy tombs for the nobles and a courtroom to solve disputes and they will worship you
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: Just reverse some of the above. Strikes, emigration and starvation will ensue, and your city will quickly spiral into ruin as educated workers aren't easy to replace once they are gone.
 * You Require More Vespene Gas:
 * Food is the actual currency, and it's very seasonal and erratic at first as it comes from the harvests and the flooding cylce of the Nile. Other resources are gathered locally or traded.
 * Prestige is the other main resource as it allows to employ more educated citizens. It's obtained via monuments, beautifications and glorious achievements.