Pharaoh - Hints and Tips 1. Getting Started 2. Winning Scenarios 3. Military Matters 4. City Management 5. Monuments 1. Getting Started ------------------ Q: I keep running out of money! How do I make money? A: Exporting goods such as copper, wood, papyrus, linen, pottery and beer to other cities is the best way to make cash. It may be necessary on some maps to import a raw material (like flax) to make a finished product (like linen) to export. You can also build Tax Collectors to collect money from your citizens. Some maps also allow you to mine gold, which is a reliable source of income. Consider giving the city a gift from your family savings to get it through tough times, but be aware that personal funds do not carry over between Campaign time periods. Finally, don't overbuild! Building too fast can deplete your coffers faster than you can replenish them. Q: Where should I place my Palace in respect to my Gold Mines? A: As close as possible to minimize gold cartpusher travel times. Remember that the Palace must be built upon at least one tile of green grass. Q: Why can't I place a Festival Square on a valid intersection? A: You are only allowed one Festival Square per city, so chances are you have one already. The Festival Square must also be centered on a crossroads. Q: I'm not importing anything but I keep losing money! Where is it all going? A: Check with your Overseer of the Treasury to see what you are spending money on. Q: How can I make Pharaoh run the fastest possible on my computer? A: Do a full install, exit all other programs (except for Explorer and Systray) before starting Pharaoh, turn off sound (music & speech - you might want to keep sound fx & city sounds on), mouse help, warnings, pop-up messages, autosave; set display settings to 640x480; and set game speed to 100%. If you turn off warnings and pop-up messages, remember to click on the message button on the Control Panel to read your messages frequently . . . otherwise, disaster could ensue! Q: How do I rotate the map? A: There is a pyramid on the right side of the Menu bar. Click on the right corner of the pyramid to rotate the map counter- clockwise, click on the left corner to rotate clockwise, and click on the top corner to return the map to the default north orientation. Page Up, Page Down, and Home are hotkeys for these functions. Q: In the demo, statues would rotate and change graphics. How do I do that in the game? A: Use the 'r' key to manually rotate Statues, Temple Complexes, and Gatehouses. Q: What is the difference between Classical and Egyptian names in the Options menu? A: This changes city names shown on the World map and in messages between the Classical (Roman and Greek era) city names and Egyptian city names, which are closer to the actual city names during the time period that Pharaoh covers. Q: Where can I find the cheat codes for Pharaoh? A: You can't. 2. Winning Scenarios -------------------- Q: How do I raise my Kingdom Rating? A: Meet all of Pharaoh's or other Cities' requests, set your personal salary at or below your current rank, stay out of debt (very important!), and maintain a positive balance at the end of a year so that you can pay tribute to Pharaoh. Q: Help - I've met all of the mission requirements and the mission won't end! A: Check with your Overseer of Monuments; you may still need to dispatch your burial provisions. Visit your Ratings Overseer and the Mission Briefing and confirm that you have meet all of the goals. Q: Sometimes I get what seems like impossible requests from cities either as a plea for help (from an impending attack) or out of extortion. How am I expected to pay up? A: It's all part of the story. There are times when you just can't fulfil every request or save every city. In missions with seemingly impossible requests, it probably isn't necessary to meet the requests, it's all part of the challenge. Q: What's the best way to maximize personal gift-giving Kingdom rating increases? A: Send one lavish gift to Pharaoh or the people of Egypt every 12 months (no more than 2 a year). 3. Military Matters ------------------- Q: What do I do about the wild creatures that are eating my people? A: Try to keep your people away from the creatures. Use towers, archers and infantry to kill the creatures. Build walls so that the predators can't get into your city. If you kill every last hyena on the map, then new hyenas will not appear. Hippos and crocodiles can not be totally killed off. Q: My archers don't seem strong enough to fend off attacks from predators. How can I protect my people? A: Archers are the weakest military unit you can produce. Infantry, charioteers, towers, and warships are all fully capable of handling any domestic wildlife issues at hand. Q: I'm having trouble loading companies onto transports. A: It is much easier to load troops onto transports along smooth stretches of shoreline. When transports are selected, the hotkey "k" will bring up the embark/disembark cursor. After the transport and the army converge at the shoreline, give them a moment to get aboard. Also, note that all living members of an army company need to be present to board. If you order a company with 15 soldiers to board a transport, and your Recruiter produces a 16th soldier while they are en route, the original 15 will stand on the shore until their new comrade can join them. 4. City Management ------------------ Q: I'd like to keep certain housing sections in my city from evolving into better structures. How do I do this? A: Right-click on the relevant bazaars and instruct them to 'not buy' the items they need next to evolve, such as pottery, beer or linen. Q: How do I keep my people from wandering all over the floodplains? A: Use Roadblocks at the entry and exit points of floodplain roadway. Floodplain workers will pass through but everyone else will turn back. Q: I have a Storage Yard full of goods but caravans and trade ships won't buy anything. A: Traders will only buy certain numbers of goods per year. Check the Kingdom Map to see if they have already purchased their yearly quota. Also, check to see if you have the goods in question set to "stockpile"; no one will take any goods that are stockpiling. Q: I have a lot of people out of work but people aren't working in a particular industry - how come? A: The Problems Overlay is designed to help you figure out what is wrong. Make sure you have occupied houses near the industry so labour-seeking walkers from the industry pass by the houses. Make sure the industry has the raw materials and labour that it needs, and confirm that the Overseer of Commerce has not shut the industry down. Q: My cartpushers stand in the flood plain when it starts to flood and never deliver their food - why? A: You don't have enough room for the food - build more staffed Granaries nearby so the cartpushers can deliver their food. Note that grain farms produce grain (which goes to granaries) and straw (which goes to a Storage Yard). Q: I'm importing food and my people are being fed, but why won't my Granaries seem to collect food from the Storage Yards? A: Use the Granaries' special orders to "Get" food from Storage Yards. In addition, Bazaar buyers can acquire food from Storage Yards if you are currently importing that food. Q: I need the grain from my farms but I don't need all the straw that's filling up my Storage Yards. What can I do to prevent straw from being harvested? A: You can turn off straw production in your Overseer of Commerce screen. You can also tell your Storage Yards to "Not Accept" straw using the Storage Yard special orders. Q: I have Ferry Landings set up on both sides of the river but my cartpushers won't deliver goods from side B to side A. How did side B get populated if there is a problem? A: Both Ferry Landings must have employees in order for anybody other than immigrants to use the ferry. Q: How is it that I have an abundance of health coverage but my city still falls prey to illness? A: Chances are your people are not receiving enough food. Consult your Chief Overseer and see what your citywide health is. If citywide health is poor, then plague could break out, regardless of household health coverage. Q: What's the best way to check road connectivity when I've got temples and buildings obstructing my view? A: Use the overlay feature - fire and damage work nicely (hotkeys "f" and "d".) Q: What's better - gardens or statues? A: Small statues and gardens are the same, but after that, statues provide greater desirability. It's mostly a matter of style. Q: My overseers say the high taxes (or low wages, or lack of jobs, etc.) are deterring immigration, but I don't have high taxes any more. A: It can take a while for your people to forgive you for bad conditions and for the word to get out to potential immigrants. You generally have to wait for a little while for people to really notice new situations. This also means that you can increase taxes for a while without horribly affecting your city's mood. High tax complaints can also indicate unfair tax coverage. If roughly half of your population is taxed and the other half isn't, people will complain about taxes and leave the city. Use the Administration: Taxes overlay to ensure that the tax burden is spread equally, and build new Tax Collectors if necessary. 5. Monuments ------------ Q: My peasants have stopped working on the monument - what can I do? A: Peasants will work on floodplain farms before monuments, so work will slow during farming season. Make sure your Work Camps and Guilds have labour and are near the monuments. Consult the construction foreman (right-click on the monument) to see if he knows what is halting construction. Make sure you have the needed materials and Guilds and that you are not stockpiling monument materials. Q: I have to build a Mausoleum and a Pyramid. I'm ready to add on to the Mausoleum, but all of my workers are at the Pyramid. A: The construction foremen for each monument compete for the same pool of stonemasons, carpenters and laborers. It's best to build one monument at a time. Q: I am building a Pyramid Complex but my construction workers are just entering the causeway and disappearing. What's going on? A: The Pyramid Complex causeway must extend to the water. If the causeway does not reach the water, you may need to delete and rebuild the pyramid. Try to build Pyramid Complexes as close to the water as possible. - o -