Caesar IV good guide to semiconductor manufacturing

VIVENDI OFFICIALLY took the wraps off Caesar IV last week, giving us plebs the chance to explore the dynamics of supply chain management on our desktop PCs.

Yeah, you too could be someone who has to make sure enough sand (silicon) has to get to the glass factory (LCD fab) with enough staff to make parts, and without being left in the embarrassing predicament of having piles of unsold pieces clogging up your carts (distribution chain or "logistics") and the markets (dealers) not being able to sell them.

Caesar IV makes the task of managing your distribution chain in Rome that much harder than Caesar III because of the added components in the game such as glass, clothes, gold and armour. Clothes need sheep, armour needs wool and iron, and gold may glitter but can only be sold after it's turned into bling.

Other exotic products include incense, ivory, spices and other stuff we've never heard of but is probably illegal in civilised societies.

The plebs are always revolting but you need them to man the factories, farms and farmacies, supervised by the middle classes who we guess are the pen pushers, beancounters, and priests.

The game is labelled as being suitable for people aged 12 or more. There's little in here, however, that would corrupt an under 12. There's no whores, no brothels, and very little licentiousness apart from the odd temple to Bacchus. Last time we visited ancient Pompeii, we noticed that the under 12s couldn't avoid seeing the brothels or the signs showing the god Priapus weighing something that wouldn't go down well at a Mother's Union meeting.

Beware the ideas of March

The graphics and other effects are much better than in Caesar III. Torrential downpours in the many new towns and cities appear to happen quite frequently, but with impressive sound and graphics effects. However, quite frankly, the actor reading out your tasks and the descriptions of the cities is a real luvvie and after hearing him once you won't want to hear him again. There are much better military options as well and a host of other new features including Caesar IV Online.

But beware!

Caesar IV needs Windows XP SP II to run, and you'll also need some Voleware to make the beast work. It won't work under Vista. You need to have a good graphics card and very recent drivers from ATI or Nvidia to make it work at all. Plus, if you turn on all the graphics effects and your card isn't really up to it, you might find gazing at a screen shot and using your imagination will get you to your goal faster.

When your game starts, there's a stonking big Nvidia logo amongst the usual pre-game fripperies, and it's only when you get to the readme.txt file that you realise everything has its quid pro quo. Here's the pro Vivendi plugs for its Nvidia quid:

"Caesar IV uses some of the most advanced rendering techniques available today for special effects and to achieve real-time performance for a great game playing experience. The game was largely developed and tested on NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) FX, 6 Series, and 7 Series graphics cards and the intended experience can be more fully realized on NVIDIA GeForce 7 Series graphics hardware. On a GeForce 6800 or better you will be able to turn on all of the NVIDIA special effect features at higher resolutions in the game."

Sheesh.

Like we said, Caesar IV gives you an excellent insight into the processes necessary to build and sell anything and turn a profit. And as the Roman Empire was a good example of capitalism red in tooth and claw, you can always buck the system, evade 1st century SOX regulations, and simply cheat. Recommended for entrepreneurs and obsessive component distributors over the age of 12. ?

L'INQ
Lorem Ipsum site