City Building Games

Mood: pretty good, actually
Music: Twilight Zone by Golden Earring

I love to play city building games. Something about the micromanaging is just so fun! Except, of course, when you forget simple things like, oh say, a firehouse. **sheepish grin**

So far, I've played Caesar II, Zeus, Poseidon, Emperor, and I'm now playing Pharaoh (with the Cleopatra expansion pack). All of them were made by Sierra/Impressions Games (I'm pretty sure). I have to say, out of all of those, my favorite is Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom. The roadblocks and gates work much, much better than the systems in the other games. Even the roadblocks in Pharoah don't work the same (they suck, actually). Emperor is just a far more precise game, in my book, and I love precision. I wish the other games of that nature had been made with that level of precision. I hate seeing my walkers go everywhere but where I want them to! Oh, and the graphics is another thing. I think Emperor has better building designs and such - the others are a little too cartoony (especially Zeus).

Civilization II and III, while not quite the same genre, are fun (admittedly, I haven't had time to dive too much into III yet, but what I did do looks good).

I haven't tried playing the Sims stuff yet. It just doesn't look all that much fun - I like managing goods and processes, not necessarily individuals. It seems to me that the Sims are more of an interactive soap opera (bleh).

I'm also a Rollercoaster Tycoon freak. I've tried other tycoon games, and none of them are on a level with that, although Railroad Tycoon II has come close. Cruise Ship Tycoon is a joke. I gave Golf Resort Tycoon to the kids.

Oh, and Total Annihilation: Kingdoms has been rather fun, too. I've also recently gotten my hands on Stronghold: Crusader, and it's alright - not fabulous, but alright.

I guess I'm in search of the next great detail-oriented game. Any suggestions?