Awww mann...when did I get Pharoah? It was...wow...yeah, we're talking a good few years back. Possibly, before I start secondary! I got that with Caesar III and Thief, I think? Played a lot of the Pharoah but a lot more Thief, heh heh...
Not much for the Caesar, he (it) didn't get much love...
Those games are really quite unique in their concept. Rather than doing urban planning like in SimCity, you're doing something similar to The Settlers and having to be efficient in your designs and make sure your cities are productive and well-off and never in need. That sounds really quite easy but as you well know, it's a whole other world away from easy...
I've played Pharoah and Caesar, of course. Zeus, I've played a little of but I've never played their other game...weren't they called Immersion Software, the devs?
Also, why not just try the expack? Might as well...and it such an old game, no-one cares if you download a crack for it or whatever! You paid for it (don't answer that for simplicity's sake...
) so you do whatever the hell you want with it! I had to get System Shock 2 running that way, god almighty, that was a toughie to get running and the same problem happened to Thief at one point...they ran on the same engine, bloody old thing...