SimCity (PC) review

[EvilBoris]

and also, you clearly haven't read the rules of the first play forum.

[25.05.2005]

and also, you clearly haven't read the rules of the first play forum.

LOL, just LOL. I mean...LOL.

Says a lot that I think.

[Brad]

LOL, just LOL. I mean...LOL.

Says a lot that I think.

Well, you haven't read the rules. Or you have and then disregarded them.

[25.05.2005]

Petty & juvenile responses. Thought this site was better than that. Shame.

[Brad]

No need to be so defensive. You aren't the only one who has broken the vote-based scoring system by casting a score on a game you haven't played but the point is you have.

[25.05.2005]

I played the Beta, but I'm not sure that meets the criteria as it obviously wasn't the full game, nor would it be considered a decent amount of play time. Though I notice most of these threads go up on the day of purchase with polls immediately filled in, and I wouldn't really consider that a decent amount of play time either. Anyway, it's all a bit tetchy I feel, don't wish to continue in this manner. I think we should let all issues rest.

[Brad]

Agreed. This game has certainly fueled some rage.

[mikewl]

Anyone playing know whether residential zones once upgraded to bigger apartment type buildings actually allow for population growth? I had alot of these buildings show up after increasing land value but my population seemed to stay the same, to reach 5000 population I had to zone a huge amount, but once some skyscrapers were built the population shot upto near 25,000 and all my facilities suddenly became woefully inadequate.

It seems that buildings only start holding more people once they become skyscraper and not smaller apartment buildings, unless I was missing something.

[EvilBoris]

There are two bars that dictate what happens to a building, land value and density.

You can prompt a building to become nicer by increasing the land value with parks etc, the 2nd bar for density (which is split into 3) will cause the building to become larger when if has levelled up its density value. You need a fatter road to build a bigger building too.

I've not worked out what actually increases density yet, but it does seem that buildings that upgrade in wealth squickly don't seem to become denser as fast.

[dataDave]

I hear this game is mighty broken: http://answers.ea.com/t5/Miscellaneo...zzvyyawz9opsrn

[originalbadboy]

I hear this game is mighty broken: http://answers.ea.com/t5/Miscellaneo...zzvyyawz9opsrn

Hmm ... Although its clear the game simulation isn't perfect, I think broken is slightly overdoing it. A lot of the quirks with the simulation can be got around by just building a city the 'correct' way. Surely that's the whole point of the game?

[dataDave]

There's only one way to build a city then? By the sound of things this 'correct way' is completely unconventional as to how you would normally expect intelligent city planning to pan out. Sounds awesome.

Now, here is where it gets really good... In the evening, when work and school lets out, they all leave and proceed to the absolute closest "open" house. They don't "own" their houses. The "people" you see are actually just mindless agents (much like the utilities agents, as I said earlier) making the whole idea of "being able to follow a 'Sim' through their entire day" utterly POINTLESS!!"

The reason traffic problems cause so many other side-effects, is because EVERYTHING relies on those "people" who are stuck in herds trying to go to whatever closest "slot" they can fill. Casinos go bust because "tourists" are just "shopper agents" from out of town. You MUST put casinos RIGHT next to the entrance to your city if you want them to succeed. Placing street-car stops by the casinos can actually cause more harm than good! Why? Because the "shoppers" will board the streetcar stop (because it's the closest open slot) and be shuttled to a shopping district instead.

Since no sim actually owns a house, they don't REALLY care what ammenities are built around it. THIS is why it is nearly impossible to have distinct districts of each wealth level... A low-wealth agent may very well end up in a high-wealth house at the end of the day. Why? Because it was the closest open house. The next morning, that agent sets out to find "high-wealth" work. Then after work, may end up in a medium-wealth home with 2 kids! There's no rhyme or reason for the way they behave, OTHER than just taking the shortest (not quickest) path to the nearest open space.

Police services suffer from this as well. They converge on the first crime committed, and ignore the second crime until one car rushes off to deposit the criminal-agent in jail. THEN the other cars can respond to the second crime. There's no zones, and there's no actual "prevention."

Fire services also send every unit to the first available fire. It's utterly pointless to try and "decentralize," because every truck from the city will still converge on one fire, ignoring the other three until it's out. Once the first fire is out, they all rush to the next fire. The only thing you get for having multiple fire-trucks is that they put the fires out slightly quicker. Really, you can have the exact same fire coverage quality with only one of each type of fire-unit. "Fire Marshalls" are COMPLETELY random, and just seem to roam around picking whichever building is "most at risk," ignoring the fact that an entire neighborhood is high risk, and the next "most at risk" is on the other side of the city... Which gets them stuck in traffic.

[originalbadboy]

There's only one way to build a city then? By the sound of things this 'correct way' is completely unconventional as to how you would normally expect intelligent city planning to pan out. Sounds awesome.

By correct I mean putting things in the right places to maximsie the resources in question. Separating the different zones etc. Obviuosly each city will be slightly different, so there is no one single answer, but yes there is a 'correct' way of building a city, both in a game and in real life.

I didn't realise you were a city planner in real life?

[dataDave]

I'm not, but I've played enough SimCity games to know that you shouldn't have to be limited to a Jacque Fresco template in order to get anywhere.

[originalbadboy]

I'm not, but I've played enough SimCity games to know that you shouldn't have to be limited to a Jacque Fresco template in order to get anywhere.

In the end though you can create a city however you like, some will work better than others. For me Simcity has always been a bit of a sandbox game anyway, just something to use up some hours. Not something I am going obsess over to that level.

There are obviously some path finding issues with the game that I sure will get fixed. But is it 'breaking' the game for me? Nope, I am just enjoying it.