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Using SimCity to diagnose my home town's traffic problem

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Re: Using SimCity to diagnose my home town's traffic problem

#61
post #59
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Subways can be even better, since they leave the surface clean for other things.

Original Sim City didn't have subways, just railways with very sparse commuter trains. I tried the all-rail town, too. There was a persistent alert to "build more roads".

You could have a few sparse roads to get rid of that alert, and all things are good. Also, bulldozing congested roads was a net positive.

Re: Using SimCity to diagnose my home town's traffic problem

#62

Unless you can build cycle tracks there's no point.

You can't. It's a super car-centric game. You can't even build pedestrian-only streets or lanes. Light rail is married to roads. There's no way to set bus routes, buses will visit every single stop in town. Oh and subways don't exist either.

Hopefully there's a 'rush hour' style expansion that lets us simulate cities other than Los Angeles.

Re: Using SimCity to diagnose my home town's traffic problem

#63
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's not such a bad thing. Spreading around saved game files and using tools to mess with the games memory to cheat is something that has prevented a true Ranking system and online play in almost all games. These server-side requirements would mean that the $ is stored server side and it will be harder to cheat. It was pretty much either have always on connectivity or require punkbuster and disable many online…

How does "ranking" work for a sandbox game? The concept wakes no sense. Simcity doesn't have kill/death ratios or something. You can't have a global leaderboard, because there's no winning. It's not clear that "cheating" is even a problem. If you want to play online with your friends with unlimited money, go ahead! Why the hell not?

Maybe they are trying to teach kids things like debt to income , budget management, loan basics, and concepts like "there is no redo in real life" rather than basing everything on a kill/death ratio.

You can easily develop a way to rank how productive, profitable, clean, and happy cities in a game like SimCity are. If you weigh these factors and provide a number then you have a ranking. Maybe global leaderboard was a bad example but there are numerous other features that might require this kind of online only gameplay that we haven't experienced yet.

I say don't knock it until you try it. Not the beta, not the videos of others playing, the real game.

If the new strategy really kills the game then I'm sure someone will create a fake server patch or method of playing offline.

Re: Using SimCity to diagnose my home town's traffic problem

#65

It seems to me that they blundered when it comes to marketing. If they had just called it SimCity Online and promoted it as an MMO, no one would get upset about the persistent connection requirement and no save/load functionality.

That may do more damage than good. [Franchise] Online titles tend to be met with suspicion and disinterest from gamers who traditionally enjoyed the franchise.

Re: Using SimCity to diagnose my home town's traffic problem

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does this mean you also can't exchange cities? What sort of foolish design decision is that?

sadly, EA is ruining what looks like an otherwise very promising game with DRM and DLC

I don't think they're ruining it. Some people don't care about DRM / DLC with gaming (like myself). I just want the best possible gaming experience.

Re: Using SimCity to diagnose my home town's traffic problem

#67
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's an option when you have neighboring cities that are played by other people. I believe your city will impact theirs and vice-versa.

Wait, so what happens if I build lots of nuclear plants then let them all melt down? Does that affect neighboring cities that other people are actually playing?

I believe it is designed to affect neighboring cities, yes. And this is basically what happens in real life... and then war.

Re: Using SimCity to diagnose my home town's traffic problem

#68
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does "ranking" work for a sandbox game? The concept wakes no sense. Simcity doesn't have kill/death ratios or something. You can't have a global leaderboard, because there's no winning. It's not clear that "cheating" is even a problem. If you want to play online with your friends with unlimited money, go ahead! Why the hell not?

Maybe they are trying to teach kids things like debt to income , budget management, loan basics, and concepts like "there is no redo in real life" rather than basing everything on a kill/death ratio. You can easily develop a way to rank how productive, profitable, clean, and happy cities in a game like SimCity are. If you weigh these factors and provide a number then you have a ranking. Maybe global leaderboard was a…

That's completely the opposite of why games exist. If I didn't want a chance at forgiveness, I would just play real life.

Re: Using SimCity to diagnose my home town's traffic problem

#69
I think the solution, at least where you create everything, is buses that go non-stop between major hubs. And with traffic lights synchronized to allow them to hit their top speed. And, where possible, set the speeds high.

If every spoke is timed so it takes the same amount of time, you can minimize how long people have to wait. Make everybody get on at one end of the bus and exit at the other and hub stops can be short.

You'd have to walk to the nearest hub and from the one closest to your destination. But you need the exercise anyway.

And charge tolls for passenger cars that vary with demand, something that would work without recreating the roads.

Re: Using SimCity to diagnose my home town's traffic problem

#70
post #68
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they are trying to teach kids things like debt to income , budget management, loan basics, and concepts like "there is no redo in real life" rather than basing everything on a kill/death ratio. You can easily develop a way to rank how productive, profitable, clean, and happy cities in a game like SimCity are. If you weigh these factors and provide a number then you have a ranking. Maybe global leaderboard was a…

That's completely the opposite of why games exist. If I didn't want a chance at forgiveness, I would just play real life.

Different games exist for different purposes. Not every game allows infinite saves and redos.
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