SimCity: Wishlists

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Regional oversight and operation.

One of the things that is being tossed around in the multi-player discussions and elsewhere is the idea of one player throwing a ball of nasty at another's city. If this can happen, I believe there should be consequences of this action just as there should be consequences of depleting a resource.

Some kind of regional tribunal consisting of, say, all the mayors of the cities, should review such things and assess the consequences, which should probably be some kind of fine or loss of privilege. There has to be a quorum, of course. Say 50% of mayors + 1. In a one on one situation, an NPC adjudicator should hand out penalties.

One of the favorite things that Americans like to do is litigate. So let us truly have a good simulation.

[Catmando 7]

Regional oversight and operation.

One of the things that is being tossed around in the multi-player discussions and elsewhere is the idea of one player throwing a ball of nasty at another's city. If this can happen, I believe there should be consequences of this action just as there should be consequences of depleting a resource.

Some kind of regional tribunal consisting of, say, all the mayors of the cities, should review such things and assess the consequences, which should probably be some kind of fine or loss of privilege. There has to be a quorum, of course. Say 50% of mayors + 1. In a one on one situation, an NPC adjudicator should hand out penalties.

One of the favorite things that Americans like to do is litigate. So let us truly have a good simulation.

On the other hand, everyone loves a little anarchy. Who's to say the tribunal will even be effective? From the article posted in that other thread, it seems mayors are tasked with competing for citizens in multiplayer or working together if they choose. If I had to compete with you and everyone else in the region for a bigger, better, more prosperous city, I wouldn't be afraid to send a "ball of nasty" at you or anyone else, and no one else should feel like they can't do the same to me. With our region's geopolitics in that sorry state, what good would a tribunal do?

[Mark Waybill 242]

I'd rather Moose's idea of a tribunal to an 'anarchy'. Or, how about this for an idea- each group of players can decide their own rules and punish and reward as they please. If you don't like our laws, go join a different group playing etc.

That way the more serious players who aren't looking to create a government level COD game can create and maintain their cities without troll attacks. However if it is agreed upon prior to developing a region, a group could allow certain levels of competitiveness of a non business like nature.

[Catmando 7]

I'd rather Moose's idea of a tribunal to an 'anarchy'. Or, how about this for an idea- each group of players can decide their own rules and punish and reward as they please. If you don't like our laws, go join a different group playing etc.

That way the more serious players who aren't looking to create a government level COD game can create and maintain their cities without troll attacks. However if it is agreed upon prior to developing a region, a group could allow certain levels of competitiveness of a non business like nature.

I think there's significant problems with your view, though. Consider what could happen:

You get put in a region with a bunch of random players. Anarchy ensues and you all try to damage each other. There's no government or some ineffective tribunal as in my scenario.

You get put in a region with a bunch of random players. There's an effective tribunal. It's not explained how it is effective.

You join a region with your friends. The tribunal is ineffective because you're all working together anyway.

You join a region with your friends. Most of you work together, but one or two try and stir up trouble. The tribunal attempts to punish them. It's not explained how effective it is.

In two of those scenarios the tribunal is ineffective, in one because it can't get anything done and in the other because it doesn't need to do anything. In another it's effective because magic: do you just happen to have a bunch of well-meaning people outnumbering the "trolls"? That's unlikely to say the least. Finally, in the last, it's unknown how effective it is. Its effectiveness would probably depend on what it can do to punish wrongdoers: economic sanctions, fines, whatever.

It seems to me the best solution is to just have a person in charge of the entire region, like the founder, who sets the rules and hands out punishments when necessary. This would avoid anarchy unless the founder actually enjoys the anarchy. I wouldn't play on a region like that (I probably won't play multiplayer at all), but leaving it as an option is nice.

  Edited March 18, 2012 by Catmando  

[Mark Waybill 242]

Well as I said it could be the Founding Mayor, or a group of founding Mayors (i.e like the Founding Fathers). Either way I think there'd have to be some order or heirarchy otherwise unless you were playing only with friends you absolutely trusted and thought alike with... And of course one would expect the Multiplayer Mode to start new friendships as well as maintain present ones. If this game attracts new players there will be lots of newbie Mayors hoping to join regions, and some 'troll' Mayors as well whether we like it or not.

But as long as there is a mechanism in place to prevent troll like behaviour I'll be happy.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Please try to keep to the topic of wish lists...

There is another thread where multiplayer et al. can be discussed.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I wish for a regional administration controlled by the Mayors.

[Keigen Shu 17]

Here is my wishlist. I'm sorry if some of these has already been covered:

1. Keep the simulated mechanics realistic, down to the details.

An example of what I'm talking about here water. As we seen on the demo, the water table shows the amount of water that can be pumped from the ground and is replenished by rain. I wish Maxis uses this to the fullest and make it so that we have varying water levels across the terrain. This also means that it would be possible to simulate a really problematic flash flood and other water-related disasters. Add that with a really bad lightning fire disaster in the middle of the city... just think of the possibilites. It's not impossible. In fact, based on what they said in GDC about GlassBox is capable of, I was hoping for the ultimate simlation experience where the environment is basically a modern version of SimEarth. If they didn't then some guy is probably going to make an open source version of it sometime in the future; when computers are capable of simulating it smoothly.

2. Starting from a beautiful existing small town (user-adbandonment or randomly generated), maybe with some problems (the reason the previous mayor got kicked out of office). Good for newbies picking up the game or some journalist looking to write stories of the city.

3. I'd like to see a 2012 Doomsday Scenario, for the hardcore Maxis fans. SimEarth anyone? You start in some successful city. One month later, a giant meteor crashes into the city. The balance immediately turns into negative infinity. Now you're left in a state where money becomes useless(income/taxes don't work) and lots of debri (no demolition allowed because you have no money), pollution from meteor collision and radiation from the old nuclear power plant. You must use the workforce of the few remaining demoralized survivors to create a self-sustaining economy in the city and develop the city back to how it was.

[johndoh4 13]

I would kinda like to see annexation as a possibility (though I don't really have much hope). Also, I hope that city tiles don't have to be perfect squares like in SC4; but that will probably depend on whether or not the region view is based on a grid system.

[Lantentine 4]

Some sort of regional court would be an interesting and fun thing to have - but Maxis would have to be extremely careful implementing it. It can go both ways:

• You set up a region with random players over the internet. Everyone gets along in a friendly competition until some troll / uber-keen player comes along and starts making trouble, and ruining everyone else's enjoyment. This is where a punishment system would be beneficial.

• You set up a region with random players over the internet. Everyone is competitive and / or a troll. Sometimes they are sneaky trolls - they let you build up an impressive city (perhaps reliant on their exports - if they really are the troll of trolls) and then back-stab you with all sorts of nasties and trading taxes, etcetera, ruining your city. There is no punishment for the troll. Or alternatively, the punishments are forced compensation via trade, or fines that are distributed to the over regional cities. If you were to have the best and most successful city, then the other players could gang up on you, accuse you unfairly of doing something and then proceed to leech of your talent at Simcity through fines, making the game feel like no fun at all.

[Catmando 7]

If you were to have the best and most successful city, then the other players could gang up on you, accuse you unfairly of doing something and then proceed to leech of your talent at Simcity through fines, making the game feel like no fun at all.

Oh dear God, I hadn't even thought of that. Multiplayer could become SimEmpire: the practical objective would be to create a ruling elite of cities with a slight majority and enslave promising new cities in the region to funnel money into the capital. I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep tonight.

  Edited March 19, 2012 by Catmando  

[K141 19]

This is what I want:

Economic sanctions

Annexation

Possible conflict between regions/cities

Military Buildup i.e if there is tension between cities/regions, it would be possible to increase military funding to defend your city

Zoneable Airports

Zoneable Seaports

Zoneable Military Bases

Parades

Military Funding

Advanced Weapons Funding

More Disasters

Riots

Recession

Oil spill

Better Police Equipment such as SWAT teams and police boats

Border Patrol

Coast Guard and Coast Guard Cutters i.e not wimpy PT boats, I mean 420 ft National Security Cutters!

Building Upgrades

Zoneable Hospital campuses

[PeterSweet 5]

Plus wrong topic but i don't know where I can post this answer. Never mind.

I want to see the new fastest train like Eurostar, Eurotunnel, London Underground, London Bus Lanes & London Taxis, New York Taxis & Subways etc is hoping to add more of these transportation to their fleet and create more routes to Florence, Naples and other cities from Rome and Milan and the another countries as well.

[The Prodigy 8]

Complex Highways.

I'm talking about everything, wider roads for toll booths that can be adjusted to accommodate different types of tolls (toll bridges are not the same as toll highways). HOV lanes (with electronic scanners, considering this franchise had fusion reactors, they should have proper ways to exploit their sims (teehee); adjustable lanes, rural towns usually have 1-2 lanes, while cities can have up to 16-lanes depending on the need... and if sims are made intuitive enough to make use of them. A better way to build tunnels under water than raising land, building a road and then sinking it. Collector and Express Lanes. more standardized Highway to ___ links (SC3K was onto something with the rail to subway link) Every highway in the USA I've been on has road-to-highway bus stops, light rail-to-highway transit stations. Multi-purpose bridges, I'm talking highway/pedestrian/light rail and/or monorail/double-deck capable bridges... which of course could be adjustable to the player's desired transit planning.

Complex (and maybe fussy) Government.

As a city gets bigger, it needs departments. The Bureau of Bureaucracy was on the right track but there is so much more. Why not make advisers unlock-able? I don't anyone has an environmental adviser in farm town, but they do when an 'Environmental Agency' is created. Cities also have to be a little harder to control, even rich cities have a crime problems that are above adding more police stations, in some cases a mayor has an option, do nothing, try to fix the problem or try to gentrify the area.

Neighborhoods.

I think the game could integrate where they were going with some of the older sim-community games by having cities organized into neighborhoods. Say City A has Neighborhoods: B, C, and D, each with their own community leader/adviser offers the same oftentimes meaningless information and desires as petitioners in SC3K.

Freight Overhaul.

If city A has a port and a rail link to city that's a couple miles away, I think the port should be the central point of freight moving around rather than proximity to the edge of a map. Considering this new Glass Box engine can handle making every sim have a purpose, I hope they can at least make every freight train have one too.

More Unified Sea Establishments.

I personally fell in love with building appropriately sized Marinas, Navy Bases, Oil Ports, Container Ports and Trash Ports; and I think this new game could handle that kind of organizing with ease.

Organic City Growth.

How about getting a small city to start with and as the city grows, the player can build adjacent cities and have larger cities absorb smaller ones, or absorb empty space, if a city is having problems, smaller cities can (if they want) break away, maybe have one of those annoying adviser pop-ups on whether you'd like to allow the city to break away. And more multi-player if you wanted to get really complex/awesome/frustrating, have a relationship between bigger and smaller cities such as bigger cities offering to annex smaller cities, the smaller city mayor becoming the community leader of the section of the city, and if the two disagree, BOOM, you've just added a civic aspect to the game.

Regional Props.

I live in a college town way in eastern Washington, USA and the difference between winter and summer is like night and day, Simcity Universities could easily replicate this. This university also services the state, rather than just the city. I think Region A when it gets to a certain population should get say an Airport, Seaport, University or Stadium rather than each city functioning autonomously.

Adjustable Everything for Transit.

I would like to see more options for development of transit. i'm using Seattle as my examples, Seattle (and Washington) are home to the largest ferry fleet in the USA, that should be an R&D option for City A which is next to the water. This transit tech-tree could involve accordion buses, monorails (relegating it to R&D), high speed rail and so on.

Bring Back Desalinization Plants

But keep the low/high capacity pumps.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

A trivial but important point: A single keystroke character for Simoleon. How about '&'.

[LivingInThePast 364]

I think one of the features of SC2013 is programmable holidays. Basically, this would allow you to create holidays. Maybe it would cause a spike in business (St. Patrick's Day at the bars!). Maybe it's a national holiday (all city offices closed! less maintenance!). Maybe it's an ego thing (today is Simtropolis Bunny Day!), or maybe it's a way to celebrate local custom (Kids Day in Japan). With increasing political correctness of today and the desire to create something unique, it could really be something in the new SimCity. Just an idea.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Patooey on political correctness. However, this is a good idea. Once you have declared the locale of the game, you could pull up a standard set of holidays for that part of the world, then add to them. There should definitely be a Golden Llama day, which is a movable feast.

[Mark Waybill 242]

It would be nice to have various public holidays, both mayormade and real. Also significant milestones in a city's history, like it's fiftieth or hundredth year since incorporation, or so forth should have some sort of parade or holiday. Festivals could boost tourism, like the Surfest in Newcastle or the Viva la Gong here in Wollongong. Even small towns have their days. If Sims were smart enough and it was feasible for them to scan a region for possible holiday locations based upon variables such as their budget, the distance etc then if I had an island in one corner of a region with a ferry port, and a town on a bay on the other side with a ferry port, and the island had some nice hotels and features and attractions, Sims might holiday there. I'm not sure how much regions will be connected to SimEarth, so I wouldn't know whether in MP mode we won't just be trading resources globally but having global holidays and visits from inter regional Sims?

[Catmando 7]

A trivial but important point: A single keystroke character for Simoleon. How about '&'.

The ampersand is a nice choice, but I don't think anything like that is necessary. It's not too hard to press Alt-21 to get § or to remember what the keys are.

[Cob92 360]

If you were to have the best and most successful city, then the other players could gang up on you, accuse you unfairly of doing something and then proceed to leech of your talent at Simcity through fines, making the game feel like no fun at all.

Oh dear God, I hadn't even thought of that. Multiplayer could become SimEmpire: the practical objective would be to create a ruling elite of cities with a slight majority and enslave promising new cities in the region to funnel money into the capital. I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep tonight.

That sounds like some cities I've actually heard of, and I don't mean Rome or London. They gain economic and political dominance by aggressively annexing their neighbors and use this dominance to run their metro area exclusively for their own benefit. Or you can have the reverse scenario, where a coalition of powerful suburbs uses its political power to stop the central city in its tracks.

[daderic888 216]

G'day there,

I would also like to have ALL lots slope friendly, whether growable or ploppable.

Also much wider/longer curves for streets, road, avenues, highways and all mass transit networks.

Another event I would LOVE to see is a motorsports mod, like a street racing circuit for the V8 Supercars!!! (Good luck)

Cheers,

daderic888

  Edited March 21, 2012 by daderic888  

[Mark Waybill 242]

As to wide curves I should think most realistic ones should be doable. My ambitions are a bit higher, like being able to make a replica of the original Zig Zag railroad or something of that quality with smooth gradients and inclining viaducts and tunnels. I should think broad curves will be possible.

If they can make a U Drive It similar to Streets of Simcity they might be able to make a Need for Speed or Grand Theft Auto mod/expansion. Who knows.

Talking of sports, considering we have Multiplayer Mode and a whole SiomEarth, what about a SimOlympics of SimFootball? Maybe a tad ambitious for the first release, but just an idea, and something that could be defined as a wish of sorts.

[meowza 230]

Remember the stream mod? I thought it would be nice if the new SC had dynamic water particles into the game.

Rain or melting snow would flow to where there are actual land depressions forming ponds and lakes, at any elevation, via underground or surface streams (inc waterfalls) - like an improved version of the rain tool. It would create flood in more precise areas of the city. And the sea could generate waves of accurate strengths depending on certain environmental conditions. The water would also react according to the "physical" objects interacting with it, such as people or buildings.

Quick sample search:

I must say this sample seems too detailed, something simpler would be enough.

I think dynamic water would definitely add more life and realism into the simulation. So I hope the devs could find a way to make it work with their physics engine, without compromising processing power ofcourse.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I really see nothing wrong with city-based sports leagues. Great for tourism.

Earlier in this thread, someone mentioned the idea of having local holidays as tourist attractions. This militates for a "special event" tourist attraction agent. Cities should be able to initiate such agents though some kind of advertising interface (newspaper, ticker?).

This whole agent idea is just absolutely fascinating.

And thinking outside the box for a moment:

This Glassbox engine could be used in RL for real tests of things. Suppose you could impose a demographic profile on the Sims to reflect typical responses. You then send out agents advertising something, and see what the simulated response is.

This whole idea is very powerful, and probably not limited to gaming.

  Edited March 21, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[avalach21 2]

This sounds great. I really hope they take this game to the next level in all aspects. It always bothered me how in SC4, water could only exist at sea level. Even SC2K allowed for waterfalls etc. Hopefully we see the return of the HydroElectric Dam!

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Amen.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

We need the ability in the game when doing things like landscape modifications in Mayor mode to undo the last, say up to five, changes. I know this will eat a lot of memory, but these undo rings can be temporary. Some kind of keyboard or menu signal could both start and end such a session. Doing a full save then restore if things are not satisfactory can be time-consuming.

Possible scenario:

<start tracking> // automatically sets count to 0

<user change> // increments count

<if count .gt. limit; message must commit now>

<user may back out> // decrements count

OR

<user commits; closes tracking>

<iterate>

<end tracking> // default user commit

[Gringamuyloca 47]

I second this much desired / needed feature!

[BIWDC 2,296]

I think this would be a great thing to have.

[rweather5 22]

Yes, this is a much needed feature for the game. There have been countless times in which I made a mistake and I wished there was an undo button.