SimCity: Transit and Roading Networks

[barnacleboy 13]

The think that annoys me about cities xl and i hope this game doesn't do is that all the roads, even the small roads make intersections with traffic lights, where cars have to stop for it.

The game figures it out for you. Street & street intersection is all stops, road & street has lights (longer green for the road than it is for the street), road & road has lights, etc...

I've seen no streets in the gameplay video (only roads, avenues and two types still to be revealed), but I remember this quote from some Maxis guy...

[Wiimeiser 452]

Maybe streets would be the two-lane ones then?

[cyruskafaiwu 29]

"Roads are 3d paths. So you can do all kinds of crazy overpasses and curves and tunnels and bridges. Roads are crazy awesome." tweet from Simtropolis offical twitter.

Bridges, tunnels, overpasses at least some of the NAM features are here.

[fatbuster 44]

"Roads are 3d paths. So you can do all kinds of crazy overpasses and curves and tunnels and bridges. Roads are crazy awesome." tweet from Simtropolis offical twitter.

Bridges, tunnels, overpasses at least some of the NAM features are here.

Here's the direct link from the Simtropolis twitter, just in case people want to see the source. I'm sure that should make some people worried about elevated networks feel a bit better. Now the question is, is it limited to just overpasses and bridges or can we make elevated roadways a la Cities XL?

[MarjaSpaceOddity 14]

I didn't know Simtropolis was visiting Maxis today! Great news about the roads!

[Greyflame 54]

Haha, I must be following half of the maxis team on twitter now. I'm not even sure if some of their twitter accounts are meant to be tied to the game at all; they may just be personal ones, but gosh darnit I'm hungry for every bit of news! So I'm now following the Simtropolis feed religiously. And I'll say, "crazy overpasses and curves and tunnels and bridges" just about knocked me out of my chair. When I posted that review video I was pretty critical of the transit stuff, but everything I've heard since then has been objectively positive. So I'm developing a lot of faith in Guillaume Pierre and anyone else working on the transit system that I didn't have before.

[Haljackey 17,398]

Yes, we know, we're working on it.

Excellent, happy to hear! Glad you like some of my SC4 junctions posted on Twitter .

Haha, I must be following half of the maxis team on twitter now. I'm not even sure if some of their twitter accounts are meant to be tied to the game at all; they may just be personal ones, but gosh darnit I'm hungry for every bit of news! So I'm now following the Simtropolis feed religiously. And I'll say, "crazy overpasses and curves and tunnels and bridges" just about knocked me out of my chair. When I posted that review video I was pretty critical of the transit stuff, but everything I've heard since then has been objectively positive. So I'm developing a lot of faith in Guillaume Pierre and anyone else working on the transit system that I didn't have before.

Pictures or it didn't happen, that's what it all comes down to. I'm not sure if Simtropolis is talking up the game right now or Dirk and Zel are just really excited.... because I would be too!

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

Yes, we know, we're working on it.

Excellent, happy to hear! Glad you like some of my SC4 junctions posted on Twitter .

Haha, I must be following half of the maxis team on twitter now. I'm not even sure if some of their twitter accounts are meant to be tied to the game at all; they may just be personal ones, but gosh darnit I'm hungry for every bit of news! So I'm now following the Simtropolis feed religiously. And I'll say, "crazy overpasses and curves and tunnels and bridges" just about knocked me out of my chair. When I posted that review video I was pretty critical of the transit stuff, but everything I've heard since then has been objectively positive. So I'm developing a lot of faith in Guillaume Pierre and anyone else working on the transit system that I didn't have before.

Pictures or it didn't happen, that's what it all comes down to. I'm not sure if Simtropolis is talking up the game right now or Dirk and Zel are just really excited.... because I would be too!

They're not quite ready to be shown yet, we still have a lot of work to do!

[Haljackey 17,398]

They're not quite ready to be shown yet, we still have a lot of work to do!

Perfectly understandable. Nothing wrong with taking your time to get it right. Nothing wrong with speculating either.

[cyruskafaiwu 29]

I am actually glad now that we are getting some awesome news and to find out that our feedback is being heard. Keep it up Guillaume!

Now to see what shall come during the live chat tommorow.

[grugor 60]

Yes, we know, we're working on it.

Excellent, happy to hear! Glad you like some of my SC4 junctions posted on Twitter .

Haha, I must be following half of the maxis team on twitter now. I'm not even sure if some of their twitter accounts are meant to be tied to the game at all; they may just be personal ones, but gosh darnit I'm hungry for every bit of news! So I'm now following the Simtropolis feed religiously. And I'll say, "crazy overpasses and curves and tunnels and bridges" just about knocked me out of my chair. When I posted that review video I was pretty critical of the transit stuff, but everything I've heard since then has been objectively positive. So I'm developing a lot of faith in Guillaume Pierre and anyone else working on the transit system that I didn't have before.

Pictures or it didn't happen, that's what it all comes down to. I'm not sure if Simtropolis is talking up the game right now or Dirk and Zel are just really excited.... because I would be too!

They're not quite ready to be shown yet, we still have a lot of work to do!

just one screenshot of an overpass pls. great news btw

[Haljackey 17,398]

Well it was confirmed that subways will not be in the game.

Next question is quite basic: will freeways be in the game?

[Greyflame 54]

So the Q&A following the broadcast has illuminated a handful of things. The lack of subways, as mentioned, but also:

Guillaume discussed how busses/trains/etc will handle pathing:

If the vehicle is empty, it will try to go to a stop that has people waiting to be picked up first, and otherwise go to stops at random, based on distance.

The routes build themselves in an emergent way, with the vehicle looking for a stop to drop off its passengers based on what type of destination they want to go to, and what is available near reachable stops.

They do the same type of micro decisions as other vehicles do, so if there is road congestion ahead they might make a turn into a side street to reach their eventual destination.

Roads won't be quite as steep along slopes as in previous titles, requiring more switchbacking to get up hills, which makes sense. The stated maximum gradient is 35, but it sounds like that may be tweaked.

Regarding clover-leaf intersections, MaxisSparks answered "That's a good suggestion." Which reads a lot like "not going to happen" to me >__<

[jacksunny 741]

^Yep, it sounds like that is their answer if they are asked about something not in the game.

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that they aren't in the game though. Something such as a cloverleaf would take up 3/4 of the map.

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

Roads won't be quite as steep along slopes as in previous titles, requiring more switchbacking to get up hills, which makes sense. The stated maximum gradient is 35, but it sounds like that may be tweaked.

The thing that needed to be tweaked in particular were the heavy rail tracks... a 35 degree grade just doesn't make sense for them, 10 degrees should really be the maximum. Light rail however will share the same tuning as regular roads.

[VeritaScientia 150]

Roads won't be quite as steep along slopes as in previous titles, requiring more switchbacking to get up hills, which makes sense. The stated maximum gradient is 35, but it sounds like that may be tweaked.

The thing that needed to be tweaked in particular were the heavy rail tracks... a 35 degree grade just doesn't make sense for them, 10 degrees should really be the maximum. Light rail however will share the same tuning as regular roads.

I'm glad you're fixing that, 35 degrees......was Ozzy going to be the engineer, cause that sounds like that'd be one Crazy Train!!

According to Wikipedia for what it's worth, the greatest grade they mention is 13.5%, the greatest that there's sources to verify is 11.6% I don't know what that is in degrees, though.

[Haljackey 17,398]

The thing that needed to be tweaked in particular were the heavy rail tracks... a 35 degree grade just doesn't make sense for them, 10 degrees should really be the maximum. Light rail however will share the same tuning as regular roads.

I think you just pleased all the rail fans on this site. That's awesome to hear!

Since LRT can run in roads it makes sense for them to share the same geometric features as them.

Speaking of roads, has the development team considered left turn lanes by intersections? I know the median for the 6 lane road is quite wide and a turn lane could fit in there. It would help increase the level of transportation realism I seem to be hammering you guys about .

-But it is more of a superficial feature... perhaps it could come as an addon at a later date, kind of how the NAM added turn lanes to SC4.

  Edited October 9, 2012 by Haljackey  

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

I think you just pleased all the rail fans on this site. That's awesome to hear!

Like I told Greyflame on Twitter, when it comes to trains, I don't mess around.

[Haljackey 17,398]

A little bird just told me freeways will be included in the game. They're having trouble with on/off ramps though in pre-alpha testing.

[jacksunny 741]

Yep. I'm hoping we will eventually be able to make our own neighbour connections.

[1234dave 0]

How many types of elevated highways will there be?

[1234dave 0]

@ 1:17, it shows the different types of roads. I think the roads with the green arrows are the elevated roads.

[jacksunny 741]

How many types of elevated highways will there be?

There will be freeways/highways in the game, however, we haven't been given any details about them.

[StanislausBabalistic 24]

Like I told Greyflame on Twitter, when it comes to trains, I don't mess around.

Except for subways.

[Haljackey 17,398]

How many types of elevated highways will there be?

A little more information trickled in today... but I cannot confirm it because I don't consider it to be a trusted source.

'Rumor has it' that there will only be ground highways, no elevated highways.

Again I can neither confirm or deny this statement. All I do know for sure is that highways are planned for the game.

[grugor 60]

The highways will be in the region. not in your city. no room for a start. there will be elevated roads as the roads are 3d paths which allow this and tunnels btw. guill said they just arnt ready to show them yet.

  Edited October 10, 2012 by grugor  

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

Like I told Greyflame on Twitter, when it comes to trains, I don't mess around.

Except for subways.

It's something I'd love to have in the game as well, trust me!

[scoobsuk 44]

Fingers crossed for subways for a subsequent expansion content release or something.

[RyanMorgan95 144]

Like I told Greyflame on Twitter, when it comes to trains, I don't mess around.

Except for subways.

It's something I'd love to have in the game as well, trust me!

Could you explain why we don't have subways, a feature of many, many cities, yet we have trams, which to me are a bit of a novelty, and don't offer any where near the capacity of subways. It's great to have trams in SimCity, but I would have expected subways to be a more significant transport option. You managed it in SimCity 3000 and 4!

Thanks!

  Edited October 10, 2012 by RyanMorgan95  

[CXLMachine 17]

Roads won't be quite as steep along slopes as in previous titles, requiring more switchbacking to get up hills, which makes sense. The stated maximum gradient is 35, but it sounds like that may be tweaked.

The thing that needed to be tweaked in particular were the heavy rail tracks... a 35 degree grade just doesn't make sense for them, 10 degrees should really be the maximum. Light rail however will share the same tuning as regular roads.

I'm glad you're fixing that, 35 degrees......was Ozzy going to be the engineer, cause that sounds like that'd be one Crazy Train!!

According to Wikipedia for what it's worth, the greatest grade they mention is 13.5%, the greatest that there's sources to verify is 11.6% I don't know what that is in degrees, though.

10 degree grade = 5.74 % slope