SimCity: Transit and Roading Networks

[Zarpia 12]

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!

I guess they will release a Subways DLC in the future.

Well, that's for sure, knowing EA

[Porter 68]

Personally, I'm amazed at the amount of stuff we ARE getting. It almost looks like they're incorporating many of the ideas from the NWM and NAM mods into the base game play. So, maybe we should all keep in mind that Maxis is building this game from the ground up. That and so far, it looks as though they aren't really doing much yet with the underground layer yet. (No water lines or sewage lines or even power lines that we have to plop underground)...

I have a feeling that they are still working on it. Taking a huge shot in the dark here, I'd say with them creating a brand-new layer into the game (assuming they have no underground layer built in yet) they're still trying to work out all the bugs with this new data layer, in getting it to work with the other layers.

I agree that it most likely is going to be an expansion pack, but sometimes these can be a pleasant surprise. Keep in mind the amount of stuff we got as a community with the Rush Hour expansion. So, instead of whining about how we don't have subways (keep in mind many large cities can function without subway systems), let's look at the bright side... we're getting a lot of stuff with the game from the looks of it, and they seem to be actively trying to get it up and running if the Live Broadcast was anything to go by. We're still several months away from release, so now is not the time to completely dismiss the game. If it we're January, maybe... but it's still October.

Just my two cents worth...

[peaco344 5]

I don't really get why some think the transport options are fewer than SC4. Yes they arent an exact copy but:

SC4 vanilla:

2 lane two-way road

2 lane street

Highway (elevated)

Buses (stops only, which also use space)

Subway

Heavy Rail (freight and passenger stops)

Bridges and Tunnels

Airports (international traffic only)

Harbours (international freight only)

SC2013 (so far confirmed or seen in in game footage):

2 lane road

4 lane road

6 lane ave

4 lane ave with tram (+off road tracks)

Heavy rail (intra and inter-city, both confirmed in official blogs or video, possibly passenger only)

Buses - inline stops, depots, terminus, park and ride (1:01:25 in the maxis live video, you see it pop up as an option)

Planes (intl airport great works, nothing else confirmed yet, though given there is a dedicated option for it in the UI there must be more than just that)

Boats (mentioned by Maxis devs and seen as an option in the UI but not seen yet)

We have also heard overpasses and tunnels mentioned but not seen in video or blog

Add in the fact that some of the buildings are modular as well.

Now, to me that looks like SC2013 as many options as SC4 vanilla. Yes, they look rough round the edges which is to be expected in pre-beta code. Yes, they are not identical to SC4, but you still get low and high capacity roads, and a light and heavy rail option.

The rush hour pack added a lot more, but this was an expansion which nearly cost the same as the original game (£25 for rush hour and £30 for SC4 in the UK).

[pyanodon 218]

Hmmm... all that talk about elevated and under passes makes me wonder...

Can we do that with rail lines? XD XD i mean...make the rail elevated or sunked in the ground? Talking about sunked...can we sunken avenues and roads?

[jacksunny 741]

The highways will be in the region. not in your city. no room for a start.

Highways you can build in your city have been confirmed, although not much has been revealed about them.

[London-b 90]

Is it true that you can no longer zone for density?

[jacksunny 741]

Yes, zone density is automatically decided based on the road it is against.

[grugor 60]

The highways will be in the region. not in your city. no room for a start.

Highways you can build in your city have been confirmed, although not much has been revealed about them.

Really?. link ?

whats the point of having a highway that can have only 1 connection to the region. cul de sac highway. even so you would need on/off ramps and proper junctions which would not make sense given the 2k X 2k maps

[kwetzel345 101]

What grugor has stated is exactly what I was thinking when I read about highways. I mean, it great and all that we might get them, but whats the point?. As grugor also noted, how would they end. I'm thinking something simcity 4 like, where you can build a avenue off of the stub of a highway. He also gives a great point to on and off ramps and one I am quite curious of how will work as well.

[mayor_starscream 1]

Yes, zone density is automatically decided based on the road it is against.

I guess their going for a Cities XL like zoning, where everything is against a road. No more pipes either, this is good, but it takes away a certain element of the game. Either way this will be a good game, just not everything we wanted

[jacksunny 741]

The highways will be in the region. not in your city. no room for a start.

Highways you can build in your city have been confirmed, although not much has been revealed about them.

Really?. link ?

whats the point of having a highway that can have only 1 connection to the region. cul de sac highway. even so you would need on/off ramps and proper junctions which would not make sense given the 2k X 2k maps

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.

More might be revealed in Dirk and Zel's write-up later this week.

If you take into account the tile sizes, it sounds like the only use highways would have is to extend the inter-regional highway to the far end of your city. For example, if there is a casino on the far end of your city, and you want Sims to be able to get there easier, you could extend the highway, and maybe even add a few turn-offs along the way.

Another use could be for goods transport. If you have a large industrial area on one end of your city, you can extend the highway there so the trucks can get to the region easier.

[Haljackey 17,398]

All we know about highways at this point is that they're planned. On/off ramps are also planned.

We do not know anything about them in any way, shape or form. You can speculate all you want, but those are all we have to go on at this point in time.

[Cob92 360]

The highways will be in the region. not in your city. no room for a start.

Highways you can build in your city have been confirmed, although not much has been revealed about them.

Really?. link ?

whats the point of having a highway that can have only 1 connection to the region. cul de sac highway. even so you would need on/off ramps and proper junctions which would not make sense given the 2k X 2k maps

Proper scaling has never been an obstacle to the inclusion of highways in SimCity.

[daneoid 78]

Really?. link ?

whats the point of having a highway that can have only 1 connection to the region. cul de sac highway. even so you would need on/off ramps and proper junctions which would not make sense given the 2k X 2k maps

All the more reason for larger maps.

[Zombeast 69]

Oh hey I think it's the first time we're showing actual water or sky.

Guillaume, any word if we're able to have bridges in the city? and not just in region view?

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

Oh hey I think it's the first time we're showing actual water or sky.

Guillaume, any word if we're able to have bridges in the city? and not just in region view?

Roads are 3d paths. So you can do all kinds of crazy overpasses and curves and tunnels and bridges. Roads are crazy awesome.

— Simtropolis (@Simtropolis)

October 8, 2012

[matticus88 0]

So Guillaume, Does that mean it would be like Cities XL? Hold shift and mouse up/down to change the roads altitude? i read the maximum gradiant for raods is 35 degress so i assume dragging road higher than that will turn it into a bridge base?

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

So Guillaume, Does that mean it would be like Cities XL? Hold shift and mouse up/down to change the roads altitude? i read the maximum gradiant for raods is 35 degress so i assume dragging road higher than that will turn it into a bridge base?

35 degrees is the maximum gradient for roads and bridges, so if you draw a road towards the top of a steep hill, it would either have to carve into it or make a bridge -- or not allow you to draw it -- based on how long your drag is. I seriously can't wait until you guys can see the bridges and overpasses, they're totally fun to play with.

  Edited October 14, 2012 by MaxisGuillaume  

[Hellken 1,658]

So Guillaume, Does that mean it would be like Cities XL? Hold shift and mouse up/down to change the roads altitude? i read the maximum gradiant for raods is 35 degress so i assume dragging road higher than that will turn it into a bridge base?

35 degrees is the maximum gradient for roads and bridges, so if you draw a road towards the top of a steep hill, it would either have to carve into it or make a bridge -- or not allow you to draw it -- based on how long your drag is. I seriously can't wait until you guys can see the bridges and overpasses, they're totally fun to play with.

Sounds great!

  Edited October 14, 2012 by Hellken  

[Anicka 1]

One little detail that I spotted in the game-play video: when the police station is built on the avenue, a small piece of street is created to allow crossing of the avenue and accessing the police station from the opposite side of the road. Unfortunately later in the video, since a lot of sims want to go the commercial buildings on the "north" side of the avenue, they try to use this narrow path for making U-turns and a nice little traffic jam is being created.

So a few questions: Is this little access-road a feature of more service buildings? I noticed that neither the train station nor the casino had it.

On a road or avenue, will I have to place bus-stops on both sides of it or does one bus-stop always have a corresponding stop on the other side? Again I can see a lot of buses making a series of U-turns to get the Sims where they want to go.

[grugor 60]

On a road or avenue, will I have to place bus-stops on both sides of it or does one bus-stop always have a corresponding stop on the other side? Again I can see a lot of buses making a series of U-turns to get the Sims where they want to go.

I was also wondering about that and will sims just cross the road to get to the stop. It seems they have to cross the road to get to tram stops, but i havnt seen any pedestrian crossings that are not on a junction yet.

Also they said that the bus goes to the destination the sims on the bus want to go to. what if everone on the bus wants to go somewhere differant? .

Lets say you have one bus stop in a residential area, another at the commercial and a third at your industrial zone. Bus picks up sims, 50% want to go shopping, 50% want to to work in the industrial.

The bus goes first to the shops, drops off the shoppers and picks up more sims that want to go home. What does Bus do ??

[Ocram's Razr 964]

They said that the Bus uses a complex algorithm and is one of the most difficult parts to program.

--Ocram

[Zulnex 1]

I am hoping that all transit systems will have in depth detailed features. For example creating separate bus, train and tram timetables which change as in real life (weekdays, weekends and rush hours).

Special on board camera view of the above mentioned vehicles would be a very nice addition as well. I would love to get a first person in depth view and ride with my sims in trains, trams and buses.

  Edited October 16, 2012 by Zulnex  

[VeritaScientia 150]

I am hoping that all transit systems will have in depth detailed features. For example creating separate bus, train and tram timetables which change as in real life (weekdays, weekends and rush hours).I be

Special on board camera view of the above mentioned vehicles would be a very nice addition as well. I would love to get a first person in depth view and ride with my sims in trains, trams and buses.

I believe they've already said that creating bus routes won't be in the game. Makes sense since many cities have mass transit that are controlled by a separate agency, like the MTA in New York City, LACMTA in Los Angeles, CTA in Chicago, and Green Bay Metro in my own hometown. They're concentrating on a city simulator, not a transit simulator, and some things have to be cut out, they don't do things like bus and train timetables because some may neglect the feature and thus have ineffective coverage.

The bottom line is SimCity is a game where we are put in the position of a Mayor, few mayors in the world are given that much control over their city's mass transit as to delineate bus routes.

Personally if they did give us transit routes, then they'd be close to making us do the routes for the garbage trucks too, and we wouldn't be able to build a city because we'd be too bogged down in placing infrastructure.

  Edited October 16, 2012 by PTPLauthor  

[Zulnex 1]

I believe they've already said that creating bus routes won't be in the game. Makes sense since many cities have mass transit that are controlled by a separate agency, like the MTA in New York City, LACMTA in Los Angeles, CTA in Chicago, and Green Bay Metro in my own hometown. They're concentrating on a city simulator, not a transit simulator, and some things have to be cut out, they don't do things like bus and train timetables because some may neglect the feature and thus have ineffective coverage.

The bottom line is SimCity is a game where we are put in the position of a Mayor, few mayors in the world are given that much control over their city's mass transit as to delineate bus routes.

Personally if they did give us transit routes, then they'd be close to making us do the routes for the garbage trucks too, and we wouldn't be able to build a city because we'd be too bogged down in placing infrastructure.

Oh, I see. I understand it now perfectly. Many thanks for the explanation.

  Edited October 16, 2012 by Zulnex  

[VeritaScientia 150]

I believe they've already said that creating bus routes won't be in the game. Makes sense since many cities have mass transit that are controlled by a separate agency, like the MTA in New York City, LACMTA in Los Angeles, CTA in Chicago, and Green Bay Metro in my own hometown. They're concentrating on a city simulator, not a transit simulator, and some things have to be cut out, they don't do things like bus and train timetables because some may neglect the feature and thus have ineffective coverage.

The bottom line is SimCity is a game where we are put in the position of a Mayor, few mayors in the world are given that much control over their city's mass transit as to delineate bus routes.

Personally if they did give us transit routes, then they'd be close to making us do the routes for the garbage trucks too, and we wouldn't be able to build a city because we'd be too bogged down in placing infrastructure.

Oh, I see. I understand it now perfectly. Many thanks for the explanation.

Though I would like to see an overlay that'd show the routes.

[Zulnex 1]

Though I would like to see an overlay that'd show the routes.

Me too. That would be useful and cool as well.

  Edited October 16, 2012 by Zulnex  

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

The bottom line is SimCity is a game where we are put in the position of a Mayor, few mayors in the world are given that much control over their city's mass transit as to delineate bus routes.

Personally if they did give us transit routes, then they'd be close to making us do the routes for the garbage trucks too, and we wouldn't be able to build a city because we'd be too bogged down in placing infrastructure.

You pretty much nailed it here!

[Wiimeiser 452]

Tradition, after all. It's been that way in SC forever.

[Artur_001 4]

I'm really going to miss subways. I hope it will be added thru some expansion pack.