Gamesradar Q&A

[grugor 60]

Noting much new really except that disasters cant be turned off and a mention of cruise ships..

This bit was was funny ..

You don’t have to build a massive metropolis

One complaint that Maxis had of its past games was that every city ended up sort of looking the same. No matter how it began, endgame was still New York City, and this is something it wanted to fix when making SimCity. Now, you’re able to create the city you really want, be it a tourist trap, a job-creating industrial metropolis, or, yeah, a traditional megacity.

(well a 4sqkm megacity)

http://www.gamesradar.com/simcitys-modes-explained-we-talk-maxis-about-always-features-and-more/

[Hamish 1,369]

The first screenshot of that article looks nice. Shiny reflections on the curved part of the building.

Also, in the online discussion, I liked the mention of sims being able to commute to other cities for education, or have services like medical flow over into other cities too.

And on page 5 it mentioned that there would be a chat window when playing with others in your region.

Page 7 had a nice little list mentioning what kinds of cities could be built. But they were also reassuring by saying that you don't have to specialise in any specific type of city, or you could make your own combinations. Like having a High Tech city, but that obviously requires smart sims by building universities, and since sims can travel to different cities for education, then you could probably have one university for your whole region.

Good article, I think there were a few screenshots I hadn't seen before too.

[VeritaScientia 150]

The entire game is shaping up very nicely.

Good point on the hospital, Hamish. Many cities don't have trauma centers, in fact, for the entire Northwest United States and Alaska, the only Level I Trauma Center is Harborview in Seattle. Here in Wisconsin, there's two Level I Trauma centers at Froedtert in Milwaukee, and UW Hospital in Madison, other cities have lower-designated trauma centers, but major traumas can be helicoptered to Madison or Milwaukee once they're stable.

Madison is a very nice example of a blended-specialization city, it's the capital of the state, the site of the flagship university, as well as a center for medical research in the state.

[JaceTwice 115]

I think I finally "get" what Maxis is trying to do with the online portion of this game. And I kinda like it.

Essentially, they're very explicitly making SimCity a multi-player only game. Even if you build a region on your own you're still connected to the world at large. An interesting direction to take.

I think the only question I've come up with from this is does physical location in the region matter? If I have a huge police force on one side of the region will it make the region as a whole safer or just those cities close to it? SC4 logic would dictate that location does matter, but clearly we can't use that logic anymore.

I'm getting the feeling that the region isn't so much a simulation of a large psysical location as it is the visualization for the concept of interconnected cities.

  Edited October 22, 2012 by JaceTwice  

[chimeran 208]

Noting much new really except that disasters cant be turned off and a mention of cruise ships..

This bit was was funny ..

You don’t have to build a massive metropolis

One complaint that Maxis had of its past games was that every city ended up sort of looking the same. No matter how it began, endgame was still New York City, and this is something it wanted to fix when making SimCity. Now, you’re able to create the city you really want, be it a tourist trap, a job-creating industrial metropolis, or, yeah, a traditional megacity.

(well a 4sqkm megacity)

http://www.gamesrada...tures-and-more/

source : http://www.cracked.com/article_18792_the-7-most-unintentionally-creepy-places-internet.html

[cirugo 1,889]

" Disasters aren’t preventable, but the resulting damage can be minimized if you have built strong police, fire and hospital services. Most of the disasters only create problems in a small part of your city, so even if you are unprepared you should be able to bring your city back to full productivity quickly. It might even give you an incentive to revamp the ruined section into something better than the original."

OMG...there's no option to turn off disasters...

every piece of news that comes out about this game is just another /facepalm it seems.

[VeritaScientia 150]

" Disasters aren’t preventable, but the resulting damage can be minimized if you have built strong police, fire and hospital services. Most of the disasters only create problems in a small part of your city, so even if you are unprepared you should be able to bring your city back to full productivity quickly. It might even give you an incentive to revamp the ruined section into something better than the original."

OMG...there's no option to turn off disasters...

every piece of news that comes out about this game is just another /facepalm it seems.

Ray Nagin couldn't turn off disasters for his city, why should we be able to? It's putting everyone on an even footing

[grugor 60]

OMG...there's no option to turn off disasters...

every piece of news that comes out about this game is just another /facepalm it seems.

cmon cirugo.. i thought you of all people would be looking forward to a giant monkey walking through your city . Seriously though the fact you are not able to turn them off is probaly the games biggest disaster. i thought they said in the simtropolis visit maxis interview that disaters were optional ?

[cirugo 1,889]

OMG...there's no option to turn off disasters...

every piece of news that comes out about this game is just another /facepalm it seems.

cmon cirugo.. i thought you of all people would be looking forward to a giant monkey walking through your city . Seriously though the fact you are not able to turn them off is probaly the games biggest disaster. i thought they said in the simtropolis visit maxis interview that disaters were optional ?

It seems someone forgot to tell that to Stone Librande...

[jacksunny 741]

It's putting everyone on an even footing

Exactly. It would give an unfair advantage to players and mess up the leaderboards.

This is another example of where a difficulty system should be implemented. There would be 3 or 4 difficulty levels and leaderboards for each one. Easy, medium, hard, and maybe even "extreme." Playing on hard or extreme would have random disasters, while easy and medium would have none. This makes it fair for everybody.

[Jokurr 175]

" Disasters aren’t preventable, but the resulting damage can be minimized if you have built strong police, fire and hospital services. Most of the disasters only create problems in a small part of your city, so even if you are unprepared you should be able to bring your city back to full productivity quickly. It might even give you an incentive to revamp the ruined section into something better than the original."

OMG...there's no option to turn off disasters...

every piece of news that comes out about this game is just another /facepalm it seems.

Ray Nagin couldn't turn off disasters for his city, why should we be able to? It's putting everyone on an even footing

Because it's annoying and frustrating to meticulously fine tune a neighbourhood only to have it ripped apart by a random disaster you didn't see coming.

[grugor 60]

Because it's annoying and frustrating to meticulously fine tune a neighbourhood only to have it ripped apart by a random disaster you didn't see coming.

I would prefer to be able to turn them off as well, but it looks like the only damage done is to buildings which should rebuild shortly after the disaster. it would be a pain trying to fix up roads etc. Also if we are stuck with disasters, at least give us the option to get rid of the fantasy ones such as the giant monkey , robot and ufo

[jdenm8 362]

endgame was still New York City

Could have been Hong Kong or Tokyo if Maxis had more diversity in the building and traffic skinning department. It only went to New York because guess where all the Stage 6 and 7 buildings were from? I can't name a single Stage 6 or 7 Residential building in SC4 in the Houston, Chicago or Euro tilesets that didn't have the Exemplar name contain 'NewYork'.

I'm honestly becoming less and less interested in this game, and that's hard to do. I got excited when I heard Societies was coming out and I was insulated from the community at that point in time.

[Vampirovibrio 43]

Frankly, I have never purposefully start a disaster in any of my cities. So I am really upset that the team has decided to take that choice away from players. How many more choices are they going to take away? One of the many reasons that made Simcity what it was - choices. Choice to choose the size of the city, choice of where I would like my intercity connections to be made, choice of whether to have disasters.

Some may argue that giving a choice of turning on/off disaster may offer an unfair edge but if what maxis said was true then the effects of disaster would be minimal thus how much of an unfair edge are we talking about? Also, I agree with the view that the could be separate leader boards ones or cities that have disasters turn on and one for disasters turned off. Also, with disasters turned off, perhaps just like in Simcity 4 fires can still occur, riots can still occur. Thus, players still have the impetus to build emergency services to minimize damage to their cities. Also someone has mention that disaster are part of making Simcity realistic. Yes and no.. Some countries do experience disasters but some actually don't. For example the country that i live in Simgapore does not suffer from natural disasters - no hurricanes, no earthquakes (occasionally we may experience aftershocks from countries surrounding us but earthquakes have never occurred in Singapore). But we do have floods, fires. And we have no riots but that's another story. Thus, to me that's reality to me. I'm not unsympathetic to countries that do suffer from these horrific disaster. My heart do go out to these countries when disaster strikes and it makes me more appreciative of the unique situation that I live in.

I am not dissing the entire game I do believe that the game box engine is an interesting development, the ability to have curvy roads( I know that everyone is sick of hearing about curvy roads but I think they do make the city more realistic), ability to specialize cities such that cities no longer look the same.

  Edited October 23, 2012 by Vampirovibrio  

[SoftcoreGamer 352]

The article: Almost everything flows across city borders: Workers, shoppers, ambulances, buses, water, power and trucks filled with goods. If you are polluting too much your smog might drift into a neighbor’s city (depending on which way the wind is blowing)

Of course everything flows across TOWN borders! Hello? What's so amazing about that? It is absurd to have paragraphs talking about an entry-level SC2000 feature.

The problem is now everything also flows across HUGE GAPS!

Real cities don’t exist in bubbles, but rather as a series of interdependent entities that collaborate and compete with one another.

Real cities don’t exist in ISOLATED 2x2 PLOTS but rather as SPRAWLING WEBS of INTERCONNECTED entities!

So far not only Maxis is rewriting the meaning of SOLO (global type of solo) PRIVATE (zero privacy) and now CITY (2x2 town). Make your own dictionary, is that how they camouflage their product's blemishes these days?

  Edited October 23, 2012 by SoftcoreGamer  

[Trioxis 32]

Of course everything flows across TOWN borders! Hello? What's so amazing about that? It is absurd to have paragraphs talking about an entry-level SC2000 feature.

It's BECAUSE of how everything flows across borders it's worth mentioning. Yes SimCity has had neighboring cities ever since SC2000, but they're taking it to a whole new level this time. Just because you do not think it's amazing or noteworthy doesn't mean others don't appreciate the info. Personally, I prefer getting to know the details beforehand so I don't have to rage about it afterwards. Could you imagine the nerdrage if they'd leave details like this out and people only find out once they've bought the game? I like to know what I'm spending my money on (or not), tyvm.

Real cities don’t exist in ISOLATED 2x2 PLOTS but rather as SPRAWLING WEBS of INTERCONNECTED entities!

This isn't always the case. Where I come from cities are relatively small and surrounded by farmlands, etc., only to be connected to other cities or towns by road, essentially being isolated like in SC2013. I can't say I'm not somewhat disappointed by the limited city sizes, but I'm hoping larger plots will be made available somewhere down the road.

So far not only Maxis is rewriting the meaning of SOLO (global type of solo) PRIVATE (zero privacy) and now CITY (2x2 town). Make your own dictionary, is that how they camouflage their product's blemishes these days?

To my knowledge, Maxis has never stated that SC2013 would be a solo game. In fact, it was made clear pretty much from the announcement the game was going to revolve around multiplayer. How is this 'rewriting' anything? Sure, it probably would be a lot easier on people if they had just called it SimCity Online or something instead of branding it as a reboot of the series. But just it isn't very much like the previous games in the series doesn't mean it won't be any good.

Watching people fight over a game is kinda sad, but I can understand why. People on this forum have always had high hopes for the next great SC title, but ultimately it really isn't SC5. So people should stop treating it as the 'true' successor of SC4 and start appreciating it for what it is; A citybuilder you can play with your friends.

[SoftcoreGamer 352]

I don't see any fights here please be positive!

Of course everything flows across TOWN borders! Hello? What's so amazing about that? It is absurd to have paragraphs talking about an entry-level SC2000 feature.

It's BECAUSE of how everything flows across borders it's worth mentioning. Yes SimCity has had neighboring cities ever since SC2000, but they're taking it to a whole new level this time.

No they are not. They're taking it down a whole new level in fact. You miss my point completely but well I'm not going to argue with you, here a simple pic and some basic facts...

The pink squares are the size of SC13 plots, yes that's how tiny SC13 cities are, mere SC2000 districts! Pollution and traffic flows between these tiny little city sections, as they should! So basically, there is NOTHING NEW about everything flowing across those SC13 "mini city" borders. Just word gymnastics disguising typical side-effects of online-push. Understand my point now? Peace?

I could expand on the regressive map size trend but there's already an indepth discussion