New Screenshots

[barnacleboy 13]

I would like to see some train screenshots. Are there any huge train stations in the game like NY central or London's St Pancras?

The default train station looks a lot like the Amtrak one in Emeryville, just a block away from our office.

Does "default" mean that there are a bunch of different train stations or does it mean you will be able to create your own train stations in a BAT-like tool in the future? Or is the train station another upgradable ploppable?

I also would like to see interchanges, overpasses or tunnels for rails or streets!

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

Does "default" mean that there are a bunch of different train stations or does it mean you will be able to create your own train stations in a BAT-like tool in the future? Or is the train station another upgradable ploppable?

I meant as opposed to the German-style train station that comes with the Digital Deluxe Edition of the game, which is bigger and looking like it's from Germany.

[Spatzimaus 77]

The first image would have been so awesome if the green void is replaced with an actual city or an extension of the represented city. This is making me want to buy this, but its the damn green void.

I registered just to comment on this, because I agree that the green void is just bad. Wouldn't it be really easy to fix this just by adding generic towns in that space? That is, when you first start off as a small town, the green area around your town has a bunch of other small towns that are entirely self-contained, and so don't need to be part of the agent system. They don't provide workers for your city, they don't leech off your police or fire (since they rely on their own local equivalents), and so on. Maybe they'd be clustered near the major transportation systems, but historically that didn't always happen. For convenience, let's refer to the small towns as being part of your "County".

While your city grows into a metropolis, these small towns don't really change, although maybe their graphical style could adjust to match the closest major city. As your city reaches the edge of your city map, the small towns in your county eventually get absorbed into your sprawl. This'd make your city look much bigger without increasing your management overhead; you'd be managing the core of the city, and the nearby areas would just be standard suburbia. Since this effect would be purely graphical, it'd be something the user could choose to disable (or tone down, if given the option). If you really wanted to you could let the suburbs provide workers for your downtown, but it'd be more balanced to make them worker-neutral (so instead of having every worker in your city work in the downtown, you could have one come from the suburbs but be balanced by one driving outward to work; labor-neutral, but a bit more of a strain on your roads). That way, players aren't hurt or helped by the exact positions of the nearby filler towns.

There are plenty of real-life examples of this sort of thing, lwhere a small town was eventually absorbed by the larger city but still retains its own mayor, police, schools, and jobs. But really, it's just an easy excuse to put SOMETHING in that green space...

[snick25 384]

I agree about filling in that space. Sad to say, that appears to be the only option left this late in development.

Of course, this could have been prevented. The simulation didn't have to be so intensive. I don't think even those who adore good simulation need to know about every single "bundle of electricity" or drop of water moving about. And, if the simulation wasn't so intensive, cities could have been bigger. Even if the simulation was kept, they could have made cities adjacent to each other. But they decided against that too, claiming your neighbors cities would look dead.

So, if all else failed, they could have filled in the gaps with something. Suburbs, perhaps? Apparently not. Farms? Nope--since there are no farms, that option isn't viable either. What does that leave? Empty, barren wasteland that will make even the most serious attempt at creating a city in this game fail. A constant reminder of how this game restricts the player.

So, how 'bout it, Maxis? How about some screenshots of that wonderful no-man's land? It's a feature of the game--you might as well showcase it.

[Rokugatsu 126]

The first image would have been so awesome if the green void is replaced with an actual city or an extension of the represented city. This is making me want to buy this, but its the damn green void.

I registered just to comment on this, because I agree that the green void is just bad. Wouldn't it be really easy to fix this just by adding generic towns in that space? That is, when you first start off as a small town, the green area around your town has a bunch of other small towns that are entirely self-contained, and so don't need to be part of the agent system. They don't provide workers for your city, they don't leech off your police or fire (since they rely on their own local equivalents), and so on. Maybe they'd be clustered near the major transportation systems, but historically that didn't always happen. For convenience, let's refer to the small towns as being part of your "County".

While your city grows into a metropolis, these small towns don't really change, although maybe their graphical style could adjust to match the closest major city. As your city reaches the edge of your city map, the small towns in your county eventually get absorbed into your sprawl. This'd make your city look much bigger without increasing your management overhead; you'd be managing the core of the city, and the nearby areas would just be standard suburbia. Since this effect would be purely graphical, it'd be something the user could choose to disable (or tone down, if given the option). If you really wanted to you could let the suburbs provide workers for your downtown, but it'd be more balanced to make them worker-neutral (so instead of having every worker in your city work in the downtown, you could have one come from the suburbs but be balanced by one driving outward to work; labor-neutral, but a bit more of a strain on your roads). That way, players aren't hurt or helped by the exact positions of the nearby filler towns.

There are plenty of real-life examples of this sort of thing, lwhere a small town was eventually absorbed by the larger city but still retains its own mayor, police, schools, and jobs. But really, it's just an easy excuse to put SOMETHING in that green space...

I really hope they will listen to this, because those green, empty spaces looks really bad and unrealistic. And what you suggest is something that could be done quite easily.

[StoNe220022 159]

The first image would have been so awesome if the green void is replaced with an actual city or an extension of the represented city. This is making me want to buy this, but its the damn green void.

Wouldn't it be really easy to fix this just by adding generic towns in that space? That is, when you first start off as a small town, the green area around your town has a bunch of other small towns that are entirely self-contained, and so don't need to be part of the agent system.

I remember seeing this raised before; I wish it was listened to back then. When you build a small town, dynamically animated farms and houses pop up along the outskirts beyond the building zone. As your town grows...the little farms disappear and little hamlet villages appear and so forth.

They don't have to be simulated; they don't have to serve any purpose what so ever...other than be a visual representation of the extension of the area you're building in. It's a little aesthetic request that might go a long long long way.

[Evillions 552]

The first image would have been so awesome if the green void is replaced with an actual city or an extension of the represented city. This is making me want to buy this, but its the damn green void.

I registered just to comment on this, because I agree that the green void is just bad. Wouldn't it be really easy to fix this just by adding generic towns in that space? That is, when you first start off as a small town, the green area around your town has a bunch of other small towns that are entirely self-contained, and so don't need to be part of the agent system. They don't provide workers for your city, they don't leech off your police or fire (since they rely on their own local equivalents), and so on. Maybe they'd be clustered near the major transportation systems, but historically that didn't always happen. For convenience, let's refer to the small towns as being part of your "County".

While your city grows into a metropolis, these small towns don't really change, although maybe their graphical style could adjust to match the closest major city. As your city reaches the edge of your city map, the small towns in your county eventually get absorbed into your sprawl. This'd make your city look much bigger without increasing your management overhead; you'd be managing the core of the city, and the nearby areas would just be standard suburbia. Since this effect would be purely graphical, it'd be something the user could choose to disable (or tone down, if given the option). If you really wanted to you could let the suburbs provide workers for your downtown, but it'd be more balanced to make them worker-neutral (so instead of having every worker in your city work in the downtown, you could have one come from the suburbs but be balanced by one driving outward to work; labor-neutral, but a bit more of a strain on your roads). That way, players aren't hurt or helped by the exact positions of the nearby filler towns.

There are plenty of real-life examples of this sort of thing, lwhere a small town was eventually absorbed by the larger city but still retains its own mayor, police, schools, and jobs. But really, it's just an easy excuse to put SOMETHING in that green space...

I completely agree with this. Sure the average PC cannot handle a 3D region of 64km^2, but anything but that green void is a step up. I like the idea of having static sprawl as the void, but I'm pretty sure that would be taxing on older computers.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

There have been proposals for Regional Minor Works such as farms, landfills, plantations, etc.

--Ocram

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

I know I'd love to see anything that has to do with road/highway networks!

Ha ha, I had a feeling you'd be asking that. I'll try to capture a viaduct with networks crossing it, how about that?

Yes! We can not wait.

Here you go:

https://twitter.com/MaxisGuillaume/status/281454989090623488/photo/1

[Pandemic 32]

New screen,

[Ocram's Razr 963]

That bridge/ramp/viaduct looks fun!

--Ocram

[barnacleboy 13]

I know I'd love to see anything that has to do with road/highway networks!

Ha ha, I had a feeling you'd be asking that. I'll try to capture a viaduct with networks crossing it, how about that?

Yes! We can not wait.

Here you go:

https://twitter.com/...0623488/photo/1

Is it possible to connect ramps with each other so that you can make elevated intersections?

[Bipin 3,402]

That bridge viaduct was exactly what I was hoping to see, thanks so much for posting the picture. You've got me a step closer to buying this game.

[grugor 60]

That elevated road started from a hill though. Is it possible to build these elevated roads on a flat city tile which has no hills?

[Spatzimaus 77]

Where the heck are all those people headed? A cruise ship dock? A tourist trap?

It says "came from a cruise ship dock", which appears to be that thing in the upper-left. The person that's selected appears to be starting to cross the street towards the lower-left, so clearly there's a town just off the edge of the screen with plenty of tourist traps.

Now, it also looks like there's a mass transit (light rail?) icon next to the dock, so maybe there's a bus stop right there, but it clearly isn't large enough to handle the huge influx of tourists. So we get the horde of visitors, and personally I'm glad to see that instead of the completely abstract populations of SC4. After all, dealing with that sort of one-time wave of arrivals is VERY different than developing for general population shifts.

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

That elevated road started from a hill though. Is it possible to build these elevated roads on a flat city tile which has no hills?

That's something I wanted to do but it doesn't looks like it's going to happen

[CaptCity 4,753]

Off topic posts and other unwarrented comments removed.

[Kifflom112 355]

Everything looks like it's been built yesterday and polished this morning, including the grass and beaches. Where did all the details go? :ooks like SC4 without the detail on. I hope that they don't actually include the stupid individual Sim info. Isn't this supposed to be Simcity? Not The Sims.

It looks more detailed than Simcity 4.

Also you know you can find out what all your Sims are thinking in Simcity 4, you just have to click the mic option and click somewhere on your city.

I fail to agree with you.

In what way does it look more detailed than Sim City 4? The only thing better is that it's 3D.

Even without NAM & NWM, SC4's roads look loads better than those cheapy looking 4 lane avenues that look like they've just been slapped together.

I'm sorry, but I agree with the guy you quoted, SC is dead. They should just stop making SC's after this. It's not what I nor many others want. I can't believe I actually was once excited for such a game, just to be disappointed.

I bet after I play this game, I'd gladly go back to SC4 and find it funner, more beautiful(if you use your mods in the best way) and it just feels like a more authentic city building game compared to this. I wouldn't even call it Sim City, it doesn't simulate that good if you're asking me, lol.

It looks like they made some random "here you go make a cartoony city" game and then slapped SC up there.

Pfft, EA what happened?

[spa 968]

That elevated road started from a hill though. Is it possible to build these elevated roads on a flat city tile which has no hills?

That's something I wanted to do but it doesn't looks like it's going to happen

Worth remembering how basic SC4's transportation options were before Rush Hour. Out of the box, there weren't avenues or one-way roads! All that came after first expansion pack. My main issue is with the region setup (the gaps between cities) and I'm not sold on the need to always be online. The superior simulation engine and curved roads are areas where this is clearly shaping up to be better than SC4.

[grugor 60]

That elevated road started from a hill though. Is it possible to build these elevated roads on a flat city tile which has no hills?

That's something I wanted to do but it doesn't looks like it's going to happen

Why on earth not? Its obv possible and is the only way to avoid crossing other roads without having an intersection. its just plain stupid that i would have to have a hill on my tile to utilise an elevated road. I wish who ever thought about restricting this feature would rethink it as its in my top 2 after realistic traffic.

[Skyrunner27 23]

That elevated road started from a hill though. Is it possible to build these elevated roads on a flat city tile which has no hills?

That's something I wanted to do but it doesn't looks like it's going to happen

Why on earth not? Its obv possible and is the only way to avoid crossing other roads without having an intersection. its just plain stupid that i would have to have a hill on my tile to utilise an elevated road. I wish who ever thought about restricting this feature would rethink it as its in my top 2 after realistic traffic.

He meant the intersection not the elevated road.

[grugor 60]

That elevated road started from a hill though. Is it possible to build these elevated roads on a flat city tile which has no hills?

That's something I wanted to do but it doesn't looks like it's going to happen

Why on earth not? Its obv possible and is the only way to avoid crossing other roads without having an intersection. its just plain stupid that i would have to have a hill on my tile to utilise an elevated road. I wish who ever thought about restricting this feature would rethink it as its in my top 2 after realistic traffic.

He meant the intersection not the elevated road.

Well he quoted my question and not if there would be intersections on elevated roads. hopefully he was talking about intersections (even though they would also be nice)

[pyanodon 218]

Directly from Facebook

[The_City_Builder 299]

Not too shabby.

The only complaint I have with that picture is the mountain textures! Lol.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

That picture looks too good to be true, almost as if altered in Photoshop! I hope that is just a better graphics program/settings/polish and not a photoshopped fake. The mountain texture could use some work but it is OK.

--Ocram

[Zarpia 12]

Directly from Facebook

If you look closer you can see this is the game with the graphic settings set on Low; look at the central street, and also there are no shadows.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

There are barely any noticeable shadows at night. There is an ancient Asian saying (and I paraphrase) "the harsh sun casts the world in light but leaves many dark shadows when the soft moon bathes the world in a soft glow without shadows."

--Ocram

[Cobraroll 138]

That long, straight road ends in a building. I'd bet a few kr that the border of the map is just behind that building, going straight behind the line of the tallest skyscrapers. I wonder how the camera is placed in relation to the border on the opposite side, though. "Straight above" shouldn't be a very bad guess.

This game certainly has potential, and many of the features are really cool. Too bad other features totally strangle the game as a whole.

[barnacleboy 13]

That elevated road started from a hill though. Is it possible to build these elevated roads on a flat city tile which has no hills?

That's something I wanted to do but it doesn't looks like it's going to happen

Wow, that's a bummer. Since Simtropolis mentioned the possibility to build three level overpasses I was very excited for the game. So the only progress from the SC4 RH road tool is the curved roads mode?!

[Mithrik 562]

But really, those "cities" in those screen shot look more like model towns my dad used to make out of cardboard and wood in the basement than anything that resembles a real city.

Well, that's supposed to be what they are attempting to make it look like. A model city/town.