Future of SimCity Official Discussion Thread

[Simfan34 11]

Originally posted by: Constantina How about a SimCity on the go?

The vital program files would be contained in one USB stick, and it can start without having to install. The saved games or plugins could be saved anywhere, according to the user's preference.

The User simply plugs in the stick to a spare USB port, and off he/she goes.quote>

I actually tried that once, The file was too big. Prehaps that may be the future of games. I'll buy a big usb stick and install a relativerly small game.

[Pixelrage 34]

I'd rather have a mega patch/addon to SC4 at this point The more I see these new city journals, and projects like curved roads, RHW, etc - the more I want to keep creating new regions in SC4.

[Vandraad 0]

The issue of "the grid" whereby lots are limited to NSEW orientation with roads only have the 45deg angle option could be solved if the grid that everything snaps to were treated like an overlay texture.

This is to say the ground has no inherant grid. To build anything, we have to plop down the grid first, choosing the size of the buildable area much like we click-drag RCI areas. We choose a location, click-drag to the size we want, then orientate the resulting grid in 45deg increments. Thus, you could have a grid section orientated NSEW and then place another section, say, on it's West side that's orientated 45deg off. The line between the 2 sections that would cut across the grid squares would "round off" much like angled roads do currently..stairstepping the edge.

This doesn't totally get us away from the grid restriction, but does allow us to realistically create the appearance of non-grid cities without the huge loss of real estate we currently see when building off of angled roads.

Building roads from one grid orientation to another would be a matter of the game inserting the appropriate auto-angled section at the intersecting line. An intersection angle greater than 90deg might require additional corners for some transits that cant' make sharp corners. For example, you wouldn't want a highway to suddenly make a 135deg turn.

[SMSmart 0]

The question of what should be in SC5 and what shouldn't, is a difficult one, because the answer depends on who you talk to. Certain people play the game for certain reasons. I for example, play to simply "put down on paper" if you will, the ideas that I have in my mind about the city or region I'm imagining. SC4 really allows for me to explore my imagination that entails something tangible, not just in my head. Thus I have no interest in playing online against other people, trading cities with others, playing scenarios so as to complete one goal, etc. I just want to express what I'm seeing in my mind.

For others it may be different. And when I read some of the ideas that other present, no offense, but I think to myself, "oh please don't incorporate that, that would totally ruin the game for me." That's why I say, they really shouldn't change the game-playing concept to much.

But I would love to have more control over my cities, especially regionally. There should be more regional demand for water, power, etc. I should be able to build an airport in one city tile, and allow for other tiles to use as well, instead of having every single tile have its own airport. I would love to see "true" curved roads, regional terraforming built in to the game, etc. A lot of the ideas already presented.

But somethings are, admittedly, a little unrealistic at this point. Sure it would be nice to have the game actually progress to the future "aesthetically", but that would really require a whole ton of different versions of buildings, transit networks, etc. And who's to say what the future is supposed to bring? Are we really going to need to built underground cities, or build elevator tubes to a rotating ring around the Earth in orbit? To many if's .

And sure, true 3D would be nice, but that would probably sacrifice visual complexity at this point in time. We simply don't have the computing power currently to handle huge complex cities with complex visual details in true 3D. The same problem goes for other simulations such as weather. The game struggles enough with transit issues, let alone creating weather patterns. Yes, these things would be nice, but I think currently still unattainable, at least without sacrifices of some sort.

And yes, a better management system for mods would be much appreciated, so that I wouldn't have to scroll through all the custom buildings I have.

[LivingInThePast 364]

Yeah, I'd like a mega-patch to turn SC4 full 3D. And a reprogram so it can eat thousands of plugins with ease.

In reality, I think SC5 will be fully integrated with TS3. You could build an overpass, rezone farms, fire the a**hole advisor, and then zip over to Johnny Simm's house. There you can buy him a toilet, remodel his kitchen, and build a giant concrete wall around his house for "safety".

[Lambda 0]

SimCity 5 is coming!

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=160762

http://xs216.xs.to/xs216/07220/cover_GFW_150X200.gif

Can't wait to pick up this magazine.

[NYM1980 3]

Id really like to see side views and first person views of cities.  A big draw for major cities is the skyline after all, so itd be great to be able to see that.

Also I'd like to see different eras for buildings.  Start out in an early era and as your cities grows, you can watch it change but see some buildings remain.  It'd show history in your cities, maybe see giant glass skyscrapers surrounding a 300 year old church.  It could help give a sense of pride, rather than just plopping it all down to look that way.

Transportation is a big thing ofcourse, though Im sure most of this was mentioned, double deck bridges and highways, tunnels, bridges with curves and such.

Something I'm not sure anyone mentioned, is just seeing buildings expand.  Say you are offered a business deal to allow construction of a mega mall.  In time, it may become a massive tourist attraction and want to expand to be even larger.  Offering you more income, tourists, etc.  But also with problems, increased traffic congestion, bursts to city population, etc.  This would work well for schools too.  As a city grows, schools tend to grow as well.  Add a new wing to the school, a new gym, etc.  I remember The original sim city had this with the mayor house.  Again, itd add a sense of history to the city, having the "old wing" and "new wings" to the schools, churches, etc.

And I think I saw someone mention more life to the city.  More things going on.  Zone (or rather designate) some areas as state/nation parkland, here you could zoom in, see wildlife, camp fires, tents, hunters, swimmers, cabins, boaters, sailers, skydivers, etc.  Build ports and see cargo/oil ships going in and out of the cities ports without disapeering, cruise ships could bring in tourists, raising demand for a Tourism zone (a 4th zoneing option RCIT???).  Tourism zones would encourage Commercial Services, all types of shops and restaurants will want to open.

Be able to zoom up to people on the streets and get info on them, such as whether they are a tourist, citizen, visiting on business, a foreign tourist, immigrant, etc. and get their opinions on things in the nearby area and city.  Such as how safe they feel in this area, what do they think of the new skyscrapers in the business district, how do they like the national park(s), school system, health system.    You could even get awards from talking to and helping some citizens, maybe you happen to find a group of people calling for a new ballpark in their area, or for the demolition of an abandoned building nearby. etc.

I could go on and on but Ill stop here for now. LOL  What do you all think?

[Poetic 0]

SimCity 5 is coming!

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=160762

http://xs216.xs.to/xs216/07220/cover_GFW_150X200.gif

Can't wait to pick up this magazine.quote>

Wow, great find Lambda

I'm looking forward to the magazine too. Finally some word, as opposed to just hints, about SC5. That's assuming the magazine cover is real, and not a fake, of course.

[brancra 1,162]

Hmm...interesting find Lambda. My curiosity has been piqued.

[dabadon5 295]

a few things the new game should have

1.more land area for cities

2. more style of buildings

3 Sims that dont complain about everything

4. better highways

5. No pop ups from city advisors

6. more crime

7. nobody moving out the city because of something stupid

[CWLGAMER01 39]

GUYS THE COVER IS REAL!!!

Looks like GFW does have an exclusive on SimCity 5.  Check out this link -- go to the bottom RIGHT where you can subscribe to the mag and look at the cover!!

When is this going to hit newstands!!

OMG!!! YEPPIE!!

1up.com

[SuzyAngel 3]

I just hope it can be incorporated into the version we are using, that's what I'm worried about, has someone mentioned it here yet.

[penguin007 27]

Im 3 minds over sim city 5 at the moment
1. I can't wait it will have so much more features 
2. It won't work for my computer
3. I love sim city 4 rush hour with the mods form the STEX and LEX so why do I want a new sim city i already very happy

[SuzyAngel 3]

I found this site, with the SimCity 5 up, but nothing there yet. Looks like release date in November, thought I'd put the link up if it's not here already.

http://www.tothegame.com/game.asp?id=3082

[LivingInThePast 364]

All I'd like to say I hope they took our suggestions to heart. Just for jollies, I'd like to share the suggestions from an official Maxis SC2K FAQ. See which ones were introduced in SC3K, SC4, RH, our mods, and which ones have yet to be covered.

1) Toll highways and bridges. Would provide extra income,

but at the expense of possible commercial development.

However, may help to decrease pollution and traffic by

encouraging carpooling.

(Dave Lartigue: lartigue@firefly.prairienet.org /

72712.230@compuserve.com)

2) Wildlife Preserves and Scenic Routes. You could designate

an area of land (or a highway) as a wildlife preserve/

scenic route. This would increase tourism and Sim-

happiness, but the designated land would be locked out of

development. Some encouragement for more aesthetic

cities, rather than slash-and-burn.

(Dave Lartigue)

3) Amusement Parks as Recreation objects. 5x5 squares?

(Dave Lartigue)

4) SimSuffrage: The Sims should be given the right to vote

every few years and if the ballot goes against you, you

are booted out of office. However, it's a SimElection --

you'd still run the city, but you'd have to pick a new

name. There would be no real penalty for losing, but it

would remind players that real-life mayors must listen to

the complaints and needs of their citizens.

(Alan Czarnek: 71401.3330@compuserve.com)

5) Power Brokerage. You should be able to sell off extra

power to neighboring cities for a certain amount per watt,

and likewise be able to buy power from neighboring cities.

(Peter Kasmir: 72420.1776@compuserve.com)

6) Advanced forms of transportation that appear after a

certain date, such as elevated trains, monorails (that go

from arcology to arcology), etc.

(Darin Gurney: 71620.2531@compuserve.com)

7) Ski Resorts on the slopes of mountains.

(Darin Gurney)

A floating Arcology that could be built on water.

(Darin Gurney)

9) Underground power lines, along with undersea power lines.

(Darin Gurney)

10) Highway and Rail Tunnels.

(Darin Gurney)

11) A wartime *mode* where you are trying to fortify your

city against invaders. That is, set up defenses

batteries, and provide shelters for your citizens while

still growing your population. There would be a

drain on your young male populations, of course!

(Darin Gurney)

12) Bridges that go over land, from one hill to another.

(Sushil Gupta: 70314.3052@compuserve.com)

13) More selections for highway bridges.

(Sushil Gupta)

14) Stadiums which look like the stadiums for the sport you

select. I.E., a football stadium with a gridiron,

baseball with a diamond, etc.

(Sushil Gupta)

15) Elevated trains. [Others had mentioned elevated trains,

but Sushil went into a little more detail.] Cheaper than

subway, more expensive than regular rail. 1x1 sized

stations, above ground, and able to connect to rail.

Effective as commuter rail.

(Sushil Gupta)

16) Special events like the Olympics. Will cost a lot, but

increase industry and commerce revenue, as well as

tourism. You must have at least two stadiums before you

are asked. Would create a heavy toll on traffic.

(Sushil Gupta)

17) SimFarm! Combine light residential and industrial.

(Sushil Gupta)

18) Instead of rebuilding power plants every 50 years,

simply pay maintenance costs for nukes and fuel gosts

for gas and coal.

(Sushil Gupta)

19) Highway Patrol. If you have enough miles of highway, you

could get a highway patrol office. Might reduce traffic.

(Sushil Gupta)

20) More rewards!

(Sushil Gupta)

21) More interesting military bases.

(Sushil Gupta)

22) The ability to edit terrain without losing the city.

(James Walker: 70007,4651@compuserve.com)

23) A mode that would allow you to select an icon (bus

stations, for example) and then would highlight all of

those structures on the map.

(James Walker)

24) A right-click property inspector.

(James Walker)

25) A true flat view, straight down, to help in placing

pipes, subways, etc.

(James Walker)

26) Expand the advisors into more areas [suggestions welcome

on which areas!] plus the ability to turn them off if

desired.

(James Walker)

27) Change the river icon in the terrain editor so that you

can point the direction of the river.

(James Walker)

28) The ability to turn off parts of the simulation that may

slow it down.

(IE, cars, planes and helicopters, animation).

(James Walker)

29) An UNDO!

(James Walker)

30) Go back to rating cities by population (town, city,

capitol, etc.). It is frustrating that nothing happens

when your population reaches 1 million. The last reward

you get is Arcologies, which allow you to dramatically

increase your population, but there doesn't seem to be

any reason to do so after that point.

(Dave Lartigue)

31) Have built-in hints in the form of "special research

studies". You could get hints on, say, reducing

pollution, by funding money towards a study that, after a

few years, would give ideas on reducing pollution.

(Dave Lartigue)

32) Malls as recreation items. Sure, malls spring up as a

commercial zone, but in every city I've ever been to,

malls are strategically positioned, usually next to the

interstate. Also, you'll notice that being close to a

big mall is often a selling point for homes in newspaper

classifieds.

(Dave Lartigue)

33) Extend the college concept and have a "university"

zoning construct. You could zone an area for this and it

would promote dense residential (student housing) and

light commercial zoning in its immediate

neighborhood, the effect depending on the size (small -->

virtually no effect, large --> very spread out effect).

As time progresses, you could get things like a "free"

hospital (med school) and sports stadium. Also,

as time goes by, if your university is doing well, it

would start demanding more space, which of course will

cause all kinds of problems for the neighbors. (I grew

up in Austin, TX, which has no shortage of friction

between the University of Texas and everyone else.)

(Steve Rodrigues: steverod@cs.berkeley.edu)

34) How about courthouses? Once you get to a certain size,

you can get one of these, maybe some government buildings

when you get bigger... It seems that lots of little

towns I have driven through have their courthouse (if

they're the county seat) very prominent in the center of

town.

(Steve Rodrigues)

35) Another "outside world" suggestion: be able to compete

with your neighbors for industries.

(Steve Rodrigues)

36) Other utilities, such as telephone, TV, and radio

stations.

(Steve Rodrigues)

37) The ability to save cities as .PCX, .BMP, or .GIF files.

(Fred Chang: fchang@delphi.com)

38) In addition to the terrain editing mode, an icon editor

that would allow you to design buildings and icons. Say,

a condo that looks like one in your area.

(Fred Chang)

39) Bookmarks. I'd like to be able to assign, say, five

bookmarks and jump directly to them.

(Dave Lartigue)

40) Track popularity on the graph so you'd know what was

going on at times when your popularity was up or down.

(Dave Lartigue)

41) Recycling Plants, which of course would help somewhat

with pollution and, in the future, Air Treatment Plants.

Expensive, but they cut through the smog.

(Dave Lartigue)

42) After, say, 2200, have a Spaceport in addition to Air-

and Sea-.

(Dave Lartigue)

43) Ferries as alternatives to bridges. You'd need one on

each bank, fairly close to each other.

(Dave Lartigue)

44) Underwater tunnels.

(Dave Lartigue)

45) A driving add-on which would allow you to drive (or fly!)

through your city.

(M.J. Bluett?: mj.bluett@ic.ac.uk)

46) In real life electric (and telephone) wires run parallel

with roads. Why can't we have this? You would be able to

select a road, road with power, with water, or with power

and water. There is no need to take up two tile widths

for both out to the SimAirport, for example. Bridges and

tunnels should have this capability too. And while I'm at

it, subways and rail, too, should conduct power.

(Karen Todd: ktodd@census.gov)

47) Until the aforementioned recycle plants become availble

in time, trash dumps should be considered. (I know,

pretty yucky idea, but it's realistic.)

(Karen Todd)

48) I miss the hot keys from SC classic. I know B for

bulldoze still works, but how about p==power, t==train,

s==subway, r==roads, w=water, etc.. Maybe even command-p

for power plants, command-t for train stations,

command-s for subway stations, etc. You get the idea.

(Karen Todd)

49) Why do Sims complain so much about polution and *have* to

live close to work? They should be smarter than that.

Maybe if the eq is high, Sims would live farther away and

take the subway, if the eq is low, they'd have to live

close and drive.

(Karen Todd)

50) One thing I've always wanted was an increase in the

problem of land competition -- especially agricultural/

suburban. So -- "Farm" zones that are *extremely* cheap

to build (or just pop up on their own), are extremely low

density, but something bad happens to you (popularity?

inflow of new residents falls? I dunno) when you get rid

of them. Or you have to pay extra to re-zone them

(bribery + eminent domain). I guess I like the early

stages of the game, and would be willing to see more

detail -- dirt roads, for example, or county courthouses,

and stuff that survives without electricity (like the

aforementioned farm zones) Or the chance to build a 21st

century agrarian community powered by windmills with

electric cars on dirt roads.....SimCommune!

(Stanley Chin: chins@vrinet.com)

51) Golf Courses. I'm a golf addict and I want my Sims to

be able to play as well. I usually give my Big parks

names of famous golf courses but it would be nice to see

some bunkers and water surrounding freshly cut grass..

("Eagle": blake@calvin.se.fit.edu)

52) Country Estates. Historically, rich folk are the ones on

the outskirts of the city (the enclaves may get swallowed

up, but that's another story). If you build/zone

residential stuff really far away from the center of

town, maybe we could have a step up from luxury homes and

have the estates of the "ultra-rich": huge, sprawling

things. Anyone who's ever visited River Oaks in Houston,

or Chappaqua in Westchester County, NY, or Heart

Castle in California, will have an idea what I'm talking

about. (This is the "filthy rich beyond imagining" type

of people.)

(Steve Rodrigues)

53) Post Offices as government buildings.

(Simon Leung: sngpit.dnet!leung@turtle.fisher.com)

54) Highways on the ground, instead of always in the air.

(Simon Leung)

55) Time flies when you're having fun! How about a Clock in

the Title Bar?

(Dave Lartigue)

quote>

[smstevenms 7]

Originally posted by: Joe887 The best thing to have would be a Free and Open Source clone of SimCity 4, so we can have all the features we want ;-).  Probably not going to happen unless a lot of software developers join Simtropolis.

• The program should be developed to run on a modern computer.

• The monetary aspect of the simulation should be optional, as many people don't want to bother with this.

• The simulation should be entirely 3D. 

• There should be a top-down "blueprint" view for planning the city and a "Camera" view for taking pictures, etc.

• The blueprint view should allow players to layout the city without making any changes, and only build the improvements when the budget or other constraints allow.

• Players should be able to save and exchange these design elements (for example, a highway intersection).

• Players should be able to define custom transportation networks (number of lanes), zones (commercial/residential), etc.

• Save games, maps, and other data files should be in a documented format.

• Tiles are bad.  The simulation should have a universal coordinate system with a resolution of 1 meter.

• Roads should be placed by connecting a line between two points and dragging it to make approximate curves.  Similarly, zones should be placed by defining the vertices of a polygon.

• Lots should be randomly generated and the buildings orientated with roads, etc.

• The traffic simulator should account for every Sim going to work, the store or the dentist.  The path finding algorithm should be non-crappy.

• Some things, like power distribution or hospitals are generally not within the jurisdiction of municipal governments.  The scope of the simulation should be customizable.

• The camera should be able to fly around anywhere in the simulation.  Naturally, it wouldn't be able to render in real time, and the more of the city is visible the less detail there will be.

• As well, all the obvious things, like school buses going farther than 800m and roads going under bridges, etc.

quote>

Joe887, this is one of the best thoughts yet. This is what I have been talking about (well not so much here but with wife & friends). My main complaint  has mainly been the lack of control, design & functionallity. If you have read alot of these ideas here, you'll get the impression that you won't get what you want, and who is "really" reading this any way? I mean 95% of the ideas here are sweet, but it will come down to cost to make, what the market can bare, size & ease of play, and many more factors, and again is someone actually reading are ideas here.

[Lambda 0]

SimCity Socieities

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/05/ea-confirms-simcity-societies/

Supposedly an entirely new direction for the series...

[+Guest]

I love the new name. AWESOME! I can't wait to see what the June issue of the next Windows MAG has to say about this!

If Spore is part of the game, then we won't need to have Pluggins will we? I mean the beauty of Spore is that we can make our own custom content right? I'm still hazy with the concept.

[pschraeer 4]

The German Community is shocked, the new SC is ****!

Screenshot!

http://www.1up.com/do/slideshow?pager.offset=0&mt=0&cId=3160082&mId=3317386

This is SimCity Societies and it should be our SC5?

Tell Titled Mills your mind:

http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/showthread.php?p=157622&posted=1#post157622

[smstevenms 7]

Is it out yet? GEEZE!!

[hawkotaco 0]

you know, i'm sorta scared. I don't think that's it's going to be that great. It looks like they're absorbing various aspects of City Life (the six aspects seem strangely familiar) and smushing it together with the trademark of Sim City to make as much money as possible. And the fact that you're just plopping buildings causes a couple problems:

1. we won't be able to create urban sprawl or massive cities.

2. i saw that they said 350 different buildings. sounds like a lot? well i've seen far more in SC4.....

3. the way the buildings grow will make it extremely hard and unlikely that they will release a "lot" editor.

4. IT'S NOT MAXIS!!! this angers me more than anything else. especially considering that these companies are soooo small, that they do not have proper resources eventhough the game is being published by EA. I don't think there will be much support and this will become one of those games nobody will ever hear about and the game will be one of those games whose price is being discounted at 9.99 within three/four months. Just wait.

I think that the SC4+RH is far better and is still far more robust than anything that any company will be able to come up with. The stuff on this site is enormus and i hope that it will continue to grow. Maybe a decade down the line, when SC4 can no longer make any decent sales, we can convince EA to give it up for abandonware and code it...if anyone will still care by then.

[Henry Midfield 3]

1) Bridges and road tunnels

Is it just me, or is anyone else having troubles with terraforming land in order to create bridges high enough to pass under. Real-life bridges usually rise at the sides without raised terrain; indeed, only the road/rail deck rises with supports at the bottom. I'm surprised that this hasn't been fixed in SC4.

2) Agglumative planning lots/buildings

Okay, SC4 has improved lots in the building sizes, say like 3x5 or 1x3; much more flexible. But what about a irregular-sized lot of, lets say a combo of 1x2 and 3x4?

3) Possible overlapping of roads/rails/highways

In major cities, there are roads that have elevated railways/highways running parallel above. Heck, in Tokyo, my hometown, I have freeways running above all the major arterial roads, and even on some minor roads too! It would be great to implement that; it would be a huge saving in terms of space available (save the on/offramps, junctions, stations)

4) Building police facilities in certain buildings, such as airports:

Some buildings do have several facilities incorporated into them. One of the major frustrations that I have experienced is the high crime rate of airports, by, I guess, smuggling. This is exactly why police forces are incorporated into the airport, as custom officials. I think that the funding of the airport should also have a seperate funding for custom officials. The more funding, the more effective the custom officials are, and the less the crimes. Similarly, in a building that suffers from high crime rate, we should be able to have a police facility incorporated into that area, with a seperate funding for that particular police station. (I forgot if it was a subway station, or just an underground mall, but I definitely seen a police box somewhere in an indoor structure in NYC.)

4)Realistic subway stations

Who has ever heard of a single tile subway station in real-life? We have long platforms, concourses, ticketing halls etc. right? And who has ever heard of a subway train being able to negotiate a 90 degree curve of Simcity 3000/4 proportions? They need to have a certain radius to negotiate any curves, right? Well, what I have been thinking is this:

a) You can build a station, which is expandable. The station built has only one ticket gate and four exits at the start, two on each side of the station and a set of platforms. All of this would take a space od 1x5 under a road (or 2x5 if under an avenue) When the subway has become too busy, you can expand the subway station by having longer platforms, more ticket gates, and exits. You can also connect station exits directly to buildings

b) If you construct a new line in a vicinity of a station, you have a choice to add platforms, new ticket gates, exits etc., and connect the new "station" with the existing station, thus creating one unified transfer station.

c) In order to incorporate this, each subway tunnel must be able to pass over/under one another.

[smstevenms 7]

I cant wait to start breaking down the new version.

[spoty101 0]

1. Instead of making a region city tile by city tile have it possible to design ur region from above, no more city tile by city tile

2. Have a random region terrain generator, imagine the unlimited region possibilities

[smstevenms 7]

Originally posted by: Henry Midfield 1) Bridges and road tunnels

Is it just me, or is anyone else having troubles with terraforming land in order to create bridges high enough to pass under. Real-life bridges usually rise at the sides without raised terrain; indeed, only the road/rail deck rises with supports at the bottom. I'm surprised that this hasn't been fixed in SC4. <----This can be a nuisance but for now theres a bridge height mod(if you don't have it), paste this link: https://www.simtropolis.com/modding/index.cfm?p=details&id=314 if that doesnt do it just hit link "Modds & Downloads" and look to right theres 50 of most dwld, I think (however your terrain will need to be high enough to avoid low clearence for ferries). Hope that helps

3) Possible overlapping of roads/rails/highways

In major cities, there are roads that have elevated railways/highways running parallel above. Heck, in Tokyo, my hometown, I have freeways running above all the major arterial roads, and even on some minor roads too! It would be great to implement that; it would be a huge saving in terms of space available (save the on/offramps, junctions, stations) <--------Great idea, they didn't really give us to much fexibilty with the crossing under/over or even sandwiching ontop. Like mono rails can't over or even under elevated highways, you cant create your own bridge at will or create a very short one (when water present), and no road/rail can go under/over any bridge.

4) Building police facilities in certain buildings, such as airports:

Some buildings do have several facilities incorporated into them. One of the major frustrations that I have experienced is the high crime rate of airports, by, I guess, smuggling. This is exactly why police forces are incorporated into the airport, as custom officials. I think that the funding of the airport should also have a seperate funding for custom officials. The more funding, the more effective the custom officials are, and the less the crimes. Similarly, in a building that suffers from high crime rate, we should be able to have a police facility incorporated into that area, with a seperate funding for that particular police station. (I forgot if it was a subway station, or just an underground mall, but I definitely seen a police box somewhere in an indoor structure in NYC.)  <----Splendid idea, someone might beable to create this right here at ST, just ask around. It would be more realistic.

5)Realistic subway stations

Who has ever heard of a single tile subway station in real-life? We have long platforms, concourses, ticketing halls etc. right? And who has ever heard of a subway train being able to negotiate a 90 degree curve of Simcity 3000/4 proportions? They need to have a certain radius to negotiate any curves, right? Well, what I have been thinking is this: <---I know for a fact that NY and Chicago do have small subway stations like these, there's all kinds of user made subway station right at ST, check it out.

a) You can build a station, which is expandable. The station built has only one ticket gate and four exits at the start, two on each side of the station and a set of platforms. All of this would take a space od 1x5 under a road (or 2x5 if under an avenue) When the subway has become too busy, you can expand the subway station by having longer platforms, more ticket gates, and exits. You can also connect station exits directly to buildings <-----I like the basic idea of this, expanding. This would in turn make things much more manageable in the grand scale of a large city (theres a mod tool (haven't tried yet) that allows you to isolate and view your bus/sub stations).quote>

[Bukumi-san 0]

I say we the comunity make a sim city 5 with the Grafixs of the best games in history we have more people in this one site than ea 3 times over so we could make a sim city 5 better than maxis ea or any other company can so I say lets make a real sim city game as a comunity

[detonate_uk 0]

Is it possible for someone to summarise what's come before, I'm late to this thread, but felt compelled to comment... damned lemming syndrome!

EA = shareholder = profit. Games are a means to an end, and as a punter, we're only marginally figured in the end result - the franchise sells, so now it's a question of getting it out to the masses, which is why SC is going to become more like The Sims. Because it sells bucketloads with relatively little tweaking from the initial idea, rehashing - sorry, I mean expansion packs - the game continues to sell over and over. Personally, I've never understood the attraction with it.

So, SCS = The Sims meets City Life & Second life. A lesson in reality - you're a resistance group, fighting the corporate machine. Take any other example in life, say, Star Trek, if you must, and see that despite some influence, the end result is that any product has to appeal to the masses, not the minority. So, we're screwed, basically.

Incidentally, has anyone mentioned the demo scene as potential source for SC alternatives? Breakpoint demo scene convention because, being realistic, this seems the only real place where what people are asking for is likely to emerge, not through EA or their partners any more.

Since we don't know the design brief nor the design submitted by Tilted Mill, coupled to what we already know, it's not going to bode well for the future. As others have stated, it's going to be Sim City Lite. Very Lite.

[smstevenms 7]

This is my second try at a reply so this will be shorter than an intended. 

As to your first question, you need to read for yourself, as there as been many comments of different nature (not intended as a rude statement). The first post that started this thread is self-explanatory.

EA and many others will always have the goal of making money. And they couldn't if we didn't buy there products. This game is among many that are well enjoyed. I'd like to think this title has done well (this is the forth installment), and this site and many like it reinforce that it's a great game. This comment

Because it sells bucketloads with relatively little tweaking from the initial idea, rehashing - sorry, I mean expansion packs - the game continues to sell over and over. Personally, I've never understood the attraction with it.quote>

confuses me, do you know what site your logged onto?

And last, this title is nothing like The Sims and will never convert or assimilate. We don't control individuals we control there world! The other titles that are similar to this title are, what I'd like to think, alternatives to this title. A different style. We all crave for something new, different. If there were 3 games just like this one we would only buy one and we'd all be bored.

This game is great and has gotten better, we that support it, help continue it's success.

[ssc4k 1]

i consider what we are doing sc5 were at around sc4.5

[Zelgadis 638]

Given the presence of the new SCS forum, this thread is being unstickied and left free to waft in the breeze.

ISF