How do you measure, estimate distance now ?

[macbroue 2]

I did not play the beta, but by watching videos and reading on the forum, I have a question.

 

Now that the  tiles, where everything was built on, are gone,  how is it possible to measure distance in Sim City with accuracy ?

 

The tile was the standard unit for distance in previous Sim Cities.  And I was referring to that to evaluate how far a sim is ready to walk to access mass transit, or how far from the edge of the map my road should be depending how large I want to zone.  That standard is no more. What replaces it ?

[buttonhead 9]

I could be wrong, but:

 

For mass transit:  I think the way to measure would be by station coverage.  The data maps highlight in green which areas are covered by, for instance, a bus stop.  The thing to keep an eye on would be the average wait time, which is also shown in the data map.  It's my understanding that low and medium wealth Sims will take mass transit, and high wealth sims are more likely to drive.

 

For road zoning:  There are guidelines that help you layout the roads to maximize your desired density.

[Daftblue 0]

I also could be in the wrong and feel free to correct me:

As for emergency vehicles ( police, fire, ambulance, etc) it depends how fast they can get to their desired location. And this depends on your roads and how heavy your traffic is.

I don't know how close you have to place a park and ride for $ and $$ sims. It would be nice if it also hilighted the area green where people would be willing to drive from home to the park and ride.

[Ma8thew 77]

I also could be in the wrong and feel free to correct me:

As for emergency vehicles ( police, fire, ambulance, etc) it depends how fast they can get to their desired location. And this depends on your roads and how heavy your traffic is.

I don't know how close you have to place a park and ride for $ and $$ sims. It would be nice if it also hilighted the area green where people would be willing to drive from home to the park and ride.

I don't think it's possible to highlight an area. It probably depends on many factors including how long the drive to the stop is (which cannot be captured in a circular radius), how long the wait for buses is and how far their destination is from the bus stop. I would expect that sims from neighbouring cities commuting in would use the park and ride too, so the area might well include the entire region.

[macbroue 2]

I could be wrong, but:

 

For mass transit:  I think the way to measure would be by station coverage.  The data maps highlight in green which areas are covered by, for instance, a bus stop.  The thing to keep an eye on would be the average wait time, which is also shown in the data map.  It's my understanding that low and medium wealth Sims will take mass transit, and high wealth sims are more likely to drive.

 

For road zoning:  There are guidelines that help you layout the roads to maximize your desired density.

So instead of measuring distance, we have to consider time taken to reach the desired service. Is that right ?

 

But density is ruled by road type so the guidelines ? Let's say I want to layout 3 parralel roads of different density. How can I measure the distance I should have between each road to allow buildings to develop to their full potential without wasting space ?

 

Let me explain..

 

In SC4, I like to build a road pattern with parralel roads (back to back) of different kind where I know I will build 2 X 2 zone on a street, than zone 3 X 3 on One-Way and some 4 X 4 on Avenues. By doing so, I know I should leave 5 tiles between the street and the One-Way (2 +3) and than 7 tiles between that One-Way and the Avenue (3 + 4). And also, I repeat the same road pattern multiple times and finally connect them together..By doing so, the length of my streets are the same and I get neighbourhoods of the same size.

 

My playstyle ask me to count tiles almost continuously. So, with Sim City 2013,  I'm out of tiles to count and I'm worried about my road design

[buttonhead 9]

I could be wrong, but:

 

For mass transit:  I think the way to measure would be by station coverage.  The data maps highlight in green which areas are covered by, for instance, a bus stop.  The thing to keep an eye on would be the average wait time, which is also shown in the data map.  It's my understanding that low and medium wealth Sims will take mass transit, and high wealth sims are more likely to drive.

 

For road zoning:  There are guidelines that help you layout the roads to maximize your desired density.

So instead of measuring distance, we have to consider time taken to reach the desired service. Is that right ?

 

But density is ruled by road type so the guidelines ? Let's say I want to layout 3 parralel roads of different density. How can I measure the distance I should have between each road to allow buildings to develop to their full potential without wasting space ?

 

Let me explain..

 

In SC4, I like to build a road pattern with parralel roads (back to back) of different kind where I know I will build 2 X 2 zone on a street, than zone 3 X 3 on One-Way and some 4 X 4 on Avenues. By doing so, I know I should leave 5 tiles between the street and the One-Way (2 +3) and than 7 tiles between that One-Way and the Avenue (3 + 4). And also, I repeat the same road pattern multiple times and finally connect them together..By doing so, the length of my streets are the same and I get neighbourhoods of the same size.

 

My playstyle ask me to count tiles almost continuously. So, with Sim City 2013,  I'm out of tiles to count and I'm worried about my road design

 

It seems like the process of measuring road density and spacing is automated in SC2013.  When you lay your roads, there are guidelines that pop up and show you where to draw to get the most out of the space.  So, if you're using a mix of different road types, I think the guidelines do take that into account and automatically show you where to draw.  One thing to note:  I believe there are no one-way roads in the new game.  At least, there weren't wany in Beta.  Who knows what could change between now and then.  Hopefully, most of our questions will be answered exactly two weeks from today! 

 

On a related note:  I think it's safe to say that we will all need to change how we think about SC gameplay, at least on some level.  It's a new game, so we'll all need to have a new strategy.  Counting tiles won't work anymore, so we'll just have to dig in and find a new system that works for us.