How are great works supposed to work?

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

I've tried starting a Great Work twice, once it didn't take and once it was only visible from one city (which could afford the 1 million but didn't have any resources to send for construction).  Never completed them.  Mot recently I was using Cape Trinity (3 cities, one GW).

 

I really don't want to start a new region and try to do it again, and want to see if the game is borking OR if I'm just misunderstanding how it works.  I'm asking what normally happens with a great work?  Is it visible to all cities during construction, or just the one that spent the 1 million?  Does each city need to pony up 1 million to see the great work?  Should we just give up on Great Works for now?  Is there an incentive to continue playing after you have completed a great work and filled all the cities?

[Anything 8]

the million need only be spent once, and its visible from all cities once the authorization has happened.

sometimes it can take a long time to sync between cities.

 

ive experienced bugs several times where it doesnt ever show up from the point of view of other cities. this appears to be exaggerated if I swap cities a lot during and immediately after the authorization process.

since patch 6 several other users on this forum appear to have also experienced similar issues.

 

you may have to contact ea to get it fixed.

[BiancaM 1]

Well, I have been waiting for months for that syncing

[Noobi-Wan 22]

For great works read glitchy as hell. They are supposed to work in such a way as several cities run by different people collaborate to build something that benefits then all. Collaboration at its finest for the industrious region *standing ovation for teamwork - insert raucous applause And whooping*

How they really work is one person builds a successful, profitable city to initially fund the thing. The very same person then has to provide the resources either by mining/drilling/smelting/refining, or as I always did, build a trade port and import the required resources to send straight back out to the construction site. Finally after investing literally millions of simoleons into research, planning approval and resources (not to mention man hours) your great work is complete! Hooray right?

Wrong. Invariably it does not show up in some or all the other cities because everyone clicked build or there is some other mysterious server related problem that prevents them from showing up. The lucky few have it show up in all cities simply by waiting it out (I would suggest a friendly game of monopoly to pass the time, or perhaps you could read that novel you have been meaning to get into. Both are valid alternatives to actually waiting although success in either case is far from guaranteed).

My humble opinion is that these should have been good but they are more grief than they are worth. There is not much of a sense of satisfaction to be had from building them as it feels like a lot of hard work for a really minimal reward.

They are about the only part of the game that is still utterly broken.

[BiancaM 1]

Fully agree Noobi. I actually had my first laugh for today

[SockoJr53 51]

I agree with Noobi in that after all that hard work, money, and grinding out resources, what real benefit do you get out of them? Extra tourists from the International airport? I don't need them, my gambling cities already have hordes of tourists throwing money at me.

I am bitter too though, I have 4 cities up in Reflection Atoll right now, the international airport is showing in 3 of them. The 4th simply refuses to recognize the airport, and keeps flashing the "HAY BUILD SOMETHING OVER THERE BUDDAY!" message. I have been playing the 4th city for 3 in-game years to a population of 120,000 so I know it isn't a matter of "just waiting for the servers to sync" I've waited long enough, it's just a broken game mechanic.

[MINIggy03 227]

I like two Great Works; Solar power & Space Station.  

Airport & Arcology from my experience creates far too many traffic/bottlenecking issues that aren't worth it.  Space Station traffic is far more tame/manageable and Solar is nice to have to supply power.  They would have done a great service if arcology's were connected by rail/air/sea depending on the terrain so everyone isn't funneling in from the highways.  Stupid, stupid oversight.  

[Plat-O 1]

I've built the Arcology twice and seen no benefit at all, took a heap of time and money for nothing.  Built the International Airport once, but struggled to keep it open due to lack of workers.  I haven't tried the Solar Power great work, would be interested to try it.