New Expansion Pack in November - Cities of Tomorrow

[Terring 6,476]

I'm curious about the patches which have been released until now. Will Cities of Tomorrow come with all the previous released patches?

[Rian Gray 12]

I would think by now they'd know that many people are unhappy with the city map size, so a major selling point would be to plaster "NOW WITH BIGGER MAPS" all in front of this new cash cow. But I'm just not seeing anything or reading anything to that effect... To keep it secret would be stupid..

The most recent announcement from EA was that they've already tested with bigger sized map and decided not to include it. I'm guessing EA figured either current Simcity (original) should be played as a collaborative game or the coming expansion should be able to fix it as a collaborative game. Either way, I honestly don't see the point of forcing "how to play the game" on players. It's Simcity, we play simulations not training software.

[mikerafc 0]

yer bring out a £30 expansion pack when the base game it don't work talk about ripping the gamer off

[Noobi-Wan 22]

yer bring out a £30 expansion pack when the base game it don't work talk about ripping the gamer off

You don't have to buy it though. I certainly won't be for a while anyway.

[Terring 6,476]

There is something that puzzles me and I want your honest opinions. Many players have expressed their disappointment with the announcement of Cities of Tomorrow. I can understand them. EA/Maxis released the game rushed and unfinished, with up to 8 patches to darn it's problems. And now an expansion?

This reminds me the case of the Atari Jaguar (1993), the first (as announced) 64-bit game system. But beyond its vicious exterior and rotating Jaguar cube on the startup screen, it had little to offer. Gamers who were suckered in, found a mediocre library of games and graphics that failed to impress. Even the 16-bit Nintendo SNES had better graphics. And then what Atari did? It released a CD add-on, the Jaguar CD. So you have a game console that not many people liked and owned, and make an add-on that requires owning this game console. I mean really, what were they thinking?

But anyway, I also don't like the idea of an expansion for the new Simcity. I think it's too soon for it and fixing the game itself should be EA/Maxis priority, instead of expanding it into the future. I don't want to be forced to play online and build huge towers in small tiles. I want my cities to be as big and awesome as I want. A game that limits me in anything is insulting!

However there is something else that puzzles me. I have noticed some people who complained about the futuristic concept of the expansion. For them, the problem is not the idea of an expansion in a rushed game. For them, the problem are the arcologies, the Tron-styled roads, the robots, the maglevs, the nuclear fusion reactors e.t.c..

So let me ask a question to anybody refuse to buy Cities of Tomorrow. Your problem is the release of an expansion or the futuristic theme of it? Oh wait, here is a better question. If EA/Maxis had announced an expansion called "Cities of the Past" and it was all about building realistic historical cities, would you buy it?
 

And seriously, no flying cars? Even Anno 2070 has them!

[Monster's Cat 120]

First of all, they hover. They don't fly. And yes.

[Griffon 19]

So let me ask a question to anybody refuse to buy Cities of Tomorrow. Your problem is the release of an expansion or the futuristic theme of it? Oh wait, here is a better question. If EA/Maxis had announced an expansion called "Cities of the Past" and it was all about building realistic historical cities, would you buy it?

I know you're being serious but I thought your "Cities of the Past" comment was funny.  I thought about that too but didn't say it, that's probably why I find it so funny that someone else thought of it too.

 

I've bought the expansion because I like the concept of it, because I've always like futuristic games and movies and it's also your choice whether or not you want your city to be futuristic or not (it converts by you building the Academy or OmegaCo.).  Btw you mentioned Anno 2070 I've been debating on wether I should get it or not, is it good?

 

So if I had to vote (although it does not apply to me) I'd say the first reason; the idea of an expansion bad, the concept of it good.

[NielsC007 499]

I don't think it's a good idea to make a expansion pack for a game that is broken. I am not a big fan of the theme.

[AboveTheCity 6]

I still haven't bought SimCity 2013, obviously due to the restrictions. And SC4 is for me one of the greatest games out there, so if they don't fix the badly missing things, I won 't buy SC 2013 and/or it's Expansion Packs. This is a pitty, because in my opinion this futuristic theme looks pretty nice   . 

So Expansion or not, if it's still 'broken', they won't make the customer happy. Look, after 10 years, people still play SC4, why? It's the custom content and the freedom. SC 2013 got bored for everyone after a few weeks.   

[Xenocity 343]

I don't think it's a good idea to make a expansion pack for a game that is broken.

I read this online back in 2004 when Rush Hour was announced.

 

Though to be fair every Maxis game to date has been "broken" in some fashion.

 

Once update 8.0 comes, nearly all the major issues will have been fixed.

 

Anyways I love the expansion pack, I've wanted a successor to Simcity 2000's future building sets.

Plus we get launch arcos as well.

 

 

This Simcity lets you make cities from every era of history including stone age and future.

[mrbisonm 1,622]

Just wondering, shouldn't they fix the principles of the game first before throwing themselves into an Add-On ?

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

I'm not planning on picking up the expansion.  The only problem I foresee is I don't want to be building a modern day city and then look around and see my neighbors building huge, towering future cities around me like I'm some sort of 22nd century Amish cult.

[NielsC007 499]

Every city will be 500.000 people living in a 2x2KM area.

[reReticulated Spline 69]

Rush Hour was an expansion made to fix traffic problems players where having. Cities of the Future is an expansion seemingly made to create synergy between the Sims and Simcity franchise although speculative city concepts have always played some minor role in Simcity. 

 

To your question: no I prefer contemporary for city builders. Past cities also wouldn't interest me. I'll buy CoT when modding is out, going strong and using CoT resources or building upon CoT concepts.

[SockoJr53 51]

I won't be picking it up personally. Its just not what I want in an expansion pack right now. I read about a farming to food industry chain and a timber to lumber/paper to consumer goods/books chain back in the initial stages of the game, but they were ultimately cut before the release. That's leads me to believe they did some initial concepts and programming, so finishing both these concepts off shouldn't be too terribly difficult for them to do.

Farming in particlar would allow us to create small rural farming towns, something that is currently not possible, or at least not enjoyable in the current game, I miss farming towns I had in SC4.

[CaptCity 4,893]

Topics dealing with the same subject matter (the expansion) have been merged. Some mixing of posts may be present...

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I saw the recording of the live stream on Twitch.tv and it looks like a ton of fun! I am so glad that I preordered.

--Ocram

[Xenocity 343]

This came out at 12:01am ET.

I've been playing for almost a half hour now.

 

Here is the list of goods so far...

 

Academy:

25k to build

Requires 5 high wealth residential buildings to unlock

300/hr in costs

 

Controlnet Facility:

40k to build

400/hr in costs

Required for most futurisitc buildings

 

The Hydro Pumping Station costs 6k to build and 160/hr.

It pumps 10k/hr.

 

this is about double the water tower, though it is very cool looking.

 

Sewage Sanitizer costs 40k to build and 500/hr to operate.

max usage 26.3k/gal/hr

 

Each Magnlev station 15k to build, 200 sims max, 150/hr to operate

Magnlev track is 25 per piece no hourly cost

 

Powerplants:

 

Wave Power Plant: 60k to build, 30MW, 450/hr costs

Fusion Plant: 155k to build, 200MW, 1,500/hr costs

 

Megatowers:

Require city hall (not town hall)

Ranges from 120k to 180k to build

730-950/hr costs

 

Elite Megatowers:

224k - 338k to build

1,475 to 2,160/hr in costs

 

Skyway is 4 per piece

 

Launch Arcology:

Costs 500k (you earn it back when it launches)

Max colonist capacity is 10k

Costs 800/hr until it launches

High Tourist attraction until it launches

Acts a muesum/space center until it launches

Criminals and homeless can board as well.

 

Omega co factory:

Costs 30k to build

100/hr costs

 

Omega HQ:

37,500 to build

costs 450/hr

Unlocks at 5k/hr profits

 

new parks are also added

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I played Cities of Tomorrow for an hour. I really like it but I must go to bed now because I have college classes tomorrow.

--Ocram

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

So.... I join a region where one guy has a city and spend two hours tinkering with my little tourist town, got it down pat - solid traffic, happy folks, things are going well. Finally other guy goes bankrupt and leaves. Curious, I go over to check his little town out... and there's an Omegaco building. Did this guy hack into the expansion?

Then I realize because I never planned on getting the expansion I never really paid any attention to the release date "sometime in November" was all I could recall. Sure enough, it's today. Hm.

[Griffon 19]

I played on OmegaCo. for 2 hours last night when it came out.  It's really cool, I got my drone factories and Omega factory mine buildings.  The pipes work kinda like the service road on the oil wells but no trucks can travel on them and they can't go through roads unless you have an overpass or underpass.  I connected all my pipes up to every factory and they all shared resources to keep my production like going strong and not even needing imports or trucks to transport resources to my factories.  The last thing I did was unlock the drones and start a megatower; I got three levels on it so far.  My OmegaCo. percentages were 100% industry, 71% commercial, and 10% residential. 

 

It works like this, Omega factories deliver to industry converting them, the goods made by your industry are delivered to commercial converting them.  Residential only convert if they are supplied with buy drones.  Eventually you can send your omega trucks to other cities converting their buildings too.  You send them out like garbage or recycling trucks so the other city could have futuristic omega buildings in them without having the expansion and from what I understand they don't get to chose if they want it or not. (I want test that out later by building a regular city then supply it with Omega trucks.)

 

Today I'm gong to play Academy city to unlock all the research for the future buildings and get a fusion power plant to power my Omega city since it's running off two oil power plants and it's still a small village (about 50% to 75% low density still).

[CosmicSpeed 28]

I played a mere 30 minutes before work this morning but it seems to be a lot of fun!

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

 

Today I'm gong to play Academy city to unlock all the research for the future buildings and get a fusion power plant to power my Omega city since it's running off two oil power plants and it's still a small village (about 50% to 75% low density still).

 

I was playing last night - without the expansion - around others with it and kept getting nitifications that buildings were unlocked - that I had no access to,

[Griffon 19]

I'm done building my Academy City I just got to research all the technologies now.  I researched since I started the city and I'm on year four and finally got it upgraded to level four (max level) but I still have a lot of technologies left.  To upgrade it you need to research at least one technology from each level then research the upgrade to the next level and the upgrade research takes the longest (although it's free to start).  All of the technologies are significantly cheaper than the university but take significantly longer to research and they can research them 24/7.

 

I found out what ControlNet is.  Apparently people at the Academy and the extensions remotely control your Academy technologies and ControlNet is a measure of how much they can control at once.  So any Academy technology doesn't need people to run, just enough ControlNet to run.  This reduces traffic because you have people going to one place to work instead of all over the city.

 

I've never had traffic problems in this city.  One street may turn yellow every now and then, but it goes away fast.  The only transportation I have in the city is one train station and a MagLev system.  I also got bored waiting on the Academy research so I've maxed out 8 megatowers with crowns all connected with skybridges and still waiting on the research.  I'm making +$50k per hour from taxes, megatowers, and OmegaCo. and have 200k population (mostly in high wealth too).  I only have one OmegaCo. factory and it only produces drones.  Apparently if you don't have Omega in your city they drones go to other cities and bring it back to your city for your residents to consume and you get the profits from it.

 

I have 1 crime, 0 deaths, and 0 buildings burned down per day in my city with only two service levels on my megatowers.  I placed the police station, small fire station, and clinic early on in the game.  Once I built the drone factory and a service level the regular service buildings became obsolete and the drones did a better job anyways.  My jail cells at my police station were empty after I built the Launch Arcology, because they loaded up the criminals onto it.  Also the megatower schools are more efficient than the other school systems.  They came with 1,200 desks per school level and their own school busses (futuristic styled though) and I had every single student in the city attending school with them.

 

I was very impressed with everything except the wait time of the Academy research.

 

I haven't got the air scrubber technology yet, but thought of putting that on a few megatowers with the ground pollution remover below them and then the city would be pollution free.  Ground scrubber turns ground pollution into air pollution and air scrubber turns air pollution into rain.

 

Btw this is one thing I thought was weird.  The robot attacked my city, it wouldn't destroy my Academy, it teleported to the other side of it when it came to it and when the robot left once it was full of energy it dropped oil into the ground.  I was playing on a city with no resources then after he left the Oil Well was unlocked and there was a tiny patch of oil on the map.

[eburress 267]

I played around with the expansion pack a little bit earlier, and I actually think it makes for a better all-around gaming experience.  

 

The game is crap for creating cities that look like ones that might actually exist on Earth because no city on the planet would ever look like the sort of city you can make in SimCity (the first requirement for the game should have been "allow our users to create cities that look like cities that exist on planet Earth" but I digress).  With the expansion pack though, you're no longer creating cities that might exist in the real world...you're creating cities that might exist in some future world, which allows players to suspend disbelief, reality, or whatever enough to stomach the ways in which the game falls short.  I'll probably get bored with this soon enough, but at least it's a better game than what we had before.

[fpdlskf 5]

Buy CoT from Origin store.

Game won't upgrade to CoT.

Tried reinstalling twice.

 

Anyone else having issues like this ?

 

 

 

//

 

Okay seems like the game upgraded to CoT, as I get the new intro.

But I still can't access the new content.

 

//

 

Problem solved.

Went out for a few beers, came back.

Works....

 

Either beer has magical powers, or the Origin servers took a while to figure some stuff out....

[eburress 267]

Buy CoT from Origin store.

Game won't upgrade to CoT.

Tried reinstalling twice.

 

Anyone else having issues like this ?

 

 

 

//

 

Okay seems like the game upgraded to CoT, as I get the new intro.

But I still can't access the new content.

 

//

 

Problem solved.

Went out for a few beers, came back.

Works....

 

Either beer has magical powers, or the Origin servers took a while to figure some stuff out....

 

Obviously, beer does have magical powers! hahaha

[Xenocity 343]

I'm in love with this expasion pack, especially the mega towers.