rkellywlu

Great railroading! The Sumeria Spur makes me wish that SC4 could do multiple unit lash-ups so we could see four or five locos pulling cars up the grade.

If you check the forums at Shining Rock (http://shiningrocksoftware.com/forum/) or World of Banished (http://worldofbanished.com/index.php) there are people who have built the Banished version of a metropolis and gone up to at least 2000 people over 100-200 years. Many of them make extensive use of trade to bring in food and raw materials, then they process the raw materials and sell the products to get more raw materials and food, etc. I don't play that way myself, but if you want massive towns you could check them out.

As an LA native who now lives far away in "the frozen North" I love your work. Freeways and traffic is especially nice. Has anyone ever thought of doing an actual LAUPT plopable for SC4?

It's true, industrial buildings don't have to be located on a road boundary, unlike residential and commercial buildings. However, they must be in an industrial zone that extends up to a road. I've also often seen these buildings more than three tiles away from a road; I think the limit may be five or six tiles. I have seen single tile industries display the "no road access" blot and go dilapidated when larger industries develop between the single tile and the roads in a 6X6 industry block with roads on all sides.

I have played city simulators since the original Sim City - every one I can get may hands on. Cities XL is a real disappointment. Many of the disappointing factors are places where its ancestry (City Life) shows through: zoning by social class (ugh!), all lots square, lot size not flexible, can't access high density from beginning, no evolution of properties. The trading bit is just a bother, especially in solo play - and why is the solo play so crippled? - Oh, right, you have to pay extra every month for the planet, so of course solo play is lame. The fact that the AI only offers one trading partner is just ridiculous. You can't even trade among your own cities, which would seem to me to be a minimum. Curved roads are nice, but what is the point if all the lots are square? Worst of all for this railfan: NO TRAINS!!!!! What this all adds up to is that rational city planning is almost impossible. Nothing evolves in a rational way. It wouldn't be so bad if Monte Cristo hadn't over-hyped and raised everyone's expectations so high. As I send this I am loading up my Sim City 4 CD.