iamihop11

All it takes for me to make up my mind is to look at the record Russia and China have in the realms of censorship/free speech and the conflicts we have already seen between those countries and tech companies like Google. The less control Russia and China have over the internet, the better off we (and by 'we' I mean all of humanity) are. Putin alarms me and I suspect a fellow name Ai Weiwei would recommend keeping China away from any source of liberty.

This is interesting. It may spur me to start my own CJ, just because I take a different approach to "no-cheat." My focus is in getting a region to develop realistically, and I don't use cheats, either (except some DL content that isn't balanced very well). That means starting out with just a few blocks of development and a bunch of farms, and watching the cities gradually grow and interconnect. Like you, I only build highways, etc, once they're needed, but it allows things to look natural and organic, rather than just grids. There's nothing like trying to put a highway through a dense downtown area to force variety and quirkiness, like real cities have.

Really does remind me of Hotlanta, with the spread-out, almost linear rows of commercial towers. And, of course, the particular buildings...

That's interesting, because I never use terraforming to radically alter a region. It's more fun to develop a city around the topography. However, I use terraforming all the time to create sunken highways, industrial areas, seaports, airports, and lots of other elements. In real life, these projects DO require huge amounts of terraforming. Look at the airport that Hong Kong recently built - entirely on "reclaimed" (ie terraformed) land.

I've wondered this for some time. I have entire industrial districts that get no commuters (no workers if TWrecks is right, and I'm sure he is). We're talking about industries that have existed not just for a few weeks, but for decades. The most extreme example is a large area across a river from my region's commercial center. I guess they just find it easier to get to the commercial areas, even though the industries are often closer to the residents? Do sims show a preference for CO$$$ jobs over I$$$

I think there may be one other revenue stream that EA would like to take advantage of: DLC. The plan is simple - just create a half-baked game, sell it for $80, and then charge $5 or $10 for "additional" content that should have been there in the first place. Then they can come out the next year with a "deluxe" or "gold" version, with all of the DLC included, and sell more units of essentially the same game. Tilted Mill did this with Cities XL.

Others can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe elevated rail/subway has higher capacity (and speeds?). If you want realism, and if you view the NAM on ultra is a bit on the cheat side, I think the key for you will be simply diversifying the possible ways for your residents to make the commute. So, for example, keep the 3 railway lines, but add an elevated rail, a subway connection, and a RHW route (Real Highway - I recommend it and it is included in NAM, I think. It takes a little getting used to, but it can look gorgeous).

Am I just being a grumpy old geezer? Am I clinging to my individual city sim desires just because I'm scared of the inevitable future of gaming? Are we all just being difficult to please? I want to like this game so much, I keep telling myself "Buck up, young man. At least give it a chance." But this release includes two more major blows - lack of teraforming and small maps. Have they ever actually seen a city? Did it fit into 4 square kilometers? Even smallish cities like Baltimore or Raleigh or Tuscon are hundreds of sq km. Have they ever heard of suburbs? What if I want to see some white flight/urban renewal cycling? Goodbye sunken highways? Smoothed seaports? Coastline teraforming for seawalls? If I want to build Denver, am I going to get stuck putting it on a river delta? I don't want to be disappointed, I honestly don't. But I could really use some help from Maxis and EA!

I place both research centers near other growable buildings all the time, with apparently next to no ill effects. In fact, I just recently placed a disease research center near a new suburb, and they grew up $$ and $$$ like normal. If it decreases desirability, it isn't much - not enough to change the bright green on the desirability graphs.

Heh, no, it doesn't. I was thinking more along the lines of "highly-technical piece of software with market dominance which can be sold for absurd sums of money" Can you imagine doing spatial analysis in this sort of environment, though? I'd keep getting distracted by the bumper stickers on the cg cars driving past.

That's very impressive, but there are a few reasons I can think of that Maxis hasn't taken advantage of it. - Most importantly, because 95% of computers out there right now would have conniption fits. My computer would die as soon as it got a look at the box! - Because it isn't theirs, and there's no way that they could produce something comparable for $100 a pop. Applications for this sort of cutting-edge software are more likely to be used by architecture/urban planning firms, or in academics; basically, groups that will sink $1000 into a program without batting an eyelash. Ever tried to get MatLab or ArcGIS for yourself? $$$ - I wonder if realism that striking would necessitate too much micromanagement. Since games seem to be headed determinedly toward pretty, cartoonish looks with shallow learning curves, I bet a lot of casual gamers would be scared off by something that feels so real. While I, too, would love a simcity with graphics like that, I'd rather have an engaging, deep, and realistic gameplay. Anyway, thanks for sharing. It gives an idea of what all games might look like in 10-15 years.

I'm really beginning to hate this cycle of "Oh wow, they're coming out with a new city sim." ...a few weeks later ... "Oh, they're more concerned with trumped up graphics than actual simulation" ...a few weeks later... "And the actual graphics look like a cartoon, anyway" ...a few weeks later ... "I'd only have roads, highways, and bus stops?" ... a few weeks later... "I have to have a constant internet connection and risk ruination at the hands of casual gamers and 10-year-olds?" ... the day it's released ... "...Well, let's see what's new on the Stex. Hello, again, SC4, ol' buddy ol' pal." This looks like it'll be the third time my little heart gets been broken.

Hey N4C, remember me? It's awesome that Blue Hope is back - and with a vengeance! It's been a while since an update, but I assume the region's chugging along. Anyway, I'm sorely tempted to dive in, but I'm doing master's research full-time... and both of my PCs run XP. Alas. I'll definitely be keeping tabs on it, though.