CSGdesign

That's an excellent idea! Anyone that is a member of the EA forums has my consent to re-post this review or any part of it (providing they don't take me out of context, and providing a link to the original review is provided in the post). I couldn't be bothered signing up to an EA forum just to tell them how pissed I am with them. They can spend some of their billions doing some googling to find out what the community is saying where they feel at home.

I have now finished the review. It has resulted in me taking this game back and getting a full refund. The latest update scrubbed my cities. Not. Cool. Dear EA: If you want to retain control of my data, then you have a duty of care to keep it safe and accessible. Stop wasting my time.

Excellent! I will certainly drop in and have a look. Also, my commendations to the mod or admin that removed the top two inflammatory posts. Nice to see that sort of behaviour is no longer encouraged here. Manners don't cost a thing.

Thanks for your input guys. The people you refer to are not going to get much value from what I'm doing... that's true. I'm not aiming at people that have mastered the game or have been playing it for a month... I'm aiming it at people that would like more information about it. It's taken me this long to buy the game because of the negative hype, and if it applies to me it applies to others as well. I'm presenting this as a nuetral in depth observation of my experience with it, because it's hard to tell from normal game reviews and such. So far there are positives and negatives, but it's nowhere near the disaster that I've heard it was... in fact it's got a lot going for it. Thanks Haljackey... I was unsure where to put it - happy to put it where-ever really. Figured it wasn't really a city journal as such... I've always been here, just lurking. Got a lot going on both in my personal life and my online life. Working like crazy. I'm Group Operations Manager of the entire state now, didja know? I need a holiday. :\ A wiki is a good idea, but I'm already up to my eyeballs in other projects - I just wanted to post some screenshots as I went to give an insight into Simcity 2013 for anyone that's considering buying it.

Hi guys, I am unsure on cross-promotion of forums rules... hopefully this doesn't breach any rules? I'd post the whole thing here, but seriously, each entry is taking me hours so I'd much rather just provide a link. I have bought Simcity 2013 and have 7 days to trial it obligation free before I decide whether to return it or keep it. I'm writing an impartial review on CSGforums, which you can read here. The aim is to journal my experience over this week to see what I think. Most of my time is spent actually posting the review, lol... but the whole purpose is to give people considering the good and bad reviews a much more in-depth look at the game before committing to buying it. Let me know what you think? Some previews: I'll be adding entries to this "journal" all week, so feel free to have a squizz and lemme know what you think. Cheerz!

Thanks algis242! The credit is all marsh's as he was the mayor for this phase of the Towne and therefore responsible for the city edits. It's not my work Duke... it's a collective effort, but the actual city edits and graphics you see here are credit to marsh. He's done a fantastic job. Riiga is the current mayor, I'm sure he'll also do a great job! This region was produced by drunkapple - he produces just awesome typography from actual satellite data of real terrain... his map submissions are numerous and all brilliant. The content like trees and shorelines are courtesy of marsh... he's one of the best plop-artists I know of.

A lot of work has gone into this site, and it's ongoing.

Firstly can I say that I think everyone has to remember the amount of work involved in doing something like this. I think it's really great how much effort has gone into it, and everyone involved should be thanked for their volunteered time. However there are a few problems with it, for sure, and I'm confused why something so huge wasn't shown to members BEFORE going to all this mammoth effort, so that the kind of feedback we're seeing was to a dummy version rather than the fully implemented version... seems like common sense to me but maybe things are done differently here? Over-all I don't mind it. It scrolls a bit too "clunky" (sort of like low fps effect) for my taste, but the design layout is nice, and it's clean (too clean for some apparently). I haven't looked at the stex yet, but if what madhatter and warrior is saying is true then I totally agree it's a step backwards.... BIGGER pics not smaller. I can understand the desire to reduce bandwidth use, for sure, but every single journal writer and reader will agree with me when I say "people look at the pics LONG before they could be bothered reading the words". I hope it works out fine... it'd be a shame to see such a great site lose readership. To me a site's attitude (ie: the way it treats contributing members) is far more important than what it looks like... although looks are important too. My heart goes out to Dirk - Dirk was primarilly responsible for this change right? - it's a lot of work for the kind of feedback it's getting.

Very nice stuff indeed 2b2gbi!

Marsh is correct... you can start off simply by reading this journal, and then you can read some of the basic "behind the scenes" stuff... like who is building what and where and why. Then, if you want to, you can "move in" just by posting in that thread, and talking to the Mayor (currently marsh, but we're about to have another election, so who knows) about where you want to live.  You get $20,000 to spend when you first move in... some people choose to buy land, others land and tools, still others big fancy fishing boats and equipment... whatever you want... it's your "life". There are a few basic commonsense rules, which get explained to you if you need... and as marsh said you can either get more and more involved if that's something ath appeals to you, or you can just chill out and watch how your digital alter-ego lives in this growing town. We currently have 31 active players (and many NPCs, or Non Player Characters... to pad out the Towne)... and it's growing fast. Join in!  Everyone is welcome.  It's a really fascinating social project.

Current Mayor: Marsh City file edits by marsh Images by marsh and CSGdesign Wording by CSGdesign By the time spring came around in 1922, the autumn and winter of 1921 had proven to be a very productive one in the Towne. 19 families came across the water to make their homes here, from farmers to shop keepers, inn keepers to upholsterers. Axes were heard all day every day, cutting trees to make way for pastures and saws were constantly knawing the logs into timber, giving fodder for the hammers to create the bloom of buildings erupting everywhere. The chapel was expanded to house a bell and be more fitting for a House of God... and cars chugged down the dirt streets for the first time... although only a very short list of people owned them. People could point to a car going past and know exactly who it was and have a good guess at where they were going... more of a status symbol than a required means of transport in such a tiny town with no outside roads Between the Towne center and Valermount Landing was where the most growth was seen this winter, with farmland being cleared, and several new citizens making their homes while the lure of inexpensive virgin farmland to the south of the Towne was bringing in a lot of interested pioneering farmers. For the first time farmland was opened up and cleared to the north, and still more livestock imported to the area. The Towne was reaching a point where it could sustain itself without having to import meat and animal products, but was still a very long way off being able to export farm products. Francisco Boss had finally recovered from the bear mauling he recieved while out trapping west of the Towne... it was a very serious injury and one that reminded the citizens of the Towne how isolated they were and how hostile their surroundings could be. The Valermount Landing had been very useful until now, allowing people and small hand-carried items to be disembarked from smaller ferries, but as people began importing cars and large amounts of steel and machinery, the landing was frequently being ignored in favour of landing small barges directly on the gravely beaches... which was awkward and inefficient. People were beginning to demand a more practical sized docks. A new business venture between the three lumber jacks Carl Sagan, Kristian Walker, and Eric Lopetegui saw various sites near the mouth of Hammond Creek as the site to locate a new joint-venture saw mill... the first mechanised suspended saw in the Towne. Their thinking was that the creek would form an easy means of getting lumber to the mill from logging fields further upstream, in the absence of any roads through the rugged untouched wilderness. Plans were being submitted to the mayor's office, and approval is pending. Draanen farm had made its first harvest and the small slashed path through the forest was gradually widened by slashing over-hanging branches and clearing underbrush... gradually becoming a track leading to and from town.

Current Mayor: Marsh City file edits by marsh Images by marsh and CSGdesign Wording by CSGdesign By the time spring came around in 1922, the autumn and winter of 1921 had proven to be a very productive one in the Towne. 19 families came across the water to make their homes here, from farmers to shop keepers, inn keepers to upholsterers. Axes were heard all day every day, cutting trees to make way for pastures and saws were constantly knawing the logs into timber, giving fodder for the hammers to create the bloom of buildings erupting everywhere. The chapel was expanded to house a bell and be more fitting for a House of God... and cars chugged down the dirt streets for the first time... although only a very short list of people owned them. People could point to a car going past and know exactly who it was and have a good guess at where they were going... more of a status symbol than a required means of transport in such a tiny town with no outside roads Between the Towne center and Valermount Landing was where the most growth was seen this winter, with farmland being cleared, and several new citizens making their homes while the lure of inexpensive virgin farmland to the south of the Towne was bringing in a lot of interested pioneering farmers. For the first time farmland was opened up and cleared to the north, and still more livestock imported to the area. The Towne was reaching a point where it could sustain itself without having to import meat and animal products, but was still a very long way off being able to export farm products. Francisco Boss had finally recovered from the bear mauling he recieved while out trapping west of the Towne... it was a very serious injury and one that reminded the citizens of the Towne how isolated they were and how hostile their surroundings could be. The Valermount Landing had been very useful until now, allowing people and small hand-carried items to be disembarked from smaller ferries, but as people began importing cars and large amounts of steel and machinery, the landing was frequently being ignored in favour of landing small barges directly on the gravely beaches... which was awkward and inefficient. People were beginning to demand a more practical sized docks. A new business venture between the three lumber jacks Carl Sagan, Kristian Walker, and Eric Lopetegui saw various sites near the mouth of Hammond Creek as the site to locate a new joint-venture saw mill... the first mechanised suspended saw in the Towne. Their thinking was that the creek would form an easy means of getting lumber to the mill from logging fields further upstream, in the absence of any roads through the rugged untouched wilderness. Plans were being submitted to the mayor's office, and approval is pending. Draanen farm had made its first harvest and the small slashed path through the forest was gradually widened by slashing over-hanging branches and clearing underbrush... gradually becoming a track leading to and from town.

@avrelivs - you'll be very welcome to! If you have any questions you can talk to folks in chat, or post in the forums... we look forward to you joining our already 31 playing members of this town.  It's a really fun game so far, and it's evolving quickly into something that should be really interesting. Just today Gorbag and me have figured out how to do prospecting for example, so we can realistically locate various minerals, which will eventually lead to mining projects and industry and stuff. The whole town is developing very reaslitically because everyone in it are living realistic lives according to realistic guidelines... it's very cool! Marsh is doing an amazing job of creating the town itself... he'll be getting my vote for re-election for sure!