rhenry

Originally posted by: 0wn3d You definitely can start zoning high density at the beginning in CXL, probably moreso then SC4. I recently started a town with medium density, nothing smaller then that. You could do high density if you wanted though.quote> It's really not that simple, though. High density zones have a lot more requirements than medium density. You can pretty easily put down high density residential right away but with the business end of it you can really create some problems because of all the other things you need. Medium density is easier because it may have one or two requirements but not more. Low density is obviously the least demanding. Like when you lay down high density hi tech industry, that's the hardest to maintain. Suddenly you need executives and all the things that they need. Then you also need elites and all the things that they need and so on. High density Hi Tech basically needs everything else and that's a lot.

The one way I have found to gain any control over the architecture, if you would even call it control, is to delete whatever pops up until I like what's there. I've been trying to do this with redundant buildings in my downtown area. Sometimes the same one pops back up but then I just delete again.

yes, if you simply drag and drop you are making a copy of the exe. file but it's basically corrupt because it's not really the exe. file. You have to right click on it and then send it to desktop to create a shortcut. when you drag and drop it's not a shortcut. And don't bother pinning to the start menu, either.

Originally posted by: posidonius Is there any mass transit in the game currently? If there is I haven't seen it. Also... I'm almost brand new to city-building (I played Sim City for maybe 3 hours last year), and my biggest current problem is traffic. Could anyone offer any advice?quote> There are roads but no busses, only cars. There are airports and there are some water related things but I am not sure any of them are transit, really.

I agree with the above. If they released the game before any kind of mass transit was introduced to it then they must have been out of money. That would actually offer a different explanation for them offering it online only, too, once it comes out. why? Because they can't afford to produce a tangible DVD for distribution world wide. For MC, once these contents packs are released it's virtually FREE for them to just upload a zip file to their servers and make them available that way. Maybe it's not the whole reason but it seems like it could be part of it. Of course they would want to keep that under wraps for the simple fact that people will be even MORE resistant to joining the online community if they fear the site may not even make it. What will happen if their servers should fail? Woo. . . It won't be pretty if everyone online loses their cities and has to start all over.

Originally posted by: CWLGAMER01 Good start. Streetspaved roads are expensive in cities ..... :-)quote> good point. didn't even think of that.

hm. I got the LE version, too, but no trial DVD. Unless I overlooked it.

the smaller cities are easiest to maintain. It's usually not until you go up over 100,000 pop. that you start really having issues. I've found several levels of pop. where I was able to keep things very steady and just let the money roll in. I think the issue here is that it's a city BUILDER, builder being the key word. When you just hold it steady there's really nothing to do. The fun is in trying to grow the city. So, techleo, out of curiosity, what are you doing with your town? Are you growing it or are you just keeping it at that level?

maybe they could have released a guide book at the same time but they do have the mayor's handbook that you can download from the citiesxl site. It's better than the one that came with the game. I was getting really frustrated with how vague the game is when there is something wrong. When it says, "there's something wrong with the hotels!" and you have no idea what it is. I've got a district of about 5 highrise office buildings that are constantly going bankrupt but when I look at the stats on each building everything is in the green except for "profitablity" so I have no idea what to do for them. TO get good green shots I have to knock them down and wait for them to pop back up and then freeze the game before they go bankrupt again. I'd like to try the PO site, too, but I'm going to have to wait because that puter is not on line right now.

it looks alright but I have to tell you, the reason your traffic is so thin is because you've got so many streets it's not realistic at all. You would never see a block of houses where there was a street in front AND in back. There's no point in it. If you lived in such a city you'd go crazy trying to get someplace because of all the streets, it's very nonsensical and chaotic. If you want no traffic congestion, then you're right on target but if you want realism maybe you should go in there and take out every other street. In reality people's back yards abut one another. You don't look out your front door into someone elses back yard, really. You'd live in constant fear of getting hit by a car. lol. Hope that comes across as constructive critique because that's what it's meant as! Thanks.

that's when the trouble begins, too, when HT comes in because it wants manufacturing and before you know it you're out of fuel. Also, when you move into high density of any kind, there are multiple requirements and so you've got to slow down or you won't be able to keep up. I've found that if I focus primarily on medium density (low density isn't even all that important once you start into medium) and just put a dash of high density here and there then you can achieve your city skyline, have it be more natural looking (not a ton of 100 story buildings smashed together but a nice up and down of different heights like a real city is going to be except in asia, lol.) and keep everything under control. Only speed up when your balanced out and need more funds or when you're only waiting for a zone to pop up. the money rolls in fairly quickly. I left the room for 15 minutes thinking the game would pause itself, as it usually does, but it didn't and I had started with about 300000 and walked into 11 million which was nice. also, the big lesson I learned: don't place ANY retail until you see "the citizens are rationing" and then you only place one or two items, never a whole zone of retail. patience is the key here in this game. The more I play it and the more I grasp HOW to play it, the more enjoyable I am finding it.

Asheroo, those plazas you made are ingenius. I didn't even think about that but it's a great idea the way you did them. with the pathways and stuff. Very nice.

Alright. I took some screenshots this morning to share of my city, Lo, which is the only city I have worked on. I have tried every terrain and I keep coming back to this particular map because I love the combination of the two lakes and the river. I like the autumn leaves, too. It's the wetlands map in solo mode. I have to say, I was very hesitant to use "expert mode" because it felt like cheating but after I could not get a city to survive I decided to give it a shot, using it sparingly, to see if I could get ahead a little to keep the city afloat. It was actually harder in expert mode because you have to think for yourself as for what to build as the game is not really walking you through by adding one plus at a time for what you need next. I found myself building the wrong things and forgetting about other things and it was actually more challenging so if you haven't tried it yet, maybe you should. It also made or a little more creative control over the looks of my city. One thing I've figured out (because I'm so smart) is that two high density skyscrapers will fit into the same sized lot as the lower density buildings with a bit of room for a plaza or park left over. I have never seen a city with 6 skyscrapers grouped together on one block. The really big buildings usually have a whole block to themselves, which I am thinking about removing these and arranging them that way. It's up to 200,000 + this morning and it seems to be chugging along. I started buying fuel as often as I could, which turned out o be very useful. when I was making 50,000 per round, I bought 40,000 of fuel and I did this several times and now Omnicorp is offering to buy it back but I ain't selling. I managed also to hang in there until I was offered a water storage facility that I didn't even know was there (not everything unlocks in expert mode - not the rewards) so I think I got past the water issues and I think it was thanks again to expert mode. anyway, so I seem to have enough of everything and I've even managed to keep the elites moving in though in smaller quantities than everyone else. They're still not happy. Nothing makes them happy. So here are my screenshots of Lo. Forgive me if I don't have a back story or any district names or anything and I am just starting to work on suburbs so it's a bit incomplete from the ariel shot. Shot of downtown from the upperclass suburbs across the lake: another one: from out on the lake: from above downtown towards the upper class burbs: another from a different angle: into downtown from the upperclass offices (I caved on the revolving restaurant because it's the only thing that seems to appease the elites remotely): here's one of my industrial district which is also where the low density unqualified workers are living. They're riff raff so screw 'em. lol. This is all the way in the farthest corner of the map: another: here's a nice shot of downtown again from the upper class suburbs: and two more from the other lake which is on the other side of downtown (so the first lake would be behind this skyline: finally, an ariel view. Here you can see my plan but also that the city is incomplete. Big enough to get some nice shots but no nice arial shot yet: So there it is. I don't plan on doing any CJ just because I am not really good at that. I could come up with something totally ridiculous and maybe amusing but I don't know about that for this. Maybe but probably not. thanks!

I have been selling office space to omnicorp to generate money. It seems to be the only thing he ever wants to buy. What's funny is he then wants to sell it back to me. Why would I buy it when I can just make my own? The thing is that even when something says it's 5000 a month or something, it often causes more money to roll in so it doesn't necessarily take that much out of your pocket. If you build a high school in a struggling area, it will cause people to move in, giving you more revenue. sometimes it's good to invest in some of the things they are crying for even when you think you can't afford it. You might see your income fall afterward but if you start slapping down more office and residential it seems to turn around and climb back up eventually.

I find that if I hop in the car and drive around the neighborhood yelling it to random strangers it relieves even more frustration than simply yelling out the window. Sometimes I might even throw ice water at them.

Originally posted by: mrvector So the basic conclusion after 4 days with this game is that solo mode is just a demo version for the PO mode. You play solo until your frustrated with your limitations and then you give up and buy your online membership. I'm 100% certain of it. I've already found myself trying to dig out my old wireless adapter to put my game computer online, which I did not want to do out of fear of viruses. but if I want to play the game to it's full potential, what choice is there? Resistance is futile. You must assimilate.quote> Be aware though, the trading system is really really really messed up in PO at the moment. I havent played for 2 days, and I wont play until this is fixed because it ruins the fun. Even though my expecations were high and I liked the demo alot, I could'nt ever imagine that one of the essential functions fo the game, the trading, would fail after just 1 day. Not good MC. quote> But doesn't it at least make it possible to build a larger city? I get my city moving along and I've got like 25000 surplus each round and I'm getting up to like 6 million c and then my factory starts "more fuel!" and within minutes my entire economy has collapsed and I'm deleting my city to look for another map. At the very least I would like a cheat to bypass the fuel/water issue.

Originally posted by: Rutgar Also, why did they make the Ferris Wheel so ugly? Shouldn't it have been painted bright colors and have lights? The one in the game looks extremely distressed. I mean, afterall, half the fun of a game like this is the visuals of the buildings and other stuff that go in the city, right?quote> It's funny because to me that's the only redeeming value of the ferris wheel is how it looks abandoned. There's no one riding it and it's all rusty looking, it doesn't even move. So I plopped it down in my industrial areas and call it a day.

screenshots are a pain for me because the computer is not online. I have to take the shot then transfer it to a flash drive and then bring it to work or something to upload it. It's too many steps so I tend to forget that I can even do it. BTW, how do you exit without saving? Everytime I exit it saves everything. Are you saying I ought to turn off the computer and crash the game? Can that be good? With my luck I'd corrupt it or something.

(the game is very vague if tha tcould count as a bug, things like "there is something wrong with the offices!") anyway, I was playing yesterday, building in the valley around the lake (solo) and after getting up to about 50000 people I noticed that most of my roads had suddenly somehow sunk into the ground. It looked like there had been a landslide or something, ground covering the roads and it was so stupid because the cars were still driving through it. I rebooted the game and everything and it wouldn't go away. I ended up wiping the city out. urgh. That was annoying.

I was looking for people talking about this today. I am pretty much convinced by now that it's just not even possible to build a very large city without being on the PO. When it comes time to buy resources from Omnicorp, you never have enough money or he's not selling any to begin with. The only maps that have a respectable amount of oil have no water and visa versa. I thought maybe if I just started buying oil from him as early as possible, before I even needed any, then it might help but it doesn't seem to help at all. So the basic conclusion after 4 days with this game is that solo mode is just a demo version for the PO mode. You play solo until your frustrated with your limitations and then you give up and buy your online membership. I'm 100% certain of it. I've already found myself trying to dig out my old wireless adapter to put my game computer online, which I did not want to do out of fear of viruses. but if I want to play the game to it's full potential, what choice is there? Resistance is futile. You must assimilate.

Originally posted by: Kredit I've given up pleasing the citizens and have just accepted that "the city is dead and boring" quote> That's freaking hilarious. I have done exactly the same thing and it's true people still move in and complain, until you get to the elites who pretty much won't move in at all. I hate them and I think I'm about build a city without any of them. I know there are certain other things I 'll have to do without but I'll just live with only medium density office space. Everytime the elites come knocking my cities economy collapses and dies.

one thing I noticed this morning is that if a hotel goes bankrupt more than one or two times you develop a bad reputation with business hotels and then even when demand is high they won't even pop up when you lay the plot for one.

Originally posted by: JanYpe Originally posted by: rss334 I have a beef with MC over this free 7 day trail thing. So I register my product and bam I'm on the PO offer for 7 days - so what???? I could care less about trading with other players and am only interested in the additional content the PO would offer. Well.... to date nothing - why give me a 7 day offer when it adds nothing to my game. I'm completly turned off and see no reason to keep paying MC for nothing? They should think out the strategy a little more and offer the trail period when something goes out to the clients, allow people to see what they would be missing if they don't subscribe. At this point no way am I PO subscriber.quote> You are not paying for the seven day free trial. The name kind of indicates that. If you don't want it after the 7 days, don't get it. How the hell does it make any sense at all to come in here complaining over getting a free 7 day trial? quote> I'm getting the impression that the trial begins when you register your game and not when you register for PO membership. I don't like that. I would like to be able to wait a minute for some content to drop and then have a free 7 day trial. That seems better to me. I think they should at least offer the trial to anyone who signs up to the PO version ,regardless of when.

Originally posted by: Mk4UmHa Originally posted by: rhenry AS for disasters, either there are none or they don't happen very often because I haven't had one yet. For me, that's okay. I get really tired of battling fires in SimCity. It wouldn't be so bad if game play would continue but it's really annoying when your about to lay a street, something catches fire and you end up demolishing a bunch of your buildings with an accidental road or new zone as you're jerked away from that area to tend to a fire. quote> Yep, that's one reason why I stopped playing SC4, the auto pop up zoom to thing made me blow up many buildings or streets and kept interrupting game play too often. There was always something going wrong, too much microing for me. I am starting to like Cities XL but wish it were more of a toned down version of SC4. The way you build roads I really like in this game, the 3D views are slick and easy to use, the auto fill in for parks are nice. Not having to deal with water main breaks, low Police funding, not enough maintenance, etc is nice. Maybe CM can add a hardcore simulation mode for the hardcore SC4 players! quote> That's my thought exactly. I enjoy SimCity 4 a lot but what I enjoy is the building of the city itself, on a visual level. I like laying it out, making it flow visually, etc. When I first played Societies (which I actually played first) I actually liked it for a couple of days until I got bored because it was so easy and the layouts were so incredibly limited. Ever since I was a little kid I have been enthralled by skylines and city maps, etc. With XL I particularly like the ability to look down at my city from a satellite view. It looks amazingly real from that angle. I would like to see more building variety, more shaped for plots to fit in to my zones better, access to all of the transportation options and all that but overall I like the game. In SC4 I had one evening where there was an arsonist on the loose or something and I was trying to close my game but there were so many fires happening, one after another, that I couldn't get it closed. I ended up having to crash the game and lost all of the work I'd been doing. Another thing I do like about XL, autosave, and it doesn't interfere with what you're doing. I've seen some people say the game is sluggish but I have had 0 issue with that so far.

that was actually pretty useful. Thanks.