LordOscar

We know a single planet can host up to 10.000 cities. Currently they host 3.700-7.100 cities but these figures include multiple cities belonging to the same player and test cities created during the 7-day offer. Cities XL being a MMO game, one of its feature is to have lots of active players connected at the same time to maximize trades and interactive behaviour. That's why I'm really curious to know how many active players are connected at the same time on your planet. Can you reply to this thread with this information? It's usually easy when zooming out as far as possible on the planet view to estimate the number of light green dots.

I don't have the Planet Offer... but I'm sure many people here have subscribed.

Yes... thanks... Anyone for real numbers? I'm surprised how people don't care about this information.

Thanks for your answer. But again it's theory, and that's not the point of this topic. I'm still looking for real numbers coming right from the game. I'm even surprised someone didn't ask sooner. Something interesting would be to know: - what is 'very few people' when you come back home at 1:30 EST. - on evenings. - weeknights 6-9pm. etc.

Thanks for your reply. Anyway I'd like to get real numbers (as seen in game) and not theorical ones.

The extra content seems to be coming soon, With this news post from today on the sitequote> How nice from you to post specific PO extension packs in a solo mode topic.

Don't expect more in solo mode. I'm surprised they didn't put a sign like 'my trades are way less expensive in Planet Offer, you should give it a try'

Direct link to the interview : www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/09/02/the-talk-of-the-town-cities-xls-jerome-gastaldi/ Some interesting parts : "The corner-stone is a solid city building game. We’re going for the Sim City 4 spot." "The second challenge is to give easy access to the genre. (...) But we did a survey of 70,000 [City Life] registered players and we discovered that 83% told us that the game was too difficult [to get into]. (...) The unique challenge is to ease the entrance to the game (...)" "We’re integrating it with full social network functionality (...) We want a guy to fail to make the contracted resources, and then receiving an angry e-mail from someone else. We want that kind of thing to happen. (...) I think it’ll be like natural selection." "[solo players] may not play for a few weeks, (...) They’re not willing to spend three hours a day playing. We don’t want to push them into an experience where their progression is limited to the time they have to put in. That’s not this type of game. These people have more money than they have time. (...) The business model must reflect what people are willing to buy." "Journalist : [With Cities XL], everything you pay for is extra on top of what a traditional City game would be. Jerome Gastaldi: If we were leaving out content from a soloable game, we could have a back lash. But we’re not going to do that."

Originally posted by: LBII Here a review from the french website Jeuxvidéos.com... are they objective? (...) Gamer's average score (by october 9, 2009) : 13/20 quote> It went down to 12/20 this morning. Among what players wrote: "too easy" "lack of interest" "really boring, nothing happens" "empty cities, empty game" "repetitive"

Originally posted by: Mathew_MC You don't. Once you have activated your copy once online, you can play in solo mode even if not connected to the internet. If you enter your login and password without being connected to the internet, the game will propose to play offline.quote> Three different people tried what you said. They stopped their internet connection (one of them even unplugged its cable). Then they launched the game and logged in. That doesn't work, the game won't start, they get an error like "no internet connection found".

If that is the case then what is the point of having people log in to begin with?quote> Because they want to remind you that online mode is really, really cool, and not that expensive ?

You still need an internet connection to activate your game.

# extrem491 - Posté le 9 octobre 2009 - 18:33 Salut, comme je le craignais, le jeu solo demande une connexion internet, et là, vu que leurs serveurs ont des problèmes bah on peut pas jouer... même a la partie solo... Bravo monte cristo... "Hi, as I was afraid, solo mode requires to be connected to the internet, and now, they are having problems with their servers, well I can't play... even with solo mode... nice work MC!"

Originally posted by: stevens_uk so if u turn the crappy music off u just get silence? no traffic, no animals etc? quote> Yep. No sound. Except construction ones. Oh, to get back on topic. French players have confirmed today you need to be connected to the internet even to play solo mode. The first step you have to do when loading the game is to login to your account (the one you created at the very beginning). No internet, then no account verification, then no game loading.

Originally posted by: crazedwombat11 I thought bus stops were for everyone and the rail systems and rest of the mass transportation were for subscribers?quote> They changed their mind. It happened more than you can even possibly think. A lot of stuff says, 'improves food output' etc..but I have no idea by how muchquote> CXL is a game for casual players. Casual players don't want figures. So MC removed them.

Originally posted by: stevens_uk (that's if I can play on it at home without a internet connection)quote> You can't. French players have confirmed today you need to connect to your online account each time you want to play, even in solo mode.

No sound effects in game.

Like most beta players.

Cities XL will be released in just 3 weeks on October 8th/9th. Lots of things are done to attract players to Planet Offer which is subscription based. Anyway I can't find any general terms and conditions (sometimes called "Terms of Use") on the official website. Most online games GTC include: - information needed and gathered for account creation, data confidentiality - login procedures - prices, payment methods, refund issues if any - what you get for your subscription (not commercial talk but contractual terms) - rights and obligations for both sides, including servers availability, player behavior, unauthorized names, and so on - termination: what happens when you cancel the subscription - and the usual juridical talk about what happens when things go wrong Do you plan to have GTC available (and when)? Or people are just paying/getting the money and hope everything is gonna be ok? edit: title changed

Good news. I hope everything will be contractually written in future Terms of Use.

Originally posted by: Mathew_MC - Mass transit tools refer to transportation networks one can build in his city and that provide additional traffic management tools. They are features like buses, trams, railways, etc. And indeed, these new city building features will be made available to Planet Offer subscribers as we further expand the game. - Transport GEMs are more small tycoon modules that could for example let you manage an airport: place the terminals and control tower, draw the landing tracks... Such a GEM would have an impact on passenger and fret capacity. GEMs will indeed be available both for solo and online play.quote> We all know GEMs have to be bought. What about Mass transit tools and other expansion packs? You told us they're "will be made available" to PO players. For free? Or do they need points?

Of course MC is no exception. But they're changing their minds from time to time. So it may be useful to read the Terms of Use before buying anything to see what's in, what's free, what's not free, and what's out.

They changed their mind. That's not illogical: everybody wants mass transit. One will have to pay for it. That's whay I would recommend to wait before buying anything. Even if client advices on resellers sites are strangely over-positive (on amazon.fr there's something like "I've always dreamt trading ressources between cities, MC did it!").

GEMs may be available offline, but not "expansion packs" (surely what is called "eventual updates" in EULAs) including mass transit. Read today's interview with MC.

And with contractual and engaging terms.