haverston

I totally agree with you on this......... I hated that in SC4 you had to build more civic facilities and buildings than needed. It did appear unrealistic because most real cities have at least one to three police station every 4-5 square miles apart. That would of meant a single police station,hospital,school,etc. for every tile and not 4-5 in each tile like in SC4. You really had to fill your city with more civic structures than necessary and it was costly. That is why I used cheats to make the most of my city. Even on the easy game play level it was difficult to build a city off of 500,000 simoleons.

Then I'll wait for the rush hour expansion pack. A city ain't a city until it has all forms of transport. That would be awesome,then modding professionals can create vehicles that coordinate with that ordinance so it balances out in the game and saves the city from high levels of smog and air pollution.

You know something Mr.Author dude I agree with you on this. In SC4 it was like each square or tile that was connected to one another fed off one another and that was OK. But the entire region in more than 1 way was scarcely separated from itself due to the fact that if you wanted to build a big city with suburbs,the actual areas you built suburbs in didn't really connect to the city co, unless you built the core in one tile and then the suburban area in the neighboring tile to it. I'm hoping that this time around with SC5 and with this new glass box engine the region will be more connected through roadways,railways and highways, instead of neighboring tiles and neighboring assets. So if you made a suburban city in the far northwest of the region with the city core in the central port of the region, as long as a highway or major roadway artery exists the commuters/residents in that suburban area can reach the city core and still feed off the economy from by seeking work in those areas. Basically i'm hoping that it is in correlation to real life commuting and city center transportation. So if one player made a region based off of LA with the city of Santa Monica, then a sim can use a major interstate in the game to reach LA's city center and not have to rely on a neighbor city for work or for economic growth.

Sounds like an awesome feature for SC5. I will look to connect with other SC fanatics to build up my city's core and to create joint alliances with users in the online realm to transport goods and services from my region to their region and vice versa. I think this feature will also teach us about economics and politics,supply and demand,import and export. Overall this feature will bring the SC fanbase together and create a more diplomatic union amongst us. I have always envisioned creating a downtown with office buildings and a user from another sim city region moving in and proposing to me to build a tower in my downtown or an embassy to create business/foreign relations between us or even a sister city agreement. We just have to make sure that when we create these business relations we create an abundance of hotels and motels for our cyber traveling business partners so they can get a feel and look of our city without having to sleep on a park bench LOL. This should be fun.

CNG Buses- Compressed natural gas buses can be of a great help to the SC 2013 glass box environment. Why create a city or region that everyone needs a car to get around in? You can put a dozen of these babies on the road to cut down on vehicular air pollution and keep your city or region clean and smog free. BRT Stations- I truly believe Bus Rapid Transit can save you time and money on road repair and save your commuters from traffic jams and rush hour nightmares. For all you simaholics out there that like to build big and that are mass transit addicts, BRT stations along busy highway/roadways and that service local train stations can really keep your Sims going. Just think of the steady stream of happy Sims going to and from places within your region with this mass transit option. Subway/Elevated Rail- I'm positive that SC 2013 will have this mode of transportation, but the only thing I have seen so far was commuter rail and trams. BORING! I mean we need more variety don't ya think? What is a city or region without subway/elevated rail? Your sims really can't get too many places quick and fast with commuter rail,plus commuter rail takes up a ton of ground space and really won't do your city's core justice. At least with Subway/Elevated rail you can bury your tracks under your downtown or under dense patches of land,and elevated rail frees up ground space so that you can have more space to build your Sims homes and businesses near stations. Aside from that, why download or create realistic looking mods when they should already be in the game. Basically what i'm saying is you know how in some metros you have subway/elevated rail trains that travel in the medians of avenue,roadways,or highways? Just like the tram set up,you should be able to convert your elevated rail to ground level,sub surface,trench,or underground with the tools provided in the game. Here are pictures of what i'm talking about. The black and white picture is classic. Get a load of the BART train with the Oakland,CA skyline in the background. Wouldn't it be neat to see your city skyline with the subway/elevated train heading to it and from it. Real mass transit fans know what I mean.

Looks like Baltimore,Maryland

I agree!