Urbanator

Hundreds of hours spent running (playing would imply fun) this so-called game. As we are all doubtless aware, it Is incomplete and riddled with bugs which can suck the life out of a session. * Buildings abandon with no information on why. * Buildings abandon for reasons that make no sense (too many deaths when sitting opposite to a hospital ACROSS THE ROAD). * Too much crime when the panel states clearly that there isn't any. * Sims complain about no jobs being available when there are hundreds or even thousands available. In the real world, if the unemployed were that lazy or incapable they would be sanctioned at the very least. * Working cities suddenly having a seizure and begin haemorrhaging cash and buildings for no apparent reason. Buildings abandon so much its like playing a game of Whack-a-Mole. I just do not get how EA could take a game that has only improved with each iteration and get it so wrong. I would have thought that even they would have at least been capable of producing something similar but equal to SC 4. What does it say about a 2015 company that can't outmatch a game that is more than, what, 10 years old? After all this time, is this even worth discussing any more?

Thanks for interesting, if arrogant, post. Albeit based on several faulty premises. For one, Origin indicates that I have run Sim City for 447 hours. Also, there have been some abandonments which do not give a reason. I did not say that all of them did this. This mainly appears to be with $$$ but not always. As to taxes, is there a time limit on how long you can keep it at a reasonable level? As for crime, complaints about this have happened when there have been 0 crimes and 0 criminals. Not sure how else you could interpret that... What gave you the impression that I had not run into other bugs. Just because I didn't mention them... How odd... Anyway, thanks for the.. uh... help. Albeit in one of the least helpful and inductive ways of doing it. That said, confirmation of the enforced structure was actually helpful.

The above article does not appear to reflect 'reality'. I have an imploding city with thousands of jobs available and houses abandoning due to lack of jobs...

Is it possible that you have hit a stage limit? I have seen similar things happen in some of my cities and it has taken stage breaking in order to get past this. If I zoned in the right area and a high enough density then the stage limit would be exceeded and development would explode all over the city.

Hi Moskva. It was the same for me initially, but when I added the irrigation ditches the demand was resurrected. My city, Greenbank, is currently 61,175 sims with an agricultural population of 1,232 and there is still a good deal of demand. It would seem that SPAM tweaks the demand caps in some way because prior to its installation I would never get demand back in such a large city. Its still early days yet for SPAM working its magic in my cities so I don't know how much longer I will get demand. I will say that it has certainly greatly improved farming in SC4 -prior to this I would have to have used half the map for agricuture before I would even get the farmers' market.

The SPAM works very well for me. I placed agri-zones in one of my cities, which had in excess of 15,000 sims iirc, and at first no farms would develop. However, once I started adding irrigation ditches (unfortunately I have had the ditches for so long I cannot recall who made them) which raised the demand cap, I now have a nicely developing farming-urban combo.

Hi y'all. Quick question about airports as I haven't really used them so far - do they generate/receive a large number of commuters? I'm going to be placing an airport in one of my cities pretty soon and I was wondering if it would need major transport links (eg: avenues) like a realworld airport or not? Any help/tips are appreciated.

Hmm... it is disappointing that the traffic won't reflect 'usage' but for the sake of realism I think I will go down the avenue route as it will look better in the long run. Plus, if I have the airport on a main route, the other traffic should mask the lack of airport commuters. Thanks for all the replies.

So, no commuters at all? I'm aware of the caps (Maxis guide) but never having made good use of them I wasn't sure if they added to traffic. If they don't then I can use roads around them - at least where there is nothing else likely to cause heavy traffic. Avenues look pretty close to overkill when placed for an airport... By the way, does the notification system still work? I have not had any for this topic even though I'm 'following' it.

Interesting... So there is actual traffic in and out of the airports (other than a few jobs). Then it would seem that avenues are a better option than roads for surrounding the airport itself (on the 'business-side' at least). The railway issue is curious but I will probably place one near it anyway because it makes sense to have one like we do in reality. Thanks for the info. By the way, as far as I remember, there is an issue/bug with the police effect from standard stations not penetrating more than a couple of squares from the street/road. This means that deep lots like the airport aren't fully policed. I think there are a few police stations on Simtropolis which reach further but I don't recall which ones.

@A Nonny Moose: Its interesting that you mention WiFi because it is a WiFi router we have. However, our PC is linked directly to the router via USB (something was retarding the PC's rate over the air) and as I mentioned we have had no recurrence of the download problem.

I have had this problem in the past. However, we have switched to broadband (about a month ago) and the problem has not recurred. It seems that it is either a dial-up-only problem or broadband speeds are too great for the error to occur. Not sure if this will help but I thought I should share.

@Z1: That's probably a better way of putting it - I was meaning (or at least thinking) that the sims would choose a better mode of transport.

I agree with Iowndiscti, it sounds like your sims simply have a 'better' way of getting from A to B. You could try forcing them onto the highway by cutting connections between the different parts of the city (but be cautious as this will likely affect many other things too). If the sims start using the highway then I'd say it was a network issue. I've seen this kind of thing in my cities as well and I do tend to have a large number of travel options between each area. The distance the sims have to travel (esp with NAM) will also be a factor.

We should indeed. We did - its a view like few others... Well worth the trip (and the air-blasting).

One of the first things I do is look at the geography of the region and figure out where the best areas are for residential and commercial districts and how I would go about connecting them - bridges, freeways etc. Sometimes the only reason an area is made residential is because its got a nice view... For me, the complications come around when I try to link the various parts of major cities together and I end up with a jigsaw of various tranport lines in my head . I'd say that the best way of working, if you want a 'city with a purpose' is to go slow. That way you can better plan where you want things without the other demands taking over your planning. Consider well any new additions to a new city because it might major effects that will cause much too rapid expansion (although it can be quite fun if you plan for it).

Its a big place but its also a rather nice place, architecturally speaking. The business district is definitely worth a look for anyone who likes 'scrapers.

Sounds like you might miss it a little - sa do I and I was only a tourist.

I don't think I ever claimed trams were the best way of viewing a city (if so, then it certainly wasn't my intention) but they are a better way than subways and driving through busy traffic. Good for you and I hope you enjoyed it, its a great place. However, am I not entitled to enjoy the business district or the entertainment district if I want to? I like office blocks but I also like watching what's going on in a place like the entertainment district. I also enjoy walking through them as well but if I was driving or taking the subway I wouldn't really see as much. Just my 2p worth (11p with inflation?)

I can't really speak for NY but when I was in Toronto I do remember being able to take in sections of city life from the trams, which was a totally different feeling from the underground (which I also enjoyed ...apart from the crush). For me SC4 can be as much about aesthetics as pure function; after all, quite a few of my city layouts would never exist in the real world because they don't even slightly resemble the norm.

@Yoshiisland & Z1: I do use the mousewheel a fair amount so I think you are both onto something... I'll have to experiment with the alternate zoom to see if that makes a difference. Thanks guys. My bad but it seems I was slightly incorrect regarding the graphics card - its actually a 5750! Not sure why I thought it was the 7000 but its still a good card as far as I know.

I use GLR because I like trams - its as simple as that. Plus, you can't admire a city from a subway carriage.