Cartographer29

I searched the thread but couldn't find these errors ... First, this is one I've even had with previous NAM releases, including 31. Any thoughts? Red circle highlights the problem. Lower-density streets (yellow circle) don't share this error. These aren't supposed to be safety islands, are they? And ... Dude, where's my parking lots? Where the streets enter the lots, there should be parking lot graphics. These stations were within the NAM. Note: I did a fresh install of SC4 + updates + NAM31, since I had uninstalled it previously. I didn't select everything when I installed the NAM, but I had first thought it was a streets issue, so I removed all of my SAM plugins. Didn't change anything.

I had my fun on the beta and don't wish to play with it any more, since it'll all be lost anyway. I do have these issues to comment on (that I also mentioned in the feedback form): - The intersections at transitions of road types is annoying and not very aesthetic. Give us transition tiles (like, lanes merging or a median bullnose with hazard stripes). Anything but a full intersection, because it's not correct. - The "shuttle bus" is a joke. This is a city simulator. It should be a city bus, not an seniors home shuttle-looking thing. And what are these little sheds for the buses? They look like storage pods or something. It also feels too micromanaged having to buy one bus at a time. Have us be able to build large "hanger-type" sheds that come with about 5 buses instead of one. Large cities don't buy a single bus at a time, and I don't have the patience to do that either. - I was disappointed that the streetcar system couldn't be built, but that just leads me to believe they aren't ready with it yet. I still have issues with only being able to build station stops in avenue medians. Having the flexibility to build stops on the private trackage, as long as it is A) very close to a parallel road or B) right beside a road/streetcar crossing, should allow them to be built. - Traffic signals are used when roads cross railway tracks. This is wrong in every light (pun intended). A generic railway-crossing would be nice please and thank you. - It may seem like micro-managing, but having all intersections come with stop control (aka stop signs) would be nice. A toggle could be used if we chose to signalize every intersection built. But by not installing signals, we can cut costs. If traffic increases to a point it's a problem, we can install signals for a cost. It's not micromanaging, because cities do this on a regular basis. - One-way streets and ramps would be nice too, especially if one decides they want to try and build an inter-city freeway from the main highway. Roundabouts too ... they're aesthetically pleasing and fun to watch! - Pathing was less than desirable. I had a main, 4-lane arterial running through my city on a gentle arc, and built my city on both sides of it. Seems sims don't think that's the main road, because they used residential side streets as far as they could, before using the main road to get to the industrial area. Tweaking will be necessary I think before the release. It's the details that count, and I still think that some are indeed missing. Otherwise, from a "scratch" game intended to carry the torch, there's still a flicker left in the flame. Hopefully they don't snuff it out!

Can we drag a higher-capacity road over an existing one to upgrade it? What if the newer road is wider than the previous? What will happen to adjacent properties?

Nope, I did it myself. Although yes, the results are the same. Great minds think alike. As much as I despise the design for it's incredible ability to cause terrible weaving, everything has a real-world counterpart ... http://goo.gl/maps/iQ9Xi

Could I offer up this suggestion for your "clutch burner" hills? ... I tried to put the roads and the elevated rail in the right spots. Hopefully I got the measurements right. As for your PR2 and PR5 interchange ... My only option is to convert it into a trumpet interchange, with the loop in the top-right corner. You can also alter that into a 1/2 parclo, 1/2 diamond in order to maintain local access, if you so desire. That way, you can likely spare the EL-to-subway conversion, as well as finesse things a bit by having a RHW-6 between the interchanges to increase capacity/realism.

Just a random thought to throw in here. One of my interchanges has a series of compact off ramps. So much so, there's no room to "place" an overhead structure that makes sense! Now, I leave a 1 tile wide space for a median, whether that be used for widening, lighting, or transit is up to a future me to decide. Why not design overhead signs to be "placed" in the median instead? I'd support the motion. Anyone else? - Josh in Toronto

If that's what you're looking for, look up "Cities in Motion 2" and you'll have another game to buy in February 2013.

Thanks for the review and sharing it Dirk. I'm more optimistic this will be a good "restart" for the franchise, and I'm hoping that certain aspects will come in future expansions (like a "transportation" expansion including subway, EL, etc. or a "business expansion" that brings back farms, as well as other industrial endevours for your city). February can't come soon enough. My excitement for Cities in Motion 2 has now fallen far off the radar. SimCity is where it's at, and I may have many sleepless nights and lost work productivity for a while after that. I don't have any problem with that either!

What about over time, the "upper level of government" decides that a freeway is needed to a neighbour, or worse (potentially), through your city completely, connecting two neighbours? It becomes a shaded, flexible route that you can manipulate, with the ends being fixed to the neighbours. You can then drag and justify where through the city it goes, within reason (there could be a "max length" code attached to it, so you literally can't drag it along the extreme edges of your map, trying to avoid it). This would give the city (aka "you") the ability to have it built where you want it to go, but have the "upper levels of government" pay for it. Of course, you could add to the complexity (realism) by having a message pop up stating "The Government is proposing a new highway through your city connecting _______ and _______. Please have a route selected by XX date". In the event you don't fine tune the route (as described above), then "The Government" will just build wherever it wants and needs to (hey, can't say they didn't warn you!). Additionally, you could also add an algorithm to it that determines how much "urban traffic" it will pull off of your city streets. If it's enough, then "The Government" will demand payment from the city (you) to help with the costs of construction. This would change based on the route selected. So if you built a clear-cut bypass around your city, no urban traffic = no city cost. But if you're desperate for alleviating traffic across your city, you'll have to pay up. Or you could just throw your hands up, ignore the message, then watch the federal bulldozers plow a path right through the middle of your city. But much like any other "issues" around a city (police, fire, etc.) you can then "dispatch" Jane Jacobs to try and stop them from bulldozing too many houses! Note: those familiar with Toronto's expressway history will know the reference, and may request that such a sim be made for the game.

Alright, throwing my hat into this development again ... Now, while it doesn't look like much, that's because it's not. I got frustrated with my first attempt, so I built this just so I could have something to connect my highways. Then, after some pencil sketches and looking for inspirations here, I build this ... Just the way I like it ... no sharp corners and no surprise lane drops. My only beef is that the movements to/from the bottom and right-hand side should probably be both 2-lane ramps, because I plan to make another identical interchange just out of view, as well as the fact that my next few cities will be in that direction. I had initially wanted to make a 4-way interchange, but I didn't have enough room to play with (the edge of the map is just barely visible in the top right).

My first "interconnected" interchange w/ collector lanes. Quite happy with this. Effort were made to have the freeway-freeway as a free-flow without any loops, but it became too frustrating given my "newbie" experience with the RHW system. And what my "engineers" think is the most compact urban interchange possible. Thoughts?

Could someone enlighten me on how to get elevated curved ramps over a RHW? Also, is it possible to create diagonal bridges over a RHW? I have yet to see any built that are not at 90-degrees. Thanks.