SIM City 5 - Actual Strategy Discussion

[QuantumPion]

I think they improved traffic AI, as I saw very little traffic buildups last night. I don't use buses in my city, which help immensely with traffic - but even so, I saw no traffic jams for the few hours I played last night. My monthly income increased from 4mil to 5mil, just because I was able to move products faster. They also activated cheetah mode!

I have 4 processor factories and 4 electronics factories with 3 trade depots, all importing alloy/plastic/processors, make 5mil/month and lose 112k/hr. Population 100k, 0% taxes across the board. Having trouble keeping approval ratings above 90% because I haven't figured out how to de-germify my zones that I had previously zoned as industrial.

I built a solar farm, it generates 3,000mW for any connected region, but I find it to be overkill since I only use 400mW. Unfortunately there is no way to demolish a great works... I would rather have built an international airport or a space station.

The solar farm is so unrealistic. The largest solar farm in the world under construction will be ~100 MW (actual) at a cost of >$2 billion. That is about half the cost of a nuclear power plant which produces 1500 MW. It would have made more sense for the great project to be a large hydroelectric dam. For example, the Three Gorges dam produces > 20,000 MW. That makes much more sense in terms of a giant project to produce power for a whole region. Obviously the devs of Maxis must be a bunch of greenie weenies, as evidence by the latest DLC (Nissan Leaf charging stations, lol).

 

[Mixolydian]

Obviously the devs of Maxis must be a bunch of greenie weenies, as evidence by the latest DLC (Nissan Leaf charging stations, lol).

Not to mention the emphasis on recycling.

 

[Redinit]

The game is truly fun. And eventually, it will be spectacular.

Based on what?

 

[QuantumPion]

Based on what?

Based on Simcity 4 having similar technical issues and everyone complaining about how much better Simcity 3 was. Although this sounds similar to the great Civ4/Civ5 schism I don't think it's quite as clear cut. If Simcity 5 gets the Ai bugs worked out and new regions with extra large cities it will be better than simcity 4. So there is still hope for Simcity 5 (unlike Civ5, which most people realized was fundamentally broken from the get go).

 

[Redinit]

Based on Simcity 4 having similar technical issues and everyone complaining about how much better Simcity 3 was. Although this sounds similar to the great Civ4/Civ5 schism I don't think it's quite as clear cut. If Simcity 5 gets the Ai bugs worked out and new regions with extra large cities it will be better than simcity 4. So there is still hope for Simcity 5 (unlike Civ5, which most people realized was fundamentally broken from the get go).

SimCity 4 was made 10 years ago with a completely different game engine under different management. It received much better reviews after release and only had about 3 updates.

SimCity 5, has glassbox, DRM, poor reviews, and has had 8+ updates with bugs still around. The way you play SimCity 5 is inherently different than the previous version. I'm not sure I can agree with you. You expect larger cities when the intent was small cities working together vs. one self-sustained city.

I hope SimCity 5 gets better, maybe it will, but what incentive does EA/Maxis have to change the design of their game?

 

[Wyndru]

Also, EA already said that this isn't SimCity5. They went a different direction after SC4 because they wanted it to be less complex and easier for someone not familiar with the franchise to able to just pick it up and play. Each release of SC got more involved and they wanted to move away from that trend.

That's why it's just called SimCity.

 

[Nintendesert]

So much for this thread being about actual strategy discussion, instead it's once again turning into an EA cryfest.

 

[Wyndru]

To be fair, even the "Strategy" being discussed in here is mostly people just discussing the bugs they have encountered, and how they got around them.

 

[Mixolydian]

To be fair, even the "Strategy" being discussed in here is mostly people just discussing the bugs they have encountered, and how they got around them.

There should just be one thread to talk about SimCity in general.

 

[Nintendesert]

There should just be one thread to talk about SimCity in general.

I'm sure the OP got tired of all the derailments and constant crying about EA.

 

[Redinit]

So much for this thread being about actual strategy discussion, instead it's once again turning into an EA cryfest.

I'm sure the OP got tired of all the derailments and constant crying about EA.

As oppose to you crying about others crying? Makes sense

To be fair, even the "Strategy" being discussed in here is mostly people just discussing the bugs they have encountered, and how they got around them.

Exactly, hard to talk strategy when its likely to change. Besides, this game is way too easy, you follow a few crazy rules and you can't lose. You lose by overthinking.

 

[Mixolydian]

Exactly, hard to talk strategy when its likely to change.

True dat. A lot of the "strategy" involves working around the bugs...

 

[Redinit]

True dat. A lot of the "strategy" involves working around the bugs...

I've been on 3 other forums and its all the same talk.

- Traffic congestion
- Buses, vans not picking up pax/cargo
- great works not taking resources.

Maxis hasn't been clear on whether some are bugs or if its "intended functionality".

 

[bonkers325]

as far as i can tell, the only strategy is understanding when you will hit walls in your economy and when to transition into specializations.

i've done a city without specializations and got 250k pop, but was unable to maintain a positive cashflow without jacking taxes up to 15%. at that point, the amount of services you require to keep the city from capitulating on itself will far outweigh the income generated through tax.

 

[Redinit]

as far as i can tell, the only strategy is understanding when you will hit walls in your economy and when to transition into specializations.

i've done a city without specializations and got 250k pop, but was unable to maintain a positive cashflow without jacking taxes up to 15%. at that point, the amount of services you require to keep the city from capitulating on itself will far outweigh the income generated through tax.

I've been running two cities with 0-2% residential tax. I make money from exporting electronics or some other good, so the population doesn't noticeably affect my income.

My issue now is one of my neighbors has a large amount of "criminals at large", who all like to visit my city.

On another note, I hate how hard it is to find a server that isn't full and/or have people who actually play. Some of us should get together and start one.

 

[randay]

as far as i can tell, the only strategy is understanding when you will hit walls in your economy and when to transition into specializations.

i've done a city without specializations and got 250k pop, but was unable to maintain a positive cashflow without jacking taxes up to 15%. at that point, the amount of services you require to keep the city from capitulating on itself will far outweigh the income generated through tax.

i have a city at about 320-340k pop, 12/11/10% tax and positive $/hr about 4-6k. exporting the recyclables gives me a lot of wiggle room with that city as well. i started off trying to go gambling but it was up and down, way too unstable. so then i drop the gambling and the city stabilized.

 

[BrightCandle]

Its kind of a shame that there is only 1 or 2 ways to make a city work right now.

I remember watching this EA dev explaining how he laid out his city and how well that worked and thinking to myself "Well duh you have 90k population in it, any dumb scheme works with 90k, that thing will fall apart at 150k let alone 300k".

The instability is a real problem, you can get to the point where a city just outright fails. Unlike in the previous Sim City games its really easy to get a city started and profitable, but very hard to keep it positive budget wise in the late game (which is of course a lot closer in Sim City).

I could never get gambling to work but tourism with an expo centre and some additional attractions did work out reasonably profitable (half million a day or so) and could be run with a positive budget so long as the expo centre was near a train station and had dedicated roads to it that didn't intersect the workers and shoppers.

 

[KentState]

My biggest thing is the amount of frustration that comes once you build a great work and it wrecks your city. The archology destroyed the 7 cities that I spent a least 3 solid days building up. I really don't want to go through all that again for another great work and end up with another unplayable region. The "strategy" of getting there is pretty straight forward, if not stupid simple, but the outcome is less than exciting.

 

[bonkers325]

I've been running two cities with 0-2% residential tax. I make money from exporting electronics or some other good, so the population doesn't noticeably affect my income.

My issue now is one of my neighbors has a large amount of "criminals at large", who all like to visit my city.

On another note, I hate how hard it is to find a server that isn't full and/or have people who actually play. Some of us should get together and start one.

add me, lect1234

 

[Redinit]

Its kind of a shame that there is only 1 or 2 ways to make a city work right now.

I remember watching this EA dev explaining how he laid out his city and how well that worked and thinking to myself "Well duh you have 90k population in it, any dumb scheme works with 90k, that thing will fall apart at 150k let alone 300k".

The instability is a real problem, you can get to the point where a city just outright fails. Unlike in the previous Sim City games its really easy to get a city started and profitable, but very hard to keep it positive budget wise in the late game (which is of course a lot closer in Sim City).

I could never get gambling to work but tourism with an expo centre and some additional attractions did work out reasonably profitable (half million a day or so) and could be run with a positive budget so long as the expo centre was near a train station and had dedicated roads to it that didn't intersect the workers and shoppers.

The devs did a good job of lying before and after the game came out. While at the same time not explaining how things worked, or how they were designed to work. I have yet to plop a single gambling building down successfully. As soon as I place the building, I make decent money, but very shortly, crime shoots up, and the buildings loses money.

My biggest thing is the amount of frustration that comes once you build a great work and it wrecks your city. The archology destroyed the 7 cities that I spent a least 3 solid days building up. I really don't want to go through all that again for another great work and end up with another unplayable region. The "strategy" of getting there is pretty straight forward, if not stupid simple, but the outcome is less than exciting.

What issue did you have with the Archology? I'm running it right now, though I havent logged into it in a week, I didn't have any problems. (knock on wood)

add me, lect1234

After I get out of classes I will.

 

[Wreckem]

The solar farm is so unrealistic. The largest solar farm in the world under construction will be ~100 MW (actual) at a cost of >$2 billion. That is about half the cost of a nuclear power plant which produces 1500 MW. It would have made more sense for the great project to be a large hydroelectric dam. For example, the Three Gorges dam produces > 20,000 MW. That makes much more sense in terms of a giant project to produce power for a whole region. Obviously the devs of Maxis must be a bunch of greenie weenies, as evidence by the latest DLC (Nissan Leaf charging stations, lol).

Solar farms make no sense because they take up way to much land. What makes sense is equipping every building with solar panels.

 

[Wreckem]

The devs did a good job of lying before and after the game came out. While at the same time not explaining how things worked, or how they were designed to work. I have yet to plop a single gambling building down successfully. As soon as I place the building, I make decent money, but very shortly, crime shoots up, and the buildings loses money.

What issue did you have with the Archology? I'm running it right now, though I havent logged into it in a week, I didn't have any problems. (knock on wood)

After I get out of classes I will.

So its modeled after the real world?

 

[Mixolydian]

add me, lect1234

Mine is MixolydianAT, if anyone wants to play.

 

[redrider4life4]

The devs did a good job of lying before and after the game came out. While at the same time not explaining how things worked, or how they were designed to work. I have yet to plop a single gambling building down successfully. As soon as I place the building, I make decent money, but very shortly, crime shoots up, and the buildings loses money.

What issue did you have with the Archology? I'm running it right now, though I havent logged into it in a week, I didn't have any problems. (knock on wood)

After I get out of classes I will.

Once the Arcology starts building up population wise (over 1 million) there is non-stop traffic in the city because they all drive. When I first built the Arcology and it was at 300k population everything was perfect, it gets to 1,000,000 and it just destroys your city.

 

[Redinit]

So its modeled after the real world?

Yes, you should see my other town. No power, water, public services, but 0% taxes so people still live there with no work.

Once the Arcology starts building up population wise (over 1 million) there is non-stop traffic in the city because they all drive. When I first built the Arcology and it was at 300k population everything was perfect, it gets to 1,000,000 and it just destroys your city.

Did you try placing park & rides?