SimCity

[Tgo01]

I don't mind oil and ore and shit running out, I think it's stupid how water can run out though. What happens when every city in the region runs out of water? Game over?

Or does water come back? I just know I plop down water towers or water treatment plants in areas that are dark blue and in a couple of weeks game time the water levels where the water tower was is almost gone.

[Whirlin]

They need a great works site that generates water, similarly to the solar power plant.

[Tgo01]

They need a great works site that generates water, similarly to the solar power plant.

That would be awesome. Speaking of which I really have to focus on a region and build me one of them there new fangled great works.

[DrZaius]

They need a great works site that generates water, similarly to the solar power plant.

http://www.tampabaywater.org/tampa-bay-seawater-desalination-plant.aspx

[Ashliana]

Water sloooowly comes back if you waste it, but you can get infinite water easily, and it's not an exploit.

Sewage treatment plants turn sewage into pure water, which they release back into the water table. Build one, and place your water towers (or w/e that super water tower is called) next to it. Voila, recycled, infinite water.

[Tgo01]

Water sloooowly comes back if you waste it, but you can get infinite water easily, and it's not an exploit.

Sewage treatment plants turn sewage into pure water, which they release back into the water table. Build one, and place your water towers (or w/e that super water tower is called) next to it. Voila, recycled, infinite water.

Huh, I did not know this. I thought the sewage treatment thingie was just so you didn't pollute the ground and they were more efficient than the sewer dump things.

[Kastrel]

Probably more to do with:

However, EA has fallen into hard times, having recently been voted the worst company in America by the Consumerist magazine, beating the likes of Bank of America and AT&T.[7] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Riccitiello#cite_note-7) EA's share price continues to tumble, losing over half its value since January 2012 and people have started to question Riccitiello's competence as CEO.[8] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Riccitiello#cite_note-8) Riccitiello's response was that this state of affairs was of no fault of his own but that of investors 'who did not understand the gaming industry'.[9] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Riccitiello#cite_note-9) In March 2013, EA announced Riccitiello would step down as CEO at the end of the month. [10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Riccitiello#cite_note-10)

This pisses me off because EA doesn't understand the gaming industry. They think they do, because they found a way to make money quickly in the short term, but virtually every game they have gotten their hands on in the past 10 years has gone downhill severly after the 3rd or 4th iteration. What they don't seem to understand is that the way they do business kills off IPs, its sort of like overfarming a field to the point of ground exhaustion. That would be okay if they were an isolated business, but since the other side of their business practice is to buy up as many other gaming development companies as possible until everything is either owned by EA or Activision, its like all they can do is jump ship from franchise to franchise to keep blazing through gaming content until no one wants to buy it anymore. It was only a matter of time until their reputation and poor business and development practices finally caught people's attention enough to cause an issue, and I'm so glad to see that they are hurting for it.

Also glad to see Maxis is trying to save this game.


Anyone know if you run out of things like oil? And when you do, are you shit out luck or can you get it back?

Invade the Middle East. Sim War anyone?

Dear consumer,

Your interest in a possible expansion of Sim City involving an invasion of the Middle East for more oil is a very popular one. However, we have already released this content! You can download Battlefield 3 from Origin today!

- EA customer service


I don't mind oil and ore and shit running out, I think it's stupid how water can run out though. What happens when every city in the region runs out of water? Game over?

Sim Dune?

[Fallen]

I heard you can put a water plant RIGHT next to a sewage plant for endless water. You just need purifiers on your water thingies.

[Ashliana]

I heard you can put a water plant RIGHT next to a sewage plant for endless water. You just need purifiers on your water thingies.

I just said that. ಠ_ಠ

You don't need the purifiers--the water is pure, as long as there is no industrial around to pollute the local water table, it'll be clean, and you don't need the filters.

[Showal]

Hey guys, you can put a water tower next to a sewage plant for endless water! I just found that out!

[Showal]

I'm fairly certain resources like oil are finite. You could buy more on the open market, or plan to change your economy before you run out.

-DrZ

That sucks. I started this city to drill oil and try refining and shit. I built three oil drilling sites, fully modified them, and ultimately, I couldn't reach the 160,000 daily profit to update my HQ. Now my sites are pulling in 6000 instead off 12,000. It was only like two weeks game time too.

[Atlanteax]

Hey guys, you can put a water tower next to a sewage plant for endless water! I just found that out!

I do not 'get' why this is *not* considered an exploit ... since obviously this would not work in 'real life' which this game is to some extent attempting to plausibly model.

[Whirlin]

I do not 'get' why this is *not* considered an exploit ... since obviously this would not work in 'real life' which this game is to some extent attempting to plausibly model.

Depending on the type of sewage plants, in 'real life'... the filtered/cleaned/purified water would just be sent back in pipes back to the city.

Where do you think the water goes from a sewage plant? Either back to the people, into the ground (like SimCity)... or evaporated, which causes rain, which goes back into the ground (like SimCity). It's not like they freeze it and ship the ice off to Antarctica to try to make new ice caps.

[Showal]

Depending on the type of sewage plants, in 'real life'... the filtered/cleaned/purified water would just be sent back in pipes back to the city.

Where do you think the water goes from a sewage plant? Either back to the people, into the ground (like SimCity)... or evaporated, which causes rain, which goes back into the ground (like SimCity). It's not like they freeze it and ship the ice off to Antarctica to try to make new ice caps.

Omg totally a new business opportunity.

[Atlanteax]

Depending on the type of sewage plants, in 'real life'... the filtered/cleaned/purified water would just be sent back in pipes back to the city.

Where do you think the water goes from a sewage plant? Either back to the people, into the ground (like SimCity)... or evaporated, which causes rain, which goes back into the ground (like SimCity). It's not like they freeze it and ship the ice off to Antarctica to try to make new ice caps.

Yes, but my impression is that we are far from a 100% recycle rate of 'used'/sewage water into 'drinkable' water. Otherwise water would be far cheaper (and less jealousy guarded in other areas of the world) considering its 'plentifulness'.

Hence my consideration that an effective 100% retention of existing water (supply) in SimCity would be an 'exploit' of unintended game design.

[Showal]

Yes, but my impression is that we are far from a 100% recycle rate of 'used'/sewage water into 'drinkable' water. Otherwise water would be far cheaper (and less jealousy guarded in other areas of the world) considering its 'plentifulness'.

Hence my consideration that an effective 100% retention of existing water (supply) in SimCity would be an 'exploit' of unintended game design.

SimCity. Just got real.

[Chilango2]

Yes, but my impression is that we are far from a 100% recycle rate of 'used'/sewage water into 'drinkable' water. Otherwise water would be far cheaper (and less jealousy guarded in other areas of the world) considering its 'plentifulness'.

Hence my consideration that an effective 100% retention of existing water (supply) in SimCity would be an 'exploit' of unintended game design.

I think another part of this is that while cleaning water of the kind of human waste products that sewage contains is challenging but perfectly doable, removing *salt* from water is actually more challenging than that. The world obviously has a lot of salt water, but *fresh* water is a bit harder to come by.

[Showal]

I think another part of this is that while cleaning water of the kind of human waste products that sewage contains is challenging but perfectly doable, removing *salt* from water is actually more challenging than that. The world obviously has a lot of salt water, but *fresh* water is a bit harder to come by.

That's a very good point. SimCity does not account for the need to desalinate water. Guys, SimCity also does some annoying things, like send out this huge lizard and sometimes aliens to destroy my city. That shit ain't real. Also, when they say it is a real time simulation, why can you fast forward through things? That really ruins my gameplay. It is pretty much a glitch if you ask me. The developers must have been watching click. And before I become mayor, why aren't I required to campaign?

[Tgo01]

Anyone still playing? Maybe I just suck at this game but it seems like no matter what I do I eventually reach a point where my city turns to shit because of traffic. Tried an industrial/school city, tried a mining city, tried a gambling city/culture city. Also at first I didn't really mind the small cities because I figured region = city now but that's so not the case. You can't rely on neighboring cities for everything, at least not when the traffic goes to shit. It seems like I devote more and more of my limited city space to public transportation and garbage dumps and recycling centers. And the cities that have even less space because of the water/hills? I feel like I should be consulting a step by step guide in order to build a decent city.

Maybe I'm just a nostalgic old bastard but I don't remember the old Simcity games being so unforgiving in your city design. Sure if you wanted the biggest and best city you had to min/max but in this game it almost seems like a requirement to be perfect to even get a decent city.

[g++]

Im still messing around a bit had a pretty good city going this weekend. Street cars dont seem as bad anymore.

http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/x387/pjaaay1/Spark_2013-03-24_21-09-55.png

[Tgo01]

Damn that's impressive. Best I've managed to do was 200k. Do you use parks at all? I don't think I see any in that screen shot.

[g++]

Damn that's impressive. Best I've managed to do was 200k. Do you use parks at all? I don't think I see any in that screen shot.

I think that city had 0 at the time of the screenshot. I started the city with parks, and industry then gutted both to try to get a fully upgraded town hall. Low wealth people are more dense so to shoot for high pop you want to evict the middle class at some point and the only industry that works without the middle class is dirty so I got rid of industry and put down commercial.

I think you could go even higher pretty easily. One thing I would like to try is start a city, go full blown electronics and save up like 200 million then bulldoze everything and make a low wealth city with 0 taxes. If taxes are 0 residential low wealth would pretty much never move out is my theory because they would only have to work at low wealth commercial every once and a while to keep up with their shopping. I bet you could get to a million if you did that and bull dozed everything but fire/police/hospital.

[Atlanteax]

you want to evict the middle class at some point

Pulling an Obama?


I think you could go even higher pretty easily. One thing I would like to try is start a city, go full blown electronics and save up like 200 million then bulldoze everything and make a low wealth city with 0 taxes. If taxes are 0 residential low wealth would pretty much never move out is my theory because they would only have to work at low wealth commercial every once and a while to keep up with their shopping. I bet you could get to a million if you did that and bull dozed everything but fire/police/hospital.

This seems like a good strategy, to finance the 'goal' city ... but having to go about it in such a round-about manner seems to only reinforce the assertion that SimCity is just not very well-designed at all compared to its predecessors.

[g++]

Ive done the same kind of things in all the sim cities, they didn't just add the bulldozer to this one heh. Its always been pretty common to make a city specifically with the intention of bull dozing it and making a different city with the funds.

[Ryvicke]

On sale for $40 now at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B007FTE2VW?tag=gizmodoamzn-20

Looks like you still get the free EA apology game as well.

[Fallen]

On sale for $40 now at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B007FTE2VW?tag=gizmodoamzn-20

Looks like you still get the free EA apology game as well.

You'd need to register the game by midnight tonight.

[Whirlin]

http://www.dorkly.com/article/51363/eas-reponse-to-being-named-the-worst-company-in-america

[Taernath]

The COO's actual response, where they claimed to be under attack from conservative websites over their 'support' of LGBT issues, is a lot more cringe worthy.

[Tgo01]

The COO's actual response, where they claimed to be under attack from conservative websites over their 'support' of LGBT issues, is a lot more cringe worthy.


That's an expression I frequently use when asked to defend EA's place in the gaming industry. And it comes to mind again this week as we get deeper into the brackets of an annual Web poll to name the "Worst Company in America."

This is the same poll that last year judged us as worse than companies responsible for the biggest oil spill in history, the mortgage crisis, and bank bailouts that cost millions of taxpayer dollars. The complaints against us last year were our support of SOPA (not true), and that they didn't like the ending to Mass Effect 3.

This year's contest started in March with EA outpolling a company which organizers contend is conspiring to corner the world market on mid-priced beer, and (gulp) allegedly waters down its product. That debate takes place in bars - our audience lives on the Internet. So no surprise that we drew more votes there.

Let me cut to the chase: it appears EA is going to "win." Like the Yankees, Lakers and Manchester United, EA is one of those organizations that is defined by both a legacy of success, and a legion of critics (especially me regarding all three of those teams).

Are we really the "Worst Company in America?" I'll be the first to admit that we've made plenty of mistakes. These include server shut downs too early, games that didn't meet expectations, missteps on new pricing models and most recently, severely fumbling the launch of SimCity. We owe gamers better performance than this.

Some of these complaints are 100 percent legitimate - like all large companies we are not perfect. But others just don't hold water:

Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It's not. People still want to argue about it. We can't be any clearer - it's not. Period.
Some claim there's no room for Origin as a competitor to Steam. 45 million registered users are proving that wrong.
Some people think that free-to-play games and micro-transactions are a pox on gaming. Tens of millions more are playing and loving those games.
We've seen mailing lists that direct people to vote for EA because they disagree with the choice of the cover athlete on Madden NFL. Yes, really...
In the past year, we have received thousands of emails and postcards protesting against EA for allowing players to create LGBT characters in our games. This week, we're seeing posts on conservative web sites urging people to protest our LGBT policy by voting EA the Worst Company in America.

That last one is particularly telling. If that's what makes us the worst company, bring it on. Because we're not caving on that.

We are committed to fixing our mistakes. Over the last three weeks, 900,000 SimCity players took us up on a free game offer for their troubles. We owed them that. We're constantly listening to feedback from our players, through our Customer Experience group, Twitter, this blog, or other sites. The feedback is vital, and impacts the decisions we make.

I expect the debate will include a lot of comments under this post. But here's the truth: each year EA interacts with more than 350 million gamers; Origin is breaking records for revenue and users; The Simpsons: Tapped Out and Real Racing 3 are at the top of the mobile charts; Battlefield 3 and FIFA are stunning achievements with tens of millions of players; and SimCity is being enjoyed by millions of passionate fans all over the world.

Every day, millions of people across globe play and love our games - literally, hundreds of millions more than will vote in this contest.

So here's my response to this poll: We can do better. We will do better. But I am damn proud of this company, the people around the globe who work at EA, the games we create and the people that play them.

The tallest trees catch the most wind. At EA we remain proud and unbowed.

Holy shit, the bit about banks and oil companies was actually true. I thought that part was totally made up.

What kind of defense is "But hey! At least we're not polluting the world and throwing people out of their homes!"

Well..true..I guess?

[Drakefang]

So, is this game worth the $60 or is there too much bullshit to bother at that price? It certainly looks cool based on those vids, but I am hearing issues over the last five or six pages here.

[Tgo01]

So, is this game worth the $60 or is there too much bullshit to bother at that price? It certainly looks cool based on those vids, but I am hearing issues over the last five or six pages here.

If I had to do it over again I wouldn't spend 60 bucks on it.

It's really not too bad of a game now that they've got the server issue under control, but I still don't think it's worth 60.

[Taernath]

I would say no. The core concept is good and they've fixed a lot of stuff since release (stuff that should never have been broken in the first place), but the systems they have in place are fundamentally flawed. It didn't feel like a SimCity game to me.

[Drakefang]

Not so much what I wanted to hear but maybe when it is 50% off or something.

[Gelston]

So, they are releasing an expansion soon.... Yeah, no. Not buying it. If anyone is interested though....

http://ebm.em.ea.com/c/tag/hBSO9V$B7uauvB81OmcMhePFqdd/doc.htm

I was able to log on to the game all I wanted at the start. It never saved my city. I'd do hours of work on it and it would all disappear. I am a bit upset with this game, and I don't think it will ever be undone. I'd rather run for mayor of a real city.

[Taernath]

I haven't been on since March. Slapping a faux-future neon skin on the trainwreck won't change that.

[Whirlin]

So, they are releasing an expansion soon.... Yeah, no. Not buying it. If anyone is interested though....

http://ebm.em.ea.com/c/tag/hBSO9V$B7uauvB81OmcMhePFqdd/doc.htm

I was able to log on to the game all I wanted at the start. It never saved my city. I'd do hours of work on it and it would all disappear. I am a bit upset with this game, and I don't think it will ever be undone. I'd rather run for mayor of a real city.

Did they get Morgan Freeman to voice that trailer?

My girlfriend plays Simcity pretty often, I'll likely end up picking it up to play with her.

[Drisco]

Is it wrong that because Morgan Freeman did the trailer that I thought I might buy this. God damn his voice is sexy.

[Glitch]

Fuck EA, fuck Origin.

[Tgo01]

Remember when the game first came out and Maxis/EA said it was literally impossible to have an offline mode? Behold!

SimCity offline mode no longer impossible, coming soon (http://www.pcworld.com/article/2086647/simcity-offline-mode-no-longer-impossible-coming-soon.html)




An offline mode for SimCity is coming, according to Patrick Beuchner, general manager at developer Maxis. Beuchner didn't provide an exact timeframe, but wrote in a blog post that the mode will be a free download in Update 10. Maxis has been releasing updates roughly once per month, and Update 9 went out in December, so offline mode presumably will arrive soon.

“We are in the late phases of wrapping up its development and, while we want to get it into your hands as soon as possible, our priority is to make sure that it’s as polished as possible before we release it,” Beuchner wrote.

Players can still play in Regions, where they'll feel the effects of other players' neighboring cities, and they can still work together in Multiplayer. But the new Single Player mode will be a throwback to the classic SimCity games, where urban design happened in complete isolation. All files will be saved locally, and the mode won't require an Internet connection.

Beuchner also noted that the Single Player mode will benefit modders, as they'll no longer have to worry about compromising the integrity of the online game.
Background

SimCity fans have been asking for an offline mode since day one, especially in light of server failures that made it nearly impossible to play the game. But at the time, Maxis said that offline mode couldn't be done. “The game was designed for MP, we sim the entire region on the server so this is just not possible,” Maxis General Manager Lucy Bradshaw wrote on Twitter in response to players' questions.

Bradshaw also reportedly defended publisher Electronic Arts in an internal memo, saying that the online requirement was Maxis' decision rather than a forced version of digital-rights management.

There were signs that Maxis was changing its tune last July, when a survey asked if players would be interested in an offline or “classic” mode. In October, Buechner said Maxis was listening to feedback and considering offline play.

While it's disappointing that EA and Maxis didn't provide an offline mode sooner, the reversal is a win for players who want to master the game over many years, regardless of server status or the meddling of nearby players. Hopefully the update will inspire the same kind of amazing creations as previous SimCity games.

Honestly I'm surprised they still support this game that much. I'm sure people still play it but it seems to me like the popularity of this game died down rather quick.

[Whirlin]

Its still a decent game that scratches the classic SimCity itch... they have been doing improvements that likely should have been tweaked pre-release. But, EA QAers are rarer than ... I dunno? Albino midget pornstars? I can't come up with any good rarer-than analogies...

[Tgo01]

Rarer than a Whirlin sorc guide?

[Whirlin]

Rarer than a Whirlin sorc guide?

:(

[Gelston]

Now has offline play.

[Taernath]

I know people stopped giving a shit about this game almost a year ago, but I reinstall it every few months to see if any of the bugs are hammered out... they aren't. Commuters still disappear between cities. One of my schools is full up in one city, so I build another in a different city. Regional education overview says 900 simkids are commuting, but local education and building view of the destination city says none are arriving. This is with connecting bus and ferry routes too. Fuck this game in the goat ass.

[Atlanteax]

I know people stopped giving a shit about this game almost a year ago, but I reinstall it every few months to see if any of the bugs are hammered out... they aren't. Commuters still disappear between cities. One of my schools is full up in one city, so I build another in a different city. Regional education overview says 900 simkids are commuting, but local education and building view of the destination city says none are arriving. This is with connecting bus and ferry routes too. Fuck this game in the goat ass.

3 cheers for EA !

[Latrinsorm]

I know people stopped giving a shit about this game almost a year ago, but I reinstall it every few months to see if any of the bugs are hammered out... they aren't. Commuters still disappear between cities. One of my schools is full up in one city, so I build another in a different city. Regional education overview says 900 simkids are commuting, but local education and building view of the destination city says none are arriving. This is with connecting bus and ferry routes too. Fuck this game in the goat ass.Did you try rebooting?

[Showal]

Did you try rebooting?

I think he should refresh his browser

[Whirlin]

Now that they have an offline mode, supposedly they're going to be allowing mods to the game to be made.

I'm sure it won't be long until someone makes a 'mod' that effectively fixes those problems.