What? No save files? That was most of the fun of Sim City - experimenting from a fixed point. All these things sound like compromises usually made when a console release is in the pipeline...
Id save the no save files is to push this whole idea that sim5 will be running on the cloud, which is just an atempt to justify the DRM that you always need to be connected to the internet in my eyes
You're right, there are changes that go against what SimCity has been in the past, but I'm not getting wound up over them - especially before the game is out and it is all confirmed. I'm assuming subways will make it in via DLC at a later date, much like the Rush Hour pack for SimCity 4 added most mass transit systems from what was originally a very poor offering.
Density is still there, it just depends on what type of road you're zoning next to. You can be in 10 regions at a time. A region contains up to 16 cities. You just can't reload a previous save state... it's like Ironman in XCOM (^Subject to change until release I suppose)
Breaking news, the guy who works on the transportation just confirmed small airports within cities. https://twitter.com/MaxisGuillaume/status/292403209077661698 I'm quite happy about that myself!
You have the main highway and rail routes which you link to from your city as they connection the region, only video ive since is where they link a track from the main rail and take it to a station. So you have 2 options build a station and then the track, hopefully theirs more but ive not come across anything else yet. Found this of the Sim City wiki page: Transportation options – There are a number of options that are included, such as boats, buses, streetcars, and planes.
Until it's out, I don't see much point in trying to establish the feature set. Speaking of, I take it you've all signed up for the Beta?
I wonder how many decades I need to wait until the map is the size of Transport Tycoon and I can build all the cities and have dozens of airports linking them up. I really hope they develop some kind of immortality drug at some point because I REALLY want to play games from the next century.
Why not? It's not like they're going to cut out anything major that's been announced less than two months from release. Nor are they going to change their minds about EA's new policy of not releasing offline games anymore. Or the complexity of their simulation which limits city size and spacing. No, several single hours. It's probably a server stress test since nobody will actually be able to tech up to late game stuff and look for actual bugs, which is disappointing considering how promising the beta agreement was (i.e. it implied that we'll be expected to make proper bug reports and give feedback).
It's only an hour, but I think an hour will get you used to the mechanisms of the game, and in turn give you a good idea whether you want to purchase. I know there's games that I played for 40m and never touched again. Thing with SimCity is that they can't release a demo based off a single level or similar, time restriction is the only one that makes sense.
Amen to that. I remember how excited I was for the release of Star Trek Online. Couldn't wait for the beta. Played it, got my money back!
Roads can be upgraded, and one of the upgrades mentioned in a strategey video was for the large roads (i.e. dual carriage ways) have an upgrade option to have a monorail/metro line sort of thing plonked on the central reservation To expand upon the zoning, the zone density depends on the road type (to stop players zoning high density on dirt roads that can't support that kind of density). However, roads can be upgraded which improves traffic flow and allows you to zone higher density buildings off it. I like how by building roads it takes care of utility infrastructure. After all, in most cities the pipework follows the road network as it's the easiest thing to get under should something go wrong.
I hope if you built up to a road and then decide to upgrade it to a huge freeway, you still have to demolish buildings and schools and whatever else is in the way. Stuff like that was fun in previous games because it seemed horrible having to destroy half your town but once you put the new freeway in and then rebuilt everything around it, it was nice to see things grow back even better than before.
I agree. I like that I don't have to lay an underground pipeline or electricity poles. Everything just follows roads.
