SimCity

[Tredge]

https://help.ea.com/article/why-cant...ect-to-simcity

I especially like how they downplay the scope of the problems.

[Intropy]

CRYING N00BS GUIDE TO LAYING DOWN ROADS v1.0

Server's down so there probably won't be a better time to do this, multiple posts due to image limits.

PART 1a: ROAD LAYOUT

Spoiler: 

First step, is to identify your highway, either you'll have one extending through your zone or, or if you just have an off/on ramp poking in, you'll plan to extend it across your whole zone. The key to your highway is to absolutely minimize intersections to it, it should only have 3-4 connections spaced across the whole map, two of these will be to your major avenues.



Step two is to start planning your road spacing. If you want an optimial grid, you won't be able to eye-ball it. Instead start at one edge of your map, and use small segments of dirt road and the built-in grid system to start determining the correct spacing.



Next up is to determine the location, of your main avenues, These are the primary roads that are going to connect back to your highway. I suggest placing them 4 blocks from the perimeter of the city. Unlike the smaller roads, you can't rely on the built-in grids to space the avenues, as they give too much room. Instead, you need to eyeball it at first, then test your spacing with the zoning tool to ensure it's one block width away from the dirt roads you placed.



Next up is to use the same technique to determine the grid spacing going in the other direction, this is going to be your first local street and it will prevent the other local streets from actually reaching the highway.



So these two shots illustrate the central concept of the guide which is that smaller streets run parallel to larger streets in order to minimize intersections and keep traffic flowing quickly.



This layout gradually expands across the whole map as the game progresses, you can avoid dead ends with temporary streets that you delete later, but I've found sims are pretty tolerant to long dead end streets so it shouldn't cause too much grief.

[Intropy]

PART 1b: ROAD LAYOUT

Spoiler: 

The next part of the strategy is to minimize unnecessary corners by using curved roads, this is especially important on your main highway/avenues but you should implement it where possible with small streets as well.




As you extend your grid across the map, you can change the direction of avenues using curves and change the orientation of your smaller streets so they stay parallel to the avenues.



Break the grid for large buildings in low traffic areas in a way that doesn't impede the busier cross streets. This keeps traffic flowing and helps to keep your police cars and fire trucks from getting stuck in traffic at rush hour.

[Intropy]

PART 2: ZONING

Spoiler: 

The above road grid layout is only really effective when your buildings are all oriented to take advantage of it.


This is the wrong way to zone, it gives you no control over which way buildings are oriented which means you can't control how cars access your streets.



This is the correct way to zone, cars only access the street from one direction which means the other direction can flow freely. Additionally it prevents buildings from enter/exiting off the busier cross streets which connect to the main avenues.




Completed zoning across the whole region, all roads are single loaded parallel to the main avenues, there are few buildings facing onto the cross streets and absolutely no buildings with access to the main highway.

[Intropy]

PART 3: TRANSIT

Spoiler: 

Bus stops should all be placed on the same side of the road, and spaced as far as the green area allows, this helps control traffic flow in the same way as the zoning strategy.



Park and rides are really important, they need to go in key areas, like the entrance to the city, where they can intercept a lot of would-be drivers and get them into buses instead which reduces the total number of cars driving across the city.



The street car entrance should go in the middle of your avenue loop. You should only make linear street car tracks with no intersections, the street cars will drive until full and then turn back with no regard for where they are trying to get. You can use this to your advantage by allowing the street car to circulate from the back of your city (opposite the highway) to your highway and then back again.

[ohmgee]

http://answers.ea.com/t5/Updater/Che...ue/td-p/634232 helped me get further in the failbot

This worked for me thanks

[Tuco]

intropy thanks for posting that, elucidated a few unintuitive things.

[Intropy]

Thanks, and thanks for elucidating the word elucidated for me.

[cinge]

Was doing my tourist city great, Then a meteor takes out all 3 tourist attractions. I re-build em, going strong again and my nuclear reactor meltsdown. The region had a college/community college/high schools but I guess I need at least high school maybe community in city to not meltdown.

The trading/export is big money, it just takes a bit to get there. Have to get to the point where you are creating lots of plastic/metal to ship out. Recycling plant is nice but again have to have the buildings to output recyclable items.

I've slowly learned roads(how to build to avoid huge traffic problems). Thanks to cad earlier about the tip with water, that worked perfectly. Now I have to balance RCI and decide how to earn money(taxes is not enough). Either tourist, exporting plastic/metals and later electronics or mining/drilling. I haven't seen one good casino town yet that made good money(always seem to have 1 doing good but the rest lost 5k+ a hour).

Have had a few issues with servers or not being able to join. Thankfully once I get in a game it seems to be fine and I can do 4-5 hours or more easily without realizing it.

[Bragon]

I wish i could actually load up to the game and play, hours of not being able to fucking connect so far.

[Springbok]

Someone come build a city near mine in the Rerolled 2 region. I have an abundance of metal/alloy and want to start a great work (have the cash as well).

[Jait]

Was doing my tourist city great, Then a meteor takes out all 3 tourist attractions. I re-build em, going strong again and my nuclear reactor meltsdown. The region had a college/community college/high schools but I guess I need at least high school maybe community in city to not meltdown.

Yeah with your luck, you'll end up with Colombine next.

[Vvoid]

Someone come build a city near mine in the Rerolled 2 region. I have an abundance of metal/alloy and want to start a great work (have the cash as well).

If I could actually claim a spot in the region (I have an invite, it just won't let me claim anything) I might. Of course at the rate I've clicked stuff, it will probably eventually show me as claiming all the remaining regions

[hodj]

Is it just me, or is it hilarious how inept EA is for being one of the (formerly) biggest names in the industry?

I mean, I don't really care, I did pick up the game hoping to dick around in it some but can't really log in, haven't had time to play. EA are going to have to wake up and realize this integrating single player games into multiplayer game systems is not a money maker, but a money loser at some point.

Hopefully not, though. There are worse fates for the universe than seeing EA go out of business for good.

[Springbok]

If I could actually claim a spot in the region (I have an invite, it just won't let me claim anything) I might. Of course at the rate I've clicked stuff, it will probably eventually show me as claiming all the remaining regions

Well if/when you get in, do one near Blackstone - I'll send you fire/police/garbage etc to help you get started. Pretty ronery on my side of the map.

That said, went to check out Araxens city, got booted and now it won't load my city. Terrible servers/service, meh.

[Vvoid]

Seems it took one of my earlier claims, so I'm totally on the other side from you Springbok. Oh well, at least *maybe* it will let me play now.

EDIT: Nope, still can't get into the actual city, but it does think I belong there at least, so I'm slowly getting there!

[Bragon]

Now forced into a tutorial that never starts. What the fuck is this shit.

[Weaponsfree]

I played at launch without issues outside of the friends list thing. Now when I launch I get a black screen.

[Leadsalad]

The black screen is a hidden log in, and then when you try to actually load your zone... nope, servers disconnected.

[Osiris The Everliving]

Well europeon servers arent fairing well , at least not EU west 1. Bummer