The Simcity Topic

[Patrick Vykkers]

Anyone else like Simcity? If so, this is the place to come. Discuss funny things in the game, post screenshots of your cities (and maybe regions, if you have Simcity 4 or Rush Hour) and generally chat about one of the first simulation games.

I'll start. What's the furthest anyones got in the game (year wise)? I once played around 105 years in Simcity 3000 Unlimited. Not in one setting, obviously. The city had around 120000 inhabitants by then. So far in Simcity 4 I've got in my region around 14000 people. Also, has anyone tried waiting long enough for radiation from a meltdown to disappate?

[Havoc]

Hm, I should pick up Simcity 4 again sometime.

In Simcity 3000 Unlimited I once had a huge city. Though it's not realy that hard once you pass the start.

In Simcity 4 I once had a city that took about 6 city 'tiles'. The center tile was completely filled with skyscrapers and the like, the neighboring areas were the city's industry and stuff. I think the total population of that city was around 1.5 million and it required about 10 Nuclear Fusion reactors to keep it all running. Then I saved it when I got bored and threw a meteor on it.

[used:)]

I do want 4.

Anyway, I love 3000. Just mainly building cities then destroying them. Especially the pre made cities. Hee hee hee. There's this one adviser, Mortimer Green, who always screws me over though.

[Havoc]

In 3000, the advisor for the waterplants and stuff had a realy awsome name in Dutch. It was: Wil Pijper. Which almost litteraly translates to: Wants to give blowjobs. I laughed my ass off at that name every time I saw it XD.

[Nate]

I haven't played 3 or 4 because I found it was too easy to crack the earlier games. Once you find a sweet-spot in terms of taxes and how to lay down tiles, it's easy to get your city 100% occupied and have the cash rolling in.

In another vein, I quite liked Lucasarts' Afterlife; a sim game where you have to build heaven and hell. It's not a perfect game; there's way too much micromanagement in the early stages until you can afford to have it done automatically. But there's enough variety to keep you going and each building has a hilarious description of the rewards and punishments going on inside.

[Havoc]

Nate: 4 is pretty balanced out when it comes to that. There isn't realy a sweetspot as there is always something else that will be in the way. Unlike the earlier games where you could indeed pass a certain point and sit back.

[used:)]

Has anyone here ever played Black and White before? I thought it looked cool when I passed by it on the shelves, but I never really bought it.

[Havoc]

I only played Black & White 2. That was pretty fun.

[Rich]

4 is damn cool. I think my friends borrowed mine though. I want it back now!

[Patrick Vykkers]

I love Black and White too. But back on topic, I'm so glad I found a mod to put the funny stuff from the news ticker in 3000 in 4. These things were friggin HILARIOUS.
""I swear, we were in suspended animation!" cried sim during escort to local mental hospital". That happens after you unpause the simulator. Plus all the reports around Kitty Kibble, Tommy B. Saif and Wise Guy Sammy. Man these were the days.

[Havoc]

Oh yea the 3000 news ticker was the ultimate ownage! Mine were all in Dutch so I couldn't give any funny quotes but they are very funny .
It always used to give you hints if a disaster was gonna happen. Specificaly with the alliens.

[Wil]

Ahh, I do love the SimCity series. I got bored with it when I realised every single city looked the same, even if you used different tilesets.The ticker in SC3k and the newspapers in SC2k did keep me amused for long times. And the soundtrack is incredible. I've downloaded it in its entirity.

[Nate]

I've only played Black and White 1. I think it was a good concept (and some damn good technology) that never showed it's full potential because it just wasn't very fun to play. You have to micromanage the villagers to an incredible degree and the second level has such major resource issues that I gave up every time I played it.

[Havoc]

The micromanaging isn't gone in B&W 2 either. And it gets SO anoying in the later levels.

[used:)]

I might get City Life by Monty Cristo soon. It says on Wikipedia that it's like Sim City 4 only with better visuals and easier controls.

[Havoc]

I played a demo. Seriously... don't play that...

[AquaticAmbi]

One of the earlier SimTowns was the first computer game I ever played and got hooked on. I absolutely love the Sim games, but I only have the Sims for my mac. I'd like one of the more city-oriented games, where you don't really concentrate on individual characters for a bit of a change. I miss creating disasters other than the social kind. I don't think my little iMac has much room for a new game. Are any good SimCitys available on the PS and/or PS2? I'm pretty sure SimCity 4 is not.

I also wish I had the money and connection needed for the Sims online. Has anyone ever played that?

[used:)]

The Sims online looks okay IMO. Its population has probably gone down a lot with all the other big MMORPGs that have come up in the past few years.

As for what sim games are availabe for the Ps2, I know that the Urbz is, which is the Sims located away from suburbia and in the deep city. I also think the Sims 2 is on it as well.

[Havoc]

I've been wanting to try The Sims Online for a while, but the lack of a trail period made me lose interest. I think they will put in an online option when The Sims 3 comes along though. Maybe... hopefully.

[used:)]

Oh god, a Sims 3, as if they haven't milked that cash cow enough. Eventually people are going to have to realize that they all have the best realistic interaction simulation ever created: their own lives. I mean, the expansion packs make it fun and stuff, but really, how can so many people devote so much time to an AI in a fake world? The only joy I get out of it these days is designing houses and rooms with characters to go with it.

[Havoc]

I mostly design houses too. But with every game comes new possibilities right. And I would personaly like to see an online function in The Sims 2 or even 3.

[Wil]

City Life looks interesting in that it focuses on satisfying different sub-cultures of people, which wasn't emphasised enough in Sim City 3000 (I haven't played 4). What worries me is that it places less stress on the importance of resources, which is the most important aspect of large settlements.

[used:)]

I suppose it was trying to communicate more with the player by focusing more on social structures than resources.

[Havoc]

The concept of the game is nice. But the big flaw in that game is the huge amount of micro management you're involved in. Every culture has it's complaints and you have to keep all of them happy. You can always try the demo yourself, make your own judgement. We all have diffrent taste. But I found it extremely boring and anoying.

[used:)]

I tried downloading the demo, but the time for it was seven hours. And I have a fairly powerful system. Ah well, I am still in a sticky wicket as to what games I am going to focus on trying to acquire soon. I'm in a cross between my RTS mode and Sci Fi mode, so lots of things are possible.

[Havoc]

No cool games coming out till December. Then it's a load of new stuff! F.E.A.R, C&C 3, maybe even Spore somewhere in the middle of 2007, prolly a shitload of expansions for Sims 2, Battlefield 2142. And new seasons for Las Vegas and Prison Break! Whoo!

[used:)]

Exactly, we must look to the past for good games these days. I'm probably going to focus my efforts to getting Beyond Good and Evil. I've heard it's an amazing game, but did poorly on the shelves.

[Havoc]

Thanks to this topic I might actualy pick up Sim City 4 again, though I'm also quite busy with BF2 and stuff. I'm also playing an old classic: Street Wars, maybe more commonly known as Constructor 2 or Mob Rule.

[Wil]

Eh. I was going to try the demo, but 500MB? Hell, what's the full game like? This is indeed a scary world.

[Havoc]

Please tell me that scared you because it was so small?