What do you wanna see in SC5?

[grasscat]

It would take some sort of NASA supercomputer to run the Sim City version I'd like to see....

[OctaviusIII]

perhaps a road-building system that is similar to the track-building system for games like Railroad Tycoon. Or maybe make it a full-transit system that functions like that.

That way, bridges aren't separate entities, so to speak, that simply connect to the main road. Instead, they are part of the single Transit System that the sims use.

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but freaking mountain lakes. I downloaded a Rhode Island map and all my lakes are at sea-level, making massive pits in my map. Not cool.

Although, word is the game will be broadened to a larger target audience, so we may see either a) some dumbing down, or b) layered, so it's easier to get into but there's a lot beneath the hood, so to speak.

[Jasonhouse]

I've been suggesting to them for years to make the game layered, or what I called "scalable".

[Rural King]

I just got Sim City 4 a few days ago. I love the graphics, but everything else is lacking. The game play is to complicated to be fun. Yes, its realistic, but I don't want to run a real city! I would like interaction to be a little more generalized, because I get tired of having to multi-task on this game. It seems like its constantly something, but maybe I have just not learned how to play this version as well as 3000. I just get really frustrated and bored with 4 already, something I never had an issue with with 3000.

So ideally to me it would play more like 3000 with the graphics of 4.

[grasscat]

I liked the "place & print" or whatever it was called on the old game where you could basically just build a city outside of the framework of the game. There was no money, etc.

I also get bored easily with the game, simply because it doesn't do all of the things I would like it to do. I wish roads could be more realistic, for one.

[Des Moineser]

4-lane roads, expandable freeways, the stated under/overpasses, MORE PLANNING, with the bugs and kinks it appears they rushed SC4 out the door before they were done (specifically the 40k residents issues) better weather, because right now you only see weather at the farthest zoom levels, snow on high summits year-round. Sidewalk transit stations, disaster switch like in SC3000. Part of a real city's challenge is disasters, but remember, tornadoes never form over skyscrapers (except in Oklahoma City) because of air pressure differences. I had downtowns wiped out in SC3000 by tornadoes. No more U-Drive It and Sims connections, loading the .dll's for it ruins performance. Mixed use zoning such as Court Ave. in Des Moines where offices and shops are on the ground floor, residents up top. 'Community Clock,' remember in SC3000 that it started in 1900, 1950, or 2000, I think it should go back to time-released things like power plants instead of on a need basis. The clock would be a master clock for the whole region. More bridge and highway options with better diagonal support. Real Annexation instead of square blocks. Even competeing with a computer-run neighbor city in a challenge. Bring back the situations challenges like Area-51 and stuff that was in SC3000 (If you haven't figured it out SC3000 was my favorite, but I can't find the case to get the serial to re-install it). Regional terraforming- do the whole at once and don't have to mess with the horrible 'reconcile' button that removes erosion, etc.

[Des Moineser]

It's retarded that airport only serve one city... On the transportation map, they should have a yellow circle or square to signify other served cities. And the area should depend on the size of the airport, includign if it's a small, medium, or large version of that airport. In Des Moines you go to Des Moines International from anywhere to fly commercial. If you live in the northern half of the metro, you fly small planes out of Ankeny Regional, and the southern area uses Des Moines International. A proposed Airport between Waukee and Adel will serve the north/southwestern quadrants of the city.

[grasscat]

^ Yeah, I agree that there should be better regionwide functionality.

[grasscat]

BTW...annexation. I think it would be cool if there was a way to annex land off of a regional map, which would cost your city simoleons. I'm not sure how that would work, though.

[Jasonhouse]

Yeah. Some sort of annexation process would be cool. I t woudl also be very cool if there were then other governmental entities (cities and townships and stuff) which were also growing on the regional map.

I also wish that there was some sort of preexisting imptetus for a city to exist. It's usually something geographical, like a natural harbor or a navigable river. But I think it would also be cool if a city started out, and already had an interstate running through the region (connecting theoretical existing cities off the map), which had traffic (and thus commerce) flowing on them. Or maybe there is some sort of natural resource, which will be exploited, thus fueling the growth of a city. I've always thought it's odd how a player just gets to start zoning in the middle of nowhere, and it grows no matter what.

[grasscat]

^ Good point on that last one. That's the part I hate most about SC4--the "blank slate".

[Ral]

I would like to see Mexican Buildings, such as Torre Mayor, World Trade Center, Palace of Fine Arts, Pemex Tower, Los Arcos Bosques and Latinoamericana Tower, Ancient Pyramids ( Mayan, Aztec... ), and the Ángel de la Independencia.

[FlyersFan118]

I think that the downtown area should be customized according to the mayor. All proposals for skyscrapers should go through you, and you can build whatever you want. Seeing the same frickin building all over your city is corny.

Need a more powerful land-designing program too. SC4 and SC3KU are hell to design your city's land.

I liked on SimCity 2000 where you could drive through your city in 1st-person view. That would be awesome to do on Sim City 5.

[MolsonExport]

Couldn't there be different patterns for Hospitals, Schools, Police stations, etc.? They all look the same. Plus, why the HELL do we need to build a Police Station (and firestation) for every 3-4 thousand inhabitants? Gets a bit retarded.

And I hate those damn exploding power plants, and self-destructing water stuctures and garbage processors.

GET RID OF AUTO ROADS!!!

Mixed Zoning...most skyscrapers today are mixed use.

[Jasonhouse]

I want to be able to designate various special overlay districts, which could be "categorized" into a few generic forms. Maybe historic, tax overlay, special architecture, master planned, etc... And then each district could have perhaps different parameters set by the player, to determine what sort of development occurs within the district.

historic district... maybe "rigid", where there is no change... "preserve density"... "preserve predominant style"...and so on...

tax overlay... the extra tax rate can be set, and what it pays for could be designated from a list..... special decoration and cleanup: like fancy lightpoles and fancy streets, cleanup crews keep nieghborhood attractive... transit: creates nieghborhood circulator, or maybe funds intermodal center... education: funds after school activities and improves nieghborhood IQ... etc, etc.

special architecture... to denote the designated style for an area of new development or redevelopment (and the the user could select from a list of themes, like art deco, victorian, neoclassical, etc)

master planned... to designate unified development type for a new or redeveloping nieghborhood... new urban town center... highrise town center... entertainment (like French Quarter)... residential subdivision... campus style office park....etc, etc

The districts could either be drawn with a cursor by the player at his whim, or perhaps more simply with click and drag boxes, which could merge when adjacent to one another during the drawing process.

This play heavily into what I see as the next logical progression in gameplay for the series... The game obviously has the basics down, and the graphics are solid... What's needed now is the ability for the player to scale the game's depth to his liking, to be able to make the game more for fun, or more for heavily detailed micromanagement of the city. (as it is now, there is little variety in the manner in which a player can engage the city as mayor. we all have to zone and lay roads and such... we can't choose if we want to really get in depth, or maybe stand off and macromanage taxing and economic conditions as the "political dealmaker", with the game instead building the city for us, according to conditions we establish through our policies.

[Jasonhouse]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Couldn

GET RID OF AUTO ROADS!!!

Umm, hold the shift key when you zone. This is in the game's instruction manual, if you had bothered to read it.

[Matty]

I'd like to be able to control transport routes (bus, train, etc) directly -- where the trains go and how many of them -- or I can optionally have the pc do it if I don't want to (but will be less effective in the long run.).

Also, I think superscrapers (some should be larger) should be harder to get. You need a regional population before they appear, high demand, and fantastic transport to the area. I'm sick of having them just pop up sometimes. This way you can tell if a city took a lot of work and thought.

[tuy]

Have there been any rumors about when SC5 will be released?

I would definitely like to see more control of what gets built. Have a planning commission that looks at all new construction, and then sends recommendations to the City council. You could either pick an automatic mode, or a full control mode.

Make the construction of transit systems more realistic. Plan out a light rail line, and then see it construct over the next several years. Same with skyscrapers. Make it take a couple years to build them.

[Des Moineser]

About the skyscrapers and regional demand... It's sort of like that in 4 with combined demand unless you're playing a large size city that can grow to 3 million people and what not. Playing medium cities only gets you skyscrapers once another city is on the map to help with demand and small cities have never gotten commerical skyscrapers for me because the medium density West and Co., Ajjanagadde Inc., and Brink Real Estate buildings add up and high-density refuse to tear them down so you end up with an ocean of Walton Plazas.

[Jasonhouse]

^I simply don't zone as much medium, tending to have either low or high.