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I wanted to like Cities but I didn't. The main issue is that the way zoning is done is really damn bad. Like not even American cities are that bad, zoning at i

I wanted to like Cities but I didn't. The main issue is that the way zoning is done is really damn bad. Like not even American cities are that bad, zoning at its very very worst. There is no reason why it should be possible to have a much more flexible and powerful zoning code. Having mix use zoning, exclusion zones and so on. Why can offices and high density building not be in the same place? I also dislike the roads, the basic building block is the road, but it should be the lane. You should be able to easily put together a few lanes, into a new road and then be able to use that. Currently you have to basically load 500 DLC road types just to cover all the basic things and even then it isn't great. Parking, parking is the biggest problem with car based cities. And the game just ignores that issue, and that results in the problem with cars just being about optimization of intersections. I also found the creation bus routes and other public traffic routes to difficult. It gets complex pretty quickly and once you have lots of them it just becomes almost unmanageable.

Renaud 4y ago
I think we get spoiled. CS came out 10 years ago. At the time, it kind of had to be a recognisable competitor to SimCity, which pioneered the zoning system we all somehow hate now. I wish they will introduce mixed zoning but you have to bear in mind that these games are also meant to work on consoles, with limited UI complexity. So that could be a challenge to implement (or maybe it’s not). Parking works. I haven’t played in a while, but I think the Traffic Manager mod is the one that allows you to see areas of the city where parking is needed (building appear red in the traffic view). Bus routes can be complex, but real world ones are also complex. I’m not sure how this could be better handled. There are mods that give you more stats to help you make better decisions, like also show you where people are coming from and where they want to go, but it’s always going be a challenge.
- panick21_ 4y ago
  I really don't think its that hard to make mixed zoning or exclusionary zoning work in terms of UI. A list where you can hit check boxes or not is most of what you need. > Parking works. Parking aren't even in the base game, and yeah you can add lots of mods I think overall the dynamics about parking, induced demand and traffic isn't that great. > Bus routes can be complex, but real world ones are also complex. I’m not sure how this could be better handled. Yeah I don't want my game to be as hard to manage as the real world. It could be significantly easier to draw routes, modify them after you created it. The UI around that stuff I found really hard to work with. It just feels like much more thought was put into car traffic then any of the others. The game could suggest service patterns to make it easier to get started. Give you good visualizations of where the routes are, make it easy to modify them. I just found the whole experience of trying to make public transit work frustrating and to time consuming.

Renaud 4y ago

I think we get spoiled. CS came out 10 years ago. At the time, it kind of had to be a recognisable competitor to SimCity, which pioneered the zoning system we all somehow hate now. I wish they will introduce mixed zoning but you have to bear in mind that these games are also meant to work on consoles, with limited UI complexity. So that could be a challenge to implement (or maybe it’s not). Parking works. I haven’t played in a while, but I think the Traffic Manager mod is the one that allows you to see areas of the city where parking is needed (building appear red in the traffic view). Bus routes can be complex, but real world ones are also complex. I’m not sure how this could be better handled. There are mods that give you more stats to help you make better decisions, like also show you where people are coming from and where they want to go, but it’s always going be a challenge.

panick21_ 4y ago
I really don't think its that hard to make mixed zoning or exclusionary zoning work in terms of UI. A list where you can hit check boxes or not is most of what you need. > Parking works. Parking aren't even in the base game, and yeah you can add lots of mods I think overall the dynamics about parking, induced demand and traffic isn't that great. > Bus routes can be complex, but real world ones are also complex. I’m not sure how this could be better handled. Yeah I don't want my game to be as hard to manage as the real world. It could be significantly easier to draw routes, modify them after you created it. The UI around that stuff I found really hard to work with. It just feels like much more thought was put into car traffic then any of the others. The game could suggest service patterns to make it easier to get started. Give you good visualizations of where the routes are, make it easy to modify them. I just found the whole experience of trying to make public transit work frustrating and to time consuming.