CIM2 requests and suggestions

[Gogomaester]

As i have read almost everything about CiM 2, I would like to say just one thing, but probably it will be solvedwithout my note:

-When a sim goes from A to B and two or more lines are going there (same time), the sim should use the line, that comes first. -That would be a nice addition, because of making two lines in center with interval 5 minutes and 1 line in suburb with interval 10 minutes. (I am sorry I do not know the english word - branching?) It was in Traffic Giant too.

thanks

 

[Greenslade]

Transitman, you're beginning to sound kind of needy here. You like BRT. OK. I'm sure the devs will get to it.

 

[unmerged(794901)]

Transitman, you're beginning to sound kind of needy here. You like BRT. OK. I'm sure the devs will get to it.

Ok. I did not try to sound needy and sorry if I did but it is really annoying that both CIMs have these basic "2d" generic modes of transport and no unique ones. I email CO a few months ago about BRT and they said with the current game structure that would be hard. Which is fine and in my email to them I mentioned more complex features instead of what was my recent post contained. A few post back my BRT idea was supposed to provide a makeshift idea that has many of the BRT features but was consisted of minor updates that would add minor things and would make it really simple.

 

[co_martsu]

We take all the suggestions seriously and keep working on Cities in Motion 2 to make it a better game for you. Unfortunately all the suggestions won't make it into the game, but we do our best to pick the right things. We also have to discuss with Paradox about the new content/features and see what they feel should be implemented. So there's a little bit of work to get the ok from them also

I thank you all for your patience and keep the ideas coming!

 

[ching]

Why did you dismentle the choppers cause the attractiveness?? they weren't so bad they just needed an upgrade. In big cities with big traffic congestions they could help a lot .For example to put the helipad on a skyscraper rooftop would be really cool, people could reach their work directly
The Burj-al arab has his own helipad so tehy could reach the hotel immediatly I think this is not bad

 

[ching]

Sounds and tail control cars
Dear developers,please could you make different sounds to each train and doors sounds and the tail control cars pls ? I would appreciate that and I think not only me..

 

[Leo3]

Great game.
Just a few suggestions:
- Ageing vehicles lose efficiency. An incentive to maintain a young fleet;
- Some sort of route comparison table with indicators such as punctuality, departures missed, customer satisfaction, occupancy level, fare dodging, etc;
- Possibility to apply bus lanes to existing roads instead of having to demolish and rebuild them (just like with the tram lines);
- I would pay good money for European looking cities;
- Bidirectional trains and metros (no need for loops);
- Buses should be able to overcome obstacles instead of just sitting in the obstructed lane.

 

[Callid]

It'd be nice if it was possible to change the factor the speed is multiplied with when switching to fast / very fast. For example, I personally would strongly prefer a x4 / x16, or even x8 / x64 instead of the current one (x2 / x4, if I'm not mistaken). I find myself occasionally just leaving the game running at x4 for a few minutes, so some time can pass (and I have more money to build stuff, hopefully). More speeds would, of course, be nice too, but if you could just change them in the rulesets, that'd be sufficient (and probably way easier to implement).

(And obviously, the game speed actually listed under rulesets is way different, as it doesn't speed up operations. It would be more logical to name that "Day/Night speed", actually.)

 

[neko_ceko]

Here are a few suggestions... More of a wishlist, some have been already suggested but, yeah.

Being able to pick building colour in the map editor when placing buildings. Instead of it being random, I think you should be able to choose what colour you want for the building.
Being able to replace the concrete texture in the map editor with grass, and also adding a concrete texture which you could place anywhere.
Being able to change colours of your vehicles. Not just by your logo colors, but choosing which colour to paint a vehicle when you buy it.
Being able to add letters to line "numbers" (for example 21e, 31b etc.).
A way to sort line numbers in the line overview. Right now, the lines appear in the order of when you added them. I think it would be pretty neat if you could arrange them alphabetically.
Naming sreets (like in CiM 1).
Being able to name routes with names that have more then 16 characters.
Older vehicles. By that I don't mean vehicles from CiM 1, but I mean actually older vehicles. from the 90's, from the 80's, and so on! I know it's "The Modern Days", but many (if not most) public transport companies use vehicles that are well over 30 years old. Would pay a fortune for this DLC

And of course, railway stations, airports, and more buildings (European buildings, not just landmarks).

 

[unmerged(676128)]

Being able to replace the concrete texture in the map editor with grass, and also adding a concrete texture which you could place anywhere.

This is already possible. Select the texture you want to use in the textures menu, under edit in the editor. There is a brush tool available for you to do this

Being able to pick building colour in the map editor when placing buildings. Instead of it being random, I think you should be able to choose what colour you want for the building.
Being able to change colours of your vehicles. Not just by your logo colors, but choosing which colour to paint a vehicle when you buy it.
Being able to add letters to line "numbers" (for example 21e, 31b etc.).
A way to sort line numbers in the line overview. Right now, the lines appear in the order of when you added them. I think it would be pretty neat if you could arrange them alphabetically.
Naming sreets (like in CiM 1).
Being able to name routes with names that have more then 16 characters.
Older vehicles. By that I don't mean vehicles from CiM 1, but I mean actually older vehicles. from the 90's, from the 80's, and so on! I know it's "The Modern Days", but many (if not most) public transport companies use vehicles that are well over 30 years old. Would pay a fortune for this DLC

And of course, railway stations, airports, and more buildings (European buildings, not just landmarks.

These are all very good suggestions that I would also like to see in the game. Hope CO notices them!

 

[neko_ceko]

This is already possible. Select the texture you want to use in the textures menu, under edit in the editor. There is a brush tool available for you to do this

Unfortunatly (as far as I know, I hope I am wrong though) you can't change the concrete texture with other textures. You can, but when you save and reload it just switches back to concrete Neither is there a concrete texture so you can texture other surfaces with concrete.

 

[neko_ceko]

Here's another suggestion:

Adding vehicle models (both AI vehicles and "player" vehicles) as objects in the map editor. I think this would really come in handy when making car parks, and more importantly realistic depots (would be nice if we could recreate something like this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Novokosinsky_bus-trolleybus_depot.JPG, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...t_-_Volvo_Wheelchair_Accessible_Bus_Fleet.JPG, etc. for our main depots). I think this would add more life to player built cities and would be a nice addition.

And another thing that would be very useful: adjusting water levels. Currently water only appears at one level and thats it. I think it would be very useful if you could adjust what level water appears on. But not globally, but to be able to have different water levels at different places.

 

[kev4ev]

I have been playing CIM2 for more than 60 hours (not too much, but enough to feel the game).

Here are features which are critically needed in CIM2:
- the 'undo' feature (button, which cancels last player's changes on the map);
- the 'repaint road's marking' feature (so the demolition of existing road is not needed; if devs afraid about the balance, they should compensate the feature somehow);
- the ability to easily change a stop's position on the same road, or to another road (without any demolition and re-adding new list of stops in the lines which are using that stop);
- planning mode (ability to place series of 'ghosts' of segments of the route and other objects, and when I am sure everything is ok, accept plans: 'ghost' objects turn to 'real' objects, while money are been taken for that);
- add an auto-regulation option for ticket prices of each transport type ('keep prices in white/yellow/orange/red ranges').

I cannot create my city using the in-game map editor, because (even after using such a super tool like maps4cim):
- there is no 'undo' tool
- the sliders (height of surface etc.) are very hard to catch the needed value (just realized the numbers to the right of the sliders are actually fields to input any number manualy, so no problems here, sorry!)
- there is no 19 century buildings set which are needed for the center of my city
- after Alt+Tab'ing the editor and restoring it, images of the objects in the list are not shown

Please resolve those issues (I suppose some of them are Unity Engine related issues, but...)

I have spent my time for writing this post not because I want to insult someone, I'm trying to help talented developers to keep CIM2 alive for a long time. I ask developers to confirm they have read this post.

PS: I would buy DLC with such features mentioned above.

 

[co_martsu]

I have been playing CIM2 for more than 60 hours (not too much, but enough to feel the game).

Here are features which are critically needed in CIM2:
- the 'undo' feature (button, which cancels last player's changes on the map);
- the 'repaint road's marking' feature (so the demolition of existing road is not needed; if devs afraid about the balance, they should compensate the feature somehow);
- the ability to easily change a stop's position on the same road, or to another road (without any demolition and re-adding new list of stops in the lines which are using that stop);
- planning mode (ability to place series of 'ghosts' of segments of the route and other objects, and when I am sure everything is ok, accept plans: 'ghost' objects turn to 'real' objects, while money are been taken for that);
- add an auto-regulation option for ticket prices of each transport type ('keep prices in white/yellow/orange/red ranges').

I cannot create my city using the in-game map editor, because (even after using such a super tool like maps4cim):
- there is no 'undo' tool
- the sliders (height of surface etc.) are very hard to catch the needed value
- there is no 19 century buildings set which are needed for the center of my city
- after Alt+Tab'ing the editor and restoring it, images of the objects in the list are not shown

Please resolve those issues (I suppose some of them are Unity Engine related issues, but...)

I have spent my time for writing this post not because I want to insult someone, I'm trying to help talented developers to keep CIM2 alive for a long time. I ask developers to confirm they have read this post.

PS: I would buy DLC with such features mentioned above.

Thanks for your feedback! Unfortunately Undo-tool is something we will not be implementing due to technical limitations.

 

[kev4ev]

Thanks for your feedback! Unfortunately Undo-tool is something we will not be implementing due to technical limitations.

Thanks for the response. I can't be silent: the absence of 'undo' adds a big load of discomfort and indecision in experiments while playing the game. At least in my case. I believe, such impressions are the significant part of possible threat to game's lifetime. I hope there is a feedback between Unity Engine consumers and its creators, so games' creators can request abilities for such features as 'undo' etc.

I would like to return to one of my requests and to describe what exactly I have meant. I have wrote:

- planning mode (ability to place series of 'ghosts' of segments of the route and other objects, and when I am sure everything is ok, accept plans: 'ghost' objects turn to 'real' objects, while money are been taken for that);

This reminds the current behavior of the game regarding to the track constructing. I did not write request in details. My fault.
I have meant the following (desired) behavior:
1. Player places the curved segment of the track, and finishes it by second click on its end (the road does not follow the mouse pointer any more, BUT this road is still 'ghost', money are still not taken).
2. Player places another one or few segments of tracks (separated from each other) in the same way (look '1'). All created segments are still 'ghosts', they are all in the plan. Money are still not taken.
3. Player links all those segments (or some of them).
4. Player can replace any part of those segments with a new one.
5. Player presses the 'accept plans' button. Every 'ghost' becomes the 'real' object. Money are being spent at this moment.
6. Player places series of 'ghosts' of the transport stops, replaces/removes some of them, accepts plans, all 'ghosts' become the 'real' objects. And then money are being spent.

Here is the best sample of the 'planing mode': watch from 7:05 to 8:10

Such a behavior would give to player ability to experiment for free, will add the fun to gameplay, and can contribute to game's success.

Currently, with no such abilities, and no 'undo' button, I feel like I am a sapper on a minefield. This feeling is not fun. The game does not forgive my mistakes (forgives only mistakes while placing single segment with few clicks).

Also here is one more request (idea): implement into the game the reason to replace buses with electric transport (for instance, with trolleybuses) - the atmosphere pollution (and maybe noise). Let's say pollution from many buses becomes noticeable at 5th week from the start of their massive usage. Few citizens start to gather at company's office (the feature requested by many others, +1 BTW) with the 'antipollution' demonstrations, which would grow eventually. Just imagine: a citizen leaves his home at weekend, gets to your office (using your transport btw), and claims some requests. Isn't it fun? More fun = more game's lifetime.

Sorry for a large post. I understand it is the pain to read all them in an endless stream. But I had to write in details this time...

PS
And once again, I understand: implementation of such features is a huge piece of work. I agree to pay for such DLC. I believe this is the right direction of CIM2 evolution.

 

[kev4ev]

Few more suggestions...

1. I want developers to pay their attention to one more thing. Some decisions of gameplay design make me feel like I am using a map-editor, or cheating by a god-mode:
- I am able to place as many roads/tracks as I want to, and at any time;
- I am able to remove any building that belongs to the city (by placing roads, or simply demolishing them).
Only money are regulating those abilities. And they are quite cheap. I feel the game is too simple, too... shallow, and I leave it quite soon...

My guess: you should implement into CIM2 the city's government and players' interaction with it. For instance: player will be allowed to demolish/build only 'X' meters of roads (owned by city) per week ('X' depends on player's company's earnings for the city), and to demolish 'Y' city's buildings (its QTY is also regulated by government depending on company's success). IMO, such or similar innovations in game's design would add some interesting challenge, suddenness, intrigue, charm etc...

And if you are going to implement road marking re-painting, then may the government limit player in this ability too.

2. The loading screen.. its just looks like WIP... the colors... the wierd perspective (tram an wires). Even animated screenshot from the game would be much better.

3. CIM2 is barely... "youtube'able". If you would just manage to spice up the game with some... "show", so it would work as viral ad more. For instance: how about adding some emotions to citizens? Let them swear in non-existing language when they are too angry.. etc... I don't know, you decide!

4. Some are bothered with wheels that don't rotate. Just place the 'rotating disk' texture, so it would not be possible to see they are not rotating.

5. Requesting a couple of technical abilities:
- ability to demolish only a part of a certain street by adding one or two nodes (just like nodes are added with intersections, but this method is painful for player); for instance: while demolishing tool is activated, hold ctrl to place one or two nodes on the same street, release ctrl and select the part between node and end of the street, or part between two nodes to demolish;
- before constructing the street that I am currently placing, I want to see which objects are going to disappear: highlight them!!! I understand that designer has decided that this is not the big deal - the building that is going to demolish. But I do not want to ruin city just like Godzilla, or at least want to save certain types of buildings (theatre, for instance);
- and the very-very last in the line for implementation feature: please make nigth sky rotatable, as it should be (its stillness is too notable when game speed is set to high).

Sorry for another large post, developers. And don't feel offended. You are doing well, I only tried to help you to do it even better.

And again, I understand: implementation of such features is a huge piece of work. I agree to pay for such DLC. I believe this is the right direction of CIM2 evolution.

*few weeks later*

Two more suggestions (requests):

- it would be nice to see the alter ego of a player as a part of the population of a city (player owns 'John Smith Transport Company', on the map he can find a person called 'John Smith' which lives at a private house and has to get to company's office every weekday, and to any other place at the week end, just like others on the map); and it would be nice if a player could choose a destination for his alter ego;

- different multiplayer arrangement: a separate server application, which could operate while minimized (any player at any time can join/leave the server; at least one client is needed for the game to go on (just like minecraft, for instance); it is easier for a multiplayer game to make it happen (at least in co-op mode).

 

[co_martsu]

Thanks so much for your detailed feedback! Unfortunately we have rather strict limitations to adding loads of detail in the game, so it's something that we'll have to discuss with our publisher in the future.

 

[juju94]

Hi,

+1 for the 3 posts above!

I've got an idea for the metro: I think all the underground stations are looking a bit "dead" with the walls not being decorated nor painted. Maybe the walls of the stations and/or the bridges could be painted with the player's company colors: you could maybe use the same overlay technique you used for bus stops markings on the sidewalks.

PS: You devs are really doing a great job! :happy:

 

[Norfolk_Chris]

Hi,
I've got an idea for the metro: I think all the underground stations are looking a bit "dead" with the walls not being decorated nor painted. Maybe the walls of the stations and/or the bridges could be painted with the player's company colors: you could maybe use the same overlay technique you used for bus stops markings on the sidewalks.

This is good idea; should be easy for CO to do!

 

[unmerged(676128)]

Hi,

+1 for the 3 posts above!

I've got an idea for the metro: I think all the underground stations are looking a bit "dead" with the walls not being decorated nor painted. Maybe the walls of the stations and/or the bridges could be painted with the player's company colors: you could maybe use the same overlay technique you used for bus stops markings on the sidewalks.

PS: You devs are really doing a great job! :happy:

Good idea, will make the metro look more realistic. Would be great if there was a variation of patterns on the walls at different stations like IRL

 

[Greenslade]

Mentioned some stuff a while back, but thought it would be an idea to bring it back up.

People have been talking about the pathfinding and getting all het up over it. Now, personally, I've never played a city-guilding game where everything worked perfectly, as if the population were real, intelligent people. It's all simplified agents (be they stat-based or agent based) and you have to build according to the needs of the engine. That's just how it goes.

One thing that would help us visualise how Cims are using the network, though, would be a tool similar to the one in Simcity 4: Rush Hour, where you could click on any building or road and see all the journeys that went through it.

Even if we could just see a single CIM's route laid out on the map, that would enable quicker analysis than having to follow them round. It would mean we could look at places they went in a circle or enable us to pinpoint bypasses and better interchanges. Having an easy graphical overview of Cim's routes will help us design better, and understand how the pathfinding works so we can build according to its idiosyncracies.