Bridge... Madness?

Hello mayors.

I was experimenting with roads, I thought I should share you what I ended up with.

Interesting huh?

I will post more as I experiment with roads more.
~JMR

More fixes on the way!

Greetings mayors.
Just a short news update.

Many of us have been experiencing these many, horrific bugs. The worst of them being loss of work. When your city crashes and fails to process, or when a roll back happens, causing you to loose many hours of hard work.

Well keep your hopes up! SimCity senior producer Kip Katsarelis, just did an update on the official SimCity website on what state they are at, as far as fixes are concerned.

"Keep in mind, if you don’t see a particular fix present in an Update, this doesn’t mean we’re not working on it, or we’re not aware of it. Our team is constantly getting reports about the top issues being raised and this is helping us prioritize what we need to address."

said Kip as he emphises how hard the team are working.

Kip also mentions the team working hard, heads-down to bring cheetah speed and the leaderboards back as well as many other issues.

Want do you want most? I personally can't wait to see no more city crashes and loss of data.

I recommend you check it out, I read it just after experiencing loss of work myself. I found it refreshing to know that the team at EA are hard at work, right now. So go ahead, click here and refresh yourself, more fixes are soon to come!

This was just a short update, to let you know that more fixes are coming.

Thanks for reading mayors,
~JMR

How freight works - Understanding industry

Hello there mayors!

I have learnt a lot in the past week. I thought I'd share with you in how freight works. How to make sure freight gets shipped correctly and why freight shipments are important.

Freight is produced by industrial zones. This freight is then shipped to commercial zones and also shipped outside of your city. Freight shipments to commercial zones is not a must, but however, does provide more profit to your industry.

Industry also, is not a must, but is capable of providing a nice income.

Freight shipments make your industry money, no freight shipments = no industrial income. Commercial zones sell the freight you produce.

So better industry = more freight  = more commercial zones wanted = more profit. Simple.

Freight icon graphic by JordanMRichards

So how do you get better industry? Well, industry is based off a few things, I will explain them and how you can improve on them.

Tech level

- Build more schools | libraries and try to increase the amount of sims that enroll.

• School

  - Max-Tech level: 1 

• High-School

 - Max-Tech level: 1 

• Community College

 - Max-Tech level: 2 

• University

 - Max-Tech level: 3 

How many available places to ship freight

-  You could build an airport and place the cargo terminal extension

- You could build a trade port and place the freight shipping warehouse and ship freight via rail (freight rail terminal) or by ocean (cargo ship dock)

- You can also build a trade depot, but it will only be shipped by road.

- You could zone more commercial
- There are also specialization buildings that freight can be shipped to.

How freight is shipped

- All depends on traffic.

I try to separate my residential traffic from my freight shipments|worker traffic.

Hint: they will always take the shortest route, if that route is highly congested, they will take the next least-congested shortest route.

Density - Workers' Happiness

- Density of industrial zones are based off the workers' happiness. 

To make the industrial workers happy, they want enough places to ship their freight, as explained above.

Here's what your industry workers care about generally in the day:

- They want to get to work on time

- They want to produce and ship the freight they have made to a location

- They want to finish shipping all their freight before the end of the day

- They want to arrive home at least for a few seconds before the next day starts.

 If you accomplish all of these things, your density will shoot up & you won't find many industry building being abandoned.

If your industry is high tech though, they will want skilled workers, if they don't get enough skilled workers, they density can fall and if you leave them moaning for too long, the industry building will get abandoned.

To make it easier to understand, I spent a while making this algorithm illustration. (Click for larger|easier viewing)

Success
- Potential upgrade in the density of the industrial building
- Potential increase to sims' happiness.
- Potential increase in hourly industry profits.

Ok
- Potential decrease of sims' happiness
- Potential decrease of  hourly industry profits
- Things may stay as they were from the day before

Bad
- Definite decrease of sims' happiness
- Potential abandonment of building
- Definite mid|minor decrease in hourly industry profits.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, you should visit our forums.

~JMR

3/22/2013 Patch Notes! 1.8

Greetings Mayors! Our governmental body (EA) has passed a bit of legislation in attempt to make our lives easier. 

General 
Police station can no longer hold more prisoners than the capacity.
Added missing roof texture for certain commercial building.
Added completion moment cinematic for Great Works.
Visiting police cars have avatar of neighbor above them.
Arcology Population reflects the population of the Arcology, not the city.
Fixed a clog in the pipes where sewage would sometimes get backed up and act jittery.
Region Wall will pop up when a new chat message has been received.


Road Improvements 
Improvements to cases when connecting a new road to an existing road that goes over uneven terrain.
Tuned some of the road snapping priorities to address some edge cases where it wasn’t behaving as desired
Fixed a case where a new road would sometimes cause an existing road to change its shape drastically.
Made Upgrade Roads mini-tutorial appear at appropriate time.
Fix to four lane bridge to improve divider line placement.


Text Improvements 
Clarified alerts about residents not moving in because of high taxes to state if it is residents, commercial businesses, or Industry that won't move in because of high taxes.
Improved text and icons on cities in region view.
Updated text for "Become a Suburban City" mission to improve clarity.
Updated requirements text for HazMat garage for clarity.

Frenzytoast's Thoughts
The EA Government is definitely trying to improve the way our cities function but there are still a few issues that need addressed to allow certain city specializations to function better. There is a major issue with Recycling Plants. It seems that if they reach 20/20 tons of recyclables they will freeze up and stop processing recyclables altogether. 

What results from this is a plant costing 2,900/hr (fully upgraded) and a city complaining about trash/recyclables piling up. It also causes a major break in production of processors/televisions/computers unless the city map has an abundance of oil/ore/coal. 

Traffic is also still behaving irrationally. I've watched a car change lanes 4 times before going straight through the intersection. 

I don't mean to sound ungrateful for the changes that are being worked on and I do want to praise EA for frequent patching.
They have been releasing patches every 2-4 days which shows they are diligently working at improving our world.

Keep it up EA, we can't wait to see what you do next. 

The solution to an endless supply of water!

Ground gone dry? Desperate for water? The solution to an endless supply of water!

Hello mayors,

Just thought I'd post this quick tip. As it has helped me and my cities a lot.

Have you got to that point where your water pumps have taken the last drop from the ground? Have you got to that point where the tap icon keeps going yellow, explaining that the ground is going try?

Well I know I have, quite a few times and well, it's very annoying! But not as annoying, when you know the solution to getting, basically an endless supply of water.

The trick - SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT:

Yes, yes, yes, I said it. All that poop can be worth something.

Plop a sewage treatment plant. Then give it some time. Next open up the water data layer. You'll notice that there is a patch of water right where the sewage treatment plant is! Fresh clean water!

The reason of this is because, when the treatment plant, treats the sewage - it lets of fresh clean water into the ground. Because of this, you can easily just plop a water pump right next to it.

& There you have it, an endless supply of water. But bare in mind, you need to keep that plant going and enough people going to the toilet! Maybe some commercial curry shops near by will h... Anyway.

Thanks for reading!

The long way - waiting for rain

You could wait for it to rain, which does fill the ground back with water. But I don't think this is a reliable way to make sure that your cities water supply is under control. Unless of course, you had H.A.A.R.P in your city.

~JMR

Detailed Building Info: Jobs and Other Bonuses

Many Mayors don't realize that the different buildings provide not only public services but they also create jobs and in some cases provide housing and freight orders.

Remember, with freight orders your industry creates the freight and your commercial/placed buildings will consume the freight.
Something to consider: If your commercial is complaining about not having enough shoppers, it may be that there are plenty of shoppers available.

Instead of generating more shoppers, try to make sure that all the freight orders for your city are being fulfilled.
This theory is based off of the question, "How can a shop have shoppers if they have nothing to sell?"

Below is a list of the SimCity buildings that provide jobs:
The numbers inside the *( )* correspond to wealth levels
(Low wealth/Mid wealth/High wealth)

Unless Mentioned Otherwise, any extra addons for buildings (Buses, Departments, Extra Classrooms etc) Do Not provide additional Jobs.

Power Plants:
Wind Power plant: (20/6/0)
Coal Power Plant: (20/6/0) Creates 1080 Freight Orders
Oil Power Plant: (40/12/4) Creates 1080 Freight Orders
Solar Power: (20/4/0/)
Nuclear Power Plant: (200/600/240) Creates 4320 Freight Orders

Water Utilities:
Water Towers: (0/0/0)
Water Pumping Station: (80/40/12)

Sewage:
Sewage Outflow Pipe: (0/0/0)
Sewage Treatment Plant: (140/20/12)

Government:
City Hall: (40/20/8)
Mayors House: (6/4/2)
Mayors Mansion (15/10/2)

Waste Disposal:
Garbage Dump:(20/6/0)
Recycling Plant: (100/40/12)

Fire:
Fire Station: (20/6/0)
Large Fire Station: (140/20/12)

Health: Clinic: (12/8/4)
Hospital: (40/20/8)

Police:
Police Station: (10/4/0)
Police Precinct: (60/16/0/)

Education:
Grade School (40/10/0)
Bus Stops: (0/0/0)
High School: (320/100/40)
Public Library (10/3/0)
Community College (40/10/0)
University (320/100/40)

Transportation:

Buses: Shuttle Bus Depot: (20/4/0)
Park and Ride (0/0/0)
Bus Terminal: (60/16/0)

Streetcars:
Streetcar Depot: (60/16/0)
Passenger Train Station: (40/20/8)
Ferry Terminal: (60/16/0)
Municipal Airport: (40/20/8) Each Cargo Terminal generates 1080 freight orders

Parks:
All Parks provide (5/2/0)

Specializations:

Mining:
Coal Mine (140/20/12)Creates 1080 Freight Orders
Ore Mine (140/20/12) Creates 1080 Freight Orders
Metals HQ (600/100/10)
Smelting Factory (1400/200/20) Creates 4320 Freight Orders
Advanced Coal Mine (1400/200/20) Creates 4320 Freight Orders

Drilling:
Oil Well: (80/40/12)
Petroleum HQ: (400/200/70)
Oil Refinery: (800/400/130) Creates 4320 Freight Orders

Trading:
Trade Depot: (20/6/0)
Creates 1080 Freight Orders with the Freight Shipping Warehouse it comes with
*Additional Freight Shipping Warehouses will create an additional 1080 Freight Orders EACH*
Trade HQ: (400/200/70)
Trade Port: (40/12/4)
Creates 4320 Freight Orders with the Freight Shipping Warehouse it comes with
*Additional Freight Shipping Warehouses will create an additional 4320 Freight Orders EACH*

Electronics:
Processor Factory: (20/60/12) Creates 1080 Freight Orders
Electronics HQ (200/300/120)
Consumer Electronics Factory: (200/600/240) Creates 4320 Freight Orders

Culture:
Expo Center: (40/20/80) Creates 1080 Freight Orders
Pro Stadium: (400/200/70) Creates 4320 Freight Orders
Arc De Triumphe: (20/0/0)
Cinquantenaire: (40/20/0)
Dutch Windmill (10/4/0)
Edificio Copan (0/0/0) No jobs but provides housing for 2,650 population
Empire State Building: (400/200/70) [u]1440 Freight Orders
Giralda: (40/20/0)
Globe Theatre: (40/20/8) Creates 24 Freight Orders
Kolner Dom: (10/4/0)
Leaning tower of Pisa (10/4/0)
Oslo Opera: (40/20/8) Creates 24 Freight Orders
Rundentarn: (40/20/8)
Statue of Liberty: (40/20/0)
Basil's Cathedral: (10/4/0)
Stockholm City Hall: (26/24/16) Creates 1440 Freight Orders
Sidneys Opera House: (40/20/8)
Tokyo Tower: (40/20/0)
Washington Monument: (10/4/0)
Zamek Krolewski w Warzanie: (10/4/0)
Willis Tower (300/300/120) Creates 1440 Freight Orders

Gambling:
Gambling House: (120/32/0)
Gambling HQ: (200/300/120)
Sci-Fi Casino: (600/100/10)
Sleek Casino: (400/200/70)
Elegant Casino: (200/300/120)

RCI Gauges Explained!

Hello, I am frenzytoast, co-author to this blog :)

It seems many SimCity players are trying to find a balance between RCI. Unfortunately its NOT so simple to say take 3 parts residential, 2 parts commercial and 1 parts industry for a balanced city.

SimCity 2013's use of street density and wealth levels can make balancing a city difficult. Below are the conclusions I've come to based on experimenting in sandbox mode.

  **RCI Gage Explained** 

The RCI gauges will rise and fall depending on the information that is present under the Population Panel.
The Residential gauge will increase if there are jobs available for those wealth levels.
The Commercial gauge will increase if there are shoppers of that wealth class that are unsatisfied.
The Industrial gauge will increase if there are unfilled freight orders coming from the commercial zones.

***Be aware that there are certain buildings (Example: Power Plants and Specialization Buildings) that also create freight orders***

A note on the Details Panel found under the population Panel: Many SimCity players have been wondering what the Total Freight Orders and Unfulfilled Freight Orders relate to as its not really explained. Basically, commercial zones are what causes the Total Freight Orders number to rise. The Unfulfilled Freight orders is then the amount of commercial buildings that are not receiving freight.

***These two numbers are what causes the Industrial Demand gauge to rise.***

 A final note on RCI Gauges. The amount that each individual bar increases for wealth levels is a bit off. With 6 standard city blocks of dirt road zoned with commercial, I have 290 low wealth jobs, 116 mid wealth jobs and 0 high wealth jobs. Yet when I look at the gauges, they are filled with the exact amount despite the difference of actual demand for low and mid wealth workers.
These seem to be the only factors that affect these gauges. Beyond that, it seems that they can generally be ignored for the duration of any game.

If Residential demand is high, either cut back on commercial/industry to reduce the number of available jobs or provide more residential zones/workers.
If Commercial is high, provide more shops for your residents or remove residential zones.
If Industrial is high, provide more Industry to fulfill the freight orders from present commercial or cut back on commercial.

**The Industrial gauge will generally be full if there are 1000+ unfulfilled freight orders**

 ~Frenzytoast