SimCity 4 in the Playground?

[Winter_Wolf]

Anyone else here play SC4? I've heard that SimCity 2013 is coming out, but it so far isn't grabbing my fancy. I played Cities XL for all of two days before uninstalling it. I'm quite happy with SC4 Rush Hour/Deluxe--with a whole crap-ton of plug-ins. And people are still making lots and keeping active communities!

The system requirements are modest, the graphics are "good enough",for me anyway, and I really enjoy the building aspect. After I discovered the CAM (located at sc4devotion.com) it was like a whole new game. Provided you can stomach tracking down and installing all the dependency files, that is! The Startup Manager is a lifesaver if you want to enable/disable parts of your plug-ins without having to shuffle a bunch of files in the SC4 directory, which would be the case with swapping terrain mods.

[LetMeAsk]

I used to like SimCity 4. But ever since I've seen what the new SC can do, I've been bored with it. Even with all the mods which mostly are just re-skins for the objects within SC4. The additional functionality of CAM and NAM are commendable though. Still, the gameplay is getting really old.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

I borrowed it from a friend in college. It was fun for a while, but really didn't hold me. I may try out the new one when it is released. Although knowing EA, you'll only get like 3/4 of the game and have to buy the rest through DLC.

[Winter_Wolf]

Per SimCity 2013 wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimCity_%282013_PC_game%29):

"This version of SimCity will be the first to feature online play since Maxis's SimCity 2000 Network Edition,[1] allowing for a single region to house many cities from different players, although the option for a single-player region will still exist.

SimCity will require players to be logged into EA's Origin service to play the game. An active internet connection will be required every time the game is launched. The connection is asynchronous,[14] so any brief network disturbance will not interupt the gameplay.[15]"

The second paragraph virtually guarantees that I will never, ever buy or play the new SimCity. Being required to be logged into Origin, and the active internet connection are just flat No Gos for me. I don't always have reliable internet, and I certainly don't trust certain national firewalls to not freak out on me and just shut down the connection. And maybe, just a little, it bugs me that DRM has devolved into nanny-like oversight just to play a freaking game. I may be overreacting, but history is NOT on EA's side.

The first paragraph makes me leery, since "option for single player regional play" seems kind of sketchy. If it's not the default, then I seriously question how well it will work without horrible glitches and bugs. And I don't play SimCity games for multiplayer, I play to get the hell away from others for a while.

Credit where credit due though, the screenshots look good.

[LetMeAsk]

Not to derail the topic, but..

I'm sick of thinking about DRM. Google, Facebook, Twitter, online games, etc.. Everyone of them are data collectors. I'd rather not put any info in my internet connected device that I might regret about in the long run.

[Winter_Wolf]

Not to derail the topic, but..

I'm sick of thinking about DRM. Google, Facebook, Twitter, online games, etc.. Everyone of them are data collectors. I'd rather not put any info in my internet connected device that I might regret about in the long run.

Bingo! I'd not even have a cell phone, if I could reasonably avoid it. I'd delete my Facebook account today, except I'm in China and I can't log into it to delete it. Frankly I'm happy enough with my old games that I will probably play them until there is absolutely NO way to get them to work with my OS. So, SC4. I have a game or two that claims to have a feature to disable "phone home" checkups, but oddly enough, unchecking it never sticks. Go right back into the option screen, and it's checked again. :smallannoyed: EA, thou art a heartless moneygrubbing spy.

But I do like building cities. Maybe it speaks to my need to make things. I used to draw a lot, and playing with legos, carving, sculpting, writing--back in high school I actually turned out some pretty good poetry, by which I mean I can still read it today and not cringe in embarrassment--even managed some woodblock prints when I was studying in Nagoya. Sadly now my creative outlets seem to be PC games and martial arts. At least that last one helps me keep a bit healthy, hey?

My primary joy in SC4 is terraforming. Sadly Maxis implemented it on a per city basis instead of a region-wide basis. SC4 Terraformer is a great help there, though.

Currently I'm sighing in defeat as I simply cannot purge Sum Ting Wong lots from my game. I've located the .lot files in the .dat packages, deleted ALL of them, and they keep showing up in m cities and killing my mayor rating. The riots are frequent, and the citizens grumble about the "police state" when I plop police stations to curb their flipping over cars and lighting them on fire. So my solution was to install even MORE NIMBY lots. At least have some variety in riot-causing buildings. :smalltongue: