# Sim City? No thanks, give me Cities: Skyline! New City building Sim from Paradox! **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 3, 2015, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129 "2015-03-03T20:14:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/241 "2015-03-20T19:25:50Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > Can we add connections to the existing Hiway? The game starts with one in the tile, but if you expand to other tiles with the Hiway running through it can we connect? Yes, once the highways are in your territory you can do whatever you want to them, including bulldoze them. Same with railroads. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/242 "2015-03-21T00:33:51Z")
Thanks. I was trying to connect and found I needed to bulldoze a section of Hiway first. But then I couldn’t get the cloverleaf to rotate into position. Finally gave up and rebuilt the Hiway. Kind of funny to see the cars on the Hiway just disappear as they get to the destroyed section. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/243 "2015-03-21T21:54:11Z")
Well I found by holding the right mouse button and moving just right I can get the cloverleaf to rotate in small increments. Still not the easiest thing to do though. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/244 "2015-03-21T21:56:45Z")
What’s irritating is that a lot of people make these really fantastic interchanges and other road designs but they require very flat ground to place. The majority of most maps is too sloped to place them. I get that you can’t place them on the side of the mountain, but a pre-made interchange should be able to work on a gentle slope. Frustrating that I end up not being able to use premade assets that are perfect for a situation because there isn’t perfectly flat ground in a suitable area. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/245 "2015-03-21T23:22:20Z")
I notice that often, cars on the highway will insist on using one particular jammed lane even when there’s a nearly empty one next to it. For example, there might be 100s of cars heading straight ahead for a good distance but they’ll take the middle highway lane instead of the left lane. Or they’ll nearly all insist on using the right lane even though most of them are not turning for a while and the two lanes next to them have a small quantity of cars zipping by. Is that just lackluster traffic AI or am I doing something wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/246 "2015-03-22T02:13:35Z")
Car AI needs some work. Specifically, they will insist on driving in the lane they will eventually turn from even if they’re not turning for another two miles. You can alleviate this somewhat by putting exit ramps on alternate sides. It’s not as though they treat the left hand lane for cruising or passing anyway. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/247 "2015-03-22T05:32:02Z")
Damn. That little quirk makes it easy for even highway roundabouts (with no lights whatsoever) to stay jammed. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/248 "2015-03-22T05:57:18Z")
Thanks to tips here, among other things, I’ve finally figured out how to work the clover leafs and ramps for highway access. Now my city is Grand. I found a lone wolf outside the city, and named it Peter. The bus routes are a nightmare to untangle. My roads are clogged with Weinermobiles. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/249 "2015-03-22T06:22:28Z")
One thing I learned with buses is that I need to add them slowly. I linked before when I started up a bunch of new routes and my streets were clogged with mass transit. But even going from 50% to 60% funding apart out a row of buses that uselessly follow one another bumper to bumper. You pretty much need to increase funding a percentage at a time to space out the deployments. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/250 "2015-03-23T02:37:42Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Car AI needs some work. Specifically, they will insist on driving in the lane they will eventually turn from even if they’re not turning for another two miles. You can alleviate this somewhat by putting exit ramps on alternate sides. It’s not as though they treat the left hand lane for cruising or passing anyway. The car AI also has the quirk that a driver will decide on the path he will take the moment he starts the journey, picking the shortest path to the destination with no regard to current traffic conditions. He will then stick to that path regardless of congestion, never taking an alternate lane even if it would be faster under the current conditions. You have to rethink all your assumptions about how to make traffic flow smoothly because the drivers in the game simply don’t think like real drivers. I’ve been having good luck with heavy use of one-way roads and flow-through grids, where the traffic comes into a neighborhood one side and exits the other side. Avoid intersections, don’t make drivers cross the path of other drivers. A longer trip with no stops is better than one with lights or U-turns. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/251 "2015-03-23T14:56:06Z")
> [@AndrewL](#): > > The car AI also has the quirk that a driver will decide on the path he will take the moment he starts the journey, picking the shortest path to the destination with no regard to current traffic conditions. He will then stick to that path regardless of congestion, never taking an alternate lane even if it would be faster under the current conditions. You have to rethink all your assumptions about how to make traffic flow smoothly because the drivers in the game simply don’t think like real drivers. [Or do they?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=3230787) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/252 "2015-03-23T15:03:24Z")
I think their explanation is that they’re doing hundreds of routing calculations per second in a big city, and so they choose one route at the outset of their drive, because having everyone else constantly rerouting would be a big computational load. But I’m unsatisfied with that answer. You could make a recalculating system optional for those who stick to smaller cities or have good CPUs. You could create a system whereby the 2 or 3 best routes are calculated and then randomly selected with weighting - ie best route 70% of the time, second best route 20% of the time, third 10%. That would break up traffic, cause them to use some different lanes, and generally increase the realism of driver behavior. Or you could simply introduce logic about when cars change lanes regardless of their planned overall route. It’s such a big complaint that I’m sure they’re working on a fix. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/253 "2015-03-23T17:30:02Z")
> [@AndrewL](#): > > The car AI also has the quirk that a driver will decide on the path he will take the moment he starts the journey, picking the shortest path to the destination with no regard to current traffic conditions. He will then stick to that path regardless of congestion, never taking an alternate lane even if it would be faster under the current conditions. You have to rethink all your assumptions about how to make traffic flow smoothly because the drivers in the game simply don’t think like real drivers. > > I’ve been having good luck with heavy use of one-way roads and flow-through grids, where the traffic comes into a neighborhood one side and exits the other side. Avoid intersections, don’t make drivers cross the path of other drivers. A longer trip with no stops is better than one with lights or U-turns. This sounds EXACTLY like real world drivers to me. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/254 "2015-03-23T17:37:32Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > This sounds EXACTLY like real world drivers to me. Nah, real world drivers would take the same route every time, but they would needlessly change lanes every 30 seconds even if the lane that they were previously using would be faster under current conditions. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/255 "2015-03-24T08:04:43Z")
I’m still holding out for Steam sale before acquiring this game. In the meantime, I’ve been playing Paradox/Colossal Order’s first offering _Cities in Motion_. I’m amused that the traffic problems you deal with in this game apparently are still present in _Cities: Skylines_. In _CiM_ you’re supposed to deal with the traffic by building a kickass transport network that your citizens will use rather that driving. But some cities seem to have perpetual gridlock no matter what you do, possibly due to geography and the existing road network. (I’m looking at you Helsinki!) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/256 "2015-03-24T13:39:37Z")
Last night, I had a section of town across a river with its own solar plant for power, disconnected form the main grid. At one point, the solar plant caught on fire which disabled it and threw “no power” icons across that part of town. The fire department there, now being without power just said “Welp, guess we can’t do anything boys” while the plant burned nearly to the ground before the fire department from across the river was finally able to respond. Capital job, men – I’m putting you all in for promotions. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/257 "2015-03-30T18:02:47Z")
Has anyone else has this following problem? I start up Cities and this is the result: [http://imgur.com/xCp6Zh3](http://imgur.com/xCp6Zh3) It stays in that tiny rectangle until it says “Cities.exe has stopped working.” I’ve tried restarting the computer a few times. No improvement. I’ve restarted Steam. No improvement. Other games on Steam start up fine. ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/258 "2015-03-30T18:21:45Z")
Well, the first thing to try on any repeated steam game crash is to right-click on the name and choose “verify cache.” ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/259 "2015-03-30T18:22:17Z")
There’s a thread on the Paradox forums for crash issues [here](https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/crash-error-reports.846063/). You probably need an account if you don’t already have one. There are a couple of reports there of similar things happening; one person apparently had a DX11 error (I have no idea what that means), another fixed it by re-installing. ---
**Author:** ![Anon01245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b77776/32.png) [@Anon01245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anon01245)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129/260 "2015-03-30T20:13:48Z")
I would like this game. Maybe when it is on sale I will get it or something like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-no-thanks-give-me-cities-skyline-new-city-building-sim-from-paradox/714129.md?page=14)