Installing now. Origin name is LSkywatcher68.
Got up a little early this morning and went through the tutorial. Also found that there is a color filter to help out those with color disabilities like myself. 
I’ll log on to the doper Region tonight if it’s up and running by then and start building!
I’ve been hearing that some of the upgrades are region wide, so we’ll probably have to coordinate as we go so we don’t waste space building a redundant item.
OK. I don’t have 15 friends on Origin yet (indeed, I’ve only gotten six friend requests), but I am going to set up a 16-city region for Doper play, of which there are three available. I think Discovery Delta will suit our purposes, because of all the water, however if anyone has another preference, speak up now.
Discovery Delta
Roll on down the lazy Rye River as it flows through Discovery Delta. This expansive wetland region follows the course of river tributaries with creeks and ponds forming among the city sites. Four groups of cities are situated to develop amazing cities in the delta and complete Great Works.
Titan Gorge
This massive region features sixteen diverse city sites grouped into four clusters. Titan Gorge runs down the heart of the valley, ending at a bulge in the Reposado River. A soaring rail trestle spans the wide gap between two expansive plateaus.
Viridian Woods
This heavily wooded region features lush green forests fed by lazy rivers flowing through the region. A wide variety of sites in several groups provide many opportunities for mayors to cooperate to fill the region with massive cities.
So I’m playing around with my first city, and a couple things are unsettling - looks like everything is stored online, and there’s no way to save and reload the game. Like, if I plop down a power plant then realize I should have put it somewhere else, I’m screwed. No save-and-reload.
I can understand having a social mode where there’s achievements and such things where that’s not allowed, but I sure would like their to be an mode that’s the same as online as far as rules and all that (as opposed to Sandbox, which I gather is more of a cheat or “easy” mode) but that lets you experiment without consequences. Or, at least, lets you move things around some.
I’m still trying to get region play to work properly. I gifted a neighboring city with $50,000. It debited the money from the first city, but still hasn’t been credited to the second city. Near as I can figure from the internets, the transaction has to go through the Maxis servers, which of course are quite busy.
I’m having issues with region play too. The cities are just too small, so I want to create specialized regions for commercial, residential, and industrial zones. So, of course I now have a city with a ton of industry that wants commerce and residential, a city with a ton of residential that wants industry and commerce, and a city with a ton of commerce that wants industry and residential… and they all don’t see each other. :mad:
Seriously. This whole “you have to be online to play our game” thing is the worst thing to ever happen to PC gaming. I just want working single player, not broken multiplayer. 
Choosing Discovery Delta, I have created the region of Ceciltopia on the “North America East 2” server. I selected the Magnolia Wetlands for myself and renamed it Terminus Wetlands, with the possible goal of supplying water throughout the region. I’m trying to figure out how to send invitations to everyone, but no one on my friends list shows up. I think maybe you have to login to the server at least once. I’m going to step out for a bit; when I come back in about an hour I’ll see about trying to get this region going.
I don’t even remember which Sim city I played last, but the whole thing about building pods onto municipal buildings is screwing me up. I don’t think to leave spacing for extra garages, etc. Then I have to blow something up.
I was really looking forward to the game until I learned about this. It’s the same reason I didn’t buy Starcraft II. I’m not under any illusion that a boycott will cause publishers to change (quite the opposite, I suspect; any whiff of a sales decline and they’ll blame piracy again and double down on DRM), but it’s a non-starter for me.
For shame! With your username, it’s a crime!
BTW, SC2 can be played offline. And if what they say is true, that the simulation runs on the cloud, then, like Diablo 3, this won’t be pirated. And like Diablo 3 this will move a LOT of copies (Diablo 3 moved over 12 million).
I’m not sure what the big deal is with the online requirement. Do you not have an always on internet connection? Do you not realize the problem that Piracy is on the PC?
Don’t see anyone in my friend’s list either :\
The big deal is that it breaks gameplay. If you’ve been successfully playing SimCity today, you’re one of the few lucky ones. Since my post a few clicks upthread, I’m still unable to get the game to function correctly, because EA’s servers are overloaded. Upon trying to switch to a different server to see if it fixes the problem, I’m unable to start a new city at all.
This sort of thing… it’s just a given if you’re trying to play an MMO or something with a heavy multiplayer element. And you’d be a fool not to expect huge server issues on launch day with a game like that. It’s part of the experience.
But with SimCity.. I’m not interested in multiplayer. I just want to be left alone to play by myself with all the data stored on my own computer so it ACTUALLY WORKS. But instead, EA doesn’t trust that I’m a paying customer, and all I get is this broken game that probably won’t be 100% reliable for a month or more.
EA’s going to have to come up with something really freaking cool to get me to buy another one of their games. This is my first game on Origin and… yeah, it’s as bad as everyone says it is.
Pleonast and I are playing together on Ceciltopia. It does look like you need to be on the same server to show up as an invitable friend. Come over to “North America East 2” and join in.
I’ve been having trouble with the Origin client (necessary to run SimCity). But I’m in our region; I’m mayor of Sapleton Forest (the first part is an anagram of my user name).
Come join us. (And please discuss the business model of the game elsewhere.) The business model for my town is: coal. I’ve built a nice big coal-fired plant and will start digging it out of the ground once I figure out how. So, how do you start a coal mine?
Er, yeah, I started this thread is specifically for those want to join the SDMB multiplayer region. There’s already another Simcity thread or you oould start your own.
Weird, I tried to join a region I got kicked off the screen, now it tells me it’s been claimed. I hope I didn’t bork somehting!
And now it works
Man North America east is busy on both servers. Stupid Queue.
Ok got on. I’ll join you guys if you got room. Just sent a friend poke.
I’m not sure if/when I’ll get the game but I’ve sent Terminus a friend request just in clase.