Look at the second screenshot, you'll see different prices for different vehicle types, just like in CiM.
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Many thanks for replying to all these questions - however I've just singled out the response above, as this was a "feature" of CiM1 that really limited the development of realistic metro, tram and bus systems.
It's a significant feature of the way many systems work that multiple lines converge through the central zone to provide adequate capacity, before splitting to serve different suburbs or less densely populated areas. But this doesn't work in CiM because passengers refuse to get on a train/tram/bus despite it going to the stop they want, just because it's on a different line.
What's needed is a way for passengers to be "eligible" to join any vehicle that's going to their stop, rather than just one belonging to the line they've been assigned to. (This raises another question: if a passenger comes to a stop where multiple lines will take him/her to the stop they want, how do they decide which one to take?).
I really hope this is something that can be looked at, and isn't 100% hard-coded into the fundamentals of how the game works, as it's a huge diversion from reality in the way that people use transport. Other than that, everything looks great, I've pre-ordered CiM2 and look forward to playing it in a couple of weeks.
My question is not really related to the topic of this dev diary, but I'm not sure if it'd be a faux-pas to post in an earlier dev diary (I should really brush up on the rules here), so here goes:
Will cities build their own roads as well?
I love the idea that Cities in Motion 2 looks very much like SimCity where you can build roads where the city expands along on, except focussed on public transport (or, put differently, "Not building a city, but shaping it through mass transit"), but I think it'd be nice to see a city grow on its own as well.
Will cities build their own roads as well?
I love the idea that Cities in Motion 2 looks very much like SimCity where you can build roads where the city expands along on, except focussed on public transport (or, put differently, "Not building a city, but shaping it through mass transit"), but I think it'd be nice to see a city grow on its own as well.
Yes, cities can too build their own infrastructure (such as roads), however, your role as a transportation company means you are eligible to the creation of roads and some other buildings!
Unlike the predecessor, in Cities in Motion 2 choices of the player influence the cities growth, this has been explained enough before though :L
I am pretty sure, the devs said that it's not possible?! Maybe I got it wrong though..
Actually, I think the idea is that a lot of the street layouts and whatnot will be taken care of by the cities, though we'll have the ability to tweak the system as needed.
Cities don't build roads, but the pre-made maps are very large and have lots of areas that can develop, so buildings roads is not necessary. Road building is fairly expensive, because we wanted to guide players to rather develop the city by offering good transport options, but there's nothing to stop you from laying out roads to make a new suburb if you want to. The AI handles all the buildings, so there's no zoning or anything like that, because Cities in Motion is about public transport. I think a clever way to use the roads is to create shortcuts for your lines to use, like a bus-only road that lets your buses avoid the heaviest traffic.
One question about timetables: how long does it takes before chages take place? I mean, if I decide to increase the frequency of a line, say, during the morning rush hour while the morning rush hour is happening, will it work immediately or it applies only starting from the next day?
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Yeah, I got two questions regarding buildings, specifically when they're being constructed.
1. When an AI decides to construct buildings, will it notify you that buildings are being built in a location?
2. Will it also take some time until that building is constructed (rather than just appearing out of thin air) like IRL (construct cranes/supports etc)?
That's pretty clever. And if people want to go more creative with their cities, they could do so using the map editor.
A little question. In CIM1, when we had to demolish a building, we generally discovered below random square textures which weren't that pretty. Will it be possible to use the editor's texture tool simply to make things cleaner in tidying up cement sidewalks and grass?
What, but I thought cities built by themselves if you didn't do anything?
Why would you want to build roads out to a suburb?
Why not just build the suburb and connect it with metro or some other mean of transport that doesn't use a road, and you force 100% of the passengers to use your services?
If the city doesn't build roads by it's own it should be possible and desirable for the player to expand in such a way (using bus/tram only roads and metro) that vehicle traffic basically is banned.
Why would I as a player ever want to invest "fairly expensive" amounts of money in building roads that help people to NOT use my public transport services???
Excellent road access should be my number one enemy as a public transport company CEO.
Lord_Vetinari, the timetable basically tells a depot when to send out vehicles on lines. As soon as the next point in time to send out a vehicle comes, it's sent if there are vehicles available in the depot. So if your morning rush hour timetable is used from 8 to 10 o'clock, and at half past eight you set the interval to one hour, a vehicle will start on the line at nine sharp. You can also pause the game and adjust the timetables if you want to.
Jinzor, there's no message because changes can happen very fast with the fastest time setting. It's also pretty easy to see when an area begins to develop, so it's unlikely to go unnoticed. There's no built time, we felt it was a thing we could leave out as it didn't bring much extra value to the game.
Metropolitan, the texture system is much different with this engine, there should not be any problems with patchy textures now
BeanBoy, the cities develop by themselves, but don't add roads. We wanted to concentrate on the AI that chooses what to build, where and keeps the city in balance. Handing the control over roads to the player gives more control.
Alex_brunius, building suburbs with no central city connections is a totally valid way to play! All of the inhabitants of a suburb might still not use the services if the cost is very high, but most would.
Jinzor, there's no message because changes can happen very fast with the fastest time setting. It's also pretty easy to see when an area begins to develop, so it's unlikely to go unnoticed. There's no built time, we felt it was a thing we could leave out as it didn't bring much extra value to the game.
Metropolitan, the texture system is much different with this engine, there should not be any problems with patchy textures now
BeanBoy, the cities develop by themselves, but don't add roads. We wanted to concentrate on the AI that chooses what to build, where and keeps the city in balance. Handing the control over roads to the player gives more control.
Alex_brunius, building suburbs with no central city connections is a totally valid way to play! All of the inhabitants of a suburb might still not use the services if the cost is very high, but most would.
I'm guessing it still would feel a bit like cheating knowing the city can't build the connection themself.
Might prove interresting in multiplayer however where you can build road connections to suburbs you opponents have invested into in an effort to drain their customer base.
What could be cool in an expansion is a multiplayer mode where one player controlls the city and all road expansion and basically "fights" the public transport in trying to get passengers to choose car so they pay vehicle taxes. That way you don't have to develop an AI that can handle road expansion, but leave it to a player. Judging from all the different road types we have seen available in screenshots it would be a real pity if there is little point in using most of them at all...
You probably can still edit some textfiles to change the costs of building roads if it doesn't meet your expectations...
I think we shouldn't worry to much about those details before the release, as we, who didn't test the alpha/beta, don't know how it actually works and how it is to play in such a dynamic city.
I think we shouldn't worry to much about those details before the release, as we, who didn't test the alpha/beta, don't know how it actually works and how it is to play in such a dynamic city.
Oh, well then, I'm going to build a city 100% reliant on bus lanes and only metro links to the suburbs!
In my opinion, a city without public roads for cars, trucks, etc. would start to degrade, because freight transport, trade, and just moving around without having to get on a public transport vehicle would be impossible. Imagine a city where the shops can not be supplied with food, electronic stores don't have any electronics, factories can't receive and send goods, and an internet store can't deliver the order to your home. I guess such city would not live. It definitely wouldn't develop. Private motoring is something really important and we can not just ban it in a city. Even in the Western European big cities, where the city centre has traffic and vehicle restrictions, they still allow deliveries, eco cars and all that stuff, because it's impossible to get rid of cars, trucks and so on.
Ofcourse Butelka64, we will see how many of these factors CiM2 will take into account in their dynamic development model.
I was speculating strictly from a game perspective what would happen if it doesn't matter if the roads are connected.
I was speculating strictly from a game perspective what would happen if it doesn't matter if the roads are connected.