No Underground Roads

[matlockman]

Ooo, sounds like a great mod! I know this might be strange to hear from the people working with the game, but let's be realistic, we won't be able to add all the stuff you want even if we set back the release several years. There's just way too many features and variations of such that could fit in the game. So I really look forward to seeing our modders start patching up and filling out the holes, especially with great mod packages like NAM seems to be.

Absolutely. Heck, the guys which put together NAM are still adding stuff today - 11 years after SC4's release. It would be very ambitious of you guys - a team of 9 I recall reading - to do nearly as much. That's where modding will hopefully come in

I hope that C:SL's modding isn't nearly as patchy as SC4's though. NAM has some bugs which crash the game because of inherent problems with SC4, and I believe that Maxis never patched the bug which made it possible for custom residential ploppable functional buildings (modders can do ploppable commercial but not residential). I hope you guys don't abandon the game so quickly like EA/Maxis did with SC4. There are still a lot of bugs left to fix up.

 

[TotalyMoo]

Absolutely. Heck, the guys which put together NAM are still adding stuff today - 11 years after SC4's release. It would be very ambitious of you guys - a team of 9 I recall reading - to do nearly as much. That's where modding will hopefully come in

I hope that C:SL's modding isn't nearly as patchy as SC4's though. NAM has some bugs which crash the game because of inherent problems with SC4, and I believe that Maxis never patched the bug which made it possible for custom residential ploppable functional buildings (modders can do ploppable commercial but not residential). I hope you guys don't abandon the game so quickly like EA/Maxis did with SC4. There are still a lot of bugs left to fix up.

Well, our plan is to work together with our modders to ensure potential crash or compatibility issues get solved as we stumble upon them

 

[Greenslade]

I appreciate that you won't be able to add everything we want. I think the query with underground roads though is, well, we can already do that. It's one of the things that I like the most in CiM2, being able to move roads under things or over things according to my whims or what seems cool at the time. I quite like putting expressways underground so that they don't take up huge amounts of room, or ducking some roads under buildings, or tramlines under roundabouts, and stuff of that nature.

Presumably you'll still be able to make bridges and the like, as demonstrated in the demo vid, by just telling the next node in the road spline that it's at +4m +8m or whatever. Is there going to be no option to go -4m -8m etc? We're not talking (or at least I'm not) about a specifically new "underground road" network, just the ability to assign a negative Y value to a network spline node.

If this functionality isn't going to be in the game, would you mind explaining why?

 

[TotalyMoo]

I appreciate that you won't be able to add everything we want. I think the query with underground roads though is, well, we can already do that. It's one of the things that I like the most in CiM2, being able to move roads under things or over things according to my whims or what seems cool at the time. I quite like putting expressways underground so that they don't take up huge amounts of room, or ducking some roads under buildings, or tramlines under roundabouts, and stuff of that nature.

Presumably you'll still be able to make bridges and the like, as demonstrated in the demo vid, by just telling the next node in the road spline that it's at +4m +8m or whatever. Is there going to be no option to go -4m -8m etc? We're not talking (or at least I'm not) about a specifically new "underground road" network, just the ability to assign a negative Y value to a network spline node.

If this functionality isn't going to be in the game, would you mind explaining why?

Yes, you will be able to create a wobbly road by changing between positive and negative elevation on your bridges. Doesn't go below 0 right now, but you can do a lot with the road tool already. Err, if I interpreted your question right

 

[unmerged(402727)]

Yes, you will be able to create a wobbly road by changing between positive and negative elevation on your bridges. Doesn't go below 0 right now, but you can do a lot with the road tool already. Err, if I interpreted your question right

Hi

I'm just curious, what would be the reasoning behind stripping out the ability to below 0? I am not a developer or designer, so this is an honest question. Is doing this hard or time consuming or is it simply a design choice that you guys do not think would be missed?

 

[Greenslade]

Yes, you will be able to create a wobbly road by changing between positive and negative elevation on your bridges. Doesn't go below 0 right now, but you can do a lot with the road tool already. Err, if I interpreted your question right

Half of it

Yes, the question was, by "no underground roads" do you mean we have the CiM2 road tool (ish) with the ability to freeform roads of various elevations, but no negative numbers.

The next part is... well, why?

It's a bit of a sadface for me hearing that this aspect of the game will be removed.

 

[slornie]

I wonder if the removal of the underground road building tool has anything to do with the sophisticated water system/model Skylines is supposed to have? If you recall in CiM2 there were lots of issues when building underground created flooded tunnels, tunnels that couldn't be modified, or lakes at tunnel entrances, and that was just with a static water table on the map!

 

[Bipin]

Hah, sorry TotalyMoo, I totally thought I had that NAM thing clarified before... :laugh:

 

[TotalyMoo]

I wonder if the removal of the underground road building tool has anything to do with the sophisticated water system/model Skylines is supposed to have? If you recall in CiM2 there were lots of issues when building underground created flooded tunnels, tunnels that couldn't be modified, or lakes at tunnel entrances, and that was just with a static water table on the map!

Looking to get CO in here to clarify things, as they know lots, lots more than I do ^_^

 

[Greenslade]

Any word on this?

 

[Co_Karoliina]

Sorry for taking a while to answer! We are currently looking into tunnels after noticing they are a feature many of you love and wish to be included in the game. Originally we decided to leave out underground roads to make the road tool easier to use. Normally it conforms to terrain, except when dragging road over water, when it automatically builds a bridge. Tunnels might still be a good thing to have, so rest assured we are investigating if they could be added, but I cannot promise anything.

 

[Greenslade]

Good to know!

It's not just tunnels, per se, it's the ability to say "I want this road to go over/under this thing" as and when. Conforming to terrain is all well and good, and as you say it's easy, but it limits the creative possibilities. I hope there's a way of getting the network design to retain some of the amazing creative possibilities of CiM2 while still making it easy to use for newbies to city builders. (and a pony).

Thanks for answering!

 

[Opus]

Good to know!

It's not just tunnels, per se, it's the ability to say "I want this road to go over/under this thing" as and when. Conforming to terrain is all well and good, and as you say it's easy, but it limits the creative possibilities. I hope there's a way of getting the network design to retain some of the amazing creative possibilities of CiM2 while still making it easy to use for newbies to city builders. (and a pony).

Thanks for answering!

Not to mention it's very immersive-breaking not to be able to build tunnels. There can't be many cities in the world that doesn't have at least one small one.

Game looks super thought, certain buy.

 

[Frode789]

Leaving tunnels out is a incredibly strange decision.. No tunnels, in a city sim! You are giving us a way to make overpasses, but at the same time you remove the tunnels? ..

This is actually a pretty huge deal CO. Almost every large city has quite a few tunnels, in many it is the lifeline in the city. For example my nearest large city, has a vast network of tunnels for the high speed traffic that goes through the city. In many other cities, it is a must with very difficult terrain. So this is actually really really limiting to the creativity on layout/create your city. With all the great road tools you are providing us with now, you can't stop and leave tunnels out. Please.

 

[Darkath]

Can we do things like this though ?

 

[Alex_brunius]

Normally it conforms to terrain, except when dragging road over water, when it automatically builds a bridge. Tunnels might still be a good thing to have, so rest assured we are investigating if they could be added, but I cannot promise anything.

The best feature with CiM2 was the full freedom of the road-building tool allowing you to freely specify height of the roads, both above and below ground for really cool and complex intersections in many levels. It took some practice to master but once that was done there were endless possibilities.

If that is taken out in Cities Skylines and your forced to follow the ground level or very few elevated options/levels it would be quite sad.

 

[Jokurr]

On the topic of CiM2, I did find that the road tool often did create tunnels where I didn't want any. Even a minor change in elevation would often result in a tunnel unless you really micromanaged the road placement. That isn't reason to get rid of it completely, but they shouldn't just copy/paste CiM2's system either.

 

[Greenslade]

Is anything forthcoming on this feature, yet?

 

[Metropolitan]

Sorry for taking a while to answer! We are currently looking into tunnels after noticing they are a feature many of you love and wish to be included in the game. Originally we decided to leave out underground roads to make the road tool easier to use. Normally it conforms to terrain, except when dragging road over water, when it automatically builds a bridge. Tunnels might still be a good thing to have, so rest assured we are investigating if they could be added, but I cannot promise anything.

Organizing infrastructures underground is one of the greatest fun in CIM2, and has all the reasons to be even more so in a full city-builder game such as Cities: Skylines.

In Mariina's interview, we can see an underground view showing sewage and water supplies. That view looked great, and I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one who would love to organize my water pipes, road tunnels and metros underground.

The page up/page down shortkeys were a great feature in CIM2 for this. It doesn't necessarily scare the newcomer in the game as he has no reason to be aware of it first (especially considering that metros and road tunnels aren't necessary when the city is still small), and it allows lots of freedom once the player becomes more familiarized with the game mechanism.

 

[TheDorne]

Tunnels are a must!