Praise, criticism and questions

[Cybvep]

Hi,

I had an occasion to play CiM on my brother's computer for a while and the first thing I want to stress is the fact that this game is EXTREMELY addictive and provides tons of fun! I thought that I would find the game boring, as simulations like this are often overwhelmingly complex and repetitive. However, this is definitely not true in CiM. IMO the game found a nice balance between playability and complexity.

However, since I am still a noob at this, I have some questions. Don't bash me if they seem pointless, please.

1. Is metro construction supposed to be as hard as it is now? What is the purpose of 3 underground levels? How to create a proper transition between ground/elevated railways and underground ones?

2. I have problem with management of tram lines in the Berlin scenario (the one which is part of the campaign). Despite having 5 operational trams (30 capacity) many stops are still overcrowded. I tried to create additional bus lines in vicinity of various tram stops, but they soon become overcrowded, too. Some tram stops have 150+ passengers waiting for transport. How to overcome this problem? Shorter lines? More buses/trams?

3. Can you give me some advise regarding a balanced rate of expansion? I have a tendency to overexpand and as a result I often drown in debt.

 

[giladteller]

1) The metro is the most versatile transport type in the game. The idea of 3 underground layers is fo you to easily build many lines that can cross each other without intersections.
You might find this video helpful if you don't know how to create transitions between the layers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nOWiAN5sVQ

2) Check where your passengers are going, check where are they changing lines. Consider re-routing some lines. To many vehicles on a line will get you traffic jams. Maybe you even should upgrade to a metro line in some cases. My strategy is long metro lines that take people most of the journey, and then I am building short bus and tram lines that "feed" the metro.

3) Don't rush your expansion. If you don't have money, don't take huge loans that you will not be able to return (see the 2008 financial crisis).
I usually create a few bus\tram lines around an attractive location (train station, airport...). And then connect this place to another attractive location with a metro (and again create bus\tram lines around it. Then you can continue doing this untill you are drowning in cash or cover the entire city.

 

[Cybvep]

1) The metro is the most versatile transport type in the game. The idea of 3 underground layers is fo you to easily build many lines that can cross each other without intersections.
You might find this video helpful if you don't know how to create transitions between the layers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nOWiAN5sVQ

This looks helpful. Thanks!

Check where your passengers are going, check where are they changing lines.

Do you mean "spying" on passengers, i.e. manually following buses/trams/whatever or sth else?

 

[Vercingetorix35]

You can click on passengers; informations like destination will be displayed.

And remember that you should avoid transfers like bus to bus or tram to tram, as passengers will only have to pay for 1 trip. For example, let's consider a guy that have to use 2 buses lines to go from home to the mall. Let's say a bus ticket costs 4 $. So this person will have to pay 4 $ for his trip. But, il this bus was a tram, this person will have to pay a bus ticket plus a tram tikcet. Let's say tram ticket costs 4.5 $. So the passenger would have to pay 4 $ + 4.5 $ = 8.5 $ for his trip, instead of 4 $. With many people on the same trip, you can earn much more money...

 

[finaldest]

You can click on passengers; informations like destination will be displayed.

And remember that you should avoid transfers like bus to bus or tram to tram, as passengers will only have to pay for 1 trip. For example, let's consider a guy that have to use 2 buses lines to go from home to the mall. Let's say a bus ticket costs 4 $. So this person will have to pay 4 $ for his trip. But, il this bus was a tram, this person will have to pay a bus ticket plus a tram tikcet. Let's say tram ticket costs 4.5 $. So the passenger would have to pay 4 $ + 4.5 $ = 8.5 $ for his trip, instead of 4 $. With many people on the same trip, you can earn much more money...

Many thanks for this information. I did not know that.
Just to clarify, If I built bus line 1 and 2 and had a link station then there would only be the 1 fare? If I build 2 bus stations ajacent to each other will this still apply?

 

[slornie]

As i understand it a passenger only pays once per mode of transport used in each journey they make. So whether the buses (or trams, metro, etc) use the same or adjacent stops, if its for the same journey the passenger will only pay one fare. Even if the passenger's journey was bus-tram-bus, the fare would still only be 1x $4 and 1x $4.50 (using Vercingetorix35's fare example).

 

[douglasrac]

[...]Despite having 5 operational trams (30 capacity) many stops are still overcrowded. I tried to create additional bus lines in vicinity of various tram stops, but they soon become overcrowded, too.[...]

This is a hard position to be. Even if it's very common in this game, having stops crowed is a very hard situation to fix. Because if you try to make more lines to "better distribute" the passenger you are actually doing the opposite. You are increasing the traffic in the area. You are delivering more people to the area, and you are improving your network which means more traffic for all your network.

That is the whole point of a network. If you build 1 extra bus line, you are increasing the demand for all your network. More connections, more people.
That's why I'm extremely slow in this game. You have to grow very carefully. You cannot expect to build a line, have all trams/buses synchronized and everybody happy in the stations meaning you don't have to worry about this line anymore. EVERYTIME you build a new line you have to worry about the previous line, since you created new possible routes, new clients, so more demand on lines that you wouldn't imagine it would increase.

Solution? I grow slow, I usually keep lines overcapacity and decentralized. Centralization only in metro stations. But it's hard anyway.

3. Can you give me some advise regarding a balanced rate of expansion? I have a tendency to overexpand and as a result I often drown in debt.

I think this is a player style. I expand very slowly and I'm already tired of the map before I get 60% of coverage. As an advice I can say that you should only expand when your current customers are all happy and you have enough money to expand (which doesn't mean only the construction costs but a projection of the new vehicles you need to buy for previous lines to keep the demand attended).


And for "spying" customer routes, you should use that in crowed stations, to see where most of the people are trying to go. Usually they all wants to go to the same place. But for normal route planning that is not a good idea.

And then you have the fact that they only pay again when change transport mode, not if they change from bus to bus for example. With all I said in mind, if you still can add this fact to make people change transport mode and generate more money you are a champion. Also considering the types of transport are so different to each other, it adds a huge complexity. I prefer to choose the best mode for the area, and if that means people will ride it for free, so let it be.

 

[Vercingetorix35]

As i understand it a passenger only pays once per mode of transport used in each journey they make. So whether the buses (or trams, metro, etc) use the same or adjacent stops, if its for the same journey the passenger will only pay one fare. Even if the passenger's journey was bus-tram-bus, the fare would still only be 1x $4 and 1x $4.50 (using Vercingetorix35's fare example).

I'm not sure but I think when we make bus-tram-bus, it is 4+4.5+4 (with the example). Need to follow ppl.

@douglasrac : I only knew the bus to bus = 1 fare fact when I had 93-94% of coverage on a map on which I was earning 10 000$/month (Paris). It was a bit late to think on it...