Water/Sewage Network - Time to drop a feature

[RDG]

Water/Sewage Network - productive suggestions for an incomplete feature

The implentation of the water/sewage system is an absolute no-brainer. It is cheap, it is logical, it is easy. It is boring but it has to be done.
So why do we have to care for it at all? They could have left it out right away as it isn't any challenge anyway.
They instead could have implemented a button "Apply Water Network" or - much better - simply integrate waterducts to any street you build.
Right now the water pipe construction is dull and not really a feature of any value.

 

[Spinifex]

Agreed. Same goes for electricity.

 

[Husarz92]

The system is fine as it is, let's not transform C:SL in SC2015. Please.

 

[Doc Savage]

I'd have preferred it if the pipes were laid with the roads. We're laying Zones and Electricity that way, no reason the Plumbing
can't go along for the ride.

I like the way electric is done, and IMO pipes should be the same way and use the same logic. Manually connect the pumps and
the sewage solutions but let the grunt work that gets done tile after tile go away and just get planted with roads. If I make a
separate suburbia that's not connected, then I would need to use pipes to connect it just like power lines if I want to share a
water solution.

As they are, the pipes are just a throw back added mechanic and micro managing I can live without.
_

 

[dezuman]

If only pollution spread longer than one can spit sewage handling would be rather interesting.

Edit: But I could live with removing just the mandatory pipe laying but keeping the pumps/outlets.

 

[MarshalN]

+1, the "search for that building missing water because someone tweeted about it" is a silly thing. If I zoned a whole area with roads and everything, all buildings should have water if I connected it to the mains. I shouldn't have to micromanage to make sure every tile is covered so that a building popping up randomly misses being served by the water.

 

[Inge Jones]

The best solution to this is probably a mod that sets the water and electricity requirement for all buildings to zero. That means those who want to lay water and electric can go on doing so.

 

[Deville]

The best solution to this is probably a mod that sets the water and electricity requirement for all buildings to zero. That means those who want to lay water and electric can go on doing so.

Wut? Just drop two gameplay elements? Why?

It would make sense if the roads woul come with optional water pipes, but the current system also is very easy to use, I see more important aspects to be worked on.

 

[EvilTom]

Well really if water and sewage pipes are compulsory for development (which they are as they will QUICKLY abandon without water) we should not have to micromanage it, as it adds very little to the game. They should just be built into the roads, especially being as everything has to snap to a road anyway.

It would be better if they made it that houses and some places can live without water for a much longer period of time, or even indefinitely. Without water you should not advance above level 1 and the fire risk should go up dramatically. That would then require the placement of pipes if you wanted to add them and make the function more meaningful and add a little bit of choice and complexity to the game.

As a separate part, I would also suggest that each building have separate budgets we can set, so we can have distinct water supplies for different areas.

 

[EvilTom]

+1, the "search for that building missing water because someone tweeted about it" is a silly thing. If I zoned a whole area with roads and everything, all buildings should have water if I connected it to the mains. I shouldn't have to micromanage to make sure every tile is covered so that a building popping up randomly misses being served by the water.

If you click on the name of the person who tweeted you, it will show you who there are and then where they live. That is one of the ways that the chirper or whatever it is called is handy.

 

[Greygor69]

I like laying pipes, it reminds me of SC 4.

It would feel more important though if as mayors we weren't drowning in money. Because of the excess money the placement of pipes is less crucial.

If we were fighting for every dime then pipe placement becomes more important.


However it's not quite 2 weeks since launch day so I'm interested to see if the economy gets tweaked as we move forward.

 

[Tom_of_Finland]

I must agree to this. The pipes do not add any challenge nor is it fun to lay them. I guess they are in just because "it has been always like this".

 

[Cymsdale]

Speaking of pointless gameplay elements, what does water pollution actually do? You want to make sure you don't suck up sewage into your water pumps, but if you understand how rivers work that's a pretty trivial puzzle to solve (spoilers: put the sewage downstream of the pumps). There seems to be little benefit of using water treatment plants other than a small bit of water at the edge of the map looking cleaner.

 

[RDG]

Exactly, the current way of water piping is so unimportant (drag and drop wherever you need them, done) they are not worth to be worked on in game.

Well I may have put it better in the OP, I was mainly thinking the current system is so lame they could as well drop it completely. In other words, the system needs some challenge, some reason to use your brain, some need to develop a pipeline network strategically.
The game lacks any other reason to bother with the pipes than that you have to disperse them enough to get every space connected. While doing that, the current system is neither realistic nor anything you have to tune or tweak, you simply drop some cheap pipes and you are done. This is a hamster wheel. I only say they should drop it and indeed for example consider roadtiles automatically bearing pipes (like housings do with electricity) in case they don't find any aspect to force me into smart considerations when laying down my sewer network.

Btw we could need a wastewater treatment plant, which cleans the sewage to release it into the ground water afterwards, from where we could siphon purified water by a water works facility, which we also need. At least this describes the way fresh water is circling in my country (central Europe, 80+ million people). So the current system ingame doesn't represent anything real, at least not for my region.
I mean, in CS we care for green energy and erect wind generators but on the other hand we pump our waste into the river/sea?? Altogether I am under the strong impression the water system didn't get too many attention by the devs so far, copy/paste from Simcity is all what was done. I hope they lay their hands on it again, otherwise the whole pipelining/sewage/freshwater-system remains in a state worth to be conclusively abandoned.

 

[Tom_of_Finland]

Speaking of pointless gameplay elements, what does water pollution actually do? You want to make sure you don't suck up sewage into your water pumps, but if you understand how rivers work that's a pretty trivial puzzle to solve (spoilers: put the sewage downstream of the pumps). There seems to be little benefit of using water treatment plants other than a small bit of water at the edge of the map looking cleaner.

This is also a problem. They add no challenge, it's a nice visual feature that has no purpose.

 

[EvilTom]

This is also a problem. They add no challenge, it's a nice visual feature that has no purpose.

What is we could have more of a SC2000 version? Where houses have pipes under them so they spread it out, but you still needed pipes to get it long distances.

Also what if there was a certain capacity for the pipes, or you needed pumping stations at large distances?

I guess if there's water levels that change with seasons or droughts then we might want to see more water recycling.

 

[RDG]

What is we could have more of a SC2000 version? Where houses have pipes under them so they spread it out, but you still needed pipes to get it long distances.

Also what if there was a certain capacity for the pipes, or you needed pumping stations at large distances?

I guess if there's water levels that change with seasons or droughts then we might want to see more water recycling.

not bad. specifically the pumping stations idea sounds good.

 

[The-Eradicator]

if you don't like it, i have a game for you : simcity 2013

 

[Tom_of_Finland]

if you don't like it, i have a game for you : simcity 2013

Do you find that comment as constructive?

Can you point us what challenge the water pipes and or waste system poses to you?

 

[JerkyJerry]

Can you point us what challenge the water pipes and or waste system poses to you?

No
No he can't