Railroads and transit in the new SimCity 4?

[Otto Vondrak]

Has anyone used the new SimCity 4 from Maxis? I heard they have improved the highways and railroads in the game, and I was wondering if anyone had any experience building "layouts."

-otto-

[keeper1616]

The new SimCity Rocks.....the railroads arn't what I wouls call realistic, but niether is the rest of the game. I love the way you can force the population to ride the rails to work...we should talk next time you're up in this neck of the woods

[CRail]

care to elaborate on that keeper?

[Otto Vondrak]

Hey look at this... looks like you can get the Rush Hour Expansion Pack for SimCity 4!!

http://www.eagames.com/official/sc4/rus ... h_home.jsp

-otto-

[keeper1616]

What did you want to know about the rails? The sims will take them if they pass a train station on thier way to work, as will any freight heading out of the city. There are 3 different types of stations, frieght, passenger and "grand" which deals with both.

oh btw - I think the only thing Rush Hour adds in terms of trains is a monorail. I have it, but am not sure what is included in the regular sim city and what was added in the expansion.

[Otto Vondrak]

Earlier versions of SimCity let you build rail... but it seemed to encompass all rail... you could build a subway system, and connect your surface rail to it... and freight trains seemed to run aimlessly over these same tracks (into the subway? who knows). Sounds like the new SimCity lets you build more purposeful lines... the addition of separate freight and passenger stations is a move in the right direction. Imagine if they had an option to build a freight yard in a busy industrial area! Or other rail options, like passenger terminals, elevated lines, strictly transit (subway) or strictly rail (passenger rail, freight rail)...

-otto-

[keeper1616]

Or other rail options, like passenger terminals, elevated lines, strictly transit (subway) or strictly rail (passenger rail, freight rail)...

check, check, check and check (sortof)

The new simcity offers no (that I can find) option to make a rail line into a subway line. It does offer an elevated rail (commuter stations only) and the subway (again, commuter only)...and a connection between the two. Also offered is a monorail...I havnt used that yet.

The way the ground rail works is pretty cool...you can import and export trash and goods on the rail now. I don't think there is any simulation of goods moving within the city in sim city, but I do know that the businesses would rather export via rail than via truck. Also - given the option of rail or car, the sims will always take the rail.

If I can easily find a way to upload pics of the cities, I will in the next couple of days.