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Hello all,
During the summer steam sale I purchased Cities XL 2011, after reminiscing of my days as a young child playing SimCity 3000
![[image loading]](http://arc-apps.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/citiesxl2011_02.jpg)
It's a lot of fun and has fantastic potential, if only it wasn't plagued by absolutely horrid performance once you get a decently sized city (1-5 FPS). Since then I have been addicted to city builders, I had to try out them all! I picked up SimCity 4 Deluxe which I have heard a lot about and how good it is.
![[image loading]](http://ui11.gamespot.com/1418/c4-61349_2.jpg)
As you can see the graphics are significantly worse (yes yes, gameplay is important, but for a city builder half the fun is looking at the city to see what you've created). I did a bit of research on this game and found many people absolutely loving the depth and strategy to this game. I couldn't find myself to fond of it :/ I didn't like only having 1 type of residential zone, commercial zone and industrial zone to build. I have a feeling I'm playing the game wrong, as I can't truly appreciate the strategy to it yet.
I found another city builder that I'm starting to love, even though it is a bit slow. Anno 1404. It is a relatively recent game, and the graphics are fantastic. I'm starting to really like it, and I am able to play it with my friend. It is the only competitive online city builder that I know and it is A LOT of fun to play with your buddies.
![[image loading]](http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2009/06/anno-1404-dawn-of-discovery-review/anno_1404_25.jpg)
I'm really liking it right now, and as this is an RTS forum I have a feeling some of you may have a hunger for city builders, so I ask you,
What are your favorites?
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Way back when I was a kid i played Pharaoh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharaoh_(video_game)
surprisingly still fun even with the early levels, and it turns into a major management game later on with crazier and crazier challenges. The graphics aren't the greatest but it's a pretty entertaining game.
You can probably download it and the expansion from somewhere.
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What are the specs for your computer?
I was super addicted to simcity 2000 way back in the day, been clean for about 10 years. That simcity pic you posted has got me jonesing though.
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My favorites are the Impressions Games city builders, Pharaoh, Emperor, Master of Olympus, and Caesar. They were great fun with pretty simple entry-level missions, but the later ones and some community-made ones were damned difficult. Very fun games, you should check them out.
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United States17920 Posts
1701 is the latest Anno game. They haven't really gotten any better though.
I'm glad to say that I am a sim city addicted city builder lover that has been constantly disappointed because things don't stack up to 10 year old Maxis games.
Also that's a picture of sim city 4 mucker.
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can't beat sim city 3000 music and playing sim city 4. Simplicity and elegance and fun! Only one type of zone? There's high/medium/low density, along with 4 different types of architecture. The density really takes your city to the next level, as you'll start to need more bus roots(more efficiently placed as well) and things like railroads, highways, etc. Much of the depth I've found has come from the planning of where to put infrastructure and how to expand past your first little bubble.
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Sim ant, is by far the best city builder, and RTS of all time. In order to effectively micro your ants, you would need thousands of apm, though with a good hive first build, you should not need much micro.
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I was always a SImCity guy. I tried a bunch of others, but all were lacking. The only problem with SimCity was that with the last few releases they get harder and harder and for people that never played the game they were impossible to get started with. I think they almost got too complex in a way.
Other than that I tried some of the tycoon games, which are city builders of a different style. Although they were kind of fun, they were weak as games overall.
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I had a lot of fun playing Tropico 3. The music and atmosphere are really nice and the challenges are fun. It forces you to create new economies based on location and external influences, like the USSR and USA. I'm not sure it has as much depth, but looking at your city is great. Also, Juanito is a pretty cool guy. I've gotten plenty of enjoyment out of that one.
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United States17920 Posts
On July 15 2011 11:04 InvalidID wrote:
Sim ant, is by far the best city builder, and RTS of all time. In order to effectively micro your ants, you would need thousands of apm, though with a good hive first build, you should not need much micro.
Only surpassed by Sim Earth.
Definitely better than Sim Tower but that one was epic too :D
Streets of Sim City
Sim Copter.
I love you Maxis. Forever and always.
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I looooooooved Sim Ant soo much. This is part of the reason I love dwarf fortress.
Sim city games were a ton of fun as well.
Anybody know where I could find sim ant?
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On July 15 2011 10:48 Probe1 wrote:
1701 is the latest Anno game. They haven't really gotten any better though.
I'm glad to say that I am a sim city addicted city builder lover that has been constantly disappointed because things don't stack up to 10 year old Maxis games.
Also that's a picture of sim city 4 mucker.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_1701 (2006)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_1404 (2009)
Anyways though, what do you mean that's a pic of simcity 4? Does Rush Hour change things that significantly?
On July 15 2011 10:42 mucker wrote:
What are the specs for your computer?
I was super addicted to simcity 2000 way back in the day, been clean for about 10 years. That simcity pic you posted has got me jonesing though.
It's relatively high-end, hd 6870, 3.1 GHz dual core, 8 gig DDR3, a lot of people are having trouble with the game when it comes to that point, it's really poorly optimized.
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super like! been a great fan and player of sc4 for a long time though i kinda stopped playing it after a while. just so you know, there are other types of in-game addons you can download to supplement your sc4 gameplay. i think they have many types of decorative and eye-appealing types of modifications you can make to your city like park addons, different roads and types as well as buildings that are designed by fans themselves.
http://simtropolis.com/
above is the website. you have to go to ST Exchange to download the addons.
i personally wanted to try out cities XL but it seemed a little too demanding on my comp so i didn't try it.
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I love Anno 1404. fun fun fun, though it gets old after too long of a play period. Hehe.
I'm on a quest for great city builders as well, and haven't found anything of much good yet. TT
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I love the genre as well, having played all titles of the SimCity and Anno series and having both the latest (SimCity 4 and Anno 1404) currently installed. Sadly, that's about it there is with good games in the genre.
Regarding your difficulties with SimCity 4: It depends on how you want to play the game. In the lower difficulty settings, it's more of a visual experience than facing actual gameplay challenges. You can basically build whatever you want, few things go wrong, and from the very beginning you're able to shape your city the way you like it. On higher difficulties, it actually gets challenging as you have to cleverly manage which zone to place where. Once you've got the basics of the game, try a city on a harder difficulty with disasters turned on and you'll find it a challenging and rewarding experience.
Anno 1404 is pretty similar in that reward: Lower difficult, build stuff and just admire it, higher difficulty, lots of management and little tolerance for error. A bit less building than SC4, but more managing involved with all the ships, defense and military. If you love building things and watching cities expand and flourish but find SimCity to be a bit too passive, Anno's an excellent choice.
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On July 15 2011 09:44 WirelessWaffle wrote:Way back when I was a kid i played Pharaoh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharaoh_(video_game)surprisingly still fun even with the early levels, and it turns into a major management game later on with crazier and crazier challenges. The graphics aren't the greatest but it's a pretty entertaining game. You can probably download it and the expansion from somewhere.
THIS. It was the first computer game I ever played. I also played Caesar III, which is similar to Pharoah.
Edit: Accidentally wrote the name of the game wrong.
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Sim City 2000 is the best!!!! I got 3k a while ago and played it. It's good but it didn't have the same appeal to me.
4 looks cool though.
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I played Black and White 2 and absolutely loved it. I've never played any of the Sim City games because I always thought that it revolved around you controlling one characters life. So what's this about creating entire cities? Which Sim City would you recommend playing right now?
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On July 15 2011 09:44 WirelessWaffle wrote:Way back when I was a kid i played Pharaoh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharaoh_(video_game)surprisingly still fun even with the early levels, and it turns into a major management game later on with crazier and crazier challenges. The graphics aren't the greatest but it's a pretty entertaining game. You can probably download it and the expansion from somewhere.
Wow, I still play that game. It's very good. I played it on my breaks in high school almost all the time. Getting the best houses was pretty crazy and I enjoy the challenge behind some of the non-campaign missions (Not saying the campaign is easy, never tried it tho. So I wouldn't know).
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You, my friend, might be my city builder soulmate.
I used to have SimCity 2000 and 3000 on my old desktop, and right now on my new desktop (well new as in 1 year old) I have SimCity 4 Deluxe and Cities XL 2011. Although Cities XL 2011 turned out to be a bust, I thoroughly enjoy playing SimCity 4. WHY IS THAT ENVIRONMENTALISTS ARE NEVAR HAPPY!!!!!
In fact, I loved city builder games so much that I chose infrastructure engineering as my major 2 years ago, graduated this year, and am writing this reply at my job as a transportation engineer (heheh TL blogging at work, I know I shouldn't be~). Of course the work I do is not as fun as SimCity, and I'm only a new-hire crunching out tedious models of traffic networks and intersections, but I do envision myself being a high-level master urban designer/advisor long way down the road.
As for SimCity 4, there is significant emphasis on having a solid transportation network in your city. I'd almost call it a "beat-the-commute" game, because not only does the city need a balance of the three zoning types (residential/commercial/industrial), it also needs well-designed and sufficient transportation infrastructure to support those zones. Citizens will not only complain about the traffic hours, they will in fact abandon and leave the city (even if the demand is high) if they cannot find a commuting route under the timing threshold.
I STILL can't quite figure out how to make the environmentalists happy. I mean, "clean" energy sources absolutely suck in terms of bang-for-the-buck, and having one or two power plants already drops your environment ratings to zero (all red). I've tried placing power plants in the corner island and having residents live nowhere near it, but they still complain... oh well.
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I never have patience to play these games. 
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The Zeus game is the highest user rated city builder, so that would be the best, objectively speaking.On July 15 2011 15:49 Shockk wrote:
I love the genre as well, having played all titles of the SimCity and Anno series and having both the latest (SimCity 4 and Anno 1404) currently installed. Sadly, that's about it there is with good games in the genre.
Regarding your difficulties with SimCity 4: It depends on how you want to play the game. In the lower difficulty settings, it's more of a visual experience than facing actual gameplay challenges. You can basically build whatever you want, few things go wrong, and from the very beginning you're able to shape your city the way you like it. On higher difficulties, it actually gets challenging as you have to cleverly manage which zone to place where. Once you've got the basics of the game, try a city on a harder difficulty with disasters turned on and you'll find it a challenging and rewarding experience.
Anno 1404 is pretty similar in that reward: Lower difficult, build stuff and just admire it, higher difficulty, lots of management and little tolerance for error. A bit less building than SC4, but more managing involved with all the ships, defense and military. If you love building things and watching cities expand and flourish but find SimCity to be a bit too passive, Anno's an excellent choice.
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On July 15 2011 12:36 TheGrimace wrote:
I had a lot of fun playing Tropico 3. The music and atmosphere are really nice and the challenges are fun. It forces you to create new economies based on location and external influences, like the USSR and USA. I'm not sure it has as much depth, but looking at your city is great. Also, Juanito is a pretty cool guy. I've gotten plenty of enjoyment out of that one.
I've heard a lot about Tropico 3 and I am thinking of picking it up, anyone else play it?
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Zeus is a joke compared to Sim City 4, you have to appreciate the complexity of that game.
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caesar 3 was obv the best old city building game.
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On July 16 2011 05:26 rekul wrote:
caesar 3 was obv the best old city building game.
Without a shadow of a doubt.
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On July 16 2011 04:01 Kezzer wrote:Show nested quote +On July 15 2011 12:36 TheGrimace wrote:
I had a lot of fun playing Tropico 3. The music and atmosphere are really nice and the challenges are fun. It forces you to create new economies based on location and external influences, like the USSR and USA. I'm not sure it has as much depth, but looking at your city is great. Also, Juanito is a pretty cool guy. I've gotten plenty of enjoyment out of that one. I've heard a lot about Tropico 3 and I am thinking of picking it up, anyone else play it?
Yes, it's a really good game. If you would have picked it up during the steam sale it was 7$. The game is more scenario focused where you have to reach a certain objective but there is still a sandbox mode. What makes it so unique is the setting and theme of the game. Being the dictator of an island brings much different problems like having to please each of the parties of the island and having to deal with a militia group running around. This is all combined with the usual challenge of keeping a city up and the people happy. Different from any building game I have played.
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There are three types of Ind. Commercial and Housing zones.
Tripico 4 is coming out.
And I love Sim city 4 and I don't see how you can't. It's a lot harder than 3000 (2000 is still hard though).
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Majesty was city builder-esque. Obviously it's a lot less complicated, but a few of the macromanagement elements still carry over.
Didn't like Majesty II nearly as much as the original though.
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DUDE!
I loved city building games. Once every few years I hunt around for the following:
Ceasars 3
Pharaoh & Cleopatra
Zeus & Poseidon
Loved these games soooooo much! Still do. Wish someone would refurnish them
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On July 16 2011 05:26 rekul wrote:
caesar 3 was obv the best old city building game.
"Your city needs more workers"
"Your city needs more workers"
"Your city needs more workers"
Shut the fuck up, in-game UI, as I build 20 more prefectures and 30 more hospitals.
That phrase is more irritating than "You require additional Pylons," though a bit less annoying than hearing "low power."
I've got Caesar III, Pharoh (and the Cleopatra exp pack), Zeus, and Emperor. Though my city-building skills were limited to primitive "build everything along a single road" designs, I had tons of fun.
Someone should make a city-building map in Galaxy Editor IMO.
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EPT
