Really?

This game just stopped being fun.

I followed the tutorials and tried to play along, but you force me to CRAM my houses so close together I can't tell them apart. I HAVE to deal with all these petty emergencies every 10 minutes and I can't get enough resources to keep up. I can't place stuff where I want to without having it burn down or get burglarized. I have to have hydrants and cameras on every block. I have tried deactivating the fire dept and the police dept and all that did was prevent me from putting out the fires. Now I have to get 2600 Education Points to get my fireman to go to work? When do I get to design my city and put stuff where I WANT?

This isn't fun at all.

 

Oh yeah... Then I have to spend so much damn time in the cinema watching ads that take forever to load to get those MMs -- Who gets paid for that? I have never gotten more than 5 and it takes me a half hour to get through all 10 ads. You really expect me to site there for 30 minutes watching the same Home Depot ad every day?

 

Hi in the beginning of this game there is a balance that you need to get right and that is keep your power and mood above 75 percent build your farms and sawmills etc and grow your city slowly. Personally i would deactivate my emergency system till you are over level 30 or thereabouts. there are 142 plots of land available for you to buy so there is a lot of room for your city to grow with a wider diversity of housing will become available as you progress up the levels
there is a lot of information throughout the forum plus the FAQ which are a great help in learning to grow your city

 

No one forces you to do anything in this game. You make decisions and choices effecting your city. If you do not want to "cram" your houses together then do not do it. You can deactivate the ERS (Emergency Response System) then you do not have to respond or just ignore them, they cause no permanent damage. By the way you need to deactivate all of the ERS that includes the Hospital. You do not have to watch the cineplex if you do not want to. That is allowed also. So what do you want? No challenges and to have everything simple and automatic.

 

No - I do have to cram my houses together in order to get the Needs thing met. They have to be really close to the veggie stand to get the points. And I have to have a few hundred workers to get the little gloves, and a few hundred students to get the education points... And as I've mentioned... I have deactivated the firehouse and the police station and all it did was let the stuff burn. I'm only level 11, and this is crazy. I didn't expect to have to study and get a degree in this thing just to have a little fun. I'm supposed to come into the forums and memorize all the tips and lessons before I can play? I almost didn't even find the forums.

So what do I want? I want to build a little town. Have a factory or two - a farm. Get a few resources. Sell my goodies to make money to buy what I need or make it in the factory. Lay out my roads and put stuff where it looks nice and friendly. Take my time and enjoy things as I learn stuff one piece at a time. Put my houses down with trees around them - create neighborhoods with similar homes grouped together. And yeah I want challenges... like the challenge of learning how to play the game, and use the controls. Learning the time limits and figuring where to put things to make the city work well... then later deal with quests and colleges and fires and oil spills and tire thieves and happiness points and energy points. Yes I want everything simple...right now. I've never played this game before. Make it complicated later. Right now it's just frustrating.

 

You can upgrade the vegetable stand to give higher range, thus somewhat less cramming if you desire. Or more. No matter how you look at it though, the scale is kinda off in the game. You need proportionately too many commercial buildings if you try to supply every need of every house (which will become very difficult, and not profitable), though you are not required to do so, giving you more space. Unfortunately, not everyone will go more than a block to a store. You need way too many power plants too. But then, a fully upgraded prefab houses 24 people, so… Ignore the scale a bit. Even between buildings the proportions are off. RC is not hyper-realistic.

In the beginning you have little choice but to make the most efficient use of land and resources as possible; in other words, you have to cram things together. Land gets expensive but you can acquire it pretty rapidly if you make good use of the market, and you'll need a lot of land to not cram. You have to balance your progression between outward and upward. You can deactivate emergencies, and save some space. It'll take time to earn better substations (with boosters or one of the events), and until then, it's best to cram them around for best coverage. You can ignore coverage on power plants. You don't loose anything for missing the emergency but time. At your level, I wouldn't even bother extending specialist contracts most of the time, or putting many points into training them for that matter. Just try to get copper, maybe bronze medals, and put your points into efficiency (more medals). It can be hard to manage at first, but it's really helpful in the long run. And no matter how you go about it, it is a game all about the long run.

Nothing is stopping you from building as you describe, but it'll be slower to achieve without the initial cramming as you'll have less XP and CC to advance you. A factory or two probably won't suffice either, especially not at the beginning. At level 20, you begin to gain access to other fields, which by time you'll have more plots. Try to stick it out until then and get the hang of it. I think the game tells you everything you need to know in a well-integrated manner; all those little tasks are teaching you. After that, you have to figure out how to apply it. The forums help, but certainly aren't necessary. RC bills itself as a strategy game, and with such games (or any games really), whether you are experienced or not, you have to get used to the specific rules, system, and mechanics. The game does throw a lot at you in the beginning because it moves pretty fast, but it's really a pretty simple cycle of events that never gets more complicated than that.

 

Thanks Arsuru and everyone for your terrific answers
I will move this to speakers corner for further comments

 

As Asurur states this is a game of choices. There is no single correct way to play the game and develop your city. We each make choices and those choices either expand or limit your future options. My suggestion is at level 11 stick to basics and build what housing you can and staff them mostly with workers and a few capitalists. Try to complete the quests and events when you can. Upgrade the commercial and production facilities as you can afford them.

Watch yourself do not try to do to many things at once. You will never be able to do everything. This is a game that has to grow with time. Building to fast will lead to something getting out of balance. What that is will depend on what you select and build.

From your description you have set up an imbalance in your city. Try to figure out what that is and correct it. Also do not be in to much of a hurry. You are about to get to some of the really good stuff.

You do not need to have all of the items checked off High population, every residence, every production facility, every commercial building, capable of doing every event, etc. I have two cities one is the mega city and I tried to do it all at once and my second city with a limited population and needs. I actually enjoy the smaller city (can get into and process in a few minutes) slightly better than the mega city (a great deal of work).

The choices are yours so relax and enjoy the ride.

 

I deactivated and now it has disappeared - how do i reactivate the fire station please

 

If you demolished the fire station should be in the Designer Depot, in the special section. Just replace it in the main play field.

If you placed it in storage you will find it in the inventory, in the Emergency building section. Just move it back to the main play field.