So, with the beta over now, putting the DRM and £45/65 price (conveniently ignoring all the places selling it at £35), what did everyone think of it?
Its certainly enjoyable, and the whole process which encourages the city to grow and react seems a big step forward, the map is perhaps a little small still, but assuming thats the standard (or biggest) map you can have its not terrible IMO, especially as you can quickly switch between cities and pigeon-hole each one to have specific tasks rather than ploughing everything into 1 city.
One thing which did concern me was that i've been looking at SC with an attitude that the people i wanted to be on my community map would be expected to build attractive cities, or simply put, no filling the city with a series of grids just to maximise land and whatnot, but to make something more free-flowing and organic. However i went into the beta, got my 1hr's worth and the majority of it was grids. Even with curves and winding roads its still easier and more sensible to make grids. I still *plan* to make more realistic feeling cities, but instinctively you know grids are more efficient and easier/quicker to do, so you've kinda gotta fight against instinct and logic.
The other concern was just how easy it was. I've found SC4 to be a bit of a struggle in terms of getting the books balanced, and putting in all the services to keep them happy. Quite a lot of the early game its a bit of a struggle and then eventually your neutral or bringing in a small profit. In the SC5 beta theres almost no challenge, stick everything in and a ton of zoning down (now free zoning) and you can make a killing.
Maybe they'll put the charges back on RCI zoning, but im still not sure it'll make that much of a difference. I'd half expected it to be the same as SC4 and because your resource sharing (eg power & services) you can outsource and pay a small premium but not have the 40k outlay of a power plant and say 1k/hr cost that it needs to run at 500% of your needs. You'd just pay 250/hr to a neighbour, your paying less, they're getting subsidised, you both win. But you can stick multiple fire, police & hospital in the city and everything else, and theres no problems.
Maybe something was disabled which helped, i dunno, but it didnt seem to be a problem to take out all 3 loans and be saddled with the debt of doing that, build tons of stuff, and still be profitable.
Its certainly enjoyable, and the whole process which encourages the city to grow and react seems a big step forward, the map is perhaps a little small still, but assuming thats the standard (or biggest) map you can have its not terrible IMO, especially as you can quickly switch between cities and pigeon-hole each one to have specific tasks rather than ploughing everything into 1 city.
One thing which did concern me was that i've been looking at SC with an attitude that the people i wanted to be on my community map would be expected to build attractive cities, or simply put, no filling the city with a series of grids just to maximise land and whatnot, but to make something more free-flowing and organic. However i went into the beta, got my 1hr's worth and the majority of it was grids. Even with curves and winding roads its still easier and more sensible to make grids. I still *plan* to make more realistic feeling cities, but instinctively you know grids are more efficient and easier/quicker to do, so you've kinda gotta fight against instinct and logic.
The other concern was just how easy it was. I've found SC4 to be a bit of a struggle in terms of getting the books balanced, and putting in all the services to keep them happy. Quite a lot of the early game its a bit of a struggle and then eventually your neutral or bringing in a small profit. In the SC5 beta theres almost no challenge, stick everything in and a ton of zoning down (now free zoning) and you can make a killing.
Maybe they'll put the charges back on RCI zoning, but im still not sure it'll make that much of a difference. I'd half expected it to be the same as SC4 and because your resource sharing (eg power & services) you can outsource and pay a small premium but not have the 40k outlay of a power plant and say 1k/hr cost that it needs to run at 500% of your needs. You'd just pay 250/hr to a neighbour, your paying less, they're getting subsidised, you both win. But you can stick multiple fire, police & hospital in the city and everything else, and theres no problems.
Maybe something was disabled which helped, i dunno, but it didnt seem to be a problem to take out all 3 loans and be saddled with the debt of doing that, build tons of stuff, and still be profitable.
