The should call this game, Traffic Jam Simulator.

[Archer801]

The should call this game, Traffic Jam Simulator. Because thats your only challenge....
Thats all you do, thats all you fight is traffic.... The only thing you do in this game, is spend countless hours trying to fix traffic jams.

Small town of 10k and you have 700 thousand vehicles on the road.

You dont have an option to make a city pretty, or artistic. Because anything less then mathematically perfect efficiency is going to lead to cars stacked from one end of the city to the other.

I would like to put more brain power into making my city look fun, or realsitc, or Artistic, but... You cant, because your so busy trying to fix traffic jams, that you dont have time to think about anything else.

I want to make a park, with slides and props and make it very pretty but I cant abandon my traffic that long... I'll spend 9 hours making what I think is a perfect highway system, and... START on a park, and before I can even place down a few buildings, theres a mile long stack up of cars some place.

[MickaelKicker]

If he could do it, you can do it ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyT0z1aJvZ8

[mbutton15]

I would never zone industry along 2lane roads. All my industry is along 4lane roads. It just avoids jams forming behind vehicles making their deliveries.

Although it's a pain, I also turn most traffic lights into Stop Sign junctions and giving one direction free movement through the junction. Here's a typical flow through my cities (without traffic mods either):
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1362965028

[Sticky Wicket]

Good and interesting links.

However, I think the main point, (and particularly with reference to the OP talking about wanting to do something more creative than simply fixing traffic problems all the time) is that the roads system could be so much better with a bit of thought put into it....and thereby freeing up more time to do interesting stuff.

2 additions to the road/traffic system in CS would make so much difference:

• Make it so that making a road-junction connection does not automatically create a stop/crossing. Such a thing needs to be a player choice. The way it is at the moment you end up with an un-necessary (and unrealistic) amount of stops/crossings because of this.
  
  
• Make it an option when making a road-junction to have a no-right turn or no left turn possibility.
  Again, the current road system automatically makes any road connection/junction available to all traffic even when that is clearly counter to logic (and often is).

Adding these 2 features would make traffic control so much more efficient and would allow people to spend more time on city-building and creative stuff.

[Archer801]

Yeah unfortunately I think most people missed my point entirely. Downloading mods, and watching 2 hour long tutorials, and reading 5,000 word guilds, and meticulously and very delicately placing down roads, and making sure everything is perfect is achieving the exact opposite of what I want. I want to spend Less time dealing with traffic, not more.

The fact that its SO delicate. That even having one bad intersection, leads to mountains of cars stacking up, is exactly what is wrong with this game. Because the Vehicle Spawn rate, and the lack of any sort of schedule, and not having Roads with Industry only lanes, or Police only lanes, or Civilian only lanes, unless you want to spend the next 2 weeks doing it manually one by one in Traffic Manager is exactly why this game is just a Traffic Jam Simulator.

Go ahead, try to make a pretty city that isnt HELL BENT on Maximum Air Flow. Try it, Be creative, and fun, instead of Super Max Efficient. Lets see how fast you end up with a 90 car deep Traffic Jam on the Freeway exit.

And, if your Argument is "Well thats the point of the game is to be challenged!"
Remember the Title of this Thread.

Because when it comes to City management. There is 100's of ways to challenge a mayor. From Riots, to Gang wars, to Politic matters, and rights, and law making, and taxes, and just hundreds of ways to Sword fight keeping your Citizens happy, and making profit as well. But in this game, if I pass a law, its the law, and nobody gives me any grief for it...

Cause in this game, there is only one challenge, and that is traffic, and that is why this game should be called Traffic Jam Simulator. Because there is SO MANY CARS on the road, that its like a practical joke.

You have 8 Trucks and 8 Cars on the road, Per building.... its like, Who is driving this truck that just spawned? The worker, is on the other side of the city, Stuck at a traffic light. Who is Driving that truck? a Flippin Ghost?

People cant even get to their worksite because the roads are clogged with Phantom Drivers. the WORKER who is supposed to be the one driving that truck, is being blocked, by his own truck, and a thousand other phantom driver trucks from getting to work. The Phantom Truck Driver is being Blocked by a thousand Citizens, and cant get out of the city because there is a mile long Clog up from acutal cims and and Ghost Riders. You have a Police Station, and Garbage Trucks, But... Who is Driving these vehicles? Because from the looks of it, Ghosts! Or people are allowed to be in two places, at once.

its one of the first things i noticed about this game when i got it a few years ago, is when you first put down your first landfile, the trucks just spawn out in a massive line, and im like, huh? shouldnt the new workers need to get there first? Oo

[Stealthy]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1576239422

No mods, no problems.

Heavy traffic is quite often caused by death waves and eliminating them eliminates lot of traffic.

[Archer801]

Originally posted by Worldmaker:

archer is a dramaqueen XD

I'm not trying to be. I'm just trying to make a point. Whats wrong with that?

[Stealthy]

Originally posted by Archer801:

Originally posted by Worldmaker:

archer is a dramaqueen XD

I'm not trying to be. I'm just trying to make a point. Whats wrong with that?

Ranting like that fades the point. And also, the point is that you as a mayor control how many cars are on the roads by correct zoning and policies.

[Priest]

Originally posted by Stealthy:

Originally posted by Archer801:

I'm not trying to be. I'm just trying to make a point. Whats wrong with that?

Ranting like that fades the point. And also, the point is that you as a mayor control how many cars are on the roads by correct zoning and policies.

yea, sure.

But

Originally posted by Archer801:

... making sure everything is perfect is achieving the exact opposite of what I want. I want to spend Less time dealing with traffic, not more.

is a valid wish

Unlimited money is a nice to have for people who want to play this game as a sandbox.
But theres no easy way to do the same to the traffic. What btw would reduce performance issues and the resulting maximum town size your pc can handle

Not every player wish every aspect of a game a challenge

[Stealthy]

Handling traffic is easy. First create enough zones, then apply old town policy to each zone and you'll see dramatic reduction as non residents of that zone aren't allowed to drive there. Then give good alternative ways to reach these zones like bike lanes, pedestrian paths and mass transit. Don't over-do your industry, have just enough to supply your commercial zones and no imports / exports of goods. And don't over-do your commercial even if the demand bar shows there is demand. It doesn't mean you have to build it.

[Priest]

Originally posted by Stealthy:

Handling traffic is easy.

No it isnt as soon as you have a decent city.

i dont say that it is hard or impossible. but 90% of my gametime i need to optimize traffic

[Stealthy]

Originally posted by Priest:

Originally posted by Stealthy:

Handling traffic is easy.

No it isnt as soon as you have a decent city.

i dont say that it is hard or impossible. but 90% of my gametime i need to optimize traffic

It is easy. I've had up to 460k cities without issues.

[Stealthy]

And check that vanilla city i posted earlier if you got all DLCs

[Priest]

Originally posted by Stealthy:

Originally posted by Priest:

No it isnt as soon as you have a decent city.

i dont say that it is hard or impossible. but 90% of my gametime i need to optimize traffic

It is easy. I've had up to 460k cities without issues.

And how much time you spend by optimizing the streets ?
if you say less than 50% i dont believe you.

[Stealthy]

Originally posted by Priest:

Originally posted by Stealthy:

It is easy. I've had up to 460k cities without issues.

And how much time you spend by optimizing the streets ?
if you say less than 50% i dont believe you.

I don't care if you believe or not. I take everything into consideration while i build and i have rarely any issues which take more than mere minutes to solve. If you don't know how to, it doesn't mean that others wouldn't.

People walk half a map tile to full tile
People bike full tile to 2 tiles.

That's lot of cars of the roads. And read what i said earlier to continue from there. Plan your city right and you won't have issues. Traffic is easy.

[Priest]

I know how traffic works
I build this here in arround 7-12 real hours
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1713300595

Developing my traffic plan needed arround 100 Hours, and 6-10 hours of these 7-12 hours was placing roads

Come down from hour high horse and understand that archer and i dont say its too hard, or need mods. We say its a tedious part of the game a way to reduce the needs would be nice.

And to say that clear, i dont want this option for myself. Traffic is the last challenge in that game for me. But like unlimited money (that i dont use too) it would be nice for many players that want to build their dreamtown after a hard workday without need to adapt it to the traffic needs