Road Upkeep

[John Johnson]

Does the budget for road upkeep actually do anything besides cost money? I always turn it all the way down and get no complaints.

[MaxFX]

I've allways wondered about that as well. Considering that the different budget types get accessible as soon as you reach the milestone in which you can build the corresponding service building. And road maintenance budget slider is availlable from the start, while the 'Road Maintenance Depot' is availlable when you reach the 'Busy Town' milestone.

This is what the wiki says on road maintanance (with the depot!):
Roads do not actually degrade, nor do they require maintenance. The Road Maintenance Depot deploys trucks that simulate road maintenance as they drive over them, temporarily boosting the speed limit on the road. This speed boost will gradually fade until the road is back to its normal speed limit, or until a Road Maintenance truck passes over it again. Highways and pedestrian streets cannot be boosted.

So turing the budget slider all the way down won't cause much grief.

This is one of the few things of this game I'm still wondering about myself (why the budget slider is active from the start of the game, while the depot is unlocked later) so if anyone else knows a better answer I'm all for it!

[buda atum]

It affects the number of vehicles your Road Maintenance sends out and therefore their efficiency, but apart from fixing damaged or flooded roads, I haven't found much need for them, though I always build at least one

Unfortunately, turning it's budget down only reduces the cost a little. Wish it could go to zero, but I'm on my last CS till 2 comes out and I'm finally cheating on money with Export Electricity so it don't matter.

The cheating began when I tried saving my last city's 80% drop in population while trying to get 2000 abandoned buildings and 50 rubbish. Gave up in the end stuck at pop 200k.

[buda atum]

Originally posted by MaxFX:

This is one of the few things of this game I'm still wondering about myself (why the budget slider is active from the start of the game, while the depot is unlocked later) so if anyone else knows a better answer I'm all for it!

It's the maintenance cost for roads.

The cost is zero at start, and accumulates as you build roads, same as the rail cost which increases as you build rail.

Nightmare if you build highways or rail at start, I found.

[MaxFX]

Originally posted by buda atum:

It's the maintenance cost for roads.

The cost is zero at start, and accumulates as you build roads, same as the rail cost which increases as you build rail.

Originally posted by buda atum:

It affects the number of vehicles your Road Maintenance sends out and therefore their efficiency, but apart from fixing damaged or flooded roads, I haven't found much need for them, though I always build at least one

Unfortunately, turning it's budget down only reduces the cost a little.

That explains my confusion. The budget slider is for both the maintenance cost for roads, as well as for the maintenance costs of the depots.

- Maintenance costs for roads remain the same no matter how you adjust the slider.
- Only the maintenance costs for the depot(s) is affected (which is probably why the change in cost is so little compared to the total amount that is shown).

[Stealthy]

Yes, it is a maintenance cost for roads, each road type has different cost as indicated in the road menu. However, dropping the budget all the way to 50% makes 0 difference on road conditions, traffic etc. In my current city I set it to 50% from the start and there is no difference to any earlier city I've ever done.

[caseyas435943]

I set mine to as low as it would go, and nothing changed. Seems all is, is a way of trying to get money out of the game. Like having your taxes earn less money of your bank account grows larger.

You'd think it would be important. Without its roads become damaged and cars then have to crawl along and soon can't even use the roads. Not a speed boost that has zero effect on your city at all.

Because vehicles have a limit and can go so fast. If you can only go 100 and the road unrepaired is still 100 what good, it is spending money to go 120 if the vehicles can't go that fast.

Does CS2 fix this? I don't care I don't think I've ever buy it. It's more or less just a mod version of CS now from everything I've seen.

Does it do interesting things? Not interesting enough to spend money on. I'm sure it will sell within its knish. But will it actually sell to new players? Most games that do this never much get new players just older players buying the game they like playing.

You either like this kind of game or you don't. You just don't one days say, "I've never like city builders I'll give it a try." Then throw down $50+. And with a company this loves DLC which most player think they need (they don't of course) and now that $50+ becomes $200 scaring new players away.

[buda atum]

Originally posted by caseyas435943:

Does CS2 fix this? I don't care I don't think I've ever buy it. It's more or less just a mod version of CS now from everything I've seen.

Good for you. Save your money for something better and that you enjoy.

Now, me? I've bought it already. The developers would have learnt so much from us playing CS and have hired a number of wonderful modders to join their team, so I'd be surprised if CS2 is not a huge improvement and I'm willing to pay to find out for myself.

Guess I like city builders. CS (7.5k hours) and AOE are the only games I play.