How hard is this game compared to Simcity 4 ?

[Foulcher]

I liked Simcity 4 difficulty (vanilla) : you could grow if you played not that seriously but to make an healthy city this was not that easy (ok the traffic simulation was a bit broken but overall it worked).

I can manage such kind of difficulty but I have not that much time available to invest hundreds of hours.

I also liked Banished and Frostpunk.

Thanks

[BareJag]

This is a logistics planner more than a city builder. As for what I remember from sc4 it was quite easy, shallow and forgiving. This is not. You have to think, plan and calculate. You will need time for that. At least if you use all features. But much of those can be turned of and make it playable in a more relaxed way. I've never tested that though. The other two games I've never tested.

With the current price it's definitely worth trying though.

Try using mods. Just like skyrim it is nice as vanilla, but mods makes it better than any other similar games out there, without becoming unstable like many other games do when using mods.

[Mudkest]

Originally posted by Foulcher:

I can manage such kind of difficulty but I have not that much time available to invest hundreds of hours.

to be fair I dont think you'll enjoy this game then.

It takes quite some time to figure it out. You can play it on easy mode, but then most of the mechanics that make this game interesting are disabled.

And you cant even build buildings that are tied to the disabled mechanics. For example, you play with power off, you can't build power infrastructure. You build with fires off, you cant build fire stations and so on.

I think cities skylines(the first one. Havent played skylines 2 yet so can't comment on that) might be more what you're looking for. It's a lot more like sc4 then this game.

[Foulcher]

Thanks for the answers.

I will wait before trying it so, I understand that it’s probably not for me so I need to be in a good mood and have enough time to test it. And probably after EA (I can refund multiple times but even if it’s allowed I don’t feel like doing it).

Cities Skylines is not a Simcity successor for me, SC was deeper while CS is more linear. But Soviet Republic seems even more different.

Yes I’m with you for the easy mode. I like easy mode in adventure games because when the game becomes annoying (generally difficulty is just about how much HP bags ennemies are and how resistant you are) I can just enable it in some parts to enjoy the story but in simulation/management games if they remove what makes them, then there is no point to play.

[gwahazar]

You can play demo version, fully playable except of limited number of buildings/vehicles.

[Novu]

There is a Sandbox mode with unlimited money that pretty easy to get into.

[Foulcher]

Originally posted by gwahazar:

You can play demo version, fully playable except of limited number of buildings/vehicles.

Oh thanks I did not see it, it was hard to see without looking actively for it

[Lex713]

Originally posted by gwahazar:

You can play demo version, fully playable except of limited number of buildings/vehicles.

It is also does not have all the mechanics that are present in current game version.

[leftbehind]

It's a steep learning curve, even for most basic settings, but very rewarding game.

In the base game, on easiest difficulty setting, it's more like Banished than SimCity, IMO. You have to place every building, and make sure citizen needs are met and ensure they can get to work, etc.

Industry chains can be pretty simple, like wood - just buy the vehicles, chop some trees, maybe process in to wooden planks, sell to neighbouring country. Maybe burn some to get power or heat. Some industry is more complex, requiring multiple resources and processes to get what you want - eg. for plastics, or chemicals. In this case it can be more like Cities Skylines 1 with Industries DLC, but with more detailed and interesting simulation at every level.

And that's just the "base game" in easy mode. There are a ton of additional game mechanics that can be turned on or off (both when starting new game, or even with existing games!) - here's settings screen for new game:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3172668757

Example: Waste management. Most buildings start creating garbage. At simple level, treat it as "mixed waste", and incinerate it to produce power or heat. Or, use a separation plant to filter it in to plastic waste, metal scrap, etc., and then recycle those in to usable resources. You can place recycle bins around the city, so houses and workplaces separate out the waste in to specific bins, making recycling more efficient. You can also have bio waste bins, and compost that in to fertilizer to use at farms. There's different trucks, factories, bins, production chains just for this one mechanic. You can even import waste form neighbour country, recycle it in to something better and sell it back to them. You can even get to point where you're recycling rubble from demolished buildings and recycling scrapped vehicles. It's crazy the level of detail you can go to - if you want.

If you enable seasons, winter in particular will slap you in the face if you aren't prepared. Almost FrostPunk vibe. Your traffic will grind to a halt, stopping resource flow, industry will shut down, and without heating your citizens will freeze. Also, in winter, certain buildings stop working. So all these mechanics just take the whole game to a new level.

[Delle(DK)]

I think there is a demo on the shop page you can try.

Simcity and other city builds are quite easy compared to workers and resources.
Example just to make 1 small city with 1500 people on the realistic difficulty/hard mode and a little industry to earn money will take you about 8 houres of playing where you mostly sit and wait for your little trucks to deliver the materials for each building and then you also need to transport workers there.
On the most easy mode you can quick build stuff ( pay for the building and complete intant)
then you can build a city in 1-2 houres i think.

And if you did not do the tutorials and played the game and learned how to do things first you properbly will be game over once you get your first people since they freeze to death or other things.
BUT you can play the game on the most easy difficulty this allow you to quick build vs having to deliver materials and the game is more forgiving.. then the game will feel a bit like the other city builders BUT you still have to deliver food, water ect and help people go to work.. Will you enjoy this, YES...
But if you dream about playing with all feature in the game turrned on so the difficulty become realistic where everything comes into play then its not a game for you.
The game take allot of time to play and take a long time to learn on the hardest difficulty.