Elevator (lift) Nightmare!

[EddyNeave]

So I have elevators every so often in my tower but they just arn't good enough. People are getting so mad and i have tried a few things and it just wont work.

So I am just building my 15th floor now and i have 6 elevators across the whole tower (havn't purchased sides) with 1 express elevator in the center going up half the floors. I tried making them go from top to bottom, bottom to top i also tried cutting off the even and odd floors alternating throughout the tower but that doesn't help either.

I have also tried replacing the elevators with express ones but that just made it worse. The lifts just arn't good enough for a 13+ floor tower. I have stairs going all the way up next to every elevator but the idiot npcs would rather walk back an forth between lifts waiting for the whole day to get on instead of using them.

EDIT:
I have just spent a little while messing around with elevators thinking a staggered system would work better, a lift for every 5 floors then a gap on each sort of lift "lane?" but no that is even worse than just straight up and down. I have now tried everything i can think of at this point and the lifts are broken. They need to be about double the speed for the normal lifts and i can't imagine what speed they would need to be for a 100 floor tower.

I also tried putting express lifts in between each normal one so there is a lift as close as they can be, but still not good enough for people to stop walking out.

They just arn't good enough for the job. The only way i can think of fixing it is if the devs make it so 30-50% of npcs choose to take the stairs and the rest take lifts, and if the lift takes too long then they take the stairs instead and only get angry and leave if there are no stairs to replace the slow lift.

Lets face it not everyone takes lifts and if you wanted to go to a shop or restaurant or whatever and the lift was slow you would just take the stairs to that destination not up and leave just cuz the lift is a bit slow.

[Jackie Daytona]

Originally posted by EddyNeave:

So I have elevators every so often in my tower but they just arn't good enough. People are getting so mad and i have tried a few things and it just wont work.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/772865031544114786/952AABAEB04CBC8E2B2C2FFAE4C2B9CDA9BC0B19/

You posted this screenshot. I think I see the problem. (I realize you've updated it since then, but this is the only ss you provided to work with.)

The shafts are too short. You basically have two elevators for leaving the ground floor. Then two to get from the 4th floor to the 8th floor. Then two to get from the 8th floor to the 12th floor.

Which means that everyone has only two lift choices for getting to the 4th floor. (And so on with the other floors.) Which means everyone is going to crowd those elevators.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1972616221

This is what the lower part of my tower looks like. It works reasonably well. My lifts can barely keep up, but that's part of the game's challenge.

Over time you'll unlock new lifts. Notably the double lifts, (Two elevators side-by-side.) and lifts that restrict access based on the type of person. (Employee, construction, and regular.) You'll also unlock faster lifts through the tech tree. As well as increasing the capacity of them. In other words, it'll get easier the more you play.

Originally posted by EddyNeave:

I tried making them go from top to bottom, bottom to top i also tried cutting off the even and odd floors alternating throughout the tower but that doesn't help either.

The elevator settings require careful consideration. Top to bottom works best in the evening. (When people are trying to leave.) Bottom to top works best in the morning. (When many are trying to get up to their floor.) Your busiest lifts need to have their wait time at a minimum.

Originally posted by EddyNeave:

Lets face it not everyone takes lifts and if you wanted to go to a shop or restaurant or whatever and the lift was slow you would just take the stairs to that destination not up and leave just cuz the lift is a bit slow.

The restaurant would have to be REALLY nice for me to walk up 12 flights of stairs.

[EddyNeave]

yeah that was a screenshot of the test map, my other one had about the same number of elevators as your screenshot if not more and at 15 floors it's struggling.

I still havn't unlocked double lifts (level 11 need to be 12) I set all my lifts to very fast wait time and top to bottom after 12 noon and bottom to top before 12 noon still no luck.

The problem i'm getting now which is kinda making me not want to play is that i have a lovely symmetrical layout and adding double or tripple lifts is going to ruin that layout i'm gonna have to sit there for ages gaining money and knock everything down and rebuild to keep the symmetry for me with these types of games its so much better have a nice look while being efficient than just pure efficiency and if it needs to look crap to be efficient then it really puts me off.

[Jackie Daytona]

Originally posted by EddyNeave:

i have a lovely symmetrical layout and adding double or tripple lifts is going to ruin that layout i'm gonna have to sit there for ages gaining money and knock everything down and rebuild to keep the symmetry for me with these types of games its so much better have a nice look while being efficient than just pure efficiency

Pre-planning your shaft locations is critical. I didn't do this, and my tower didn't look as good as I wanted. I had to restart several times for this reason. That screenshot is from my 5th building.

Originally posted by EddyNeave:

I still havn't unlocked double lifts (level 11 need to be 12) I set all my lifts to very fast wait time and top to bottom after 12 noon and bottom to top before 12 noon still no luck.

With short shafts you might be better off setting them to go directly to their destination.

All of the lifts that reach ground floor should also be set to default to ground floor.

[Bob The Tomato]

Elevators in this game, compared to SimTower, are atrocious.

The basic lift carries just 5 people, and has only one car in the shaft; you can't add more. On a fully utilized plot of land 15 floors high, you're looking at about 300 tenants/visitors daily. The way they're designed right now, there's no way in hell the elevators can handle that kind of traffic as the primary means of moving people up and down.

Which is why I use two flights of stairs instead.

Unlike SimTower, stairs serve as the primary means of moving my tenants/visitors between floors. There doesn't SEEM to be a limit as to how many flights of stairs tenants/visitors will use when trying to reach their destination. In my current scenario, I have hotel guests that travel 15 flights of stairs to get to their room and they don't complain one bit. In SimTower, they wouldn't dare do more than climb 3 flights of stairs or 6 flights of escalators.

It's utterly ridiculous how underpowered elevators are and how overpowered stairs are, but for the time being that's how the game works.

[Jackie Daytona]

Originally posted by Goth Skunk:

Elevators in this game, compared to SimTower, are atrocious.

You aren't doing it right. I made a number of posts explaining the system.

Originally posted by Goth Skunk:

The basic lift carries just 5 people, and has only one car in the shaft; you can't add more.

Completely incorrect. (As explained earlier.)

• Lift capacity increases as you level up.
• Two and three car shafts unlock later.
• You can't have two lifts on the same shaft, but you can build two shafts along the same vertical line. (Which isn't much different, and potentially more efficient.)

Originally posted by Goth Skunk:

On a fully utilized plot of land 15 floors high, you're looking at about 300 tenants/visitors daily. The way they're designed right now, there's no way in hell the elevators can handle that kind of traffic as the primary means of moving people up and down.

I've got ~50 floors in my tower. I spent time analyzing real buildings. I applied what I learned to my tower.

My elevator system is great. Over 600 people in the tower, and a stress level of only ~10%.

Originally posted by Goth Skunk:

Which is why I use two flights of stairs instead.

Unlike SimTower, stairs serve as the primary means of moving my tenants/visitors between floors. There doesn't SEEM to be a limit as to how many flights of stairs tenants/visitors will use when trying to reach their destination. In my current scenario, I have hotel guests that travel 15 flights of stairs to get to their room and they don't complain one bit. In SimTower, they wouldn't dare do more than climb 3 flights of stairs or 6 flights of escalators.

That's not sustainable. Each visitor has a stress meter. When it fills? They leave.

Watch closely and you will find that visitors are climbing up, getting stressed, then leaving. Sometimes without ever visiting any shops or attractors.

I think you'll find it hard to keep people in apartments and offices as well. (Especially the ones on the highest floors.)

There might be some loophole with hotel guests. If there is? I'm unaware of it.

Originally posted by Goth Skunk:

It's utterly ridiculous how underpowered elevators are and how overpowered stairs are, but for the time being that's how the game works.

That's not how the game works.

[Bob The Tomato]

Originally posted by NB4Locke:

Completely incorrect. (As explained earlier.)

• Lift capacity increases as you level up.
• Two and three car shafts unlock later.
• You can't have two lifts on the same shaft, but you can build two shafts along the same vertical line. (Which isn't much different, and potentially more efficient.)

I am aware that two and three-car shafts unlock later, however that does me no good right now.

But, two shafts along the same vertical line is news to me. Does that mean that one can build multiple shafts in the same space by overlapping one-another? If so, that changes things.

I've got ~50 floors in my tower. I spent time analyzing real buildings. I applied what I learned to my tower.

Everything I understand about elevators in this game changes if what you're saying is true about us being able to overlap shafts on top of one another.

But, does the game distinguish one shaft from the other? Or do they operate collectively?

That's not sustainable. Each visitor has a stress meter. When it fills? They leave.

Understandable, but fortunately in my towers, which have ye to exceed 15 floors presently until either a better elevator system comes into play, or what you say about overlapping shafts on top of one another is true. It wasn't possible in SimTower, and as this game is essentially a modern-day clone with a few mechanical upgrades, I assumed thesame thing about elevators was true, that one could not build shafts overlapping one-another.

[Jackie Daytona]

Originally posted by Goth Skunk:

Originally posted by NB4Locke:

Completely incorrect. (As explained earlier.)

• Lift capacity increases as you level up.
• Two and three car shafts unlock later.
• You can't have two lifts on the same shaft, but you can build two shafts along the same vertical line. (Which isn't much different, and potentially more efficient.)

I am aware that two and three-car shafts unlock later, however that does me no good right now.

But, two shafts along the same vertical line is news to me. Does that mean that one can build multiple shafts in the same space by overlapping one-another? If so, that changes things.

I've got ~50 floors in my tower. I spent time analyzing real buildings. I applied what I learned to my tower.

Everything I understand about elevators in this game changes if what you're saying is true about us being able to overlap shafts on top of one another.

But, does the game distinguish one shaft from the other? Or do they operate collectively?

That's not sustainable. Each visitor has a stress meter. When it fills? They leave.

Understandable, but fortunately in my towers, which have ye to exceed 15 floors presently until either a better elevator system comes into play, or what you say about overlapping shafts on top of one another is true. It wasn't possible in SimTower, and as this game is essentially a modern-day clone with a few mechanical upgrades, I assumed thesame thing about elevators was true, that one could not build shafts overlapping one-another.

You cannot have overlapping shafts.

I said they could be along the same line. Not atop each other in the same line.

In other words you can have a shaft that goes from 1 to 5. Then another that goes from 7 to 10. Both in a line that can be drawn from the top of the screen to the bottom.

But whatever. You clearly don't want my advice.

[Daunmi]

Originally posted by EddyNeave:

The problem i'm getting now which is kinda making me not want to play is that i have a lovely symmetrical layout and adding double or tripple lifts is going to ruin that layout

Here's how to keep symmetry at all times without having to put much thought into it when things change:

In the middle of your tower, place an employee lift going from the bottom of your basement to the top of your tower. Not a bad place to stick a waiting room to increase floor quality as well, if you feel like it.

On both sides of this, place stairs (for emergencies and for your visitors who don't want to be the sort of fat and/or lazy people who take lifts for one or two floors because they've forgotten what 'stairs' are). The type of stairs doesn't matter, almost no one will use them or wont use them enough so stress won't be generated at any significant level.

Elevators need a gap of 4 tiles between them. Stairs take up 4 tiles. Perfect! You can also use them to help space things out properly if you want to plan for 1/2/3 car elevators. A 1 car elevator with stairs to one side of it takes up the same space as a 3 car elevator.

On each side of the stairs, right next to them starting at ground level (E) place your elevator of choice (ie, the best one you've got) covering 10 floors (from floor E up to floor 9). Set it to have a very short wait time at all times. This is the 'zig'.

Out from those place elevators of your choice (always the best) covering the last floor (9) and the next 9 floors (from floor 9 to floor 18). Again, set them to a very short wait time. This is the 'zag'.

Repeat this, zig-zaging up your tower (floor 18 to floor 27, floor 27 to floor36, etc, etc).

You should now have a service elevator in the middle, stairs on either side of that, and a zig-zag elevator 'path' touching the sides of the stairs on each 'zig'.

Then just repeat the zig-zag as you expand your tower outwards. The pattern always remains the same. When it's time to replace small elevators with bigger ones, the pattern gets pushed out a little but other than that still stays the same.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1987097460

[EddyNeave]

Originally posted by Daunmi:

Originally posted by EddyNeave:

The problem i'm getting now which is kinda making me not want to play is that i have a lovely symmetrical layout and adding double or tripple lifts is going to ruin that layout

Here's how to keep symmetry at all times without having to put much thought into it when things change:

In the middle of your tower, place an employee lift going from the bottom of your basement to the top of your tower. Not a bad place to stick a waiting room to increase floor quality as well, if you feel like it.

On both sides of this, place stairs (for emergencies and for your visitors who don't want to be the sort of fat and/or lazy people who take lifts for one or two floors because they've forgotten what 'stairs' are). The type of stairs doesn't matter, almost no one will use them or wont use them enough so stress won't be generated at any significant level.

Elevators need a gap of 4 tiles between them. Stairs take up 4 tiles. Perfect! You can also use them to help space things out properly if you want to plan for 1/2/3 car elevators. A 1 car elevator with stairs to one side of it takes up the same space as a 3 car elevator.

On each side of the stairs, right next to them starting at ground level (E) place your elevator of choice (ie, the best one you've got) covering 10 floors (from floor E up to floor 9). Set it to have a very short wait time at all times. This is the 'zig'.

Out from those place elevators of your choice (always the best) covering the last floor (9) and the next 9 floors (from floor 9 to floor 18). Again, set them to a very short wait time. This is the 'zag'.

Repeat this, zig-zaging up your tower (floor 18 to floor 27, floor 27 to floor36, etc, etc).

You should now have a service elevator in the middle, stairs on either side of that, and a zig-zag elevator 'path' touching the sides of the stairs on each 'zig'.

Then just repeat the zig-zag as you expand your tower outwards. The pattern always remains the same. When it's time to replace small elevators with bigger ones, the pattern gets pushed out a little but other than that still stays the same.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1987097460

Thanks for the tips, i'll have a mess around and see what i come up with :)

[Sambel Ketek]

Originally posted by Goth Skunk:

Elevators in this game, compared to SimTower, are atrocious.

Agree with this, as someone who enjoyed SimTower, I kinda feel a bit disappointed in knowing that my old SimTower elevator strategy wont do any good in this game.

It was so simple back then, the express goes to every lobby levels, then continued by normal elevators in between those lobbies. Stairs and escalators are used only for floors near the lobbies just to decrease the burden of elevators...

I tried to emulate the same tactic using big elevators as the equivalent of ST's Express Elevators, in which I set them to only stop at lobby levels, then continue by normal elevators or stairs, but the traffic however don't seem to abide by that rules somehow...