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Citystate, build and rule a nation

Makabb

Arcane
Shitposter Bethestard
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Sep 19, 2014
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Citystate is a city-builder and a political sandbox in which you plan, build and rule a micro nation from scratch. A simulator made to challenge your political views and your governing skills no matter where you are on the political spectrum. Every decision has multiple impacts on multiple time scales, your State will progressively change according to your choices and skills. In Citystate there is no rule, no limit, no mandatory first steps, no tech tree, not any boundary to the core gameplay. Only the most pragmatic but complex economic simulator to experiment with and in complete freedom.
 

BrotherFrank

Nouveau Riche
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This game looks like the sort of strategy game i'd pick up in a dodgy shop 15 years ago (this is how i got caesar, pharaoh, tropico 1, mafia and sacrifice among many others) going off nothing more then a few screenshots and a blurb at the back describing the premise....

Therefore it looks utterly amazing and is now my most anticipated city builder of 2018.
 

Commissar Draco

Codexia Comrade Colonel Commissar
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Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Sim City 3000 was cool game and I always wanted to play with more options than what increasingly PC Maxis gave me; if they will allow Commissar's Orthodox Communist Monarchy Utopia to be build I am all sold Comrades and Trannies.

:russia:
 

Althorion

Learned
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Apr 22, 2017
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Citystate is a city-builder and a political sandbox in which you plan, build and rule a micro nation from scratch. A simulator made to challenge your political views and your governing skills no matter where you are on the political spectrum.
I find it doubtful. You just can’t have a libertarian approach in a city-building game, since libertarians oppose any central city planing. If the game is to be anything more than min-maxing sliders and indirect governing through edicts, you must go full central planing, where you pick where to put police stations, how dense should be the architecture, what kind of industry you want etc.
 

Makabb

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I always found simcity lacking something because when you built a city and watched it grow.... then what? This might be bretty gud if done right, because when you will build a city you will have to maintain it due to political options, so even with a full fledged city you should have always something to do.


KEEP THE BORDERS CLOSED !


They even have the 'gender equality' slider haha
 

Makabb

Arcane
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Found some info on the game.



ECONOMY


There is no right way to grow and plan the city-state. This is a sandbox game that provides complex dynamics and mechanics to experience with.
The main goal of Citystate’s game design was to offer to the players an economic simulator that is not trading off realism for convenience. Being the leader of a State is a tough job, many things are going on and most of them are hard to understand. Although you won’t be guided step by step, you won’t get through a mandatory tutorial, Citystate is throwing you in the arena just like the leaders of the real world when they get into power.
Modeling a whole nation’s economy definitely comes with synthesizing things up and making some choices. Most building games gives to the player a considerable power of intervention on the economy as if there were not any other stakeholder involved. That is not the philosophy of Citystate, here the economy is represented as a highly responsive and fragile system. The game’s logic imitates the real world motions, all the pieces are closely interlinked to one another and nothing is always straightforward. A new political decision, a tax raise or a cut in the education budget will have effects everywhere.

The Demand

That’s where everything happens and the main indicator of the state’s health.
First of all, the demand bars should not be understood literally but more as the overall investment capacity: this is how much extra money currently in the citizens’ pockets ready to get invested anytime. In other words, a healthy economy will generate extra cash which will grow the demand bars accordingly.
The demand is divided in 3 parts: the low-end market, the middle market and the high end market.
– A growing low-end market means that more citizens are now looking for buying cheap products. Either there are middle classes with diminishing purchase power or new and uneducated citizens looking to move in. Cheap houses and old condominiums will be developing around the city.
– A growing middle market means that poor citizens are getting more opportunities to make more money or maybe that state subsidies and allowance allow the citizens to get a better life. Typical suburb houses and contemporary condominiums will be developing around the city.
– A growing high-end market means that more people are able to benefit from the state’s expansion. Less business and trading barriers usually allow the most successful citizens to thrive and invest in the city. Luxury houses and futuristic high-rise buildings will be developing around the city

Budgeting

3 budgets have to be defined: Education, Health and Security. All of them are expressed in $ spent per inhabitant and are directly related to their respective score on the main interface – this is all about macro management and not about plopping schools and hospitals. Budgeting is a very powerful tool to be handled carefully and that can seriously alter the overall budget equilibrium.
The amount of money spent by sector in addition to the effects of the legislation will progressively affect the quality and the level of performance of each score. Consequently and depending of the scores, underlying mechanisms are transforming the society. For instance, an educated population will get richer, as much as an unsafe state will undermine businesses and investments.


Production and trade

Economy-Production.gif
The balance of trade is a significant stakeholder to a state’s economy. A wide deficit usually lower the value of a state’s currency.
In Citystate the citizens are in need of 3 main commodities: food, iron and oil. Each of them can be directly produced locally and in specific biomes.
– Iron: mines can be built on top of mountains.
– Oil: can be found and exploited in the deserts.
– Food: grass areas of the country can be open to farming.
As a bonus for the balance of trade, Gold ore can be found and exploited in the jungles.

dec29.png



Stock Market and Loans

bonds.png

stockmarket.png


When a State spends more than it earns taking a loan is an option. Therefore new investments can be done to ensure future profits. Taking a loan or more specifically issuing bonds is more or less costly depending on the State’s financial health. Foreign investors will provide cheap loans to a State that is surely not about to bankrupt and that is open-market oriented.
The stock market index is an indicator of how local and foreign investors respond to the political decisions and to the overall quality of the management. It has a greater impact on higher social classes growth and partly influence the interest rate.
As of today, “net change” is the indicator to follow while the global index has no direct consequences on the economy.


The political issues

A growing City-State always leads to the emergence of new public concerns. Thus, every 5 minutes or so a new issue will emerge from the crowds. There is no deadline to face it, although the accumulation of unanswered issues heads towards a loss of stability.
To every issue there are 4 options. The first will usually be based on the libertarian ideology while the fourth will be very close to the communist philosophy. The second and third options are typically the closest to today’s democracies: the second option comes with little government intervention (like the USA or Australia) while the third is usually more egalitarian (like the Nordic countries).

issues.png


Given that there are a total of 40 issues to answer, each coming with 4 options then there are literally 160 shades between Anarchy and Dictatorship to choose from.
Estimating and understanding the consequences of a choice
Each of the 160 choices comes with a unique set of consequences on the economy and the demographics. And just like in the real world the leader cannot precisely assess the exact outcomes in all sectors of society.
Some estimations are nonetheless indicated but only after the choice has already been made.
What does these results mean and how to anticipate them to take better decisions?
A bit of common sense and a good knowledge of economics can surely help. Also a few questions can be asked to understand the background logic:

– Will this legislation reduce prices? More competitors allowed to enter a market will lower prices which in the end drives mainly to a bigger middle class.
– Will this legislation create a monopoly? More regulations make it harder for new businesses to appear, thus just a few companies earn it all – roughly speaking, the rich get richer and there are less opportunities for smaller investors.
– Will they be new business opportunities? Opening a public sector to private investors for instance, can give new business opportunities – some will fail, some will win.
– Will this legislation provide a way out to those without wealth? Providing allowances and social welfare can help the citizens to recover faster after a failure. Providing an extensive social policy will push a lot of citizens out of poverty.
– Will this legislation foster upward mobility? For instance, giving equal chances to everyone to access a high quality education will undoubtedly give opportunities to the poor to get a better life – in a healthy economy.
– Is the public money invested with this legislation the best investment for everyone? Every government intervention has a cost, are we sure that the same amount of money won’t have greater effects if invested elsewhere?

issuesanswer.png

Government forms

There are 26 government forms that can be assigned to your State. 4 questions at the beginning of a new map will already indicate your type of government, but this will evolve all along the game while answering new issues.
The type of government is made of two words:
– An adjective that depends on the state’s Freedom score, 5 possibilities: Libertarian, Capitalist, Liberal, Socialist, Communist
– A noun related to the state’s Civil Rights score, 6 possibilities: People’s Republic, Welfare State, Democracy, Oligarchy, Dictatorship (low freedom score) or Anarchy (high freedom score).

Border control and immigration

When founding a new State, by default the immigration is restricted. Whenever you feel that the country is ready to welcome new families, this policy can be changed. Each change is a pretty big political decision and something a bit destabilizing, but facilitating new arrivals can definitely boost the demographics.
Experiment gently with this tool. Opening the borders generally leads to a flow of low income families inducing a decrease in the average education score, higher income disparities and thus a lower security score.
dec292.png

Riots

Even if Citystate doesn’t include elections, a public approval rate is shown in the statistics window and has to be checked from time to time. This rate is calculated by taking into account the same things that citizens of real countries seems to care the most about, namely: Quality of life, security and inequalities. New legislation also impact the public approval rate and to a lesser extent some economic indicators.
When the public approval rate plunges riots have more to chance to appear and to spread on the boulevards. They will usually appear downtown, they are destructive and target the rich.
20171116_033236.gif


Land Value

Land value is the number one cause of everything that is built in a city. For instance skyscrapers only grow in areas expensive enough that their construction’s additional cost is lesser than the profit they can make. Higher income families tend to settle in high priced neighborhood while the others look for good deals and affordability. This is pretty much common sense but management games deviate more and more from such simple economic theories.
Two main components of land value in Citystate:
– Environment quality: forest, water, mountains and parks increase nearby land value.
– Density: high density neighborhoods offer more services and opportunities, their value increases.
– Mobility: Being close and connected to the main avenues of a city also increases land value.

Density and roads

Like all good self-respecting city-builder, Citystate provides a zoning tool to open new areas for construction. It comes with 3 options that limit the buildings’ maximum height.
Areas open for construction come with a maintenance cost that represents the price of urban services like water, power and waste disposal. Constructed lots and non-constructed lots induce the same maintenance cost.
There are 3 choices of road to build, with their own traffic capacity and maintenance cost. A few things to know about roads in Citystate:
– Roads have a range capacity of 3 tiles
– Mines and farms have to be connected to the main road system (no independent roads).
– When roads exceed their capacity the land value of surrounding tiles tend to decrease.
– Traffic is based on the local population density and the global amount of roads available per inhabitant.
roads3types2.png

Abandonment and Slums

Each building has a minimum desired land value and the need to be connected to a road in a range of 3 tiles so abandonment happens when the land value gets too low or when the road is destroyed. In healthy states, new constructions will soon replace these decayed areas.
slums1601.png
 

Makabb

Arcane
Shitposter Bethestard
Joined
Sep 19, 2014
Messages
11,753
And some twitter responses from the developer

It'll be on steam for around $10

I really wanted to bring something refreshing to the city building genre, something based on macro management rather than building pipelines and plopping undertaker companies. Well, at least that's the challenge I took!

This is a 2.5D game so it is less cpu intensive than skylines, I can't promise it won't slow down a bit with huge cities though.

Mac version is scheduled to be released on March

Compatible avec Linux

Thanks! No lower density roads in the initial release but surely later, as it is something often requested!

Maps? Big enough so you won't feel limited by the map borders!

Q:Can I turn my city into North korea?
A:Yes! and if you want you really can!

We do it the old fashion way, no crowdfunding, no early access. It'll be on steam

Citizens can express their feelings toward the government.

The maps are procedurally generated! Next step: custom generation

The futuristic buildings only become available once the city gets very populous.
 

Makabb

Arcane
Shitposter Bethestard
Joined
Sep 19, 2014
Messages
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So Libertarian Democracy is an Utopia according to the developer? :makesyouthink:

DUEm757UMAEknyw.jpg



I like how stock market when it gets high goes above the actual bar :D




Rural shithole?

DTH6UEzVMAADFm1.jpg



DOx6WtwUIAAKLLw.jpg
 
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Makabb

Arcane
Shitposter Bethestard
Joined
Sep 19, 2014
Messages
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I hope after release the developer will be expanding and making expansions or DLC's for this, everything seems A-M-A-Z-I-N-G so far
 

oscar

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Aug 30, 2008
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NZ
Intrigued. Should be fun to experiment with going full Nazbol fortress state to full Anarcho-capitalist legal coke and child labour.
 

Turisas

Arch Devil
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Riots

Even if Citystate doesn’t include elections, a public approval rate is shown in the statistics window and has to be checked from time to time. This rate is calculated by taking into account the same things that citizens of real countries seems to care the most about, namely: Quality of life, security and inequalities. New legislation also impact the public approval rate and to a lesser extent some economic indicators.
When the public approval rate plunges riots have more to chance to appear and to spread on the boulevards. They will usually appear downtown, they are destructive and target the rich.
20171116_033236.gif

Better be able to field a militarized police force to put these rabble-rousers down swiftly.
 

Zarniwoop

TESTOSTERONIC As Fuck™
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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
It's been two decades since I played SimCity 2000, but suddenly I feel like installing it again --- and Good Old Games is selling it for just $6. :M
Honestly, just play 3000. It's superior in every way.

And 4 is superior in every way to both those. And there are thousands of mods for it.

Simcity is one of the very rare series that kept improving with each installment. Until they shit the bed completely with NuSimCity of course. There is no reason to play the old ones. Unless you REALLY like arcologies.
 

Grif

Learned
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Nov 4, 2016
Messages
231
Honestly, just play 3000. It's superior in every way.

And 4 is superior in every way to both those. And there are thousands of mods for it.

Simcity is one of the very rare series that kept improving with each installment. Until they shit the bed completely with NuSimCity of course. There is no reason to play the old ones. Unless you REALLY like arcologies.

Never understood why 4 decided to drop arcologies. Was a fun, end-game thing to build when you really have nothing else to do and millions of dollars to spend.
 

Delterius

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Dec 12, 2012
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15,956
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Entre a serra e o mar.
Citystate is a city-builder and a political sandbox in which you plan, build and rule a micro nation from scratch. A simulator made to challenge your political views and your governing skills no matter where you are on the political spectrum.
I find it doubtful. You just can’t have a libertarian approach in a city-building game, since libertarians oppose any central city planing. If the game is to be anything more than min-maxing sliders and indirect governing through edicts, you must go full central planing, where you pick where to put police stations, how dense should be the architecture, what kind of industry you want etc.

"to challenge your political views and your governing skills no matter where you are on the political spectrum"

:M:M:M
 

Mr. Pink

Travelling Gourmand, Crab Specialist
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Jan 9, 2015
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PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I only wish we would finally get a city builder where having slums and lots of low income housing is economically viable so i can create the ultimate neo-liberal utopia.
:keepmymoney:

The problem with city builders is that you can win them, in the sense that raising the standard of living and having everyone be middle class or higher is extremely easy. If I play Sim City 4 or Cities Skylines the way the devs want me to play, I'll end up with nothing but skyscrapers, high tech industry and mansions. Without the shitty parts of the city, it doesn't feel real.
 

Stokowski

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Gehenna
It doesn't help that most city simulations handle the data that influences class demand in an averaged rather than stratified manner. So strong separations of hi/mid/low class districts are hard to accomplish in a single map. Keep building parks and schools in the posh parts of town and eventually that'll bleed over to affect the whole tile, killing off your beautiful dirty industries.
 

new fucking guy

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Oct 22, 2017
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Pathfinder: Wrath
It's released on steam, and there's an achievement for being a commie.

 
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