SimCity Societies patch with strategic mode released and game modded for the Holidays
With the new SimCity Societies patch players will get a new Strategic mode, in which they’ll need to approach the game much more slowly and deliberately. This SimCity Societies patch is out now.
Meant for the “hardcore” players, Strategic Mode comes in three, progressively more demanding flavors: Basic, Hardcore, and Nightmare. Each of these is unlockable; players must win the Jack-of-all-Trades trophy and at least one other trophy at their current level to ratchet up the challenge. Basic is just slightly tougher than the original game, while Nightmare is really brutal. All three difficulties emphasize a more strategic approach to decision making, rather than the free-form, “sandbox” style of the original. This means players will have to take special care with what buildings they choose to purchase, as each now comes with a much heftier maintenance cost. In Nightmare mode, for example, buildings suck 8% of their initial costs in regular maintenance fees; construct stuff haphazardly and you’ll soon find yourself in debtors’ prison. You’ll also have to focus on making distinct neighborhoods. For example, players will want to place Spirituality-producing buildings near a central structure that boosts the Simoleon output of all other Spirituality-producing ones. That way, players can maximize (or even stack) critical financial bonuses for similar buildings while minimizing construction costs. Making zoning essential.
On top of gameplay changes, EA promises a host of minor tweaks and fixes in the new patch, including several new GUIs that will change along with your city’s theme. Also promised are several bug fixes, a couple new downloadable buildings, and a framerate bump. Hopefully that’ll solve all the issues we had when we reviewed SimCity Societies.
Check out the cheerful holiday festivities, and some of the cool things that modders can accomplish with the game engine. This trailer shows what’s in the new SimCity Societies Holiday mod you can download.
