I suppose that Landmarks EyeCandy are not the most exciting category :) The PIMX gives them all landmark effect 40/20 :( Well, I believe this could be changed to better reflect the game's reality.
In the original game, basically, the higher the landmark, the bigger the effect. PIMX uses this approach to calculate building Worth and derive from it Bulldoze, Plop and Monthly costs. Unfortunately, the formulas used produce quite different results if applied to game's buildings. Examples:
- Chrysler Building, original plop 170K, PIMX cost 435K
- CN Tower - 225K vs. 595K
- Smith Tower - 55K vs 141K
- Sphinx - 50K vs. 23K
- Lincoln Memorial - 85K vs. 44K
In short, "tall" LMs get higher plop cost, "small" ones get lower than original.
I did some analysis of all the Maxis LMs (ca. 50 items) - looking for correlations, trends, formulas, etc. My conclusions are as follows.
1. Starting from the easy one - LM Radius can be derived from LM effect using a very simple formula:
LMradius = LMeffect/5 + 12
LM effect should by a multiple of 5.
2. The LM effect and Worth are connected to Height, but a modification is needed for buildings like stadiums, i.e. which are not only tall, but hm... "fat". I found out that the best results for LM effect are when the basis is the biggest of dimensions, and some correction for other dimensions should be applied (a bonus for "fat" buildings). I tried simple Volume and Area but it doesn't work so well.
The better formula for CalculatedElevation could be:
CalculatedElevation = max(Dimensions) + (sum(Dimensions)-max(Dimensions))/3,
i.e. the biggest dimension plus 1/3 of the two other. This way, for the really tall buildings height still matters the most, but for buildings like stadiums, width or depth can determine the LM effect. Plus the buildings which are "fat" get additional bonus :)
3. The LM effect then can be calculated:
LMeffect = int((0.15*CalculatedElevation+22)/5)*5
The /5 and *5 assures that final result is a multiple of 5.
4. The Worth formula, little changed:
Worth = int(CalculatedElevation*3.25)+360
The results:
- Chrysler Building - 181K, 85/29
- CN Tower - 236K, 110/34
- Smith Tower - 87K, 45/21
- Sphinx - 61K, 30/18
- Lincoln Memorial - 70K, 35/19
The code for PIMX:
<eval name="LMvarMax" value="max(Width,Height,Depth)"/>
<eval name="LMvarElvt" value="LMvarMax+(Width+Height+Depth-LMvarMax)/3"/>
<eval name="Worth" value="int(LMvarElvt*3.25)+360"/>
<eval name="LMvarEff" value="int((0.15*LMvarElvt+22)/5)"/>
<PROPERTY ID="0x2781284F" Eval="int(5*LMvarEff),int(LMvarEff+12)"/><!--Landmark effect-->
<PROPERTY ID="0x099AFACD" Eval="5*Worth"/><!--Bulldoze cost-->
<PROPERTY ID="0x8A2602B9" Remove="8A2602B9"/><!-- Item Order -->
The last line is to ensure that the Landmark is sorted in the menu just as Maxis landmarks, only by Plop cost.
Best regards
G.
I see that you're just as crazy as I am... ?=mad)= I like that! :D
I predict that our paths will be crossing more and more in the future... ::)
Quote from: Infixo on March 05, 2010, 02:37:44 PM
The last line is to ensure that the Landmark is sorted in the menu just as Maxis landmarks, only by Plop cost.
ItemOrderForPloppable can be given in an additional file, config.ini (overruling the settings in settings.ini),
for people who want all their landmarks grouped together in the menu.
Removing the Item Order completely would unfortunately remove this functionality...