Farming-Help a new player

[pumazzo]

Hi fellow CEOs!
I'm a veteran of the 1996 original Capitalism game and I've just picked up Capitalim Lab.
I can't access the world map outside the suburbs of the city, so the land is just too expensive.
This may sound stupid, but I found the world map and I can only cycle between the cities.
Second question, What is the purpose of community building? Do they improve your Brand rating? I don't remember them from the original game.
Thanks for your help.

[counting]

Very glad to hear from old friends like you who also played the Capitalism series for decades .

The game mechanism went through a big change since Capitalism II (thus Cap Lab as well) with the original Capitalism game's uniform world map changed into hierarchical two-tier system, the world contains several cities, and cities themselves are similar to the old map system. Hence there are inter-city connection/freight as well as intra-city connection/freight (with cities' distance between them are measured in real world mileages). The climate model in the old version is completely dropped, so farming locations within city boundary no longer have different preference to different crops like they used to be (however since cities are located in real longitude and latitude, the climate model could be reintroduced in the future, perhaps in the coming up city simulation expansion pack).

As for the purpose of community buildings, they boost Community Facility service index to their surrounding resident buildings, also increase the land value and traffic index for retail stores indirectly. And quality of living in a city is also affected by them. Community Facility convenience is also a key factor to determine the attractiveness of apartment, thus its occupancy rate and rent income. The increased population within an area in term also affects commercial buildings attractiveness. And eventually the population growth (or drop) in a city. They are key factors in real estate mechanism and city economy background given players more power to shape the world around them as they fit. You can even build a mini-city from ground up in empty area (real-estate focused AI employs this strategy very often).

[pumazzo]

I figured it out 10 minutes after posting the question. Then I noticed that the difference in cost between the city centre and the outskirt of the city was about 5M for a large farm. Eventually, with the reduced freight cost, I will get that sum back in a few decades so I am going to breed pigs in front of the city Hall. A dream comes true.
Lots of things has changed since the last time I played but I like how they keep the spirit of the game intact.
By the way, I have a suggestion. Buildings in the centre should pay higher maintenance costs.

Counting, thank you for your help. I'll try a real-estate game next time.

[counting]

Is there any reason why the overhead close to the CBD should be higher? It's not like you "rent" the place, but actually own the land. The close to center of the city is already a rare "commodity" when there are enough AIs in the game with high aggressiveness. AIs will build farms and factories near retail stores with high aggressiveness setting. And most time human players are forced to build further just to have some prime real estate left for retail stores.

[kazenorin]

Is there any reason why the overhead close to the CBD should be higher? It's not like you "rent" the place, but actually own the land. The close to center of the city is already a rare "commodity" when there are enough AIs in the game with high aggressiveness. AIs will build farms and factories near retail stores with high aggressiveness setting. And most time human players are forced to build further just to have some prime real estate left for retail stores.

Perhaps some concepts like... operating "land tax"