I'm not the person you're responding to, but I think this is how what the poster said applies to a SimCity-like model:
>heterogeneity is your guardian angel - varying the path-finding model a little bit from agent to agent hedges against the resonance structures on display here.
Adding a small amount of randomness (occasional 'wrong' turns) reduces congestion on the major paths that would be the dominant route for agents.
>Additionally, you periodically check the accumulated micros against a macro model and correct gross deviations. Neither step is computationally strenuous.
Every once in a while, check and make sure those wrong turns didn't add up to some agents being way far away from their destinations; if so, turn them in the right direction.
AFAIK it doesn't even have to be wrong turns. You can just have some agents prefer to turn more often and others to drive straight for longer stretches, or have some prefer to approach things from the left and others from the right. They won't be randomly turning the wrong direction, but they'll prefer different paths.
Or to put it in a more socioeconomic context, consider a low-wealth actor that might prefer to avoid toll roads, versus a high-wealth actor that would rather pay a little bit to save some time. Those are the kinds of motivations I was hoping to see in this game.
>heterogeneity is your guardian angel - varying the path-finding model a little bit from agent to agent hedges against the resonance structures on display here.
Adding a small amount of randomness (occasional 'wrong' turns) reduces congestion on the major paths that would be the dominant route for agents.
>Additionally, you periodically check the accumulated micros against a macro model and correct gross deviations. Neither step is computationally strenuous.
Every once in a while, check and make sure those wrong turns didn't add up to some agents being way far away from their destinations; if so, turn them in the right direction.