SimCity 4 Advice

[Tyranicus]

I started playing SC4 again and I just wanted to get some tips or advice on how to build cities. When I play my citys tend to be very abstract when it comes to zoning. I follow one rule: Residental and Comerical zones in the middle and Industy zones on the outskirts. What I was wondering is it good stragey to just let you city flow naturally or make everythin into a grid like pattern?

 

[Yali]

Mixing Industry and residential/commercial is only a problem in the beginning when you have only dirty industry. High tech industry later on can be mixed with the other zones or kept seperate as they won't develop in polluted areas.

Main problem I found is with transportation system as there seems to be a problem with the coding. People will NOT pick the fastest mode of transport to get to work (bus->subway etc.) but always the shortest (usually car). So mass transit systems can easily fail miserably and roads remain clogged. There are mods that attempt to correct this issue but I've never tried one. I guess that's the main problem with having a "city flow naturally" because the citizens don't often do what you think of as natural.

 

[srm79]

Build at least one or two educational buildings as early as possible and absolutely before you lay your first industrial zone, and then reduce the funding to meet your population needs (you'll go bust in no time if you leave it at max). Then tax ALL industry EXCEPT hi tech at the maximum (20%?). Now the only industry that will appear will be hi-tech. This is clean, and brings in a lot of money. Just remember to pay absolute attention to maintaining a good education system. Your city will profit hugely from it.

It also helps if you have built a "dirty" city in an adjascent tile, as you can do deals to have your rubbish hauled away until you are able to manage your recycling and waste processing more effectively.

Try to have a rough idea where you are going to put things when you start out. Try to plan ahead a little and envision what you want your city to become. Leave plenty of space between zones for public parks and other amenities. Remember that eventually you will want to lay railways and motorways to link with neighbouring cities (as well as servicing your own commuters).

My cities tend to start with commercial and residential centres with industry far enough not to be a problem to begin with in terms of pollution (if I'm not going after a hi-tech only scenario) but close enough for easy access. By the time I've filled the city area, I've usually bulldozed the original zones out of existence. I also find that over time the city just evolves of its own accord. I've had cities with industrial centres, commercial centres, residential centres and various mixtures thereof. My only real concrete rules involve the placing of certain structures. Airports always go near the edge, and I never build hi-density around them for example. On bigger city "tiles" I often end up with an M25 style ring-road of motorway around the edges providing links to neighbouring cities as well as a convenient way to move between outlying districts of the city. On smaller tiles the motorway will usually cross the map from at least one side to the other. Landfills always go on the furthest corner of the map from where I start building residential zones, and the golf course never goes near any kind of industry, airports or ports.

I also tend to have several cities at a time on the go, with the goal of linking them all up eventually.

 

[Yali]

Yeah, the "playing across different maps" thing is something I still need to get used to. I've seen screenshots of regions that look absolutely fantastic with whole maps representing zones instead of having all zones in one map. It's an interesting way of playing.

I think I'll try to build the city I live in (1.8 mio population so it's varied enough to span a big area with different zones). Checking google satelite image as we speak

 

[srm79]

It takes a serious amount of time to do this. I have a save file on my PC that I've been working on for about 3 or 4 years now. Granted I can go weeks or even months at a time without playing, but still...

Just build each city as a standalone unit to begin with. You can aim in the longer term to have entire city zones doing specific things (commerce, agri, industry etc) but each city needs to be pretty much independent for a long time with only limited neighbour deals.

Just keep doing what you're doing, and once your city is up and running to a point where you are no longer building, but merely refining it, start a new city on an adjoining tile. Once its established and has road and rail links to its neighbour, build it up and move on to the next tile again. Keep revisiting them from time to time to update neighbour deals and make any tweaks or refinements, and play them to build up your stats to unlock the good shit on the building trees. Eventually you end up with a bunch of cities that have naturally integrated over time. Play this game for long enough, and it's a process of evolution more than anything else.

 

[Frybird]

I've heard that the Farmer's Market "Reward" is one of the best things you can have because it boosts the overall health of your citizens and heightens the value for commercial and residential zones....

...but man, i feel agriculture is kinda useless. Not much gain, huge zones required (and many of them if you go for the farmer's market) and not much income. Also horrible amounts of water pollution.
So screw Agriculture.

Actual tips:
- Build by demand: You can make the start of your city smoother by not overcompensating. A power plant and a school are everything you really need at the start. Not even water is required for a few low wealth residentials to settle in. ...You might want to build a fire station after a while though.
It's a slow start, but it helps dampen the initial cost of the city. If a police station and other things are required, you will be notified. Once you have a decent income and your zones planned out, you can add water pumps and suddenly see your city growing very fast.

- Exploit the Hell out of Toll Booths: If your Industrial Zone is a bit away from your other zones, build a single avenue leading to it and build a bunch of toll booths along the way. Traffic may be a later concern, but until then the citizens will pay a lot of money without complaints ^^.

- Waste-To-Energy facilities have a bunch of downsides, like pollution, moderate maintenance costs and a high initial price, but set thier energy output/funding to zero and you have a clean and cheap alternative to landfills and recycling centers.


...i've rediscovered Sim City 4 due to the steam deal and find it more addictive (and time consuming : /) than even Minecraft.
I manage to get cities off to a good start (on normal difficulty), but unfortunately once the city grows i find it hard to manage my finances...i have no problem making SOME money, but it's never enough to be able to actually expand my city without coming close to being in debt.

 

[theSteamSupported]

How do I make a good city?

Mods and patience, man. Mods and patience.

Also, there are communities out there commited to SC4 modding and city building. Go check them out to truly discover the potential of this game.

 

[Vampire cat]

I always go heavy on schools quite early, but make sure to lower the funding of this and all other thing and just micromanage them in the earlier stages of the game. It's very hard to build a good stable society without doing this. Keep the funding just above what you need (make room for a few extra students, maybe a bigger gap if you are about to build new residential zones). Use some commercial zones early out, but by own experience most Sims like to work in the sexy, sexy industry. Personally I use only the minimum amount of industry I can get away with until I can get into high tec.

It's a bit hard to explain really, for me anyway! There are so many "little things". Love the game though, one of my all time favorites ^^. I'm sure there are good guides somewhere on the internet, use Google!

And have fun, Mayor!

 

[RedLister]

Don't expand too bloody fast. I ended up failing big time financially through being a bit too overambitious and building too much in a short time