Sim City 4 help - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Grasshopper Green · 08-13-2005, 07:34 AM

OK, I searched for this, and saw some discussion threads about Sim City4, but not really what I need.

I have Sim City 4 and I really, really suck at it. It's the only sim game I've ever played other than Sim Theme Park, which is very simple. My city keeps deteriorating, I am always out of money and can't seem to generate taxes..and I've never been able to have communications with a neighboring area. Any suggestions? Good help sites? I've read the manual front to back but it really doesn't seem to help. Thanks!

hulk · 08-13-2005, 07:45 AM

Hmm. My experience ends with SimCity 2000, but I'll try to help. Residential first, then industrial and commercial. Always make sure to have enough residential areas to support both, ie, you can't really go even thirds. Keep taxes fairly low, expand slowly, make sure your water connects and so forth.

Man, I'm gonna go play SC2000 again. I made an utterly perfect city, then built all Launch Acros and they departed happily.

Grasshopper Green · 08-14-2005, 09:36 AM

Thanks for the tips, hulk; I'll give it a try!!

FngKestrel · 08-14-2005, 12:22 PM

Oh...that game...it's always been an interesting balance of incomes and expenditures.

I'd say, try setting up dummy cities in the surrounding areas and seeing if you can set up business agreements with them.

Reese · 08-15-2005, 01:33 AM

Planning is a big part of how well your town will do. Mountains, water, and other terrain features are hard to work around so start with a flat, or at least a pretty simple terrain. During planning you want to take into account pollution caused by some power plants, and industrial zones. You also want to consider your placement of zones so you can get good coverage from Schools, Police and and Fire Department.

- Building your Power Plant on the corner of the map will reduce it's area of pollution by 3/4.
- Keep Residential away from Dirty Industrial zones. Put some trees between them to reduce pollution.
- Plan for future expansions. Leave some unzoned space between your Residential, Commercial and Industrial areas. It gets your sims farther away from pollution and gives you areas to add an extra Fire Station if needed.
- Schools only need to cover residential zones.
- Industrial zones are fire hazards so keep a Fire Station close. They also have a higher crime rate, especially early on.

If you just takes your initial 100k and buy one of everything you're doomed to get overwhelmed. You want to keep your income only slightly higher than your expenses. Also, You're advisors don't give a crap about your money, so don't build everything they want as soon as they ask for it. Build at a pace that you can afford.

- Build the most important utilities first. Power and Water are the two most important things followed by Police, Fire and Schools.
- Water towers are cheaper than pumps in the early years. Don't place more water pipes than you need. A pipe supplys water 6 tiles on both sides so pipes should have 12 tiles between them.
- To add to the last tip, A building with power supplies power to buildings within 4 tiles so you don't need powerlines over short distances.
- Be careful with your funding. Police and Fire don't like being underfunded, Water pipes break if underfunded, power plants decay faster when over capacity, Schools will strike if there are too many students. Adjust funding frequently.
- Lowering taxes will give you a small population boost but raising them can hinder growth for a long time, even if you lower it back after 1-2 days.
- Basically, Don't pay for more than you need.

I'm too bored to type anything else.

Gamefaqs.com has alot more information than I can think to type right now. They have some very indepth guides to getting your town started and growing into a huge city.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/dos...me/561176.html

FngKestrel · 08-15-2005, 01:37 AM

Not that this is really applicable to the question at hand, but a neat bug in SimCity 2000 was that hydroelectric power plants never broke down. So in the terrain creation screen, I'd make a medium sized mountain with water on it and place hydro all over that mountain. Or I'd build in an area with plateaus and place hydro plants for each neighborhood as necessary.

08-13-2005, 07:34 AM	#1 (permalink)
Grasshopper Green ...is a comical chap Location: Where morons reign supreme	Sim City 4 help OK, I searched for this, and saw some discussion threads about Sim City4, but not really what I need. I have Sim City 4 and I really, really suck at it. It's the only sim game I've ever played other than Sim Theme Park, which is very simple. My city keeps deteriorating, I am always out of money and can't seem to generate taxes..and I've never been able to have communications with a neighboring area. Any suggestions? Good help sites? I've read the manual front to back but it really doesn't seem to help. Thanks! __________________ "They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king" Formerly Medusa

08-13-2005, 07:45 AM	#2 (permalink)
hulk C'mon, just blow it. Location: Perth, Australia	Hmm. My experience ends with SimCity 2000, but I'll try to help. Residential first, then industrial and commercial. Always make sure to have enough residential areas to support both, ie, you can't really go even thirds. Keep taxes fairly low, expand slowly, make sure your water connects and so forth. Man, I'm gonna go play SC2000 again. I made an utterly perfect city, then built all Launch Acros and they departed happily. __________________ "'There's a tendency among the press to attribute the creation of a game to a single person,' says Warren Spector, creator of Thief and Deus Ex." -- From an IGN game review.

08-14-2005, 09:36 AM	#3 (permalink)
Grasshopper Green ...is a comical chap Location: Where morons reign supreme	Thanks for the tips, hulk; I'll give it a try!! __________________ "They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king" Formerly Medusa

08-15-2005, 01:33 AM	#5 (permalink)
Reese Delicious	Planning is a big part of how well your town will do. Mountains, water, and other terrain features are hard to work around so start with a flat, or at least a pretty simple terrain. During planning you want to take into account pollution caused by some power plants, and industrial zones. You also want to consider your placement of zones so you can get good coverage from Schools, Police and and Fire Department. - Building your Power Plant on the corner of the map will reduce it's area of pollution by 3/4. - Keep Residential away from Dirty Industrial zones. Put some trees between them to reduce pollution. - Plan for future expansions. Leave some unzoned space between your Residential, Commercial and Industrial areas. It gets your sims farther away from pollution and gives you areas to add an extra Fire Station if needed. - Schools only need to cover residential zones. - Industrial zones are fire hazards so keep a Fire Station close. They also have a higher crime rate, especially early on. If you just takes your initial 100k and buy one of everything you're doomed to get overwhelmed. You want to keep your income only slightly higher than your expenses. Also, You're advisors don't give a crap about your money, so don't build everything they want as soon as they ask for it. Build at a pace that you can afford. - Build the most important utilities first. Power and Water are the two most important things followed by Police, Fire and Schools. - Water towers are cheaper than pumps in the early years. Don't place more water pipes than you need. A pipe supplys water 6 tiles on both sides so pipes should have 12 tiles between them. - To add to the last tip, A building with power supplies power to buildings within 4 tiles so you don't need powerlines over short distances. - Be careful with your funding. Police and Fire don't like being underfunded, Water pipes break if underfunded, power plants decay faster when over capacity, Schools will strike if there are too many students. Adjust funding frequently. - Lowering taxes will give you a small population boost but raising them can hinder growth for a long time, even if you lower it back after 1-2 days. - Basically, Don't pay for more than you need. I'm too bored to type anything else. Gamefaqs.com has alot more information than I can think to type right now. They have some very indepth guides to getting your town started and growing into a huge city. http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/dos...me/561176.html __________________ “It is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick” - Dave Barry

08-14-2005, 12:22 PM	#4 (permalink)
FngKestrel Junkie	Oh...that game...it's always been an interesting balance of incomes and expenditures. I'd say, try setting up dummy cities in the surrounding areas and seeing if you can set up business agreements with them.

08-15-2005, 01:37 AM	#6 (permalink)
FngKestrel Junkie	Not that this is really applicable to the question at hand, but a neat bug in SimCity 2000 was that hydroelectric power plants never broke down. So in the terrain creation screen, I'd make a medium sized mountain with water on it and place hydro all over that mountain. Or I'd build in an area with plateaus and place hydro plants for each neighborhood as necessary.