Hedrapolidon.sc3  1.0

An early megacity due to Imperar. The original blurb:

"Greetings, everyone. Allow me to introduce to you all, the city of Hedrapolidon, the third "megacity" in line that I have built, and the first to be uploaded to this site. What I call a 'megacity' in SC3K, is a term that I refer to as any city that has surpassed a population of 4 million sims, without the use of cheats. Built in October 2006, it took no more than 2 weeks to create.

With such a large population, the city (with the exception of fire departments) boasts a vast educational system, contains plenty of hospitals, parks, and opportunities, whilst maintaining low pollution, crime, and unemployment. It even has room for a large, green, open space in the geometric center of the city. This is where 4 million sims can proudly gather together during its festivity seasons and celebrations . There also lays my mansion where I, and other sims can view the encircling skyscrapers from a good observable distance.

Being an experimental city, Hedrapolidon has been specifically designed to test out a new zone grid layout alongside a new construction method that I had developed in my SC3K notebook (yes, I truly am a fanatic). However, even though the city as a whole, appears to be of great achievement, the grid design was a disappointment, as it had failed in maximizing all its zones to its desired density, to which it was designed. Nevertheless, the city itself proved to become a worthwhile learning experience where I had discovered several key aspects that need to be considered when constructing an ideal megacity.

Here are a few lessons I learned from building this city:

•  4x4 buildings do not always develop successfully in roadless cities no matter how much you try, so it is better to design a grid that avoids them
•  6x6 spaced-subway stops, is therefore, a more reliable distance for optimum zone growth
•  Pollution can be reduced in dense residential and commercial zones with high land values, by avoiding 1x1 filler tiles
•  Water pipes can be effective laid diagonally
•  Never underestimate the importance of micromanagement, and the "make historical" option
•  Low-value dense buildings occupy more sims than high-value ones
•  Build in the center for equalised development of the map, not the corners
•  Slice the map into equal sectors to make them appear faster and easier to complete
•  Designing "grid modules" (clumps of grids) accelerate development
•  Planning a preliminary zone layout test city first, would really help
•  Never neglect the artistic side of designing a megacity!

Hope this serves as another example to those planning to build their own megacities as well.

Thanks for your time,
~ Imperar/Omnika"