Basic City Planning Questions

[Crimson Tide 0]

-First Topic on ST.com- Hi everyone. This is my second post and my first topic on the site. I used to play SC3K when it first came out, but I really sucked at it. (I was arround 10 years old at that time) I got SC4 a few weeks ago and started to play again, with much better results, but still without the propper experience in the game. I read a FAQ at gamefaqs.com by some thy342345252 something =P, which proved REALLY useful in terms of understanding the new concepts and game play mechanics involved. Still, due to my lack of -as I said before- experience, I actually can't at the moment be "creative" and I end up doing mostly what it is said at the guide without trying things for myself or taking risks in terms of city planning and etc. Basically, the guide shows many examples of R,C and I superstructures (LERS, ORS, etc) which I have used with a very nice degree of success. Still, I'd like to listen -bah, read =P- any piece of advice you can give me regarding other city designing concepts, structures or anything in general. (If possible, regarding city planning and roads in conjunction with mass transit and an efficient use of highways which forces sims to take them instead of just go under it or travel a few blocks through it) Oh, and, off topic, is my signature too big? Thanks and cheers!

[plasticboy 36]

Get NAM first, then I'll talk to ya.

[mayormommy 8]

Welcome to Simtropolis. Your question is rather broad, therefore you might start by looking at the cities in the City Journals forum to see what sort of things are possible. And yes, your signature is too big - the maximum size is 300 x 50.

[Meastro444 1]

i think he wants some answers, not that kind of answers.

as for your question, i dont work with careful planning, as i want to let my city's look more natural, so i dont can get you much info. but for question to take the highway, the NAM (NetworkAddonMod) solves some bugs with SC4 commute times and pathfinding.

also, if you want massive mass transit use, build transport hubs (several mass transit types together).

tip: if you lack space, download the road top mass transit, which are bus, subways AND bus combined with Subways stops which can plop over a road, street, oneway road, and avenue. but be careful, your sims cant access houses which are behind the stops, the will become depilidated(:S, spelled correct?).

hopes this helps

Meastro444

[MayorTim 16]

First of all, Welcome to Simtropolis! 

Yes, your question is very broad, but let me try my best:

Simtropolis, besides being (IMO) one of the best and friendliest forums on the net, also has areas called the Omnibus, the Exchange, and the Modds section.

The Omnibus is basically a library of tutorials and guides - it contains everything from the site rules to making Splines in the BAT (Building Architect Tool). For new members like yourself, this should explain quite a bit. Most of the Sim City 4 tutorials are somewhat old, but they are still all pretty relevant.

The Exchange is a place where you can download buildings made in the BAT, maps, and lots. You will definately want to check this place out, I myself have downloaded over 2,500 buildings form the STEX. Before you go download crazy, You should learn the basics of the game first (getting there).

The Modds Section is devoted to Sim City 4 modifications (go figure!) Before you do anything else, I recommend that you go there and download the Network Addon Modd also known as the NAM. It adds several new transit structures, and fixes several transportation bugs within the game. Installing it is somewhat difficult, after running the installer you need to go to My Documents, then Sim City 4, then Plugins - This is also where you install anything you download off the Exchange. Once there, open the NAM folder, and follow the instructions in the readme's.

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I know that I mostly talked about this website, but the Omnibus should answer most, if not all of your questions about the game, and whatever questions you have left can probably answered by searching and looking around the forums (Especially this forum) The Modds section and the Exchange will also further improve your SC4 experience.

If you need any creative advise, go to the City Journals section of this forum, and prepair to be amazed!

P.S. Yes, your sig pic is too large, crop it down to 300x50.

[Crimson Tide 0]

Thanks I've already read some CJ and Omnibus Articles. I've also downloaded the NAM before. I'm not very keen on downloading extra buildings, although I'd have to try first, to form a real opinion. @Mayor Tim: I think I know the basics but I was looking forward to get my hands into some sort of... intermediate-advanced stuff. IE, the city I'm working on has hi tech industries, 200 K people and a profit of 20K $ a month and etc, but since i've never had a really developed, large city, I'm still lacking quite a bit of knowledge regarding that. Thanks to all! EDIT: I've fixed the signatre, resized it to 300x50, sorry ^^

[zzsim 3]

Well in larger cities, transportation becomes the biggest issue, especially keeping your sims commute times low.  If you hadn't already, I'd suggest building some sort of mass transit system(bus, rail, subway, elevated rail, monorail), though that can be expensive, so make sure you have the money for it before you start.  Also, always be sure to keep your sims needs met (ie. schools, fire/police coverage, and hospitals).  Regarding your industry, be sure to keep a bit of room between your industrial sectors and your residential/bussiness districts to keep pollution down and residential/commercial demand up (though if you have mostly high tech industries this might not be a problem).  Really the secret to managing large cities is to meet all of your sims needs (transportation, public services, enviornmental) without spending so much money that your city goes bankrupt.

Besides that, it seems like you are doing pretty well.  Once you get the basics of managing large cities, you may also like to try adding to the asthetical appeal of your city by adding parks.  As a final note, don't be afraid to download new building from the STEX, as they can really add some variaty to your city (those Maxis buildings get old quickly .  Good luck!

Edit:  As the others have mentioned, if you want to make your cities more creative looking, check out all of the awesome city journals.  They can really teach you alot about building efficient road systems/mass transit systems, and they can show you how to really give your cities some asthetical appeal.  I'd suggest first checking out Darmark's Auduin Valley Revisited, or Jeronij's Simtropia, as they are too of the best looking city journals on this site.

[AtkinsSJ_ 7]

Something I'm just learning is to make room for Mass Transit at the beginning, as it's hard to add to a developed city.

My biggest piece of advice would be to experiment. Try whatever you feel like, and if it goes wrong, you'll have learnt from the experience, and you can always obliterate the city.

[fate556 5]

first i like ur signature and i agree look at the cjs there incredible however keep in mind some are just for eye candy

[Crimson Tide 0]

Thanks to everyone! I guess my problem right now is to sustain city growth (upwards, not sidewards) without having traffic and conmute nightmares or running out of space to build mass transit sistems and etc. Money isn't the issue at the moment, thy's FAQ has taughtg me well - My best city has over 1 millon $ and a nice surplus ( n_n )- but sometimes when I think "a highway/subway network" would help here" I find out there's no room for it. I've been looking at some city journals, but thanks, zzsim, for those particular ones. I'm also aware about the fact that it's a good idea to have a space/green belt between your industries and everything else, although I tend to aim for HTI. fate556: thanks =). A friend did it for me, to use it as a sig at another forum, having as a base my current wallpaper =P. Oh and returning to the first set of questions sdf, do any of you use planned structures? (as in, a preset set of roads, zones, amenities, mass transit buildings etc)