I feel like I'm playing Tetris...

[Aurabolt12 0]

I think I'm stuck in SC Classic or SC3k mode.. I feel like I'm not taking advantage of SC4's realism. All my cities feel like I just add a blob/block/piece on to the side of the big city blob and I just keep going from there. My hospitals and schools are also slapped on a road on the edge... How do you make your cities look like snapshots from a helicopter? I just need a mindset... some tips please?

[ACEfanatic 7]

General tips:

- Roads go from point A to point B. Sometimes they bypass point C. However, they rarely go just one or two blocks, with the exception of downtowns.

- Grid your downtown. Break up some blocks with alleys, break roads to create superblocks in other places.

- Development centers around transportation routes. Crossroads, especially.

Hope this helps...

-ACE

[fordfjord 3]

I found myself repetitively and monotonously building the same way, Aurabolt12. One way that I have found to avoid this is to use the automatic zoning provided within the simulator (you know, the one where you click and hold in one spot, and after a second or two, small suburbs ®, downtowns © or industrial parks (I) are laid out, complete with streets.) I start with a new map, lay out 4 or 5 subdivisions ®, such that they are not touching each other, but maybe anywhere from 4 to 10 tiles apart from each other. Lay streets or roads in between the suburbs to connect them, add the occasional © zones as needed to account for small but steady growth (these would be the strip malls you might see outside of and adjacent to many neighborhoods...) Industrial parks either in the same map, or in an adjacent city, but I try to start with one or two on the outskirts, with the eventual idea of rezoning into high priced condos or loft apartments... As civic needs grow, add in schools/police/hospitals/parks/avenues/highways/etc. where you originally left the spaces between your neighborhoods. Fill in any leftover spaces with flora. I find this method provides a more organic feeling to the growth of my cities, rather than the simplistic, "Oh, they want more residential zones; tack on another block of medium-density and wrap another street around it" - Tetris - method.

P.S. With the Cul-de-sac mod (see the Mods section), your neighborhoods really look cool when initially laid out, too. Just an added bonus, in my opinion.

[dmrsunz 2]

Try GoogleEarth. You'll get that helicopter perspective. Some areas (major metro)provide better resolution that others. I know the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area has great detail. It's quite fascinating.

[bourneid 13]

A great tool for learning non grid grids (what I use) is to spend a lot of time in google earth...looking at diffrent cities..find areas that are interesting, try to recreate them within the game. not all roads have to have a begining and an end....run on off into nowhere once and a while.

[Shinnie02 17]

ok first of all. Do you have rush hour?

If not: Get it!! its worth it. its the best expansion pack ever!!

Alrighty! since you have just joined simtropolis you still might be feeling griddy. Well guess what. when i first joined i felt griddy to. After going through forums and looking at people's stuff on the STEX it suddenly changed the way i thought of building. Stay with the site and you will see how you change in building

[zzsim 3]

I'd suggest checking out the city journal section in the forums.  There are many great cities on display over there featuring good looking realistic layouts for both downtowns and suburbs.  Also, as the others have said, take a look at Google Earth, not only can you see the basic road layouts, but you can also view satelite images of a lot of different areas.  That feature could give you a better idea on realistic building placement.  If you try both of these suggestions, then you should get the mindset you need to begin building your own realistically laid out cities.  Hope that helped !

[rodent1989 9]

Open a "Practice city" and make it an island with lots of curves and bays/inlets of water.  Then builda coastal road around the outside (with apprx. 3 tiles between the water and road).  Then zone around the outside as R and slowly woryour way into the center.  Because the area you started with isn't square, maybe you can get some cool looking cities to break the habit.  (I'll post a pic later, i have a some cool island cities)

Edit:  check the "Show us your accomplishment" thread or any of the City journals too