Skyscrapers and Large R buildings

[Temelin 0]

I have looked through many of the tutorials and lots of the CJs on this site.  I'm wondering if anyone knows where I can find a tutorial that runs up to getting your first skyscraper or the tall R$$$ buildings (if there is one).  I play my cities for hundreds and hundreds of in-game years and can't seem to ever reach "stage 8."  How do you know how far along you have progressed (besides looking at the buildings)?  There is nothing in the Query tool that tells you that.  I have been playing the game on and off for about 6 months and I still feel like a complete newb.  I never had trouble with SC2K or SC3K and have thought about quitting SC4 out of frustration.  I try to model my cities after some of the ones I see here and I have read lots of tutorials, but I always seem to end up with an unbalanced budget or a small city. 

When I see these CJs with amazing downtown sections I wonder how people develop these in less than 100 in game years and sometimes around 50 or 60.  (I don't like to use "cheats" or anything like that, but I guess I would if that is what it takes to develop them so fast.)

I really liked the ones in the CJs: Cristallo and Tropicana Islands

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=23&threadid=60749&STARTPAGE=2&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=79445 (for reference)

Thank you very much for any help you can give me

[Temelin 0]

Forgot 1 thing. I'm also wondering if anybody could show me a view of how their zones are layed out in some of these larger cities. I'm wondering if I'm just not doing it correctly. I usually start with an industrial section near the edge of the map and put a buffer of C, and then R after that. I never have long commute times and pamper my sims with fire/ po-po/ water/ garbage/ school etc. And after my city gets going I basically just keep branching out from that with no real overall plan, but not completely random either, just wherever the city "flows". I know I am asking a lot of questions here, but I'm just trying to be as clear as possible.

Thanks

[feelgood 0]

Hmmm... you better read omnibus. Lots of great articles there. Just remember, SC4 has stages and cap. Each stage need some amount of pop; 35000 pop for residential stage 8 IIRC. You need ameneties to increase cap.

[Temelin 0]

Another question came up as I was reading more into this topic. Is industry a must in cities? I have seen a couple of cities with absolutely no industry whatsoever. maybe the industry is in a neighboring city, but could a city survive on its own with only R and C? I'm at work now, so i'll have to try it when I get home.

[Barbarossa 51]

Hi, Temelin

I saw your messages, so maybe I can help. Simply put, in order to get to stage 8, you want to be sure to have all of the "necessities in life". Yuo are looki9ng to build the biggest, nicenest buildings, so you need to understand that the "biggest and nicest people" are extremely picky. You need to have full coverage (for the immediate area you are working on) of Fire, Police, Schools (all of them), and medical. Plus, you need Landmarks, and possibly Rewards. The BIG building will not grow until you have a substantial population of Richies. In order to get that far, everyone needs to be approaching Genius and you need to have a lot of commercial closer to your residential (mainly for commute times).

I can't provide screenshots, as I am at work.

Regarding your last question... I personally feel industry is necessary (just like the real world). However, that does not mean it has to be in your city. I recommend establishing an industrial town that touches your current tile. That way, all of your pollution is somewhere else and you can focus on getting the big city that you want. Keep in mind that with region play, you will need to go back and forth between the two tiles to enable the full benefits (you still have to grow both towns to control your RCI).

I hope this helps and good luck. Oh, and Welcome to the community.

Barbarossa.

[RushHourFreak 1]

Temelin, about your question of No industrial in cities, there is an asnwer to that, There is a Mod (the second most downloades here) that is called "Industrial Quadrupler, that quadruples the industrial jobs as real life and you won't have thah huge demand on RCI. Welcome

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

And, a case in point, there are lots of cities that are industry only connected to residential/commercial cities.  This allows you to pretty much ignore industrial pollution.

[Temelin 0]

Hey thanks a lot guys. I tried the industrial city and RC city connection and it is working well so far. It seems like cheatery that polluton doesn't carry over even though they are really 1 tile away across the border Didn't get any skyscrapers yet, but I didn't get the chance to play for very long.

I think this is the case, but if I build up the cities around the one I want to be a sprawling downtown FIRST, I would assume that the buildings would "level up" a lot faster when I started the downtown city as sims can move in from the neighboring cities. (with all the necessities in place of course)

Again thanks for the tips and thanks for the welcome. I really enjoy this site.

[BBGun06 0]

You have to remember to build out before you can build up. It takes a lot of low density to get the population needed for the skyscrapers. Region play is vital, you may not see skyscrapers until you get 300,000+ region pop. And then only with all amenities.

So, keep playing, don't give up, and eventually you will see large buildings.

BTW, most CJ downtowns are plopped.

[SC4Noobie 5]

Yea, generally, just keep expanding throughout your region. Low Density R mixed with some Low Density C works well. Often times, suburbs will have small industrial complexes, like 10 -15 manufacturing factories, or more often, high tech industry. Realism is sometimes a good reminder, for example, if you build a airport (with lots of traffic) it will be undesirable, cheap land. Maybe build a small industrial complex off to the side of the airport.