New and need help

[Slafar 0]

So I'm new to the game (well, sort of, I've had it for awhile now but I never played it because I was never good at it. I just started playing seriously though) I have a fairly large city and a lot of the buildings are becoming run down, especially in my commercial downtown. What could be some causes of this? I have adequate police and fire coverage and there is plenty of water and power. My budget needs work, but I'm still making money, any thoughts?

[jacqulina 162]

it sounds as if they havnt enough jobs or people to maintain the buildings or move in,or perhaps they havnt the roads to get there

[dadyrghluv 8]

download the N.A.M(network add-on modd). this is very useful if transportation is a problem, and is almost a must have for any SC4 player. more than likley jacq is right and u just don't have the proper residential population that u should, or don't have the required wealth level of sims for the buildings. make sure u use lots of education if your going for high wealth, water, and hospitals too. these are must have for the higher wealth levels.

[GMT 389]

correction: the NAM in fact IS a must have, not almost ;-)

yea, go for the NAM. and check your citizens demands. maybe the problem is health and/or education, not security or supplyment.

and take a good look at the wealth levels, just as dadyrghluv said before.

and welcome to the ST!

[Indisguise 0]

what your getting is delapitation (sp?)...when the building drop from their originial wealth level to a lower wealth level...they become all dingy and grey, but hold (for the most part x2  jobs)...

abandoment is when the building becomes totally dark and looks like it's falling apart and has no jobs ...this can happen as the buildings switch wealth levels

there are number of different way to deal with this...but you have to fined the actual reason for this.  in your particular city

this case sort sounds like you developed too many CS$$$ or CO$$$ buildings and not enough R$$$ res to fill them or the demand for $, $$ sims has over taken the city...so the R$$ sims are taking them over

personelly I get out the old bulldozer and weed the buildings out slowly, don't got too fast as this might cause no job zots if you demolish them too fast and don't give the city a chance to catch up to the demand charts

but be on the safe side...double check pollution levels (garbage air and water) they can have a drastic drop in land value ...and can sneak up on you when your not watching

check your trasnsit routes, make sure the sims are able to reach the buildings in good time...upgrade your MT system in the area to quicken the comutes trains --> mono rail or buses --> subways

check your EQ levels and HQ levels on the sims in the city too...if they are low...it will discourage R$$$ sims

use parks (COM likes plazas) to increase the landvlaue in the areas affected sometime this will bring the buildings back themselves 

slowly adjust the tax rates to favor the CO$$$ and CS$$$ buildings over the lower wealth ones

at high population you get a bit of the curly shuffle as the sims EQ and HQ levels change...and they are always switching buildings and take new routes to their jobs as their EQ goes up  or if there is a great influx of new sims to the city it will lower the over all cities EQ levels and yuo have to wait for those sims to go through your educational system so they will be able to work at the $$$ jobs

and the NAM...don't play your game without it...

[Slafar 0]

Thanks for the tips!

[Slafar 0]

Does this NAM thing require Rush Hour? I downloaded it, and when I went to place a piece of highway, it crashed my game.

[Fred_Ginger 1]

Slafar, the NAM does require 'Rush Hour' (or deluxe) so your really should consider getting it. There is so much custom content here that was developed for the 'Rush Hour/Deluxe' edition that it will be well worth the effort and expense to go that route. Welcome to ST!