some questions about gameplay

[Gnorrus 0]

Hi all

I'm building a new city, and i would like to know how to place residential and commercial zones

I mean...is it better to mix them in order to help the sims to reach their workplace in few minutes or is it better to place residential zone and then some commercial zone (not mixed)?

i ask this because I read some tutorial here, but i don't understand what is better. I think the best thing is to mix them.

if I click on a commercial building I have always few customers.

how the city develops? I have a small city now with clinics, hospital, fireman and so on, but the residentials don't develop, I have alway very small houses and commercials

what do I have to do in order to let these structures develop?

one more question:

which is the right way to place low, medium and high density residential and commercial?

I mean, do I have to place low residential separated from medium, and medium separated from high? in this way I will have a city divided into 3 zones:

1. low residential and commercial

2. medium residential and commercial

3. high residential and commercial

is this the best way?

thanks for your work guys!

[RippleJet 36]

Welcome to simtropolis, Gnorrus!

You will probably get as many recommendations as there are different kinds of mayors out there. Most of your questions are those that you will get answers to when you've played a while. And based on that your style as a mayor will form.

The same goes with zoning densities. It is up to you as a mayor to decide how dence you'll allow your city to grow. Should this suburb consist of single family homes or taller apartments?

Mixing residentials and commercials generally reduces commute times. On the other hand, placing commercials between residentials and industries would probably increase the number of customers.

There are many different desirability factors, such as education, health, wealth, employment, commute times, customers, fire coverage, crime, pollution (air, water, garbage, radiation), traffic, park effects, landmark effects, etc. You will never be able to provide maximum desirability on each factor. Once again, it's up to you as a mayor to see what you think is demanded and what the city can afford. Take a regular look at the graphs to see if things are going as planned.

Once your city grows and provided you've provided some medium density zoning, you will start getting taller buildings. Build a few parks and plant trees to increase desirability.

[DOXXP29 5]

Welcome, Gnorrus!

RippleJet is right, not only with the advice, but how you'll get different answers depending on the person's style of playing.

One thing I think is very important, and is easily missed, especially from someone just starting out. That is Keep You Eye To The Future! Eventually, your going to be developing a region. While you want your city to get up and running and to be as self-sufficient as possible, don't overlook the fact that one day, maybe sooner, maybe later, you're going to be having neighbouring cities. Keep some future road and rail connections in mind. Watch how you lay out your city if you're going to have specialized cities in your region later on so you don't wind up with long commute times because your residential areas are too far away or have insufficient transportation access. Keep your polluting and NIMBY lots isolated enough so that they have the minimum negative impact on your city. For example, don't put a landfill or polluting power plant in an area that you're planning to use for your central business district, high tech corridor or rich estates. In fact, you may want to have one small tile city as a neighbour that has only power plants and landfills. This way, that city can provide power and trash through neighbour deals and you don't have to worry about your other cities having to deal with the pollution or other negative effects. Plus, it frees up valuable real estate.

These are just a very few examples of thinking for the future of both your city and your region. Take a look through the City Journal section to see how others lay out their cities. You can get a lot of ideas from looking at their layouts as well as seeing every type of city from small to large, rural to urban, from which you can get ideas for the complexion of your cities.

Good Luck, Gnorrus! If you have questions about certain things as your playing comes along, search through the forums and you'll probably find several threads that have lengthy explainations. If not, start a thread and ask and you'll find many here who will be glad to help. Keep us posted and you may want to start a CJ of your own to show the world how your city has developed!

[Variant 0]

I'd also like to say don't pay attention to the customer rating too much, having it low doesn't really hurt anything that I know of and in small towns it's very difficult to raise it, you need a whole lot of traffic to even get medium customers... I tried it one time, I forced all the sims in town to go down one road to get to work and put commercial on it - that's what it took to raise customers above low.

[hijodecordoba 74]

Hi everybody. I took a look in some "picture topics" in the last weeks and since that time, I haven't closed my mouth

I consider myself as a beginner in compare to the metropolis I found there. so questions emerged.

I've seen city with amazing downtown areas and the timebar said 40 years... it takes me at least 100 years to develop such demand, for high rise C/R, and then it will only fit one single commercial building. (nevertheless I like my cities ) how are you doing this? are you plopping your downtown areas? is it caused by the neighbourcities? also it's not clearly visible, if there is a mixture of Res and Com. (i think so)

I know about the demand ordinance but that isn't the secret, is it?

I'm aware of the different possibilities to build a city and that I have to find my own style, but if you got hint / advice for me, i would appreciate.

Thanks and keep on your great work at simtropolis

[HADC10 1]

Having neighbors is very important to a whole regional dynamic. One of the obvious examples is that if you want a city to be full of residential areas, you should increase the quality of life by building your industrial wasteland next door. That allows for pollution to be trapped in one city, and for you to be most efficient in placing jobs and buildings.

[HADC10 1]

Having neighbors is very important to a whole regional dynamic. One of the obvious examples is that if you want a city to be full of residential areas, you should increase the quality of life by building your industrial wasteland next door. That allows for pollution to be trapped in one city, and for you to be most efficient in placing jobs and buildings.