Newbie please help

[bigcityNY 0]

Hi everyone i have a problem. I'm new to SC4 and was so excited to start until i noticed a problem. Whenever I started a new city things would be good and the RCI would even go up a little bit but then things just plummet and never get better but in fact they get worse. I have tried everything I know to do and seriously need the pros out there to help me. Also I know that the RCI meter and development go hand in hand so what should i do? My last problem is that in the one city that is going good (but slowly) all of the develpoment that is happening is $ and I'm looking for $$ or $$$ but only a few of those ever come in the city. And what can I do to attract high wealth commercial and residential or does it even matter what finacial level people are? I just want huge skyscrapers and a constant flow of people moving in not moving out. Any advice would make me very grateful because I'm loosing my mind over this. 

[gml_josea 2]

You need patience in Simcity 4, when you start a new region the skyscrappers and high wealth sims won't come so easily, you need to build up the cities first.

Some tips:

-Skyscrappers won't appear straight from the start because they require a minimum amount of people in the region to develop.

-Zone low density first, using high density when you start is a waste of precious money.

-Initially the game will demand low wealth people, but as your region grows the demand for other wealth levels increase and eventually they'll develop in your city if you have enough desiderability.

Since you're new to SC4 I suggest you to take a look around the Omnibus, there you have great tutorials where you can understand the most important aspects of the game.

[villagemayor 0]

I agree with gml_josea. Its not like Age of Empires or Empire Earth. You can't build cities that quickly. That's why some people either like it, or give up on it. Think of a real life city. It takes years to build a 'real' downtown. Same as SC4. There are so many tips and tricks it fill a page, so yeah, read the omnibus, cause it looks like trial and error is causing you grief.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Yes, everyone has given you clues to being on the right track.  You might try the sticky at the top on building a minimal city.  It is a general start up for any city, but follows the model as it seems to have been designed by the game writers.

After you get your farm village, you can carefully grow it, while remaining profitable.  If you add a neighboring city, things will speed up a bit.

Welcome to Simtropolis.  We hope you enjoy your membership with us.

[Barbarossa 51]

Also, just to clarify, because everyone has given great advice... SC4, although a game, does have some nice parallels with the real world. Most cities have a poor population. Chances are, this poor population comprises the majority of your city's population. Just like in the real world, as you move up the monetary food chain, you get fewer and fewer middle-wealthy classes. I see people often trying to build all-rich cities, but it doesn't work, and is actually very hard to achieve. Especially considering the scale to which SC$ is built. One medium tile is essentially only 2 sq km (~3 mi).

Barbarossa

[bigcityNY 0]

Thanks to everyone. I have taken your advice and will try to be more patient. Also I have another question does anyone have any advice on how to work a region to its biggest potential? I have looked at some of the City Journals and they all have great transportion from city to city. When I downloaded the NAM I started a new region and conected almost all of the tile squares together(although I think I may have gone overboard). Is there such a thing as to connected or was I thinking ahead and the super highways were a good idea. Please once again help this newbie out. And gml_josea Kars Lake is looking good. I hope my cities will soon look like those.

[CKSmooth 0]

When I built a superhighway, I only make one long stretch that goes through the center of the region, downtown out, and maybe add some branches to it further out. But there is such a thing as too much, because remember that highways are very expensive to maintain.

If your region is built on a plain landscape, it's a good and bad thing. If you're looking for a big city, that's how to get it, but it can also get too big and hard to manage, so it's best to build farm cities between big downtown and suburb areas.