Tutorial: High Pop Small Tile

[thevinn 0]

I like to min/max the game (find out what the limits are). This tutorial represents my highest population achieved on a small city tile with no gameplay changing addons, except for the Network Addon Mod and simulators updated (required for onramps and correct pathing). I use the "Plugin A, Hard" simulator. The other restriction is that there are no developed neighbor connections or neighbor deals. Connections to SimNation are ok as long as the neighbor is undeveloped. 

In order to qualify as a proper city, the population must be stable, without no job zots or dilapidation. The budget must be balanced or in a surplus state. I don't know if this is the "best" method, or the highest population possible but I can't find other meaningful ways of getting the population higher. So here we go.

Start with a small city tile (64x64) with no developed neighbors, on the Easy setting.

Raise taxes to prevent middle wealth and high wealth development:



Place a highway in the exact center. Lay roads exactly as shown. Do not allow the game to place onramps. Using the Network Addon Mod, place the onramps exactly as shown. 



Residential zones are medium and high density. Commercial zones are high and low density. The roads parallel to the highway in the commercial and residential areas are one-way roads, and the onramps are of the highway parallel one-way road variety. There are two small fire stations, two small plaza, and seven water pumps in the residential area.



The industrial zones are high density, and 4, 8, 8, 8, and 7 tiles in thickness respectively, from top to bottom. There are six coal power plants, two garbage burning facilities, and two small fire stations here. Dezone three tiles per industrial strip so that nothing develops there. These spaces will be used for mass transit later.



Make sure the entire map has water coverage



Run the simulation. Your spending will exceed income. Keep it running until you are under $20,000. You should be offered two business deals, the army base and federal prison.



Cut funding on the Waste to Energy Plants to zero to bring the budget in balance. You may need to destroy one or more water pumps depending on how much money you used up laying out the city.

Place the Federal Prison at the top, near the highway:



Remove just enough water pumps. We need a high budget surplus now. Run the simulator as needed to generate revenue and increase population until it stablizes.



Place a Hospital as shown, adjust coverage radius and funding:



Place tennis courts in between the high density residential zones as shown. There are 15 tennis courts on the left side and 13 on the right side. The space between the tennis court and the road will be used for mass transit.



Place two more hospitals exactly as shown. Adjust local ambulance funding to zero for all three hospitals. Adjust local funding as needed:

[Maxis92 11]

Very nice tutorial.

The pictures to compliment the step by step instructions really help.

Maybe you can have it placed in the Omnibus section.

[thevinn 0]

Is this good? Bad? Can anyone do better? Do I have it all wrong? No comments?

[szarkoz 8]

Well, first of all you shouldn't connect industrial areas with water as it helps nothing but pollutes the water. Another thing is that, if you base your city on dirty industry, schools serve no purpose (everyone works in dirty industry, which doesn't require high level of education).

Overally, I'd rather just start with industry, then gradually changing it to a mixed res-com city. That way you could make much more residential areas and increase your population.

[thevinn 0]

Originally posted by: szarkoz Well, first of all you shouldn't connect industrial areas with water as it helps nothing but pollutes the water.quote>

Can anyone else confirm this? I find that my high density industrial zones won't develop fully unless they have access to water.

Another thing is that, if you base your city on dirty industry, schools serve no purpose (everyone works in dirty industry, which doesn't require high level of education). quote>

Yeah thats mostly true, but I wanted to show that you can fit full educational facilities in there. The population can't realy go higher than 80,000 because of the pollution. I believe I have found the largest number of high density tiles that can be reliably populated for a small city.

Also consider that if you are using this city layout for your region, you can educate the low wealth sims and they will drive demand for manufacturing and medium wealth office/service in neighboring towns. Dirty Industry will happily remain even at 14% tax, even with no interested workers (on account of the education).

Overally, I'd rather just start with industry, then gradually changing it to a mixed res-com city. That way you could make much more residential areas and increase your population.quote>

 

That sounds good in theory but I have tried it several times. On a per-tile basis, low wealth always generates the highest population. So if you convert your low wealth sims into medium and high wealth sims, the overall population will always go down. Although your scenario does work in most situations involving neighborhood connctions.

I've tried educating the sims and then lowering the taxes to convert this city into a manufacturing town with medium wealth sims but the result was always budget shortfalls and tons of no job zots. Can anyone show me how to make that conversion successful?

[un1 41]

80,000?? I have 50,000 as my largest... But it is so nice. You're tutorial city shows smog and ugg. In the amount of space of residential I was able to fit 100,000.

Just saying this tutorial is great but I think the industry must go...

[thevinn 0]

un1, I would love to know how you got 100,000 on a small tile without industry and without developed neighbor connections. I've tried, starting with schools, and migrating to Manufacturing, even some High Tech. But when I let the medium and high wealth sims in, the population inevitably goes down.

[Unassigned 23]

Still in the process of learning the game I copied this tutorial almost exactly (if there is such a thing as "almost exactly" ) except I plopped the cemetaries & spirtual centers offered. Oh, and I used a 64x64 part of a medium size tile.

Everything went fine until I reached a pop of approximately 73000. At this point the power plants & water pumps started to wear out & it became necessary to replace them...I did this too late, so a few industries, say 5 3x3 tile factories, became abandoned due to water shortage. Then I bulldozed these plants. After these changes my budget went bust, the city is losing money and nothing spawns on those vacant industrial spaces.

With zero spending on education the budget is in the green, as this gives a monthly surplus of approx. 800

[SC4BOY 20]

These pic's all exceed the posting limits imposed by the guidelines for this site.. 600x800 is the max size unless its been recently changed..

[thevinn 0]

Originally posted by: UnassignedEverything went fine until I reached a pop of approximately 73000. At this point the power plants & water pumps started to wear out & it became necessary to replace them...I did this too late, so a few industries, say 5 3x3 tile factories, became abandoned due to water shortage. Then I bulldozed these plants. After these changes my budget went bust, the city is losing money and nothing spawns on those vacant industrial spaces.quote>

You will have to replace water pumps and coal factories periodically. Try to do this before there are shortages. Check the Power and Water graphs frequently so you will know when to replace them. To replace, first pause the game, bulldoze the structures, then plop new ones. Be sure to adjust funding as needed.

With zero spending on education the budget is in the green, as this gives a monthly surplus of approx. 800§. My question is, how do I increase city income so I can afford a decent educational budget (and without expanding beyond the 64x64 size)? Or perhaps the question is how to make industry spawn on those vacant industry lots?quote>

 

Raise taxes on Dirty Industry to 14% before plopping schools.

[thevinn 0]

Originally posted by: SC4BOY These pic's all exceed the posting limits imposed by the guidelines for this site.. 600x800 is the max size unless its been recently changed..

quote>

 

I sure hope thats not true, I spent 2 hours putting these images together and the prospect of having to recreate them makes me a sad panda.