Demand Questions/Problems

[jwilson 0]

I looked around and couldn't find answers to my questions, so I figured I ought to just make a post and hope for the best.

Background info:

My region has just over 200,000 residents currently, the largest city is a medium tile w/ about 41,000 residents.  So far it is a pretty expansive region but I intend to keep growing it.

First for residential:

What are the best ways to increase residential demand?

Recently I built a large airport in my region and I noticed my residential demand suffered badly (it dropped sharply as I was completing the airport).  I brought it back up after going back to another city and building, but I've seen people with all 3 bars of their residential demand completely full.  How do I achieve this?  Is my region just too small to meet that expectation?

For the commercial:

Why is my CS$$$ demand almost ALWAYS negative?

This hasn't been a problem in just this region.  I've noticed almost all the time in playing SC4 that my high wealth commercial services demand is always negative.  All of my other commercial demand is positive, so I don't understand why that one is not.  Is there some trick and/or method to increase this particular demand? Also, what are good ways to drive up commercial demand?

Building the airport seemed to help my commercial demand, as it should, but the long-term effects will still be unknown for now.

Thanks for any help guys! I appreciate it.

[SmartRoss1 0]

To make the game a bit more realistic, Maxis put various 'demand caps' on the game. There are about three of these, and if you hit any one of them (there is one around 41,000) then demand will stop. This must be relieved by placing parks ect. Once you have done that your demand should increase again. As for top demand in all places, I think that you need a very large city with lots of facilities first.

As for the Commercial, the same thing applies. Unless you have top facilites and zone away from the airport then your CS$$$ and CO$$$ will usually be negative (CO$$$ is a bit less fussy).

[High5flyier 7]

I think one factor that most people overlook is that they need more R$ residentials. The main reasin I believe is because of the bad looking maxis R$ highrises. The low wealth population makes up the majority of all your commercial work force. With the addition of costum content there is plenty of great looking R$ buildings that can complement your cities. I try to keep the demand bar for low wealth at 50% or lower and be doing this the demand for commerce is helped out.

[jwilson 0]

Originally posted by: SmartRoss1 To make the game a bit more realistic, Maxis put various 'demand caps' on the game. There are about three of these, and if you hit any one of them (there is one around 41,000) then demand will stop. This must be relieved by placing parks ect. Once you have done that your demand should increase again. As for top demand in all places, I think that you need a very large city with lots of facilities first.

As for the Commercial, the same thing applies. Unless you have top facilites and zone away from the airport then your CS$$$ and CO$$$ will usually be negative (CO$$$ is a bit less fussy).quote>

Thank you for the help! I am aware of the demand caps and have the expanded query tool; it says I am no where near the caps so I'm not sure that is the problem.

And you have to zone away from the airport? Is zoning near the airport a bad thing? Right now my airport is by itself on a large tile, I have not yet zoned that actual city, just built an airport.

Facilities are also not a problem, I take care of my sims. =)

Originally posted by: High5flyier I think one factor that most people overlook is that they need more R$ residentials. The main reasin I believe is because of the bad looking maxis R$ highrises. The low wealth population makes up the majority of all your commercial work force. With the addition of costum content there is plenty of great looking R$ buildings that can complement your cities. I try to keep the demand bar for low wealth at 50% or lower and be doing this the demand for commerce is helped out.

quote>

I've noticed that most often my R$ demand bar is almost always topped out, or it is at least above the other two levels.  It was always my thought that low wealth residents don't like to work (or simply can't) in higher wealth commercial buildings (like CS$$$ and CO$$$).

I realize the majority of the population will be from this category, but ultimately I want to work towards having CBDs and skyscrapers.  Will all those office workers be from higher wealth residences?

Thank you for the help!

[Bones1 96]

Okay, you have to understand how the demand simulator works.

Basically, education levels drive demand for higher-wealth commercial and industrial.

Then, the availability of higher-wealth commerce and industry drives demand for higher-wealth residential.

So, the first thing you need to do is educate your sims. It doesn't matter the wealth class you're educating, you just need to get them into a high EQ area. Like around 160 or higher. Then you'll get lots of demand for CO$$$ and I-HT. Once you create nice areas for those buildings to develop, it will drive up demand for R$$$.

So, educate, educate, educate!

[SC4BOY 21]

In order to maintain proper demand balance you MUST control the wealth ratios of the $, $$, and $$$ R's.. you may supply them in your city by carefully controlling "goodies" supplied to areas or you may supply them from adjacent city tiles with very good transport.. The most common demand issue is that you have inadequate lower levels.. approx 50, 30-35, 15-20 % low to high,... generally the hardest part is adequately supplying R$.. R$$$ is VERY PICKY about both commute distances AND transport types..

[Unassigned 23]

the expanded query toolquote>

Kindly inform me as to the proper name of that tool and where I can find it.

Thanks in advance - Unassigned the uninitiated.

[SmartRoss1 0]

Originally posted by: jwilson:And you have to zone away from the airport? Is zoning near the airport a bad thing? Right now my airport is by itself on a large tile, I have not yet zoned that actual city, just built an airport.quote>

If you build too close to the airport then pollution will drive C(S/O)$$$ away. You're better off zoning the airport in the same city tile if you want C$$$ to make the most of it.

[jwilson 0]

Originally posted by: Unassigned

the expanded query toolquote>

Kindly inform me as to the proper name of that tool and where I can find it.

Thanks in advance - Unassigned the uninitiated.quote>

RCI Query upgrade mod by equinox.  Link is here

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=4243

[Unassigned 23]

Thanks again - it's hard for newcomers like myself to know which mods & other stuff is current.