Planning Problems

[Evilmexicandictator 0]

For some reason I always have planning problems, I can never seem to get a city to be the way I want it to, even though I have the skill at this game to make large cities, they always seem to fail because I either trash the city or things are messed up. Any tips for planning cities/regions?

[Evilmexicandictator 0]

Also do you guys have any details for planning a large central city, and placing industrial/suburban areas around it. This is another one of my problems that I can't seem to solve.

[paeng 2,507]

this is an interesting question, as i have the same problem. Things develop well in my 'inner' cities, but the more i get to the edges, the more things fall apart and i end up developing things that i don't really want, like huge poor highrise areas that churn out endless jobless folks ... usually this starts when population reaches well over 100.000. Not a very useful comment, i know - hopefully some experienced planners will join us :-)

[Evilmexicandictator 0]

Originally posted by: paeng this is an interesting question, as i have the same problem. Things develop well in my 'inner' cities, but the more i get to the edges, the more things fall apart and i end up developing things that i don't really want, like huge poor highrise areas that churn out endless jobless folks ... usually this starts when population reaches well over 100.000. Not a very useful comment, i know - hopefully some experienced planners will join us :-)quote>

 

Well I have this problem so bad that even my inner cities fail pretty badly, just because of the fact that I fail to plan out my transportation and some of my zone layout.

[Adnoxaei 0]

I have problems with that too...

As far as I can tell, it has to do with demand causing developement too far away from the right type of jobs, which is difficult to fix. I usually end up cheating my way around it with plopables.

Edit: I usually have to seperate industry into surrounding cities with a large commercial and residential city in the middle. Industry creates jobs, but also creates alot of undesired pollution and drags down land value, so seperating it makes sense to me. Also, don't make huge tracts of residential. The sims find it hard to get to work when they have to traverse a large chunk of the map to get to a job, so mix in some commercial... That is how my successfull cities have been formatted, but it involves redevelopement periodically that can be annoying.

[paeng 2,507]

Well, I guess those (planning traffic and zones) are the true challenges of SC ;-)

I'm already getting better with planning streets and transportation systems (though at some point I ALWAYS run out of space for more or bigger streets or additional stops), but I feel that my zones are still badly planned. So far I have always tried to keep RCI well separated, next time I will try to rather create different areas that each have all three kinds ... my people always complain about too much traveltime, though I usually manage to keep it at about 70 to 90 minutes, which is not really too much (I think, 150 is the limit).

btw: sorry for my rusty english - it is not my native tongue :-)

[paeng 2,507]

Originally posted by: AdnoxaeiAs far as I can tell, it has to do with demand causing developement too far away from the right type of jobs, which is difficult to fix. I usually end up cheating my way around it with plopables.quote>

yes, definitely. But the demand is not only hard to control, it is hard to understand in the first place. I have not really figured out, what my sims are 'thinking' - like I have strong demand on all three (RCI), set up nice new zones close to each other ... but they prefer to travel to the farthest edge of the map to find jobs?

(I use the mod that expands the data given, when you click on a building, that makes it easier to see WHAT is in demand, but it does not explain a sim's strange behaviour .

As for plopables - I'm not too keen on those, as you need the demand anyway.

EDIT: pls. read also in the thread: ' a viscious cycle?', particularly the post by 'spinmaster' - very interesting!

[Flann 1,709]

Welcome to ST paeng.

I can offer some advice. I'm no way a veteran at SC4 but I have planned a few good cities. You're right, the sims need a quick way to get to work, if you can't make this happen, bring the jobs closer. Place commercial along your busy roads - high traffic is good for business and it keeps job nearby.

Also one of the mistakes I always made was to do things too quickly, without any foresight. I would always be tearing things down to put in transit that should have been there from the start. Before you plan an neighborhood consider its transportation: how will it connect to the rest of your city? Are there any major networks that will need to pass through? Always think ahead and plan ahead. Consider jobs - will there be any nearby or will the sims commute? Check your services like police, education etc. Set it all in place before zones.

Edit: also, welcome Evilmexicandictator!

[alberta13 0]

I'm just about to start a new city, and i've looked at several peoples CJs for ideas.............What I want to know is - should i be planning my entire region transportation network now? Should i be sitting down and 1) creating a detailed transportation map of my region that I will follow, 2) designing a map that will show the overall tranportation networks, but not really detailed, 3) or do I just kind of have an idea of how its going to be and go as I build. My other dilemma is, even if I do plan the whole detailed network now, it would seem easier to build it all at the start  and then zone around it- but that doesn't seem possible money wise unless using I'm using cheats?

Also, if you know where you want your city centre to be (where the skyscrapers will end up) - how far from that do you initially start?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Flann 1,709]

I found that the game was more appealing once I got rid of money concerns. Now I can focus on planning and making a realistic city, that's why I use the money cheat.

When I start, I know where my downtown will be. I usually start developing the mass-transit network for my downtown right away, tying in major bridges and a general avenue layout. I have a basic idea of where my freeways will go, but I just build out from downtown and see where it goes. Just remember to take things slow, pay attention to detail and the needs of the city. Keep checking your data views.

Planning the whole network works for some, not me however. I plan section by section, otherwise things become too generic and repetitive.

[Yeah_Right 2]

i start with a farming community where the low land value areas in my region will be (outskirts), and work my way into the high land value (seaside), which eventually ends up being my down town.

[hammypotter 0]

well.... lets look at this problem with a little common sense.  first of all, you have to know where is ur " city center " . real cities always expand outward surrounding the center. so  u should also consider layin roads and other transport leading sims into the center. of cox , putting a few "ring road' is also necessary. second, ask ur self where will ur airport and seaport be??  and then u would realise in most cases, manufacturers/factories will like to be close to highways and airport area. also industries (dirty) will want to be close to seaport.  commmercial services should be spread all over on roads with high traffic.  third, make a plan on the percentage of poor, medium , rich sims living in ur city. lets say 40% -40% - 20% respectively. then decide where will they live and place the right kind of civil services in those area.  

 i very often start a region tryin very hard to make nice planning but sometimes it just doesn't work or just couldn't get any ideas. in these cases i will only focus on a small area where i know what i am doing and probably go back to the "stucked point" after a while.  recently i am re-innovatin my rail layout on a large tile with round 20000 population. yeah its alot of work but its about time to do so otherwise it will become impossible when the whole large tile is 70% build with zones and etc. 

just take this advice. always focus on a small area such and when u r out of idea , move to another spot and go back later.

[Djdaley 0]

I tend to make a sqaure avenue which acts like my ring road and the way people get into the centre of the city. Then i attach two highways to it going outwards, along with the rail and monorail/ele rail. Then i create bussinesses in the centre and some scattered out in the suburbs so that the everyone has jobs. Seems to work for me.