How do YOU build your city?

[skandal 0]

Do you start in one spot and build everything around it all at once or do you spread everything out and use power lines and fill in the blanks later?

[writingliberty 0]

I generally build mostly in one spot, though sometimes with my power plant far off and connected by lines. Depends what kind of power I'm using, actually. (I use a lot of wind.)

[xV.I.N.C.E.N.T.x 0]

VERY SLOWLY... It amazes me how many CJ's build so quick and are actual done in a strategic way. Sandbox is fun, yes. But I love watching growth.

It's like that old commercial

<< Sings " Plop Plop Fizz Fizz, Oh what a relief it is"

[aaglo 0]

Realisticly, or I try too.

Start in the center, maybe absorb other villages around it, try and support a large population before rising above 10 stories.

[City2TheMax 3]

For the most part I do the one spot thing. I plan very carefully tho so I dont expand too quick - I make sure I know where my indusrty and residential goes and all that to make it as realistic as possible - that way I can make room for transportation and can predict where it will go.

[Mistagnerd 0]

I normally pick a spot to begin, not necessarily the center of the city and obtain a mental picture of where I want my zones to be. I then zone as much as possible and allow the game to simulate a year on normal speed. After the first year Is up I zone more areas, and allow simulation of another year. I continue with this process until the first ten or twelve years are complete. I then begin placing services and such, and simulate on medium speed there on.

-Mistagnerd

[Yeah_Right 2]

I put all my highways in place before i even do anything else.

Then comes the rail.

I then outline my suburbs with roads, make sure everything is fine, then just see how it goes..

[GMT 389]

I look at the map and think of where to put what (downtown, airport, seaport, parks, scenic areas and so on), think of a traffic layout, open google maps to get inspirations, start to lay down highways, then aves, roads, streets... somewhere between these steps I lay down a railroad system, maybe a subway system too.

and then I pick a spot, lay down the zones, public services and other details (not to mention water and power supply) and then I let the zone develop.

and that's what I do over and over again till the maps full.

[Death Reaper 0]

On my side i m trying the organic grow...Without any plans i only make it grow. If you look the zone graph you see a lot of blocks with mix fonctions. It a new way and i love it...Or look on the internet for how a city grow in the organic way thats the way i do it...I ll try to show a picture of it when i ll have my computer back. It look pretty awesome...but my street are chaotic lol but i love it

[Bluenube 0]

I always have a problem with that....i mean...planning my city...i always delete the city...like it or not...i just try to do it sometimes so realistic....but sometimes i want to be "organized"...& thats a problem 4 me....because i can't let the city to spread or grow like a mexican city....or kinda!! some help will be useful!!

[Shadow_prophet 91]

I always pick dead centre of the map first and spread it outwards. Always try to start out small first and slowly build up the major transportations such as subways, bussess, monorail / el-rail, and sometimes if there is a connecting one, the highways., everything is initially zoned to low density, putting in things like Hospitals and schools, police stations and fire stations and such along the way. Then once the map is filled up i start zoning over them with medium densities and eventually high densities. Several areas i reserve if i want to build parks or plop in certain buildings. The areas of which i zone medium, high or low vary depending on the city i try to build. If i try a slightly realistic approach then i mix it up a little, if i want to attain a sky scraper jungle, all becomes high density eventually.

[skandal 0]

I have the same problem as Bluenube. I usually delete my city pretty early on because of problems like traffic or i don't understand where to put stuff. I understand to an extent but my problem really is just not knowing that perfect layout strategy so everything works the way it is supposed to.

[xV.I.N.C.E.N.T.x 0]

I also decide what I am going to do by testing in the tutorial city, I then use a blank map and I have everything plopped in order as it is in the menu....then i do window shopping that way....so much easier looking at the map....count where i put it....and then count the same number in the menu....and tada!!!

[Danlikebooks 6]

I just sort of... build.

[nthooze 13]

I go organic for the most part. I do tend to spread the transportation system out a couple tiles away from where I have started in the region and terraform them as well. Adding ridge lines and such. I will later come back and add a small town and ag chipping slowly away at laying a foundation of reality before diving deep into growing a town or city. Tiles that I know are going to go big I tend to master plan the road and rail systems. Smaller cities and towns I let the development come naturally, often the game demands lead it in directions I can't predict anyway. Either case I build up from that rural skeletal layout that had already been established long before. I also like to 'polish' tiles, fine tuning the landscape and foresting the hills, not until every square on the tile has been worked to I call it good. Even then demands can cause me to redevelop. Had to plow a highway through a finished tile just this weekend, surrounding growth forced the issue. Typical real world stuff I suppose.

[Death Reaper 0]

what i hate with sc4 is there s only 180, 90 and 45 degrees road so its kinda had to make it organic way....lol

[Death Reaper 0]

not had but Hard...sorry

[Wasila 0]

Same as Danlikebooks. I just do it. But I'm starting to plan out my highway and monorail systems in advance, so that's changing a bit.

[Mayorm 14]

I spread it all out but I don't leave like a huge a space between everything. And what i do is  grow the residential area toward the commercial. and I grow the industrial away from the residential.

[ryannayr140 2]

never use industry its space consuming and polluting. i start out on the edge of the city that connects to another city that is either all industry or has extra commercial jobs it makes starting out a bit easiar then i build from there. the problem is later on the connecting roads get heavly congestid im talking 8000 people on a single road

[Namesys 3]

I do usually as picture below shows. First I do low residental on south and low commercial on north and then dense the zones of residentals and commercials to the centre. INDUSTRY IS OPTIONAL. Network is mostly underground subways or standard rails. I use road and sometimes avenue road networking

[TimeMaster 4]

I will usually start by laying a ground highway through the middle of the area, maybe a T-Intersection somewhere... Some exits, avenues. Do not go overboard. One highway, a couple avenues. You can also just do avenues and no highway... Then I make an exit which goes into a street. Curvy, Roundabouts at the end. Low Density Res, A park and bus stops. A little commercial on the avenues and halfway across the map you can zone for industry. Civic comes later, not to fast with it. Check out the Omnibus for some pretty cool tutorials on how to play.

[Cougar2004 128]

I have 5 ways so far that I have created to play and build my cities.

1. Terraform-Demand - First I do some random things with the land terraforming, water, trees, animals, establish city, then start very small, placing only a windmill and a few low density res and few low density ind. Once they grow, I refer to only 4 things to determine what happens next. A) Demand chart, if it says superhuge residential demand, i place a measured amount more, etc, B) Desirability graph, this determines exactly where I place these new zones, only where this zone type is wanted the most, and where there are many zones wanting that area, i place based on the high desirability for hte picked zone whereas other zones are less desirous of that place and want others more so not to steal possible growth from other zone types prematurely, C) The Ticker, besides demand and desirability, i listen to my city council members, and only when they gripe about something do i build it, but... D) i only build anything from A,B,C above after referencing my Budget so i never take huge dips too fast, whereas the income doesn't expand my budget back to $$ Growth. Thats the game strategy plan! Fun, takes time, and some brains, but very fullfilling.

2. Rings: In this gameplan, I start in the middle of the map, where the higest demand and desirability usually are, and i place small blocks of commercial high density zones. In the next layer all around, i place high density residential, and then around the outside of the map (where pollution is cut in half due to the mechanics of the game, i place high density industrial. I leave a lot o space bewteen each layer so I can upgrade roads and transit types as needed, and eventually build until running out of space. I put civic buildings, utilities, parks, landmarks etc in the spaces between each ring, however i usually mix utilities with industry, civic buildings and parks with commercial and residential, and landmarks with commercial. It seems to predictable, but its amazing how different every city turns out even when it should be block ringed by design! This proves that there is a random factor to the game. But its fun too.

3. Themed: I have to admit that this is probably my most favorite of ALL, probably because there are so many themes to build in Sim City 4, and I have hardly begun to try each one. Each city is compeltely different with its own feel and personality. The point is if i choose to focus on CRIME, then i figure out where to evenly place police stations and related buildings, Jail, etc... i still place them when needed, but i build ALL my RCI zones around the crime structures in an effort to build a perfectly safe city. Instead of crime, I make a WATER city! where I plan out where to place water and treatment plants, and everything water related, so i can have boats, and seaports, no water polution near my pumps, and then focus on obtaining all my income from water sales to neighboring cities. I always name these cities something that reminds me what im trying to accomplish, such as WaterWorld, or for the Police GothamCity (thinking of batman the crimefighter). Besides A) Civic building themes like health or education, or B) utility themes like focusing on everything garbage or power, I also love designing around C) transit like everything train! this means no roads allowed, or everything BUS, meaning only roads and trying to force as many as possible onto my bus system. And then besides those 3 themed designs, I even theme it to an RCI... such as Residential city.. meaning I refuse to build any industrial or commercial! Risky, cause to do this, you MUST have neighbors connected with industrial or commercial. In fact I often have a full city of only each, and then connect them all together, usually with the residential bewteen the commercial and industrial. Another variation on RCI Themed style buildilng is Agriculture (All Farms only allowed - add the farmers market, and a small landing strip to get the crop duster plane, etc). So themes are a LOT of fun, and always soo different, and dont forget to put landmarks and reward buildings and parks and business deal buildings that support your theme, because there are some great matchups there! Try it~!

4. Farm-Start: This is the gameplay strategy I just made up this year and am still working on a few cities in my 2008 Lanaland region (in honor of Lana Lang who is a droped character from the CW's Smallville TV series). How this works is... I pick a size of FARM, and without roads getting in the way, I space them out in a certain density to cover the entire map! (usually a small city, because it takes so long to calculate and place all this). Now that the farms are placed, let them grow, no water even needed! And often a single windmill do it! Now once all the land is developed, only a few months usually, with no services of any type.... then I choose something I dont like, it might be land value or crime, or my current favorite (the city i was playing last night) i chose water pollution! I look at the water pollution map and see.. where is it the MOST polluted!? And I decide to start chipping away at that farm, by overdeveloping it with whatever the demand seems to want, or what services the ticker (city counsel members) say is needed. Eventually more roads are needed, etc. and sometimes i end up overdeveloping multiple farms at once! This is FUN, and challenging, because the goal is to not hurt the other farms, while getting rid of the crime or whatever (water pollution - in this case) to eliminate it without causing worse or new problems for the other farms! Eventually It seems that half the city is no longer farms. I usually declare myself a winner and save the game and use it for reference only instead of playing it, when i have accomplished the goal. But I have to admit that some cities, i never get quite right, and I have a feeling that I could continue a city until there are no farms left, thereby reflecting realism of what happened to my hometown in NW Portland Oregon before I went off to college, or to my college town in Utah County, Utah where all the farms were overrun by development! Its challenging to play this game this way, and actually quite realistic, if you keep realism in mind as you build! The overall feeling from this play is what i would call fulfilling. Enjoy~!

5. UDI: Lastly, I need to share my 5th standardized gameplay option that I have created, UDI/Rewards!! Yes its true. I start a city, but dont worry so much about the mechanics, or demand, or desirability, or money, and i focus 100% on getting every possible vehicle i can, to play every possible new U-Drive-It mission that i have never seen, and thereby unlock every possible reward building that I can find! The tricks and fun in this play are A) figuring out what buildings give you what missing vehicles, how to obtain the building and pay for them, and where to appropriately place them for best use! And another trick and part of the fun in this play is B) enjoying driving the various vehicles in a new city, finding your way around, and figuring out how to drive each vehicle and the rules of the mission to WIN each one! (I suck at quite a few of the missions actually still, but getting better!) and the last trick and part of the fun of this UDI-focused City play is C) winning and obtaining as many reward buildings as quickly as possible, finding land to place them that makes them actually benefit the city the most (IE, dont put a casino in a residential area), and figuring out how to pay for each, so not to go bankrupt. Its a slippery slope! A challenge! With tons of various elements to have fun with while building with these UDI missions/rewards goals! I do enjoy this type as well.

Well I doubt anyone has read this all, but thast ok. I'll save it for my SimCity Play Book that I'm writing. But since skandal asked, I thought id share. Who knows? Maybe someone will get an idea from these and get more out of their gameplay experience with SC4. I'm sure I'll come up with more ways, in fact I think ill read the comments of the people above now to see what they enjoy. See ya.

[skandal 0]

Thank you all for responding to my topic? I never would have thought so many people would actually reply to it. You have all made my SimCity playing experience better. Especially Cougar. I read your whole reply and think "BRILLIANT!!!" Thank you all all again.

[un1 41]

I have 2 ways of playing...

1) Plop everything for the best effect (unless you have space for growing).

2) Cheating all the way.

I really do not enjoy the normal way of playing you can tell.

-un1

[J D 1]

I build a little satellite town far from where I want my actual city to be. I sustain it with a fire station, a clinic and an elementary school, all with a small radius. The town usually follows no grid pattern of any sort, so it's very flowy. It makes good money because it's so efficient utility-wise, and I use the funds to build coal power plants, waste disposal and dirty industry there.

Then, I start building my actual city. I start building loosely gridded neighborhoods around the center using medium density housing and some commercial on the main roads. I connect the satellite town to the actual city with an avenue and rail. I work my way into the city with gridded commercial zones, and I work my way out with non-gridded, low-density res and pockets of industry.