Can one force buiding types?

[bcbeerboy 0]

Here's a question from a newbie:

When placing zones, one can, for example, use the Ctrl key to "remove the lines" from your zone, or just drop it in, in which case a number of little zones are laid down.

So even though the zones are the same size, one is a single zone, and the other is a patchwork of smaller zones.

What effect, if any, does this have on the size or type of buidings that grow? Does it set the initial "footprint"? Or is there no difference between laying either type of zone?

[Jasoncw 11,839]

Those are the lot sizes, though the game reorganizes though in a way that I don't really understand. That's to say that if you zoned a 4x4 lot, it might split into two 2x4s.

Maxis made enough variety of lots so that each building will appear on several lot sizes. However, if you have played the game for a while you'll begin to memorize the lot/building combinations, and you can zone in anticipation of certain buildings.

[bcbeerboy 0]

So say there's one zone that is 2 x 2 square, and another that consists of two 1 x 2 lots, will the game sprog the same buildings (with the same likelyhood)? If so, what's the purpose of the lines when scrolling down zones without using [Ctrl] ?

[NetPCDoc 1]

Hello bcbeerboy,

Please Note - the following concerns buildings that are designed to grow - not buildings meant to be plopped.

Ah, the old Lot Size / Parcel questions' Please Note - the game can (and given time - will) re-parcel lots to the sizes that your sims desire - within zoning of the same type and densitiy. Laying out zones without using any of the Shift (Shift/Ctrl/Alt) keys, but just dragging deep and wide will show you what size of lots/parcels your sims are currently ready for (or currently desire); note - you can use the escape (a.k.a. ESC) key to cancel the zoning - prior to releasing your mouse button.

The lines you get while zoning multiple lots are indicating LOT Boundaries. The arrows, when present, indicate the orientation of the lot(s) and should be adjacent to transit tiles (a.k.a. streets / roads / avenues).

While you may get some of your smaller buildings on larger lots/parcels with lot-filling eye candy thrown in, you won't see larger buildings appearing on smaller lots/parcels (i.e. lots that are too small for the building's foot-print).

Generally speaking you need a fair amount of population to get zones wider or deeper than three (3) tiles without using any shift (shift/ctrl/alt) keys. But, by using the ctrl / alt / shift keys, you can lay out larger lots so as to encourage larger buildings to appear sooner -or- just to remind yourself where you want to have larger buildings later; in these cases do beware - the game may re-parcel these larger lots into smaller ones that may require you to come back and micromanage from time to time.

Also - the game can re-parcel two or more adjacent smaller lots of the same type and density into a larger lot when your sims start demanding larger lots. I've had my fair share of difficulties in getting streets of one-by-one lots to go in back-to-back - the game keeps wanting to combine/reparcel these into two-by-one and two-by-two lots; and these always seem to end up facing the wrong street.

Hoping this helps,

-NetPCDoc

No detail is too small to be micromanaged.