Thinking about getting back into Sim City again...

[arca 0]

Hi everyone.  I've been lurking around here for years, looking at all the pretty CJs and all the awesomoe creations that people have made over the years.  I took a break for a couple years, but that old feeling cropped up again, and now I want to play again.  But first, let me tell you why I quit.

I'd start by doownloading a few things here or there, and then end up hunting for this prop or that prop, and download a few more things. Then I'd say, that's it, I'm going to play now.  But, I'd start terraforming, and start figuring out my coastlines and where I want the residential area to be and so on, and then before you know it 6 hours is gone, and it's time for bed, and I've built very little.  It would leave me frustrated, but I'd get back on the next day and build a bit until at some point I just decide for whatever reason that my city sucks.

I have piles of addons. I think I really have too many, and they aren't terribly well organized. I am considering wiping the whole game, doing a clean install, and starting over, possibly with a STEX CD donation thing.

There are a few things I would like to ask of you guys.

1. How can I terraform coastlines quickly. I am sick to death of plopping streets over miles of coastline.

2. How can I build a nice looking city without plopping everything and causing it to be basically eye candy?  This is my biggest issue.  I want to build a city that works.  I have tried a few small things like some mods that will cause fire and police to coverage to go citywide, so I don't have to build 18 police stations.  I also got the NAM, and plenty of stex downloads for other things.   I don't mind having some areas as non functional, but overall, I want the city to really work.

3.  How do I get over my overwhelming desire to make all my sims rich and happy?  My guess is that I should probably stop using money cheats :-).  

4. I usually tend to quit when it gets time to go to the regional level.  I can't seem to get the hang of getting several cities going at once.  What are some tips for regional play? Do you tend to build one region at atime, or several at once?

5.  How do you manage details in your cities?  I would love to spend a while building all those fantastic little details  like raising up the land for rail lines, or making parking lots for my suburban areas or whatever, or getting the layout of downtown  just perfect.  But I always get grumpy and never finish.  It just takes soooo long for me.

Thanks everyone for any input!  I am going to go stare at all the CJs in awe now.

[Eʟᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ 273]

Arca, SimCity 4 isn't about creating the perfect city or the perfect region, it's about having fun building cities and watching them grow. People's fascination with SimCity 4 is a "what if" concept. They try to create new entire worlds straight from your computer, on hands usually taking months to build a good region or just playing a few hours a day. 

Don't let it get to you. It's just a game, for me I usually end up playing SimCity 4 for an hour and then I head to Simtropolis for an hour, then I go do other stuff. If the game makes you feel frustrated then don't play and if you think your city sucks, it doesn't. Each person has their own unique style in SimCity 4 and that's why people usually tend to create a CJ to show off their unique style. You don't need to teraform for hours to impress people here. Just show us what you are capable of doing for the hours you feel like playing.

Ok now I would like to address your questions...

1. How can I terraform coastlines quickly. I am sick to death of plopping streets over miles of coastline.

Use the terraform tools, the terraformer program or use terrain levelers as an alternative way to terraform your coastlines. Check the STEX for the terrain levelers.

2. How can I build a nice looking city without plopping everything and causing it to be basically eye candy?  This is my biggest issue.  I want to build a city that works.  I have tried a few small things like some mods that will cause fire and police to coverage to go citywide, so I don't have to build 18 police stations.  I also got the NAM, and plenty of stex downloads for other things.   I don't mind having some areas as non functional, but overall, I want the city to really work.

Usually most BATs and custom growables are usually classified under each style of buildings. If you want to create a European region then "turn on" euro style in SimCity 4. That way you don't end up with ghettos in a european area.

Also taxes can control may other things too as they also influence demand. If you want only R$$$ in a city or C$$$ in an area then turn the taxes for R$ and CS$ to high. If you want to influence R$$$ in a particular area of a city, build schools, police stations and other public services. You can also influence them by turning their service quality to high when you query them.

Also if you want your city to look very good, keep in mind it does not hurt to demolish buildings. If something grows you do not like in an area. Demolish it.

3.  How do I get over my overwhelming desire to make all my sims rich and happy?  My guess is that I should probably stop using money cheats :-)

If you want to keep your cities realistic, get rid of the money cheat. Seriously. This way you will pay attention to how much you can afford, and not end up with R$$$ all over the city because you have placed 400 schools, police stations and hospitals all over your city.

4. I usually tend to quit when it gets time to go to the regional level.  I can't seem to get the hang of getting several cities going at once.  What are some tips for regional play? Do you tend to build one region at atime, or several at once?

What gets me really confused is the city to city trades because you don't know how much the other city has.  So I don't use those. 

Also in order to grow large cities the city must has other cities bordering another city or the demand will peak and no taller buildings will be built. So lets say your city has reached stage 6, it will go no further because there are no other cities surrounding the city. So you need to go into a neighbouring city, create a city and once the city peaks, go back into your old city and keep working on it. Keep doing this with other neighbouring cities and you should have a good region!

I also tracked down some good city strategies for you.

Check out the omnibus!

Check out the official website!

5.  How do you manage details in your cities?  I would love to spend a while building all those fantastic little details  like raising up the land for rail lines, or making parking lots for my suburban areas or whatever, or getting the layout of downtown  just perfect.  But I always get grumpy and never finish.  It just takes soooo long for me.

Everyone that terraformed their cities perfectly worked very hard to do it. It's good to only do this for an hour and then work on other things for other areas, that way you don't get frustrated that you have wasted so much time not building anything. And if you do decide to get the terraforming of your city done in a few days you have to keep reminding yourself that it will be easy once you have finished. 

Good Luck! And don't let SimCity 4 get to you. It's just a game!

-element

P.S. As a last reminder check out some of the CJs to see what they have done and feel free to ask them questions. I'm sure they won't mind