Effective method for starting a region?

[Amtrak7 2]

I have tried many methods for starting cities, mostly leading to a collapse and obliterate.

Several:

6x6 grid, avenue loop around city 3 tiles from edge, sunken highway down middle, separate cities for R/I.

6x6 grid, avenue loop around city 3 tiles from edge, sunken railway down middle, separate cities for R/I.

Automatic street grid, avenue loop around city 3 tiles from edge, R/I separated by river, river crossed by highway.

Automatic street grid, avenue loop around city 3 tiles from edge, R/I separated by mountain, mountain crossed by elevated-rail.

My most successful, leading to 400,000 on a medium tile:

Large river at edge of city, separate cities for R/I, avenue loop around city 3 tiles from edge, highway/ferries connecting cities.

End result for all of these is commute time troubles when the population reaches ~45,000.  Zones go in 2 6-tile strips at a time.  My policy on city buildings is:

Power is usually coal or oil.

First education to go down is Large Elementary, as soon as it's available.

Hospitals go in as soon as I can afford them after schools.

Fire goes in as soon as I have my first fire or the landing strip is available, whichever comes first

Police goes in as soon as the Deluxe Police is available

Water goes in as soon as the tile is full.

Sanitation (incinerator or Modern Waste To Energy Plant) goes in as soon as the Industry city can afford it.  Recycling Center goes in as soon as I can afford it.

If rail isn't on the starting map, it goes in right before water.

Buses go in when congestion is a problem. (use Road-Top Mass Transit)

Never subway.

Parks go in free land

What is the effective way to start a city anyway?

[cubenax 2]

I try many different methods. I usually start with the whole city tile watered, and build my suburbs, and eventually get to downtown. Power id usually PEG's Geothermal Power Plant OR ALOT of wind mills. ALOT.  

[SteveMSim 275]

I start my cities according to the methods described in the Prima guide, which is to start small with only one road that connects the new city with a neighbor, streets that connect the zones, some medium industrial zoning, and only low-density residential and commercial zoning. Start with a coal plant surrounded by your industrial zone. Add police, fire, schools, and health clinics as needed. And, to assure a successful city, build gradually. Your avenues, high-capacity schools, highways, and subways can wait until later. It may be time-consuming but eventually you will have a large successful city. Don't be afraid to bulldoze in the name of progress as your city grows since this is a also a fact of life in the real world.

[Jezus53 18]

Instead of building in a grid or uniform pattern, try building sporadically. Try building suburbs like ones of actual suburbs! Once you have a good population in the suburbs and once you need to build avenues to replace crowded roads, then start putting in high density zones along those avenues and start expanding. Once your population gets to a good amount (say 100k?) build subways. Your sims will take the mass transit because of the sporadic road layout. Usually, when sims take mass transit, you can build a bigger city since you're roads won't be over capacity. Also, build industry out of you're city. It will allow for more space, more transportation control (since the sims will have to take what for of transportation you provide out of the city) and less undesirable affects from industry.

[EmpNap1 0]

cool

[procarpenter 3]

i use the black hole management water works and the ionic infusion power which also gives water

the power does cost 9000 a month if not regulated but does give an almost instant 9000 to high tech taxes so reduce power to almost nothing and increase as needed this should give yu about 5-7000 a month income other alternative is use bsc funding mod allows you to build very large cities without depleting your funds turn it off as soon as you start making money

i can usually using super mega zoning to put up large residentian hd lots and high density comercial and get about 200 to 300 thousand sims in about 1 hour perhaps 4 sim years at fastest speed major networks go in after my main areas are making money with taxes i seldom use any indiustrial unless i need it for eye candy

[erik258 0]

i use the black hole management water works and the ionic infusion power which also gives water

the power does cost 9000 a month if not regulated but does give an almost instant 9000 to high tech taxes so reduce power to almost nothing and increase as needed this should give yu about 5-7000 a month income other alternative is use bsc funding mod allows you to build very large cities without depleting your funds turn it off as soon as you start making money

i can usually using super mega zoning to put up large residentian hd lots and high density comercial and get about 200 to 300 thousand sims in about 1 hour perhaps 4 sim years at fastest speed major networks go in after my main areas are making money with taxes i seldom use any indiustrial unless i need it for eye candy

That Seems like cheating to me.  A power plant that pays you?  Magic money?  No, that wouldn't take long to ruin my game.  

Amtrak7,

 

Start Small!   Everything you build that's underutilized costs you money monthly.  Leave space for highways and such as you start, but don't build them right away.  Your cities' footprint dictates the need for highways , as well as the individual sims' commute needs.  Build them if and when they'll be used. 

Cities are all about efficiency.  The best way to build a sucessful city is to get the most bang for your buck out of everything.  Buildings with effect area radiuses should be placed so that as much as possible of the coverage you're buying is being used.  They can be easily moved as they cost only a few times month's bill to rebuild elsewhere.  Move schools along with your city as you re-center them on a growing footprint and, at least once, upgrade to large (or starting with them as you said, if you don't have extra cash at the beginning). 

Transportation is never an issue at first, but plan for when it is.  Know your corridors for rail subway elevated/monorail et cetera.  One elegant solution is to use bus at first which as was said, utilizes existing road networks, and then as car traffic becomes an issue in various ways ( congestion, pollution), switching them to subway stations.  Remember that larger roads - highways, avenues - are the least efficient kind of overland transportation, taking up 2 squares per 1 square travel distance, and in the case of intersections, much more.  You might use rail instead; it's very cheap, builds well over terrain, and can be upgraded later easily enough.  Plan to mix networks in large cities - I recommend subway for space efficiency, rail for cost to cover sparse cities, a conversion to el or mono if cities get dense (which saves space on the stations ).  Both are hard to work with; getting them off the ground wouldnt' be nearly as valuable as track joinings that worked properly more often!  So be ready for challenges with above-ground rails, and get the most out of your waterways - use ferries!  They're cheap and can be a good way to get people around extensive waterfront, even in small cities. 

Try to make your cities nice .  Build parks, and plant trees in them if you like.  Trees are cheap and I suspect the sims like them.  You can build trees all sorts of interesting places... Leave a few tiles of open space here and there, and consider planting trees on them if you haven't yet.  Spoil the sims - your cities will prosper and glow with happiness. 

If you centralize your services, plan for your transportation networks whatever they may be, and manage your sims' happines, thereby maximizing your approval rating and demand as well, your cities will prosper. 

[danza3343 1]

1 phrase:

Neighbour Connections

Seriously, when you have enough neighbours you will very rarely see those damn no job zots, especially with the NAM =)

Thats why I am having trouble with my large cities only region [4x4 large cities] I have 3 large cities, one with job issues as it holds all the jobs and it seems sims like travelling to other cities. What this means is in a normal med to small city region I would have 6-8 cities in that space

[Amtrak7 2]

Amtrak7,

 Start Small!   Everything you build that's underutilized costs you money monthly.  Leave space for highways and such as you start, but don't build them right away.  Your cities' footprint dictates the need for highways , as well as the individual sims' commute needs.  Build them if and when they'll be used. 

Cities are all about efficiency.  The best way to build a sucessful city is to get the most bang for your buck out of everything.  Buildings with effect area radiuses should be placed so that as much as possible of the coverage you're buying is being used.  They can be easily moved as they cost only a few times month's bill to rebuild elsewhere.  Move schools along with your city as you re-center them on a growing footprint and, at least once, upgrade to large (or starting with them as you said, if you don't have extra cash at the beginning). 

Transportation is never an issue at first, but plan for when it is.  Know your corridors for rail subway elevated/monorail et cetera.  One elegant solution is to use bus at first which as was said, utilizes existing road networks, and then as car traffic becomes an issue in various ways ( congestion, pollution), switching them to subway stations.  Remember that larger roads - highways, avenues - are the least efficient kind of overland transportation, taking up 2 squares per 1 square travel distance, and in the case of intersections, much more.  You might use rail instead; it's very cheap, builds well over terrain, and can be ugraded later easily enough.  Plan to mix networks in large cities - I recommend subway for space efficiency, rail for cost to cover sparse cities, a conversion to el or mono if cities get dense (which saves space on theworked properly stations ).  Both are hard to work with; getting them off the ground wouldnt' be nearly as valuable as track joinings that more often!  So be ready for challenges with above-ground rails, and get the most out of your waterways - use ferries!  They're cheap and can be a good way to get people around extensive waterfront, even in small cities. 

Try to make your cities nice .  Build parks, and plant trees in them if you like.  Trees are cheap and I suspect the sims like them.  You can build trees all sorts of interesting places... Leave a few tiles of open space here and there, and consider planting trees on them if you haven't yet.  Spoil the sims - your cities will prosper and glow with happiness. 

If you centralize your services, plan for your transportation networks whatever they may be, and manage your sims' happines, thereby maximizing your approval rating and demand as well, your cities will prosper. 

quote>

Thanks for the suggestions.

I always try to get the best coverage out of city buildings.

I try to avoid waterways, since they hog space, but I sometimes use them as ferry routes or for seaports.

Now, I realize the uselessness of the avenue loop 3 tiles around city.  When I first divised it, I based it on the fact that neighbor connections go 3 tiles into city.

Several questions:

Some people have said that elevated/mono stations won't work if the road isn't alongside their 3-tile side.  Is this true?

Does the sim take grade crossings into effect when calculating traffic delays?

Is laying 2 sets of elevated/mono/heavy rail tracks worth the expense?

Should I the dirty industry in a separate city from the start, or should I do it later?

[PColumbus73 0]

Actually I've built a city on a medium tile with a freeway looping around the outer tiles, it resolved some of the traffic issues with commuters traveling to the neighboring cities. It also seemed to help spur development in the surrounding area (sprawl!) Not to mention adding a healthy shot of revenue into the suburban communities (the freeway was a tolled facility with traffic having to pay for entering AND exiting the highway.) But, like Erik258 said, build on an as needed basis.

With highways, avenues, elevated/monorails, etc. you have to figure out where your people are going. Don't build exit ramps or stations where not many travel (unless your planning development).

With dirty industry, I prefer to keep it seperate from other zones, but to make it realistic I tried to mix it in with low-wealth residental and commercial space.

[Shlarin 0]

I like to zone my residential in high density, isolated, and compact blocks so that I can save ob my hospital and school funding (at least the transportation part.)

[koolkalang 2]

Originally posted by: Jezus53

Instead of building in a grid or uniform pattern, try building sporadically. Try building suburbs like ones of actual suburbs! Once you have a good population in the suburbs and once you need to build avenues to replace crowded roads, then start putting in high density zones along those avenues and start expanding. Once your population gets to a good amount (say 100k?) build subways. Your sims will take the mass transit because of the sporadic road layout. Usually, when sims take mass transit, you can build a bigger city since you're roads won't be over capacity. Also, build industry out of you're city. It will allow for more space, more transportation control (since the sims will have to take what for of transportation you provide out of the city) and less undesirable affects from industry.quote>

That sounds like the way I'm playing right now. Making the suburbs, a small downtown a little bit aways where all the suburbs connect, and then an industrial, right next to it. I leave lots of room inbetween major roads for expansion. And then usually when the city is around 80-90k the downtown area starts to engulf parts of the suburbs, which for some reason I like watching. :\

[Jezus53 18]

Originally posted by: koolkalang

Originally posted by: Jezus53

Instead of building in a grid or uniform pattern, try building sporadically. Try building suburbs like ones of actual suburbs! Once you have a good population in the suburbs and once you need to build avenues to replace crowded roads, then start putting in high density zones along those avenues and start expanding. Once your population gets to a good amount (say 100k?) build subways. Your sims will take the mass transit because of the sporadic road layout. Usually, when sims take mass transit, you can build a bigger city since you're roads won't be over capacity. Also, build industry out of you're city. It will allow for more space, more transportation control (since the sims will have to take what for of transportation you provide out of the city) and less undesirable affects from industry.quote>

That sounds like the way I'm playing right now. Making the suburbs, a small downtown a little bit aways where all the suburbs connect, and then an industrial, right next to it. I leave lots of room inbetween major roads for expansion. And then usually when the city is around 80-90k the downtown area starts to engulf parts of the suburbs, which for some reason I like watching. :\

quote>

Slight difference, I usually build my industry in the same city just across the map or at a good distance away. It's kinda cool seeing your downtown take over. It just shows the advancement of you're cities.