How do you build *your* city?

[Androv 6]

 Just curious after having looked at a lot of online cities in avatar mode.

It looks like a lot of people like heading straight for the higher density zones as soon as they become available, and I've seen a lot of grid cities just full of skyscrapers (usually the most successful ones tbh!).

I prefer growing my cities more naturally, starting with maybe a grid like section at the core and staying low density until the population starts hitting 100,000.  Then, I continue to zone more low density on the periphery and try to gather the high density structures centrally.  Grids are the most efficient and organised way of placing zones, but I like having a bit of variety, such as the main road curving around contours / rivers.  That's probably what I enjoy most about Cities XL - the riverside boulevards etc.

Of course, the problem with this approach is that my population will never have a chance of reaching the 10,000,000 or so other players have got   My main city, Qulara is sitting on 750,000 but with no space left to build on without heading up.

I haven't tried other city planning styles, maybe I should have a look at triangles, that could give quite a unique appearance

What do other people do?  Is it skyscrapers all the way?

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

From the ground up usually...  

Heh...  but then you are talking to the guy that makes rural Mountain Theme Pack 'cities'....   but then that would be talking about that 'other' game and we mustn't digress.   Much.

Still the point is that just because a game designer thinks that we will all eventually want to build a big concrete jungle, that is not always necessarily true.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

In the demo I built in all rectangles, including the farms. I alternated the farms to make a nice quilt of farms.

On the beach map, I put all the industry and utilities up on the hill, the executives near the beach, along with a few holiday hotels, Qualified workers to direct south, then offices, then unqualified workers, main road, more unqualified workers, farms to the farthest south. I put a narrow row of high tech industry at the base of the hill (next to homes/offices and between them and pollution) and a few medium density offices. I tried to make all the residentials and factories middle density with the bare minimum of heavy and manufacturing industries. I would have a high density downtown core, most everything else (not devoted to farmland) would be middle density with some low density in the outskirts (I was never a big fan of suburbs, especially after moving to one).

[Androv 6]

I'm from a rural town where the highest building is 3 storeys, so I quite like the openness you get with the sprawling low density

[ForceInfinity 0]

Alot depends on how you want to play the game. For my part, I planned to cut my creative side loose with respect to the infrastructure. There are some cities like Seattle, Portland, or Los Angeles close to the downtown core as well as along the 110 that have fascinating freeway systems. Colorado has the Glenwood Springs Viaduct. Hawaii has got it's own fascinating viaduct, and the cool thing with Cities XL is that many of these constucts are theoretically possible (though I dont think its possible to do exit ramps straight off a viaduct, and unsure about double decker viaducts). So at least that's the angle I planned to pursue with CXL

[DazzaDazza 29]

ask me in a year or when I am more skilled at this game, but generally I like to make 90% of the city medium to low density and mainly model it around the city I live in Melbourne

[masochist 111]

I build my city with the end in mind.  I started from the suburbs, but I already started running freeways and such around it.  I even have a suburban "edge city" in a high-traffic area.  The cities I tend to build are modeled after typical western American cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix, with large amounts of sprawl with no real street pattern, and a central downtown core that will be gridded.

[zwr100 2]

In every previous city builder game I made grids.  I like to keep my big buildings cetralized and tons of medium/low density sprawl - like many small American cities.  I've tried to make cities that don't look like grids- but ultimately my planning is a grid so that's how I see them.

There is no grid in Cities XL.  I don't know what to do with myself, but I'm sure I'll have a concrete grid for a cbd

I only played the demo tutorials plus a couple hours of free play, mostly exploring possibilities but never reaching any real heights.  I haven't opened the box yet because having played MMOs I realize how rough launch can be, and frustrating to play.  Amuzingly enough, I wasn't really interested in getting the game in a hurry, but it came 2 days after the order was placed - which is truly exceptional for my local deliveries.

[LLRobot 0]

big isn't better

I started my first city using square blocks overlapping each other with a 90 degree offset.... bad traffic problems insued.  went onto to use inter-locking octogans... unstructured farm land around the edges.  the road network is very time intensive.  1 week in with only 150k pop; still a  far trek from being finished.

as to density High core surounded by medium with low suburbs. 

[Kredit 0]

My first city I had no plan at all, so it's a jumble of shapes and zones... I also used the freezone tool a lot. It's now at 1000000+ pop, with some room to grow, but some faults in the layout are beginning to really show themselves now... (lack of traffic planning, polution all over the map etc)

The city I'm trying to grow now I've planned more... basically it's grids all the way, HD as soon as available, lots of parks and very little industry pushed in one corner. It's more effective, sure... but it feels less "alive".

Up to now I've mainly been focusing on making cities work, i.e. make money and grow, I think in the future I'll try and create different types of cities, with nice designs or features... although I must say that the game seems to push you toward going bigger and bigger....

[LLRobot 0]

I'll never have a big city... don't really see the point. just turn on 'advanced mode' (can't remember if that is its actual name) to unlock the majority of buildings zones and build the city you want.... currently only running High Tech and Farms so no polution issues.

oh and trade.... alot.... its been happening less lately but a surprisingly large number of players list tokens cheaper than omnicorp buys them.

[JanYpe 17]

[littlesquare.dot 0]

I wish there was a way to copy a selection of roadway, because while I like to mix it up with right-angled grids, triangles, curved roads, etc., I'm also a bit of a symmetry nut, but short of measuring road lengths by placing plots, I see no way of ensuring symmetry, particularly with curved roads.

[jeremy12 0]

Originally posted by: littlesquare.dot

I wish there was a way to copy a selection of roadway, because while I like to mix it up with right-angled grids, triangles, curved roads, etc., I'm also a bit of a symmetry nut, but short of measuring road lengths by placing plots, I see no way of ensuring symmetry, particularly with curved roads.quote>

i want a undo button ive accidently removed a road so many times

[Rakeesh 0]

A little bit of everything. At least until I find a style I like that also looks good.

I'm still trying to get the hang of making roads that actually stay straight for great lengths...parallel roads tend to tweak a bit to the left or right and cause it some discrepancies in lot placement.

[rhenry 1]

Originally posted by: Androv

Of course, the problem with this approach is that my population will never have a chance of reaching the 10,000,000 or so other players have got   My main city, Qulara is sitting on 750,000 but with no space left to build on without heading up.quote>

There are plenty of awesome cities with populations under even 500,000 (hello New Orleans?) so what's wrong with having one that's smaller? Nothing. I'd much rather visit one with an interesting layout that one that's just huge and square in it's structure.

Mine are small, too, and I also prefer the more natural flow with the main road curving through, especially along the river front, and the suburbs spreading out from the central higher density core.

I like to look down and see the city "map" flowing naturally with the features of it's location. I live in St. Louis and when you look down on this city from satellite, you see the grids, yes, but you also see the larger arteries curving and twisting through the region, up the river and all, and it just looks more natural. A city is not built from the beginning with a plan for the overall layout. It grows and expands and the people there have to work with what they've already done in the past and, in this sense, even though a city is manmade, it's very much a natural pattern. It's quite accidental.

I like that. If a city really was just one giant grid pattern, you'd never be able to find your way around because everyplace would look the same, even on a map, and not only that but it would take forever to get anywhere. It's the larger, curving streets that cut through a city that make traveling more efficient.

[morriswalters 16]

I've uploaded this image to show a couple of things.  If you draw roads with the 90 degree tool and use a lot as a spacer the roads will be 40 meters apart. If you start in the corner it is possible to create a ruler with 40 meter divisions.  Start in the corner were you see the lot and draw a 45 degree line from the bottom line to the top click once continue the road with a 90 degree rd back down to the first line.  Each time you do that you createa square measuring 40 meters on the inside.  You can make a ruler for however much room you have.  Do the same thing going down. Using this technique with a little practice makes it possible to transfer dimension all over the map.  The green area with the empty lots is a way of backing houses off curving roads.  It work best with the rural roads since they don't create intersections.  Draw the stub roads first and then place the houses.  This is finicky work since driveways are not all in the same  spot but with treed lots it can look pretty good.  The final part of the image shows how to create parallel roads that are not at 45 degrees or 90 degrees to the edge.  Draw one straight roads first and then set two lots some distance apart.  Then start a straight road from the middle of one lot to the middle of the second lot.  If done right this should mke these two roads perfectly parallel. If you use this to make a ruler you must use lots for the divisions since you can't draw 45 degree or 90 degree angles by eye.  The link below has some of the sizes of common objects in the game.

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=370&threadid=110522&enterthread=y#1627292

[Androv 6]

Morriswalters, I'm going to give that a try when I get a chance Could make some awesome rural properties

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

 

[DazzaDazza 29]

 

To add to this, the game really forces you to make a large city, e.g. you can't have elites in a farms town because you have to unlock every thing to get them and they only come when there are jobs.

[zwr100 2]

I tried making an area very 'griddy' and I was frustrated.  I started using moriswalters ideas, but had problems making paralel roads two lots wide.  Single lots shouldn't have roads on all sides imo.  Since the lots are square I put two side-by-side to set the width.  Somehow my roads didnt exactly end up paralel though, so I ended up with weird wasted space  I was able to use the square zoning tool with some success too, but sometimes it just doesn't want to cooperate.

I really do love the anti-grid, but I'd also like to be able to make a pure grid without driving myself insane.  I spent the night making farms instead

[morriswalters 16]

See if this helps.  Draw a straight road at whatever angle you like.  Make it long. set a lot close to either end .  Draw another straight rod 90 degrees to the first using the house as a guide.  Do this for both ends .  Set another house at both ends..  Now draw a road between them.  These two roads should be parallel. Here's a clearer screenshot.

Each end of the parallel roads must be constructed this way.  The only thing that is square at any angle is a lot.  Be aware there is a problem with house snaps.  Particularly on odd angles.  Look closely when you set lots and make sure they  are really side by side.  This is tedious but can be worth the result.  As a side note the first two rural roads are the  same size as the first two small roads, so they make good planning tools.  if you dont connect to your city links residential lots won't develop and therefore won't cost anything.  In theory you  could plan your whole map this way.  The layout pictured only cost around a thousand cash flow and would have been much less with all rural roads and no fillers.