I'm lost what should I do next

[zziobs 0]

 I have been playing SimCity Rush Hour for about a year now and received most of reward buildings. But now I feel down. I don't know what to do next. I'm currently doing 2 regions 1 flat terrain and one realistic hilly terrain.

I created this region myself. It has a lot of population and most of the perks. Suggest something for this.

This is my so far best city.

 

I recently started playing this hilly region but I'm kind of stuck dont know what should I do with it I'm outta ideas.

 

I tend to be inspired for a while by seeing other ppls screenshots and tempo goes down with the time. Plz give me some ideas to work on. 

I DON'T wish to USE mods for now.

Thanks en advance !

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tungston

[BBUUBBBBLLEESS 0]

wow, they look very nice

but ideas?

erm...

have you tried making a small farming area?

I dunno for ideas tbh, I tend to just go with the flow.... (what I think whilst playing, I do)

but then, my citys tend to turn out pretty poor, so maybe thats why XD

How about if you try making a city with the population of 100,000 people? Or better yet, 1,000,000 people?

Or you could try making a city that gains almost say $50,000 a month, and I dont mean with an income of 50,000, and expenses of 40,000, I mean, income of say 94,000 and expenses of 44,000. (so you earn 50,000)

Or you could try making farms around the outside of the city, with a massive metrolpolitan (i think thats the word) city in the center. (a BIG city is what i mean, i think ive used the right word)

Or, if your any good at making the BATS and mods and stuff (I know you said you dont want to use mods, but hear me out first) you could try making a BAT that is a reward BAT, and gain that reward.

or you could do farms in the middle with a big city on the edges

or you could build a massive slum area and turn it into the biggest population you've ever had.

or you could try and make a BAT that is the tallest building and hardest building to get, get it built (so its High Residental, not a plopable or reward) and see how long you can keep it. (and then upload it to STEX)

OR you could start another NEW region, that only has one big city in it (if you know how to edit the file using paint) and make that city the biggest you could, and then destroy it.

or, another one that involves downloading a little bit, somewhere there is a nice bin that explodes at the beginning of the month. If you could get that, you could build them all in a small city (next to each other, so there are no empty squares left) wait for them to explode, and post a screen shot of it.

you could build a nuclear reactor and cause a nuclear explosion...

do you want any more ideas?

I'm sure I could think of many more

The game (and world) is your oyster, I'm not sure where I heard it from, or what it means, but it might help....

[zziobs 0]

 Thats quite inspiring. I  will try to make something big fill all the tiles perhaps is a good idea. Thanks!

A couple o more questions..

Q1. I dont seem to have low creativity about making a decent transportation system. I never built highways yet bcoz it costs a lot operation of them is not practical. So how come other ppl are making very nice highways and other transportation systems. What is an extra thing that those ppl do.

Q2. Is it good or bad to destroy  well built city for making land available for something else (e.g Residential land is highly desired by H-T Industries) 

[BBUUBBBBLLEESS 0]

the first one...

I think most people try and make their citys look real, I know that I have only built one or two highways. Normally what I tend to do is wait for an avenue to become red under the traffic, and then I'll build a highway over it.

and the second one...

I tend to try not to destroy stuff, but it depends what you are destroying, why your destorying it, and what your planning to put there

for example, if you wanted a city full with ID, and thats what your planning on destroying, that wouldnt make much sense, whereas if you want to get rid of ID, and planning on destroying it, I'd say thats a good idea. But if there is free space around the areas with High Desirabilty, i tend to build it right next to them, water them and everything. It doesnt always work perfectly, but, after building more residential around it, it tends to be ok (ish)

have fun!

Course, what I've said is based on what I've tried out and found best (but its my opionon, and I might be wrong, i dunno)

[BBUUBBBBLLEESS 0]

I've just tried the bin thing I was talking about, heres a link to the thread for it

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=22&threadid=112036&enterthread=y

[zziobs 0]

Well my "Omaha, Nebraska" region is growing BIGGGGG, Thanks

here is the proof that highways come with their own problems. AI tend to use avenues rather than highways while both leading same way.

Avenue

Highway

You said everyone likes realistic cities but how do they get funds to build realistic cities. How do they manage ? And the biggest question. Do they(Cities) function properly(Simulation I mean) Simulation has its own way of behaving; Isn't it? 

[BBUUBBBBLLEESS 0]

If you try building your highways on top of your avenues, that might work. I think the path finding thing goes by the shortest route, although I've also heard that the NAM does somthing to make it better (I dont know how it all works, I'm not a computer whizz or anything)

And about the realistic citys...

I would guess that they work, but since I dont actually try and build realistic citys (the closest I've come to realistic is in my CJ, which you can view by clicking the hyperlink in my Signiture). And to build them, I would guess that they just build it bit by bit. Also, rather than clicking and dragging the button for zoning areas, they proboly also create the road the shape they want, and go down the road zoning where they do and dont want areas to be (so it doesnt end up like square)

But, since I'm not one of those people that build fantastic looking realistic citys, I cant really awnser the second question (although dont get me wrong, I dont think everybody likes realistic, for example, me.

I like them, but I prefer the unique ones that I probobly wont see made by other people (if only mine were the same). But then, its also nice just to see how other people build their citys

[BowynAerrow 0]

The top two are extremly flat regions. I would raise some hills, iron out those ugly looking shores on those rivers, especially where the flat edge of one map flattens the bend of the river.

Your city is very square. I thought you started on the edge of the map and went from there, but nope an in city image reveals that you really did end the city there. Don't be afraid of diagonals, especially on the edges of your city. You can also give it a more natural 'organic' appearance by spreading out a little more here than there, thus you don't have just forest suddenly entering city. Suburban tracts around the city will help fill the map, generate population and also can generate industry and low density commercial which will generate more RCI demand not only for the city but also regionally.

So you hav a few 'downtown' cores to your city, fill the space between with suburban tracts, all 2x2 lots backed with grass lots to leave a tile of space between 'back yards' of two sides of a block. Or parkland.

With all of those large buildings I will assume your RCI demand is high. You might want to seriously think about thinning out your buildings, plopping in plazas and texture parks to fill up the thinning.

I prefer to use one way streets with one or two tiles between (sometimes three) I have my zoning facing the empty center - this becomes my main street. I use the space between the oneway streets for rapid transit, parks and plazas and 'avenue dividers' I have made several of my own for the single purpose of filling in these areas.

With all of the plugins on the Stex one would think that your map would explode with diversity and look nothing like Maxis' game. I guess you don't like plugins.

Diversify your maps, think lots of rural communities with lots of farmland to fill up your regional map. Farms are easy, lower taxes on Ag Industry to 4%. Keep the population in the rural 'centers'  (which does not mean in the center of each map) down to around 5000 to start off with. Your regional map will then look more realistic.

BTW you do not have to run your electic lines over water. you have th bridge, that should provide you with enough power. If not a trick I used was using a grass tile and switching the map to power view, then I would plop my grass tiles every so often at a distance that would light up and carry power. Power transmission lines would, in this case, be purely eyecandy, thus no sparks, fires and problems with power to the city.

You should have used a freeway to make your bridge(s) avenues up to it and beyond, this way you will nothave a traffic problem with it later in the game when you may be low in money.

Last map.

Fix that narrow river to the left. Its got a land dam that looks horrible. The small river to the right has one as well. Actually a third look reveals that several of the features have been muddled in the mapping process.

You already ruined your region by flattening land for your city on top of the ridge.  What you should have done is work with the land, using the flat areas only for your city, and running roads, freeways, rails and the like back and forth, around and about up the ridges and flowing with the land instead of wrecking your landscape.

I attached a couple three images of my newest region (T'muir) there is the over view - mostly nothing but natural landscape. Stationary is turning out to be a major city, I took a couple of shots of how the one way roads work with my own custom made parks (single tiles with textures an a few objects to make them look like broad walkways.

In the Stex there are so many mods and plugins. I'm trying my hand with the newer NAM which gives roundabouts, curves and other features, giving my city a more well rounded appearance.

So for ideas look at my few modest picks.

[BowynAerrow 0]

Originally posted by: zziobs

 Thats quite inspiring. I  will try to make something big fill all the tiles perhaps is a good idea. Thanks!

A couple o more questions..

Q1. I dont seem to have low creativity about making a decent transportation system. I never built highways yet bcoz it costs a lot operation of them is not practical. So how come other ppl are making very nice highways and other transportation systems. What is an extra thing that those ppl do.

Q2. Is it good or bad to destroy  well built city for making land available for something else (e.g Residential land is highly desired by H-T Industries) quote>

I rarely actually use freeways in cities. The sims never liked to use them. I do use freeways and rails to connect my maps together.

I DO often start off with two or three small towns spaced about on a single map, I do join those with freeways and the sims do use the freeways.

Without the NAM I fear that your freeways system no matter how pretty it looks will be, for inside the city, just eye candy. Unless you use the NAM or other plugins/mods to force the sims to use the freeways system. I fear Maxis designed the AI rather badly when it comes to a few things, like freeways.

Zoning and rezoning:

If you look at my images I attached my last post you may note in my University image that I have a mix of industry, residential and commercial zoning. I have also mixed the densities. Please to note I used the parking lots of the university to deterimine where my streets (brick since I have a mod, the grey roads by default game settings). Further note that I have the college and a library that is hidden by one of the university buildings. It was a simple custom lot I made years ago. I turned the university into a center of education, concentrating on medium density apartments to give the feel of and extended campus.

The area was all agriculture early on in the game. You will note in the university picture that there is still a barn standing with two tiles of trees. The barn still has full occupancy, even though the area is in the red when it comes to ag desirablity.  Why does it stay used? Because freight trips are still short (I left the freight station bythe rail which serves the other industry in the area) and because there is lots of plazas and parks.

The Industry has evolved on its own to high tech, it was a cement plant or a smelter.

Thus if you have a chance to change a block of one type of zone, then by all meas mix and match. This reduces the distances that sims will have to travel and will increase your mayor rating and other factors.

Through the years I have discovered that a minor disaster every so often (in areas that need urban renewal luckily LOL) actually seems to help make the sims happier. Of course the disaster only takes out a little area, I clean up, rezone, add new parks, whatever and the growth is nearly always better than what was there before.

Of course a little bit at a time, you don't want to take a large chunk of your city, level it and rezone, you lose population, demand and all of that. A block or two - maybe a line of blocks if you are doing major road work, like adding a divided avenus using oneway streets and dividers.

[BowynAerrow 0]

You said everyone likes realistic cities but how do they get funds to build realistic cities. How do they manage ? And the biggest question. Do they(Cities) function properly(Simulation I mean) Simulation has its own way of behaving; Isn't it? 

quote>

Budget Redo tool - add one million to your account.

Paying parks (I forget who made it Demenster I think) they pay you something like 250 per month. There are several plugins on the stex.

If you do not want to cheat then you need to build up funds early in the game.

How? Use streets and roads only, do not install water, do not take the university, stick with elementry schools only. lots and lots of low density zoning - get your books to where you are in the green, run the similation for a few decades - build up the money, then start growing.

There are lots of plugins, many of them have reduced funding for things like schools, water, power.

There are mods as well that can increase money in the coffers.

Mind you have to decide if you want to play the game as the creators intended (which is a challenge) or if you are making art. If you are making art then use mods, plugins and lots that pay you cash to balance out your budget.

[zziobs 0]

BBUUBBBBLLEESS Your Isle of Tong is nice you got really creative brain. Infact all you ppl got really creative brain

     

Awesome snapshots BowynAerrow. Uber Cool! They will inspire me more to do something similar.

I feel like installing mods but unsure about it. I'm afraid once I install I'm stuck with them. 

Mods

1. Once installed you are stuck with them. Isn't it ?

2. Your city will always have some modded material left so you can't use them with unmodded game installation. Isn't it ?

3. I don't know where to start. I'm stunned when I look at mods in STEX.

4. I kind of think installation will be difficult.

So should I go for it and install the mods ?

BTW you do not have to run your electic lines over water. you have th bridge...

That actually goes to another adjacent city and avenue bridge goes to other. And this  Mega City(the one in a screenshot) have no power plant. This city buy power from both the adjacent cities. I specifically built nuclear power plant there for the Mega City

Mega City

     

Power Plants

 

[BBUUBBBBLLEESS 0]

Originally posted by: zziobs

Mods

1. Once installed you are stuck with them. Isn't it ?

2. Your city will always have some modded material left so you can't use them with unmodded game installation. Isn't it ?

3. I don't know where to start. I'm stunned when I look at mods in STEX.

4. I kind of think installation will be difficult.

So should I go for it and install the mods ?

quote>

1. No. Some mods you download will be like installing a new game to your computer, but, if you decide to get rid of it (as long as you remember the name) you can uninstall it like its any other game. The other mod's you will get you will need to place them into the Plugin's Folder. To get rid of these mods all you have to do is move the file out of the Plugins Folder.

2.Sort of.... I think it depends what you have. If you have something that you plop yourself, as long as you remember where they are, you can easily delete them, but if its somthing thats growable, it might be a little harder...

Im not too sure on this one, since when I get mods, I usually test them in a city on their own, before I start putting them in games. Other thing is, I usually keep what I download, its just a matter of whether I use them regulary or not...

3. I would personally advise that you download the NAM first. But thats about it that I would say is a MUST have. The rest is up to you. If you see a mod that you think might be good, download it and find out, if theres a mod you dont like the look of, simply dont download it. I think that there is a filter as well, so if your looking for somthing specific, like water towers, you can find and pinpoint them easily (I know there is one at SC4Devotation). Just because there are lots of good mods doesnt mean you have to download them all.

4. Nope. If I can do it, I'm 110% sure you will be able to do it too. I think theres a guide somewhere, but I'll say anyway.

There are 2 types of Mods (that I have come accross at least)

The first type is like installing any other game. Its simply click on the setup button, read the stuff that pops up, somtimes chose what you do or dont want, and install it. Uninstalling it is just as easy, just click on the uninstall button.

The other type I've come accross is where you have to get the .dat file and manually place it into the sim city 4 plug ins folder. You can find the folder in MyDocuments/SimCity4, or you can also find it in Programfiles/Maxis/SimCity4/Plugins. To get rid of one of these you simply remove the file from the folder.

I would say that your final question is completly up to you, since everybody likes different stuff.

I'm glad I have the mods I have, and my plugins folder gets bigger and bigger quite often. The main thing that I would advise though is that if you do start downloading mods and such, make sure you keep your plugins folder tidy.

If you were to see my pluggins folder, you would see what I mean. Its just lots of files and some folders from where I've tried to keep it tidy, but I really have no clue what each file does. Keep it tidy. Honestly. It will be so much easier.

Keep it tidy (I cant express it enough, I really cant)

Learn from my mistakes, and dont do the same.

Also, just so that you know, some mods have dependancys. Without these, I believe the mod will still work, BUT rather than seeing what your suppose to see, you will have box's instead. To get rid of the box's simply install the dependancys needed for the mod.

[MsProll21 0]

I agree with Bubbles about starting a farming community. I also go through high and low points when playing SC4, then I get inspired by a CJ or something I seen on TV and then I'm ready to city-build again full force.

You may want to expermint with some mods (ex: NAM, SAM, CAM) just to give your playing style a little more variety. You can always take the mods out later if you don't like them. I must add that when I first started playing the game years ago, I stuck with just the Maxis-made items, but as time went on and I begun expanding my plugins folder with mods, the game is twice the amount of fun now.

Other great sites for mods is simpeg, sc4devotion. I think there's a list somewhere here with all the SC4 3rd party site info.

Good luck and happy city building!

[zziobs 0]

It's embarrassing to admit but I  am still confused. :\

I'd love to have some decor and some buildings(growable). But BAT NAM all passes over my head. I have downlaoded fewbuildings(growable). But still lookin fur more stuff.

What I'd love to have

Decorative Stuff, Statues, Parks, Plaza, Buildings, Parking lots etc.

What I don't want to have

Stations of any kind(Bus, Train, Tram, Monorail, Subway etc)

Trains of any kind

Seaports, Ferry Terminals of any kind

I'm expecting some help about its'(mod's) category in STEX. (Just like Apple 'Fruit' category Earth 'Planet' category)

However if anyone can suggest me something MUST HAVE please do so.

Thanks!

[lucky7 73]

Another possible improvement: do not get caught in the griddy road system! Maybe you do some road layout fitting the topography; if you watch real cities, these are nearly always adapting to the terrain (except of San Francisco lol). Even NYC, also well known for its griddy layout, conforms to the terrain in most parts, or New Jersey, at the cliffs, where roads are following those characteristics. Your city looks very promising, I think this is a good advice of mine, as well as others prior my post, maybe you will give it a try.

Moreover, I have to admit that this topic is maybe better moved to the CJ section- if you added a poll what to do next (maybe not including to many details) this would probably a good choice for you.

All the best for your work,

lucky7

[BBUUBBBBLLEESS 0]

well, the NAM is Network Addon Mod. It basicly add's extra stuff to the game, and I believe it makes the path finding for the sims better (quicker car route, rather the the shortest)

A BAT is basicly the building (If i remember right). When you say you've got growable buildings, these buildings are known as BATS (If i remember my Wikipedia right)

most other abbrivations are just modds for the game (SAM is Street Addon Mod, it lets you use different types of streets, rather than the standered Maxis one, I used it for the dirt roads in my CJ, assuming youve seen the raods im talking about)

But the main thing I would say you must have (like I said before) would definetly be the NAM.

Heres a link for it

(for PC) https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=21355

(for Mac) https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=21373

have fun and good luck!

[zziobs 0]

I'm thankful of BBUUBBBBLLEESS and others for the help and support.

I'm no more doing that big Three Hundred and Thirty Thousand poulation Region(alias Brihanmumbai) It's flat and less fun. I dont want to modify that. All the terrain modification I like to do is in Image Editor and not in Sim City 4.

I'm onto Omaha Region now

Here is some snaps This is growing thanks to your motivation and ideas I almost given up this game.

City 1

...

City 2

City 3

[MsProll21 0]

Your cities look fantastic, by the way! (I meant to say that in my post from yesterday) Great pics

[Kusajika Yachiru 9]

Highways are a mean one sometimes and don't feel down if they don't get used right away in most cases they only get used when the following happens (from what I've epxerienced):

1. High poulation citiy wise/region wise
2. A need for Sims to travel far, either it's from city to city or across the city a long distance
3. It can get sims from their homes to their jobs faster than anything else
4. It's their only choice
5. Not a straight arrow

Now for four, when I say that I'm not saying block off all your other routes and make it so they have to take the freeway, no what I am saying is in a case where you got to cross a river and your freeway may be the only way to do it. And for number 5 though a lot will disagree with me, personally in my cities Sims will not use straight arrow freeways. And just like in a real life, they curve around hills, snake through downtowns (LA) and when I've done this in my cities they use my freeways with a combination of the other steps I mentioned.



Here is an older picture of one of regions I was working on, to show you better what I mean.

 

[BBUUBBBBLLEESS 0]

All of them snaps look really nice

did I mention that the NAM also gives you the abillity to have roundabouts and (if i remeber what mod does what) I think it also lets you make curved roads (I think)

[zziobs 0]

 Awesome network Kusajika Yachiru

I doubt, I can do something like that. It might need thorough planning. and Freeways always messed up my cities(when built later on, after developement) and always burdened my cities(when built earlier). 

@ BBUUBBBBLLEESS

I browsed STEX For a lot of time now I pretty much understand BAT NAM etc. Its awesome stuff. I'm just worried bout side-effects of mods.

All of them snaps look really nice quote>

You are just being nice lolz. Its quite ordinary stuff as compared to what you ppl do. Only special thing is that I count tiles before placing roads, zones etc. It will takes some time for me to adjust with mods. My cities are just way too square.

[BBUUBBBBLLEESS 0]

if you want to make your citys less square, it is really simple! (If i can do it, anyone can, including you!)

Its simple!

First step. Get the city you want

Second Step. Terraform it a bit, make it hilly, hills make it look better (normally)

Thrid Step. Place roads, in any direction you like, up, down, left right, diagonal, backwards, every way you can think of.

Fourth Step. Put in zones. Try not to drag and create a nice big square area of zone, just put it near the roads.

Later on i will do a proper direction of it, although I'm pretty sure theres already one here somewhere (and it will probobly be better than the one i make)

And im not being nice, they look good, and the buildings are a lot taller than ive ever managed

[Kusajika Yachiru 9]

My freeways had about 10% planning to them, the rest was just whatever. Though I built mine through old existing farms and turned those farms into houses and other stuff but some I did plop down as soon as I started my city. The only reasons I had 10% planning was because I knew I wanted it to get from A to B but as for how I did that, that I just randomly did (as you can see in my map)

But most off all it takes pratice... not just to make freeways but to make a great city in general, after years of playing this game, this is the best/most relastic city I have ever made.