The Prima Strategy Guide

[toll_booth 0]

 What's your take on the Prima Strategy guide?

Is it worth the purchase?

[City Name 0]

I do not own the Prima guide for SC4, but in my experience Prima Guides are usually rife with inaccuracies, and many times patches or mods change the game parameters and make even an accurate guide obsolete.  I'd say stick with the Internet, but I don't have this particular guide, so take that FWIW.

[ron.robinson123 0]

I have a better chance of asking people on this forum, than seeking a book, running a vanilla version of SC4. And i didnt even know that there was a strategy guide out there for this game.

[Livin in Sim 83]

Moving to SC4 General Discussion, as it isn't really Off Topic.

--Liv

[Sam 163]

I have the pre-Rush Hour guide and still use it. It's useful for modding. Some of the numbers may be a bit off, but for most purposes it's the general patterns that are helpful, not the exact numbers.

[Patricius Maximus 236]

If you're looking for gameplay advice, consult the Omnibus instead. It has more current information and its free.

[IronDogg 0]

I have the Prima guide for SC4 Deluxe Edition, and it is definitely worth the buy for the cheap cost it is if you can find it conveniently. This guide is the best guide Prima has put out for a game. It is over an inch thick and covers every aspect (almost) of the vanilla stock version of SC4DE. Like users above have mentioned, there is more recent and updated information on the web, so the money does not need to be spent, but it is an awesome resource for 90 percent plus of whats happening in SC4DE.

It is especially useful for the little "stats" that you would want to know for detailed City building strategies. For example there is the large table that details all the statistics for reward buildings. In one table it has listed all the proximity effects, the proximity effect radius, pollution effects and radius, crime effects and radius, costs and monthly costs, demand cap reliefs, and sim employment numbers. I refer to this table al the time for detailed strategy logistics. (please note that a ***** user of the game surely does not need these details at all to enjoy the game, but are appreciated for advanced users who care about the small minor details).

Before I bought the guide I had been playing SC4DE for a long time already and thought I was a fairly advanced player who knew the ins and outs of the game, but the guide taught me a lot of stuff I did not know about the game and has made the game more enjoyable for me, and has extended my long term play time of this outdated game. The guide renewed my desire to build more cities. Reading little details about an aspect of the game I did not know before makes you want to start again and try out that "detail" on your own cities.

So anyway, definetly buy the guide if it is conveniently available and cheap as even the most advanced users will "get" something from it, but it is certainly not necessary to play the game or to more importantly enjoy the game playing experience.

[svachon 3]

It's good for sure and worth the money!

[SC4BOY 21]

umm.. my 2 cents worth.. it absolutely is NOT worth the money.. for pete's sake they charge as much as the game and.. and this is the part that frost's my butt.. it's WRONG a significant % of the time and HAS NEVER BEEN REVISED since the game was released.. it they want my $10 they can damn well keep it up to date and corrected! .. it's been 7 years of their getting $10 each!