Finding the center of the city

[jb2010 0]

Hi there,

Is there an easier way to find the exact center of a city, for things like highway/rail placement?  I just found out that the cities I was working on were off-center and now I have to start over because I couldn't get my rails past the cloverleaf.

Thanks

[mightygoose 92]

yeah a small city tile is 64 tilesa wide with as medium being 128 and a large 256. count tiles to find the exact centre....

[McDuell 301]

If you don't mind spending a few simoleons, then you can draw diagonal avenues from corner to corner. The crossing point will be the exact city center.

[BattleshipAgincourt 1]

I know. I hate this aspect of SC4. I always have to start out by placing markers as to where I'm going to build transportation and have to do the same with corresponding cities.  I really wish that you could lay out certain components before you actually have to build them.  At least then you could determine whether or not they don't work before you've wasted a lot of money only to find a rail doesn't fit under that curved monorail tile.

My traditional pattern is 6X8, so I would place tick marks across one side of the map. To find the center four spaces, I would determine first how large the map is and just lay a road across one side. Instead of wasting a lot of simoleans, I cancel the operation and just put one tick mark on the 32nd, 64th, or 128th space. Do that for two sides and you've got a much cheaper and less destructive way to find the center 4 spaces.  Just keep track of the cost of hills as you drag it across the map, so that when you see ~332, remember that extra 12 you spend to level the terrain.

[Cleaner475 150]

Originally posted by: McDuell

If you don't mind spending a few simoleons, then you can draw diagonal avenues from corner to corner. The crossing point will be the exact city center.

quote>

Thats a really good idea actually, I've never thought of that.

Handy tip even if I generally don't plan my cities (except simple blueprints in my head )

Richard

[SC4BOY 20]

If you uses the "terrainquery" so-called "cheat" you will find that the pointer labels the x,y coordinates numbered by tile. Therefore you could locate most any area you were trying to pinpoint.

[Tysons4 68]

When you start your city (give it a name,mayor, and difficulty) the sims will shoot off fireworks from the exact center 4x4 area of the map... save yourself the headache and $$... just look for the fireworks

[Confuzedd 0]

On the largest map, it is 256 by 256 (width x height in blocks)

1 road is $5, so just grab your calculator.

[CyanideCloud 0]

Originally posted by: Tysons4

When you start your city (give it a name,mayor, and difficulty) the sims will shoot off fireworks from the exact center 4x4 area of the map... save yourself the headache and $$... just look for the fireworksquote>

That's how I do it!  Just put something in this location (I.E. a sign) to mark it and get building!