Coming back to the game

[aereus 106]

I recently got an itch for city-building, and decided to dust off SC4 

I remember some old issues I had with the game that maybe people could help me with. (Maybe some of these are fixed with the newest NAM?)

No matter what I tried, getting Sims to use the public transportation never seemed to work properly. I would place Bus Stops, Subway exits, and even tried Monorail to go from residential to the commercial districts (along with some parking garages) -- and they never seemed to use any of it. The parking garage would have like 5 cars use it, the bus maybe 12, etc. I guess maybe I just don't understand how the game expects me to place them.

When designing rural sections of a region, even when demand was high for farms/jobs, some areas wouldn't have anyone working them. (And pollution was extremely high across the entire farm areas then?) Am I supposed to intersperse a limited amount of residential all across the map between farm plots? And what is the best way to get industrial to use rail for transporting goods? Even with an all farm map, they barely use 10% capacity on a freight line.

Also, how far out do city zones affect each other in a region? Like as far as fulfilling demand for Commercial, Industry, etc. or even job commutes? I'm still too used to thinking of 1 city lot on the region map being its own microcosm, instead of part of a larger whole.

Thanks for any help you can provide~

[SC4BOY 20]

Originally posted by: aereus

No matter what I tried, getting Sims to use the public transportation never seemed to work properly. I would place Bus Stops, Subway exits, and even tried Monorail to go from residential to the commercial districts (along with some parking garages) -- and they never seemed to use any of it. The parking garage would have like 5 cars use it, the bus maybe 12, etc. I guess maybe I just don't understand how the game expects me to place them.quote>

The game will use them as long as there is access from where residents are and routes to where they want to go (and stations there of course). The use of garages (which only work FROM res TO com/ind) involves funneling auto traffic through "bottlenecks" near residential sections where they have to pass. When they pass about 20-33% will switch from cars to something else (which MUST be within easy access or touching the garage.. such as train station, bus station, monorail, etc) They really only come into play as you get higher levels of traffic.

When designing rural sections of a region, even when demand was high for farms/jobs, some areas wouldn't have anyone working them. (And pollution was extremely high across the entire farm areas then?) Am I supposed to intersperse a limited amount of residential all across the map between farm plots? And what is the best way to get industrial to use rail for transporting goods? Even with an all farm map, they barely use 10% capacity on a freight line.quote>

Farms generate a lot of water pollution. This isn't a problem in rural regions as long as you keep your water supply (pumps, etc) away from the pollution. It is annoying and not really realistic. If you're playing the game unmodded, you have no real choice other than to place water treatment plants(maxis ones or custom) among heavy farm areas if you expect higher wealth residentials to develop.

Freight will board rail directly if it touches the farms lot or an industrial lot. Otherwise the freight (which always wants to LEAVE the city tile) will need to pass "freight" stations ... either custom or maxis ones from the "rail" menu. At that point the freight will "decide" if the rail or the road gives quicker access to a city edge. It is a bit like the parking garage situation in a way. The exception is seaport which can also get freight out of the city. Any freight which uses a port is deemed to be "instantly out of the city" In terms of "% capacity" you would have to have a monster city before frieght made up a major part of a network's capacity. There are only two functions for freight that I know of.. fulfilling "demand" for industry/farming and relieving industrial CAPs for each load which sucessfully leaves the city.

Also, how far out do city zones affect each other in a region? Like as far as fulfilling demand for Commercial, Industry, etc. or even job commutes? I'm still too used to thinking of 1 city lot on the region map being its own microcosm, instead of part of a larger whole.quote>

Zones have ZERO effect on adjacent city tiles. The game simulation is rather crude in a "regional" way. It only knows "here in my city" and "out there". The "out there" is maintained only in a data sense via the game's saved file parameters and is accumulative across all cities in the region. The only exception is the "edge connections" for rail, road, etc. These will be accounted for on both sides of the boundary ... except freight which is judged to be "complete" and is dropped there. (if it doesn't balance there, either the simulator needs to run awhile or they cannot find jobs once there)

In terms of demand, etc they are regionwide.. (ie if you develop a city and somewhere else develop another city, they will be mutually beneficial and demands will be spread among them.)  You can install a reporting mod such as the "census repository" to see the effects both in your city and in the region. It is triggered via a query on a special building in the mod (the repository) The most recent version is v3 by Ripplejet available on SC4Devotion's BSCLEX download. You have to be registered there if you wish to download it. There are RaphaelNinja and Cogeo versions on Simtropolis (the original and a modified model)

Any city worker who reaches a city boundary is considered to have "found" a job (as long as the regional demand/supply adds up). Once you go the the other side of the city boundary (the next city) it becomes a new problem and that city tries to find a workplace for the sim. The first city knows nothing about what happens to him.

Hope that helps you out some.

[Tysons4 68]

welcome...

first off i would say understand the simulator before you start modifying it

the sims can take a while to find new ways to get around, and public transport likes to have a lot of cities to work to fullest capacity

how to build most any network efficiently...

1. place a station on a busy road in the ciy the station will employ a few sims and can get them the jump on running the station

2. draw a line for the station style to the border of the map.

3.save and exit to region (f8)

4. enter a neighboring city and repeat steps 1-3.. continuing the line from the first city

5. go back to your first city and see your sims lining up to use the new line place a parking garage near by and a few commerical spots

to get people to work jobs: zone some light residential near the area... the new sims will find work in these out of place areas

farm lands use lots of pesticides... nothing a water treatment can't handle... use as many as needed (watch your budget)

the less road connections you have the more likely they will use your rail line, seaport or road to get industry out of the city (dont forget a freight train station)

last: the more cities you have in your region with a mayor' the more they will share demand... i recently discoved this when i had pushed up demand in one of my larger regions and then named about 50 new cities and demand was low for everything except ag and r$ residential... so start out zoning a lot of these 2 types of zones (some farms work 3 to 4 people but other work 50-60 so natural neighborhoods should start forming)

hope these tips help out

ps dont forget to use the bulldozer

i hope my tips can get you back into the game

[z1 566]

Originally posted by: aereus

I remember some old issues I had with the game that maybe people could help me with. (Maybe some of these are fixed with the newest NAM?)

No matter what I tried, getting Sims to use the public transportation never seemed to work properly. I would place Bus Stops, Subway exits, and even tried Monorail to go from residential to the commercial districts (along with some parking garages) -- and they never seemed to use any of it. The parking garage would have like 5 cars use it, the bus maybe 12, etc. I guess maybe I just don't understand how the game expects me to place them.

When designing rural sections of a region, even when demand was high for farms/jobs, some areas wouldn't have anyone working them...

quote>

Yes, the newest NAM addresses all of these problems.  Specifically, the new NAM traffic simulator makes all of this work much better than in previous releases of the NAM, or in the unmodified game.