A few beginner questions

[Swi1ch 0]

Hey, I got a hold of SC4+RH a week back and finally managed to get a medium tile growing at a nice rate with 60k sims, only the occasional job zot and a positive income. Unfortunately, my layout sucked so i'm planning on starting a new city now I know roughly how the game progresses. I do however have a few questions.

Is it ever possible to phase out industry on a tile completely? Probably just under a quarter of my city is now high density industrial with all of it being Hi-Tech, but it does take up a lot of space and doesn't look that cool and I was wondering if I can ever start to dezone it without anything going horribly wrong.

In my commercial strip i'm struggling to get development. Imagine my layout as the letter H, with the two vertical lines being residential, and the horrizontal being commerical. That horrizontal line extends outwards in one direction so there is commerical not surrounded by residential and that end is getting low customers and not really expanding. The commercial in the middle of the residence is pretty big now but not as big as I would like. Any tips on how to grow it? I know you need 25k office workers to get skyscrapers but I don't know how to find out how many office workers I have. Does commerce also like surrounding residence? There was originally a lot of traffic through that area to the industrial area but since the introduction of subways the traffic and customers dropped.

Is there any tips on subways? I have a parking garage outside of each neighborhood with two subway stations next to them, that go on a path through the commercial zone and end up in industrial. One station gets 3500 users a day whilst the other gets about 300.

I keep getting told that I have no where to sell my industrial sectors goods or something. I built the medium airport but it didn't seem to do much. I also read online somewhere that building railways in industry sectors can help, but I don't know where the railway needs to end. Is there a specific place it likes or does it just want to connect to the region? (I'm only working one tile currently until I really understand how the game progresses, then i'll move to multiple tiles)

I'd like to plan to start developing multiple tiles, but i'm still unsure how each wealth sim reacts with each wealth commerce/industry. Is there any charts or data on this? I know that even with high wealth commerical offices, low wealth sims still work there.

Finally, would a final result of one large tile with purely high and medium wealth residential and commerical, supported by a medium/small tile of purely low wealth residence and commerical and a medium/small tile of purely hi-tech industry be feasable?

Thanks for any help.

[VMIUJcadet09 250]

Good Morning,

Ive been playing SC4 since it came out in 2003, so hopefully some of my experiences will help you:

To phase out industry completely I would recommend developing an adjacent city tile with your industry, and then dezone all industry in your current city.

To help with developing skyscrapers, I would HIGHLY recommend downloading the CAM(Collosus Addon Mod) which increases the stages in your game and allow further development of skyscrapers. Also, another thing I like to do is mix res with commercial in a CBD setting, to kind of give it a more realistic feel.

For me, subways are kind of hit and miss, but I just lay out the subway system and place stations in diff zones and hope that people will use it, lol.

The last 2 questions you have, you're just going to have to play around and go through some trial and error, lol, That's the best way to go about it.

I hope my comments have helped!

Good luck and have fun!

For your industrial goods, make sure you have good road and rail connections to neighboring tiles. Airports do nothing for this, they just act to enhance the commercial and industrial appeal of your city, that's pretty much the only utility for airports as far as I know.

[Swi1ch 0]

Originally posted by: VMIUJcadet09

Good Morning,

Ive been playing SC4 since it came out in 2003, so hopefully some of my experiences will help you:

To phase out industry completely I would recommend developing an adjacent city tile with your industry, and then dezone all industry in your current city.

To help with developing skyscrapers, I would HIGHLY recommend downloading the CAM(Collosus Addon Mod) which increases the stages in your game and allow further development of skyscrapers. Also, another thing I like to do is mix res with commercial in a CBD setting, to kind of give it a more realistic feel.

For me, subways are kind of hit and miss, but I just lay out the subway system and place stations in diff zones and hope that people will use it, lol.

The last 2 questions you have, you're just going to have to play around and go through some trial and error, lol, That's the best way to go about it.

I hope my comments have helped!

Good luck and have fun!

For your industrial goods, make sure you have good road and rail connections to neighboring tiles. Airports do nothing for this, they just act to enhance the commercial and industrial appeal of your city, that's pretty much the only utility for airports as far as I know.

quote>

Thanks for this. Just a couple of follow ups though. Firstly, what is CBD? I googled it and got Central Business District so I assume that's right. Is that what you might call a New York City block layout type thing?

Also for industrial goods, is there an actual resource, or do they just need connections?

[weareanidiot 1]

The CBD is simply the centrally located area where most of your skyscrapers will be located, as least the commercial ones. You dont need to have one but as your city grows there will de a huge demand for CO

[CTMandR 9]

Yes, it is possible to phase out industry completely in a single city tile, however some sort of industry will definitively be needed in a region. Start another city tile that has industry, and then you can begin to dezone the I-HT you have in your city. Ideally, commercial likes to build itself in between Residential and Industrial, since that gets the most traffic. However, having a commercial area in between residential areas is fine, as you can add Plazas or zone for more residential, both of which will increase commercial demand. Also, a photo of your commercial district would be helpful for us in trying to help you grow your commercial zone.

I don't have too much experience in subways, however you should use the Route Query tool to find out what roads are traveled the most in your city tile, and build subways along those lines. Main subway lines should go from central residential areas to central commercial and industrial areas. Alternatively, you could lay down a grid of subways to ensure everyone gets a ride (but thats a rather costly option).

Industry just needs to get the goods out of the city tile. The goods that industry produce don't actually 'go' anywhere or to any businesses. Once they leave the city tile, they are in theory 'sold' and disappear. To solve your problem, just create neighbor connections to other tiles near your industry, it doesn't matter if you have not worked on the neighbor tile.

As far as multiple tiles are concerned, it is possible to build a mostly high/medium/low wealth region, just as long as you have a little of each wealth level. This is because even though some industries and businesses are low/medium/high wealth, they still employ people from all wealth levels, so it is important to have living areas for all wealth levels. Developing multiple tiles is also a great way to spur growth in all your cities, as having a neighbor connection and interaction can increase demand for commercial, making more businesses grow in a city. As well, your final Large tile is perfectly feasable.

Hope this all helps!

[kolnikov inc 1]

-there is a known bug that affects high-tech industry making it useless (because $$$R are unable to work there) the 'RCI multi' mod will fix it. but anyway...industry is vital to any city, if you're not happy with the maxis H-tech buildings (i wasn't either) there is a ton of stuff you can download to make you industrial areas more eye-pleasing.

-pedestrian traffic will boost customer levels. a Subway that could connect high-density residential areas with the commercial area might solve your growth problem but also, the CBD is supposed to be attractive so build parks and landmarks around it.

- take a look at a real subway map thats the best advise. but also try to build 4 lines that all connect at the CBD (if you're still using the H pattern) and build stations every 2 blocks (or every 8-9 tiles) to get more commuters.

-connections are vital. goods are transported by truck so build roads connecting to all four sides. you don't need to play the other city-tiles though you can stay in the first tile. the freight trucks just need the connection.

-check the omnibus for that information.

-that's definitely feasible considering the commute isn't congested or too long. you would need highways and rail systems too.

[mattamillion 2]

Originally posted by: kolnikov inc

- take a look at a real subway map thats the best advise. but also try to build 4 lines that all connect at the CBD (if you're still using the H pattern) and build stations every 2 blocks (or every 8-9 tiles) to get more commuters.

quote>

I'd add that at least in my experience, you get more usage if you put them on the right-hand side of the road as they go toward their job (sims will take the shortest route, and won't cross the street on their way to work if they don't have to). Additionally, enacting the commuter ordinance will help drive traffic to the subway as well.