Just starting out

[maneater 0]

 Hello, I am brand new to the game and every city I make turns into an economical disaster, any tips or tricks out there? on everything since I can't even keep the traffic going well, economy or getting in rich people. 

(Edited title - Astronelson)

[DICK60 0]

Take a look at Omnibus , lots off tips overthere

[astronelson 339]

Hi, and welcome to Simtropolis!

First, start out slow. Small towns don't need many services. Even water is optional, but I would recommend placing a fire station in there some time. Only put in services when you can afford them. I generally place elementary schools and clinics about the same time, followed by high schools, a college, and police. A well-educated populace commits fewer crimes per capita than one as dumb as bricks.

Second, download the NAM (Windows) (Mac). It helps a lot with traffic issues - I've only got a few problem spots in a city of over 400,000, and I'm only using streets and roads in the centre of it. Most members of Simtropolis swear by it.

Third, a good city doesn't actually need many rich people. Even CO$$$ (high-wealth commercial office) doesn't need 100% R$$$ (rich people) to work. A few rich people are needed for a large city, but they will come in their own time. They require a lot of services though, so I wouldn't expect them for a while. Occasionally they turn up earlier, but they're a bit of a nuisance and their large mansions don't really fit in with the surrounding R$ and R$$ (poor and middle class people, respectively) buildings.

Fourth, practice is the key to success, in SimCity 4 as in everything else. Everyone starts out on level 1, but as you keep playing and gain experience, you will reach new levels of prowess. New problems will arise as you continue, but you can use the skills you have gained to deal with them.

Good luck, and happy city planning,

Astronelson.

[maneater 0]

Ah thank you,

what is this NAM for? I looked at the mac version, not sure what it's for and how it works.

This game has been out for quite a while but it's really good!

Thank you for welcoming me and the tips =)

what about taxes? I have problems with those.

[astronelson 339]

Basically, the NAM (Network Addon Mod) improves the traffic system in SC4 in various ways, changes the congestion display, and a few other things. It might help to have a look in the Modding - Transit Networks forum for more information, as I'm not entirely sure about how it works, or all its features.

As for taxes, I generally leave them as they are, although other people change them and would probably be better authorities on the subject than I am. I only change the taxes when I'm making a lot of money and don't really need to do anything with the city. My knowledge of taxation in SC4 is limited to that, and raising them for a particular group if I don't want that to develop - say, if I don't want CS$ (low wealth commercial services) in my CBD, I would raise their taxes.

Do you have the Deluxe editon or the Rush Hour expansion pack? The NAM only works with those. Note: if you have the Deluxe edition, you do not need to buy Rush Hour, or vice-versa. In addition to adding various transit networks to the game, it also makes farms pay taxes. This is a great help when you're starting out with a lot of agriculture, as I generally do.

[maneater 0]

i've tried developing farms but all i get are those dirty industry lol which flood up my city with pollution.

I have rush hour pack.

at some point in the game I have high desirability for some areas for medium class or low class and people stop moving in al together, even though i have schools, clinics, and water, how can I provoke them to continue moving in?

thank you

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

1. Set the tax on I-D to 20%
2. Set the tax on farms to 7.0% or less
3. Set everyone else's taxes to the same rate, but something lower than 8%.  Try 8.8%.  You can lower taxes periodically as long as you are in the black and stay there.  A tax cut should not put you in the red.
4. If you want lots of R$, zone for high-rise buildings.  Where do you think they live in cities, anyway?  Not in houses with yards, etc.  Too much work for the exhausted factory guy to come home to.  If you ever maintained your own house, you would understand this.
5. Remember that the zone levels have nothing to do with who lives there.  The $$edness of a Sim is the result of his education and experience.  $$$ Sims are made, not conjured up.
6. Don't expect a CO$$$ building to employ very many R$$$.  The building is full of R$$ middle people and R$ grintz.  Only the top jobs go to the R$$$.

[astronelson 339]

Originally posted by: maneater

i've tried developing farms but all i get are those dirty industry lol which flood up my city with pollution. quote>

It sounds like you may be zoning medium density industrial - there's a different zone type for farms (I-Ag). Farms only grow on I-Ag zones, and factories only grow on medium and high density industrial zones.

I have rush hour pack.

at some point in the game I have high desirability for some areas for medium class or low class and people stop moving in al together, even though i have schools, clinics, and water, how can I provoke them to continue moving in?

thank youquote>

You may have hit a population cap. You could try placing parks around that area, I've found they usually help. The rewards you get from time to time can also raise the cap. And I think, but I'm not entirely sure, that low and medium density zones stop developing altogether at a certain population. But I'm not certain on this point.

[maneater 0]

ah ok, I'll try to break the cap.

Anyway i can run this game on window mode on mac?

Thank both of you.

[astronelson 339]

Sorry about the delay.

I use Windows, so I'm not entirely sure, but putting a -w at the end of the target in the shortcut runs the game in windowed mode in Windows. I'm not sure if a similar thing applies for Macs.

The target can be found by right-clicking on the shortcut and clicking properties. Put the -w after the bit in quotes - put a space between the end of the quotes and the -w. Change -w to -f to run in fullscreen again, or just create two shortcuts, each with one of them, and use the one you want. That's how it works in Windows at least.

You could try asking in our Mac Users forum, someone there probably knows how it works on Mac.