How Do You Start Your Cities?

[bwong 36]

Hello fellow simtropolis users!

My question to you is how do you start your cities, and what you believe is the best way to start a city. Do you start off small, starting a rural farming community, with a few houses here and there, or do you start off big, using simeoleon cheats to make everything you could ever dream of? How do you build your transit? Your road systems?

So tell me simtropolis, how do you start your city off?

(most creative entry wins a virtual high five )

[Yarahi 1,823]

Best way i.m.o. is to start of cheap! Building either a farming community like you suggested or a suburban area with only 1*1, 1*2 residentials and low density commercial.. only utility the first 10 years should be power. Industrial in a neighbor city for jobs

[Simcitymaster13 27]

I usually look at pictures of other real world cities and get ideas from there.

  Edited July 20, 2011 by Simcitymaster13  

[Yarahi 1,823]

There is also a lot of inspiration in the "show us your.." threads here at ST

[antsel 841]

When I start a region from scratch, I take a page from Western Canadian history and "survey" the land prior to development. What I mean by that is I divide the land into half-mile sections with dirt roads, and zone agriculture. I try to do this for all of the flat land in my region, only zoning residential for farm houses. Not until the entire region (or the majority) is developed like this do I start to make the towns. I usually use geographically significant features such as lakes and rivers as an anchor for my bigger cities. I then connect cities/towns by rail and then by highway.

[bwong 36]

Western Canada? Haha, quite the way to start off. I'm actually heading over to western canada in 11 days on the train.

[RiCHBoyZ 75]

i use to start my city at medium level. placing networking(roads/railways/subways) layout across the tile. When done i build a lot of residential area and commercial and industrial area at the same time. I use to borrow/loan money instead of cheating. After completing 50-70% develop area i will run the city from cheetah speed. Giving all resident low tax to maximize population growth. When budget at -99,000 i keep re-loan to cover expenses and when population reach 50k i will increase tax to balance up expenses. After 11 years my city 100% sure making tons of money!!!!

[jak73 0]

I start cities many different ways just to see what will happen, but for my "casual" game i generally start with low density res, farm and very small amounts of med industrial and low dens comm, after the i build a few towns like this throughout my region (new region by the way) I start moving towards rivers/lakes/etc to build larger towns which i will grow to major cities, leaving the outer areas of my region as farms and small towns. I do cut taxes to 5% for everything but dirty industry and farming, i cut farming to about 7% and dirty i raise to 12%. As the cities get larger i raise dirty industry taxes and begin adding large parks and trees, the basics of beautifying the city.

[bwong 36]

i use to start my city at medium level. placing networking(roads/railways/subways) layout across the tile. When done i build a lot of residential area and commercial and industrial area at the same time. I use to borrow/loan money instead of cheating. After completing 50-70% develop area i will run the city from cheetah speed. Giving all resident low tax to maximize population growth. When budget at -99,000 i keep re-loan to cover expenses and when population reach 50k i will increase tax to balance up expenses. After 11 years my city 100% sure making tons of money!!!!

When you place your infrastructure, do you simply place them all the way long? or do you put some planning into it, like placing a suburb here, or creating a TOD, etc.

And, what's the limit for debt in SC4?

I start cities many different ways just to see what will happen, but for my "casual" game i generally start with low density res, farm and very small amounts of med industrial and low dens comm, after the i build a few towns like this throughout my region (new region by the way) I start moving towards rivers/lakes/etc to build larger towns which i will grow to major cities, leaving the outer areas of my region as farms and small towns. I do cut taxes to 5% for everything but dirty industry and farming, i cut farming to about 7% and dirty i raise to 12%. As the cities get larger i raise dirty industry taxes and begin adding large parks and trees, the basics of beautifying the city.

I see. That's actually an interesting way to start off a whole region. I think I might have to try that some time LOL.

When you start a city, do you build a central transit hub or do you just start zoning right away?

[Loney 22]

If you're going for a skyscraper sprawl, start out with everything in a single city tile. Limit it to low wealth only by maxing the tax rate for everything else but provide civil services. When the city exceeds 50,000 population and the health/education is fairly high, start a new neighboring city and make it only residential/commercial service. Start another new neighboring city and make it commercial office/industry.

Eventually you'll notice a checkerboard-like region, except for your starting city.

Results may vary if you use mods, especially the Colossus Addon Mod or any other mods that affect demand.

[RiCHBoyZ 75]

When you place your infrastructure, do you simply place them all the way long? or do you put some planning into it, like placing a suburb here, or creating a TOD, etc.

And, what's the limit for debt in SC4?

yea... i just simply place them according to the map layout. Keep the industrial away from Residential and Commercial area but has many roads, avenues, highway*, rails and subways access. For me planning a city infrastructure simply just follow my own creativity. You can loan up to 2 millions in SC4.

Important - build some quarters in industrial area (medium density) this will help population growth.

* leave some space reserved for highway. cannot build highway at early stage - too expensive. Only after my city generates good revenue then i start the build highway.

[TJ1 22]

I start off my cities with the infrastructure and I get my ideas by looking @ real cites on Google maps.

[Liberater444 11]

Actually, what I've started to do is draw up a physical map of the area I want to create. Now, much of the detailed boundaries actually gets lost in translation from paper to SC4, but the terrain, neighborhoods, and function generally all stay intact.

After that, I tend to start at any given spot, which usually ends up being a main road, and then simultaneously construct transportation and buildings.

If you look at my CJ, it's sort of exactly what I mean

[Hadrean 0]

I usually lay all my water pipes first, then I usually mess with the RHW a bit, which afterwards I pick a side and start zoning. I like my method, since whenever I seem to "plan" a city, it doesn't end up the way I want it, so I just let the game take its course, and it's nice just letting everything flow. It usually ends up with me re-zoning large chunks so things look like they fit together, and destruction for parks and more transit when it gets too cramped, but its fun that way.

[J0nnD0ugh 31]

Currently I'm using the Cheat o'matic. So you know where I stand. I view SC4 as more of a canvas, not a game. I'm not trying to "win" anything. I just want to see my imagination come to life. Besides, so much of the custom content isn't user friendly. So there's a lot of trial & error. I'm currently trying to build an airport & have spent close to over a mil making mistakes & erasing them. Only to realise it's not going to look right because the area I planned on using is too small.

So yeah, I "cheat" & don't look back.

[x493x 446]

Step by step, how I play a city;

1. Plop a money tree giving me $4 billion plus.

2. Build major roads and highways

3. Plop my commercial and downtown areas, make them look pleasing

4. Build minor roads and streets (suburban stuff)

5. Make suburban parks and things

6. Plop all of the houses

Yes, I plop everythings and cheat to get lots of cash but that's how I like to play, get rid of the "not enough funds" and create a great looking city.

[nukeu123 307]

when i start a clean slate of region i start of with 2 cities one preferably medium and one small right next to each other medium city will be residents commercial and high tech ONLY... i zone light dense untilll i almost fill the map(onec inawile ill place civics and lower there funding) when full i place medium dense all over and put high dense in the very center...when you run out of room start a new city... the small city will have industrial needs power and waist ill put a STRONG infrastructure by plaseing a train at the edge of the map and connecting a subway to each end of a block

[bwong 36]

Actually, what I've started to do is draw up a physical map of the area I want to create. Now, much of the detailed boundaries actually gets lost in translation from paper to SC4, but the terrain, neighborhoods, and function generally all stay intact.

After that, I tend to start at any given spot, which usually ends up being a main road, and then simultaneously construct transportation and buildings.

If you look at my CJ, it's sort of exactly what I mean

Hmm interesting. I wanted to do that, but I didn't know where to start LOL. When you start up these plans do you use a grid paper so that you can make everything spaced out correctly? or is it more of a free hand thing?

I used to do that for OpenTTD, where I would take a screenshot of the area and then draw out my railway routes, etc.

Currently I'm using the Cheat o'matic. So you know where I stand. I view SC4 as more of a canvas, not a game. I'm not trying to "win" anything. I just want to see my imagination come to life. Besides, so much of the custom content isn't user friendly. So there's a lot of trial & error. I'm currently trying to build an airport & have spent close to over a mil making mistakes & erasing them. Only to realise it's not going to look right because the area I planned on using is too small.

So yeah, I "cheat" & don't look back.

I like your view of Simcity. Making the most beautiful, most successful city possible haha. What does Cheat o'matic do? does it just add money?

@everyone else: Do you guys know where I can ask for help about graphic issues on this forum?

[jacksunny 741]

Do you guys know where I can ask for help about graphic issues on this forum?

You should ask in the Bugs & Technical Issues.

Regarding the planning, I have attached a plan I made of a city I am making right now. I just made it in MS Paint. It consists of 4 large city tiles. The dark blue lines mark the boundaries of the tiles. Red lines are highways, yellow are avenues. At the bottom there is a blue line that represents the ocean. At the top right there is another one that represents a river. I have named the major roadways and also marked in green some of the major areas of the city (where houses, businesses etc. will go). Feel free to use it or the same concept as it.

Here is the plan: planned.zip

[Kifflom112 355]

Here's how I begin my city, my future upper middle class suburbia.

1) Plop Plopamatic 9000 somewhere random and only let R$$ and R$$$ build.

2) Add my avenues and highways

3) Make neighborhoods

4) Plop businesses and shops

5) Put in a far away plant and plop/grow realistic industry

6) Zone for Mattb325 2X2 houses

7) Put in civics

Put in pipes

9) Put in PEG Trash Disposal

10) Build my city and sprawl out

I always begin in the downtown area though, it makes the sprawl easier to handle. I also like to use the Plopamatic 9000 cheat to build my dream city, and trust me, it still ain't easy.

  Edited July 20, 2011 by Zulu2065  

[J0nnD0ugh 31]

Currently I'm using the Cheat o'matic. So you know where I stand. I view SC4 as more of a canvas, not a game. I'm not trying to "win" anything. I just want to see my imagination come to life. Besides, so much of the custom content isn't user friendly. So there's a lot of trial & error. I'm currently trying to build an airport & have spent close to over a mil making mistakes & erasing them. Only to realise it's not going to look right because the area I planned on using is too small.

So yeah, I "cheat" & don't look back.

I like your view of Simcity. Making the most beautiful, most successful city possible haha. What does Cheat o'matic do? does it just add money?

It's a program that allows you to change a value in any game. In this case, you can change the $500,000 you start w/ to 25 mil, 25 bil, 25 tril.

[jacksunny 741]

For that all you need is the Extra Cheats .dll.

  Edited July 21, 2011 by jacksunny  

[bwong 36]

Do you guys know where I can ask for help about graphic issues on this forum?

You should ask in the Bugs & Technical Issues.

Regarding the planning, I have attached a plan I made of a city I am making right now. I just made it in MS Paint. It consists of 4 large city tiles. The dark blue lines mark the boundaries of the tiles. Red lines are highways, yellow are avenues. At the bottom there is a blue line that represents the ocean. At the top right there is another one that represents a river. I have named the major roadways and also marked in green some of the major areas of the city (where houses, businesses etc. will go). Feel free to use it or the same concept as it.

Here is the plan: planned.zip

Okay, thanks! I saw the plan, so you simply just get a rough idea of how you want things to work.... I see

btw, I saw that you wanted to make a seaport, how do you make straight edges? Do you use the PEG Levelling tool?

Here's how I begin my city, my future upper middle class suburbia.

1) Plop Plopamatic 9000 somewhere random and only let R$$ and R$$$ build.

2) Add my avenues and highways

3) Make neighborhoods

4) Plop businesses and shops

5) Put in a far away plant and plop/grow realistic industry

6) Zone for Mattb325 2X2 houses

7) Put in civics

Put in pipes

9) Put in PEG Trash Disposal

10) Build my city and sprawl out

I always begin in the downtown area though, it makes the sprawl easier to handle. I also like to use the Plopamatic 9000 cheat to build my dream city, and trust me, it still ain't easy.

I see, you're a suburbanite! lol. just kidding.

Do you use transit? trains? subways?

and what's plopamatic 9000?

  Edited July 21, 2011 by bwong  

[jacksunny 741]

I saw that you wanted to make a seaport, how do you make straight edges? Do you use the PEG Levelling tool?

Yes, I do use that. Here is a tutorial. You can also use the harbor tool in SC4Terraformer.

[Kifflom112 355]

Do you guys know where I can ask for help about graphic issues on this forum?

You should ask in the Bugs & Technical Issues.

Regarding the planning, I have attached a plan I made of a city I am making right now. I just made it in MS Paint. It consists of 4 large city tiles. The dark blue lines mark the boundaries of the tiles. Red lines are highways, yellow are avenues. At the bottom there is a blue line that represents the ocean. At the top right there is another one that represents a river. I have named the major roadways and also marked in green some of the major areas of the city (where houses, businesses etc. will go). Feel free to use it or the same concept as it.

Here is the plan: planned.zip

Okay, thanks! I saw the plan, so you simply just get a rough idea of how you want things to work.... I see

btw, I saw that you wanted to make a seaport, how do you make straight edges? Do you use the PEG Levelling tool?

Here's how I begin my city, my future upper middle class suburbia.

1) Plop Plopamatic 9000 somewhere random and only let R$$ and R$$$ build.

2) Add my avenues and highways

3) Make neighborhoods

4) Plop businesses and shops

5) Put in a far away plant and plop/grow realistic industry

6) Zone for Mattb325 2X2 houses

7) Put in civics

Put in pipes

9) Put in PEG Trash Disposal

10) Build my city and sprawl out

I always begin in the downtown area though, it makes the sprawl easier to handle. I also like to use the Plopamatic 9000 cheat to build my dream city, and trust me, it still ain't easy.

I see, you're a suburbanite! lol. just kidding.

Do you use transit? trains? subways?

and what's plopamatic 9000?

I am a Suburbanite actually. I love the suburbs. I use trains but not many subways.

Search Plopamatic 9000 on Google and its a demand and money tree.

[bwong 36]

haha, in real life? or in game? or both. LOL.

Suburbs are cool, they're more relaxed than the city for sure.

Why not subways? They are, in a sense more user-friendly than trains, because for trains you actually need to clear out an entire section for tracks and stations.

[pielover94 83]

start slow, don't overspend, buy only what you need. Also download the moneytree mod. It works like a charm!

[Kifflom112 355]

haha, in real life? or in game? or both. LOL.

Suburbs are cool, they're more relaxed than the city for sure.

Why not subways? They are, in a sense more user-friendly than trains, because for trains you actually need to clear out an entire section for tracks and stations.

Just find it more realistic, and I got stations that fit in with suburbs. I may use subways.

[bwong 36]

I see. Trains do add that extra touch to any city

[Jmixmaster 0]

I cheat. I'm not afraid to admit it haha. I use the money tree and usually have it run for 2 months which will give me 8.5 billion or trillion (i never counted the numbers ) simoleons. I usually do highways first, since they are the hardest to put in. I never use the monorail or elevated rail since it is so flipping picky and takes up unnecessary space. I then put in avenues and then streets. I usually do things in a grid pattern with a subway station in one or two corners of each grid unit. I also have a mod that increases demand for residential/commercial/industrial (but i usually only enable it for the first city in a new region). I don't find myself using industrial zoning very much and I always raise the taxes to 20% for dirty industry, I also use the cheat "you don't deserve it" and plop in the large water pumps (200k gal.) and the microwave power plant with a few assorted windmills here and there. I lay out all the pipes, also in a grid pattern. For trash I use the PEG Garbage Chute. I then put in mostly High density zones of commercial and residential.

However, I find that when you have a river separating the city, it is very difficult to get the two sides to develop the same.I have yet to figure out how to overcome this, but I'm sure there is a way. I rarely use tunnels, and actually forgot there were tunnels until today lol. I usually play on a flat city plain and have never attempted to play a mountainous region. I am BIG on city beautification. In the newest city I'm working on, I have 1500+ small parks. I usually put large "central" parks in areas because I find they up the property values and make bigger buildings come along.

An example of my city building style: