Back to Basics?

[Alky 16]

Is it self control that I need? There seems to be no sense to the way my cities turn out. I put water and power on the map, start laying out roads and filling in all the tiles with residential and commercial. I end up with a map that's filled with skyscrapers and seems to have no purpose. What's the best way to begin a new city. I'd like to have a couple of communities, perhaps small rural town and a downtown section further away. Some of the awesome cities I see here seem like they could only be done with a target in mind. When do you stop tinkering with it, or do you? I think I need a 12 step program to slow down my tile filling

[Urbanator 7]

One of the first things I do is look at the geography of the region and figure out where the best areas are for residential and commercial districts and how I would go about connecting them - bridges, freeways etc. Sometimes the only reason an area is made residential is because its got a nice view...

For me, the complications come around when I try to link the various parts of major cities together and I end up with a jigsaw of various tranport lines in my head .

I'd say that the best way of working, if you want a 'city with a purpose' is to go slow. That way you can better plan where you want things without the other demands taking over your planning. Consider well any new additions to a new city because it might major effects that will cause much too rapid expansion (although it can be quite fun if you plan for it).

[Jazzmaster 716]

By city with a 'purpose', I assume you mean it has an acceptable rhyme and reason to it. There is a definitive central business district, a reasonably scaled skyline, etc., rather than just a massive conglomerate of high rises.

I'd say it depends on what you want to achieve. The cities you're referring to are usually done with a lot of tedious plopping work, where the artists worry more about aesthetics than gameplay. You can definitely do both, although I will say I spend way too much time on trial-and-error to make something look correct; so much bulldozing/rebuilding I'd waste quite a bit of Simoleans.

If you're not too worried about aesthetics, but still want your city reasonably structured and all that good stuff, one thing you could do is zone smaller densities. Sims can't build skyscrapers where they aren't allowed.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Yup, and try to think of the region as your city. Where would the CBD be, where would the rich guys build their mansions overlooking the bay, where would be the harbour, and where the suburbs... This way, each map can be assigned a purpose, for example: "OK, I'll use the flat part of this map for the Eastern end of the industrial area, scatter some small residentials over the hillsides, and put a nice huge radio tower on top of that mountain."

You can even play with the tilesets: Make a NY-styled CBD on a small city tile, and lateron you can add a hyper-modern commercial area with lots of skyscrapers further away from the centre - just like La Défense in Paris.

Or how about a commuter city? Only large pre-fab apartment blocks, commuter stations, some low commercial buildings (supermarkets, servo stations, video rentals, small shops), and maybe a large park with sports facilities?

I like to make a region with varied terrain, and then I think of places (read: city tiles) that just scream for a particular theme: CBD, suburb, industry... the remaining city tiles can be used as fillers to provide for a smooth transition between these key areas. The challenge for me is to create one coherent city/region, where you don't see the seams between the individual city tiles.

I also find that small and medium-sized maps are easier to get along with because you face limitations. There's just not that huge empty area that you can fill with just about anything. It's quite the opposite: You know that you will not be able to plop down all the rewards that you get.

On a smaller scale, it helps to extend functional lots visually. Yes, you can plop that compact hospital into a narrow city block and call it a day. But how much cooler will it look when there is a small park attached to it where the patients can take a walk with their visitors? And wouldn't a school look better with some sports pitches next to it? If you build like this, everything suddenly tends to occupy a lot of space. This will help you to break up the urban jungle, and you can reserve the skyscraper forest for particular (and limited) areas.

[Alky 16]

Thanks for the ideas guys, I think planning is the missing component in my gameplay. I tend to just start filling empty ares with whatever the RCI is asking for.

Something I've been wondering about, if you were to build industrial and commercial in one city and residential and education in another, would the sims travel between them with adequate transportation available?

[Ion_Cannon 677]

I find the best way to create a nice or realistic city is just to build something in that you yourself would like to live. This means no skyscraper forests for a start but also a practical and realistic transport network. Use smooth curves as much as possible and try to really beautify areas, lots of grass and trees. I can't speak for Asian cities but all of the european cities I have visited have ample public space in the form of plazas, parks and other green spaces. Alot of the functional buildings ingame are underscaled, for they lack amenities such as ample parking, even adding parking areas to office districts / park entrances / municipal buildings can make a huge difference.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Recently, I've just been building according to the terrain, keeping in mind how cities start out. They mostly start with a farming village and grow into cities very slowly and irregularly. If a sea coast is available, I try to get a fishing port going, or an industrial area with a seaport. I also use rivers if I have made any in terraforming. Splitting the industrial and farming areas across a stream with emphasis on more civilized area with the farming group and a more urbanized area with the industrials. I find this works well. The other thing is to work on the region and build small towns and villages, some in the same tile. Building two or more communities on the same tile is rather challenging.

Try to get away from a single monolithic community. You'll find this to be a greater challenge.