How to earn money?

[Keyanza 0]

Hello

Just start playing sim city4 again, after many years break.

So i just got a lilte town to 16 000 people, i build police, fire, schools, hospitals, and so on....

Now as i have all time always in sim city, im going low on cash. every month im losing 2-3000 . i have tax at 10 %, i alow gambling. i try to sell water to nightbor. but still i cant earn money.

At schools, hospital and so i got the foundings just alitle over what i must have, like if i got 300 students then i got room for 340 students.....

Any tips for a $%&^!?? i realy need some tips here.....

[Dizastrow 4]

Do you have a lot of parks, green space, plazas, etc? If so, a lot of them can be expensive to keep up. Try eliminating some. You might have to take out a loan, but keep building residential. You might have to downsize your city too. If your taxes are that high it scares people away. Lower your taxes and try and even things out.

[Keyanza 0]

Do you have a lot of parks, green space, plazas, etc? If so, a lot of them can be expensive to keep up. Try eliminating some. You might have to take out a loan, but keep building residential. You might have to downsize your city too. If your taxes are that high it scares people away. Lower your taxes and try and even things out.

i dont have so many parks, maby i got around 200 a month

What should my tax be around? 9 % 10 %?

  Edited February 28, 2012 by Keyanza  

[rweather5 22]

Do you have a power plant or water pump that's really old, try replacing it, and the maintenance cost will be a lot lower.

[cogeo 960]

Never had a problem balancing the budget, actually I think the game is too easy, even at the "hard" economic level. So I made a mod that sets the initial cash to 0, so I can only start with a loan. I have also limited the loan to $1000 and it has to be paid in 3 years (made another mod for this). And no business deals, cheats, demand mods and the like, and even no industry (only commerce and civics). Still, playing with all these restrictions is possible, and the city can really grow large!

Take a look at this thread.

[Keyanza 0]

Do you guys build fast or slow, i see if i build very slow i can go like 200 + eatch month, but then i got like 2000- 3000 people in my town...when i build a litle faster i get up to 10 000 people then i will not earn money,... lose money eatch month

[Keyanza 0]

When i build R and C i normaly build the R2 and R3 same with C. almost never build R1. because they dont get big? right? i build some C1.

At industry i build mostly I3, some I2...

Should i go for more R1 and C1? and can R1 get to be a big building after time or will it just be a small house?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Take a look at this Tutorial. I generally run on low gear (Turtle) or second (Rhino). It is more satisfying and you get to watch more detail in the animation.

[c4sh 2]

This tutorial, Making Money helped me out a lot. Takes some time to do it right the first time, but it's a piece of cake when you learn the techniques.

[Meg 368]

I like to start each city with a lot of small farms until I get the Farmer's Market. The farms create a nice chunk of cash to start with and the market is an excellent cap buster.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I like to start each city with a lot of small farms until I get the Farmer's Market. The farms create a nice chunk of cash to start with and the market is an excellent cap buster.

Is that with or without the SPAM?

[Sovereignty 0]

This tutorial, Making Money helped me out a lot. Takes some time to do it right the first time, but it's a piece of cake when you learn the techniques.

Yes.

That tutorial is spectacular. Should be required reading, really. The lay-out is extremely logical and the lessons it contains will revolutionize your understanding of the game.

Zero exaggeration. Read it right now.

[BrockDock 1]

You're spending 200 each month on parks? That's quite a lot for a city of 18, 000. Just play with the sliders, keep your power and water down to the minimum possible. Also public transportation is a huge money earner, build rail stations and ensure that your people use them by building the industrial sector a good distance away from your residential zones. They money should start to pour in then.

[BrokeDiamond 2]

The problem seems to be that you are offering far too many services for only 16,000 people. A town like that has no need for a fire department, police, or hospital, and needs only a basic educational system. Those services should come in somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 people.

Also, try to only zone small areas at the time, wait until they are filled up, then zone other areas. Start with low-density before moving on to medium and high.

Zone only residential and industrial in the beginning, and save commercial until 20,000 to 30,000, although you can zone a little bit of low-density commercial if you really want to.

Also, keep checking the UDI repeatedly and watch for missions from Dr. Vu. My city loses $3000 a month but I'm rarely in debt because of his missions.

[jacksunny 741]

The problem seems to be that you are offering far too many services for only 16,000 people. A town like that has no need for a fire department, police, or hospital, and needs only a basic educational system. Those services should come in somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 people.

This is not necessarily true, I usually build schools and hospitals right off the bat and fire stations at around 2000 population. The city I am currently working on has a population of 12000, it has 3 elementary schools, a high school, one small and one large police station, 3 small fire stations, a medical clinic, and several parks. I am currently making $1000 a month. Here are some tips:

-Don't raise your cities taxes. This will cause your demand to go down, which will cause big problems later on.

-As soon as you build a new school or hospital, lower the funding the barely over the usage. Also lower the school bus and ambulance funding to only what you need.

Perhaps you should post a picture of your city and financial info. We could help you out.