When should I place skyscrapers?

[Hybr1d 20]

When is a good time to place skyscrapers? I plan on downloading a bunch of skyscrapers from the STEX. I don't want to place skyscrapers in a city just starting out because that would just look weird and out of place in a new commercial district.

[EffTheGrid 3,677]

Wait until your budget allows for skyscrapers, and when your residential population is 26K, and commercial population is 40K.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

When is a good time to place skyscrapers? I plan on downloading a bunch of skyscrapers from the STEX. I don't want to place skyscrapers in a city just starting out because that would just look weird and out of place in a new commercial district.

Unless you are working on a City Journal, why not just grow them as the game progresses? Plopping skews the daylights out of your demands and budget.

  Edited April 10, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[Hybr1d 20]

Actually, I was going to use a mod to give me a bunch of money at the start... I can't remember the name of it at the moment... so money and budget won't be an issue.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The best money "mod" is the moolah command which is a developer's debugging tool. It is part of the extra cheats dll.

[Evillions 552]

When is a good time to place skyscrapers? I plan on downloading a bunch of skyscrapers from the STEX. I don't want to place skyscrapers in a city just starting out because that would just look weird and out of place in a new commercial district.

If use the buildingplop cheat (extra cheats mod), you can just plop any building including RCI.

[TekindusT 3,809]

You won't mess up your demand just making sure all skyscrapers you plop are neutral landmarks. Some of the STEX ones come both in commercial growable and landmark flavours, you shouldn't have problems to find them.

When to place them? If Maxis ones are beginning to grow and you want to give your city a unique touch, or a higher-than-the-rest skyscraper, I see no problem. Check out real cities and you'll be fine.

[Linoa06 1,374]

Could make an American type city and you'd place them in the center of it..or a waterfront city, in such case you'd rather see them along the coast...maybe a Parisian one where the CBD is totally enucleated (I won't babble on the transit issues this engenders iRL, so despite a good five different networks linking it with the city proper), or spread them a bit amongst medium density as seen in quite a few cities.

[Tramwhet 53]

This should help you.

Place the skyscrapers when your CO$$$ demands are high, or just wait, they will grow.

  Edited April 12, 2012 by Tramwhet  

[LastTrueChamp 196]

I'd suggest placing skyscrapers only after you've accumulated a good amount of mid-rise building and placing the skyscrapers in the centre of these mid density zones to give the look of your city a nice flow.

[Hybr1d 20]

Sorry for bumping this, but I have another question: When should I zone for high density commercial? Should I zone higher when my residential hits a certain population or when the commercial jobs hits a certain pop?

[Cob92 360]

Zone when you can afford it and you know where you want your business district.

[Hybr1d 20]

Zone when you can afford it and you know where you want your business district.

I don't think you understood what I was asking.... I meant at what population should I zone for high density commercial... should I go by residential population or commercial population?

The manual that came with the game said that at around 26,000 residents you should zone high density residential...

  Edited April 16, 2012 by Hybr1d  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well, yes and no. It depends on what you want. If you want to look like Manhattan or down-town L.A. follow those instructions. I often zone high rise residential quite early to get tenements for the R$ who don't have cars. I put them right next to the industrial pod.

For high density commercial buildings, I think the level 7 threshold is somewhere around 50,000 Sims. The presence of Sims population drives the whole game, and the other populations are just indicators of where you are. Of course your desirability and education levels also drive this. You have to pay attention to all the variables you can see in the various displays and act accordingly. Generally, I start with the dashboard and chase down any red indications. The game will try to grow down-town Koli Cutt if you let it.

And don't forget that your regional demand and population also helps to drive your cities.

  Edited April 16, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[Cob92 360]

Zone when you can afford it and you know where you want your business district.

I don't think you understood what I was asking.... I meant at what population should I zone for high density commercial... should I go by residential population or commercial population?

The manual that came with the game said that at around 26,000 residents you should zone high density residential...

I understood exactly what you were asking. There is no rule; you can zone as early as you like and simply allow your city to grow into the zones, or you can stay low density forever. Both configurations work so long as you can manage the transportation. The reason that the manual tells you to hold off is because high-density zoning is expensive, and if you just start slapping down high density zones in a new city you will go bankrupt and the zones won't develop anything bigger than houses. If you can afford to zone high density everywhere, and you want a dense city, there is no reason at all to zone lower densities. However, commercial skyscrapers usually begin appearing once you have at least 45,000 commercial jobs.

[Hybr1d 20]

Ok thanks Cobhris