City population not high enough?

[TahR 31]

Hi guys,

 

I have a kind of issue. I'm playing with a city which I built from scratch, and it developed to a great city with high-rise buildings (although, I must confess, some are plopped) and high satisfaction. But there is one thing that's bothering me: the city is built on a large city tile, the residential as well as commercial demand are both very high.. and still my population is stuck between 220.000 and 250.000. However the map is almost filled. I'm not very happy with this number as I think it could be a lot higher! I must say that the map is a bit weird, as it are three islands in one large city tile, but I think the map can handle more people. I don't know what to do to increase the population, or where to place more zoning.

 

Does anyone recognize this problem or can anyone help me?

 

 

  Edited February 21, 2013 by TahR  

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

You need to constantly be placing parks, landmarks and services to keep demand from capping off, especially at such high populations.

[Prophet42 1,501]

The only suggestions I would have (without seeing a picture of the city) are:

 

1)  Maximize your road grid to reduce the amount of roads while allowing the maximum amount of zones

2)  Make sure all your zones are high density.

3)  Like Indiana Joe stated, make sure you have enough parks and plaza's to remove any demand caps.

4)  Make sure your mass transit system is ample enough to move the sims to their jobs.

5)  Terraform your city to create more land around the islands.  This will allow you to zone more area.

 

Good luck.

[Superbacon 380]

Something I always find useful is slowly going one section of zones at a time and de-zone areas I don't like. Then I spruce them up with some parks, open grass areas and such, and zone high-density 4x4, 3x4, 2x2, 2x4 lots. All that's left for them is to have water, power, and good transportation and jobs. Plus civic stuff.

 

Note: AFTER I zone those lots I throw in some trees. Sims love trees. Guarantee you 9 times out of 10 they'll build some nice, high-density buildings right off the bat if you do that.

[TahR 31]

Sorry guys, I forgot to attach the pictures yesterday, I've just attached them. I want to create a good balance between a good looking city and still a good growth.

 

I'll try now to throw some trees into the streets and change some zones to high density.

[Turjan 1,048]

Did you already build neighbor cities, or at least one? They help with development, as they increase the job and/or people pool. From your pictures, I would say that Prophet42's points 2 and 4 are definitely spot on.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

First you want to tackle those blackened towers. 

 

If they are plopped residential delete them.  Plopped residential just doesn't work.  Just zone high density residential and wait.

 

If they are commercial, you probably have broken the rules on Sims ratios in the game.  Not more than 15% of the Sims can be R$$$.  A city is like a symphony orchestra in a way, there can only be one conductor (you) and a few section leaders R$$$.  Everyone else has to play in their proper section, and some people have to go for coffee, get new music, etc.

 

In either case, plopping large buildings raises absolute hell with the simulation and it may take Sim-years for the program to recover to a normal state.

 

You don't say whether you have any neighbour connections.  In a large city, these are important even if they only go to farming communities.  It is also good to export your garbage to one of them, as well as put polluting power plants out of the city and buy power from outside.  Water can be supplied by the big city to the others.  This is a source of some income, but road tolls going across boundaries are very helpful.  It is not a bad idea to move the medium density industrial to a tile outside the city as well.

 

There is a number of infill areas you could lay some more residential down in.  If necessary, that is.  The ratio of Sims to jobs should be around 2:1.  This game is based on the American nuclear family which means that the wife stays home.  This is most easily seen by looking at the counts on the panel when you open the city.  It gives the RCI count, and you are looking for C+I = R/2

 

One of the biggest advances from SC3 was the upgrading of the regional play ideas.  The kernel of the game is structured to make great use of this.

[Bdub01 201]

In either case, plopping large buildings raises absolute hell with the simulation and it may take Sim-years for the program to recover to a normal state.

Does that include Maxis ploppables?

[Turjan 1,048]

Maxis landmarks usually don't have jobs or residential slots, which is perfectly fine. Civics have jobs, but those are accounted for in the engine. The problem are plopped RCI lots, which the game expects to handle itself by growing them when they are needed.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

 

In either case, plopping large buildings raises absolute hell with the simulation and it may take Sim-years for the program to recover to a normal state.

Does that include Maxis ploppables?

No.  Maxis ploppables with jobs are accounted for in the game. CI custom content can be OK too if not in great abundance all at once.  R is definitely out because they just abandon.

[TahR 31]

Thanks a lot guys! With only improving zoning, plaza's and mass transit, my city has just reached 300.000 residents, which fits better with its size than the 220.000, I think. And it also improved the skyline.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

As a test I plopped a tall skyscraper into one of my cities that has 11,000 jobs in it.  My CO$$ demand fell though the sub-basement.  It has recovered slightly after a few Sim-years of play.  I like the building, so I am going to keep it.

 

So plop away, but take your time, and examine what happens after each add.