$%&^! here

[Darkdestroyer87 0]

Hey all, picked up SC4 the other day for a £5 so thought I might give it a whirl.

 

Just getting used to the functions and building little towns atm, just have a quick question: is it best to have everything in one section or spread them out eg. industrial in one and residential in another? and the best way to link them?

 

But mostly just wanted to come on here and say hello to everyone.

HAHA didnt realise  n oo b would be censored

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Welcome to Simtropolis.

 

If you got your game on CD, you may have to upgrade it using the patches published years ago by EA.  If you look in this forum there are many threads on how to make sure of this and how to get the fixes.

 

If you've run the tutorials in Timbuktu, you'll see the developers' ideas of how to play this game, but this is quite elementary.

 

You can split your region up into specialized cities if you like, but this is fraught with little tricks that you probably are not yet prepared for.  It is a lot of administration and you have to switch back and forth to keep the cities in sync when there are neighbour deals involved.   Can be a lot of fun, though.

 

A couple of rules of thumb that I have developed over the years:

• For every job you have, be sure to have 2 Sims.  Momma Sim doesn't work, but stays home and raises the kids.
• Try to keep the ratio of wealthy Sims (R$$$) down to around 15% across the region.  More than that, and they won't be able to find work, will move out on you, and the property will either downgrade or be abandoned.

 

If you have any more items, please don't be shy about asking. 

 

There are several forums here, so have a look at the index.  Some of these are very specialized, so lurk before you leap.

 

Take some time and read the pinned threads.  They are pinned because they have been found to be effective.

[Bdub01 201]

Hello and welcome to Simtropolis.

http://infinitezenith.m.webs.com/site/mobile?dm_path=%2Fsimcity4.htm&fw_sig=ed3c8281e9028a625e8f24331773126c&fw_sig_social=1&fw_sig_tier=0&fw_sig_time=1350617371757&fw_sig_premium=0&fw_sig_permission_level=0&fw_sig_permissions=none&fw_sig_access_token=9523874541ecb47ee79ef7d0ca1ca6820b8b193f&fw_sig_is_admin=0&fw_sig_site=29441974&fw_sig_session_key=8f596a37517445e82c18c56c374155e9422d2944cdf0b53ce743ee71396c2d83-29441974&fw_sig_api_key=522b0eedffc137c934fc7268582d53a1&fw_sig_url=http://infinitezenith.webs.com/&fw_sig_potential_abuse=1&fb_sig_network=fw#1032

This is a great site that really helped me get started in playing the game.

[Revenger 13]

Some tips I found.

 

First do not focus on a single city instead focus on the region as a whole not a single city, most of your workforce will come from other cities via mass transit or highways even when sims are crying the main city they cant find work theirs still plenty of work to be had.

 

Always zone more residential than commercial if you want commercial highrise buildings even if the sims start complaining theirs no jobs keep zoning residential also limit the zoning based on demand don't zone lots of high density instead limit it in areas and take note of region try to keep the central city high density and then tone it down as you go outwards or a mix of both plan your zones don't just zone high density everywhere.

 

A mistake I made was to keep zoning commercial when sims kept saying they have no jobs, just like real life the sims won't get off there buts to find jobs or don't want it when its close and then they will whinge about it, also I found they would rather work in another city than their own, I found as per above and this helps with the no jobs having allot in another city.

 

My second city is all residential pretty much hardly any commercial and some hightech which Ill expand just enough to get that hydrogen powerplant. I have a small commercial area and every building a highrise supporting 2000+ sims and every sim in the area has a job pretty much apart from a very few number that whinge theirs no work and population is over 100,000 thats because all my first cities commercial is upgrading to highrise buildings as a result of more sims wanting office jobs.

 

Zones do not affect,  $, $$, $$$, instead zones affect the type of building you will get whether small medium or large aka house/apartment/residential tower, general business / medium office building / skyscraper tower.  All wealth levels of 4 $, $$, $$$ can occupy any building if you click on them you will see that a slum to private mansion low to rich can be done on low density.

 

The more people that need the type of building the higher type it will be be.

 

As for zoning do not keep manufacturing or dirty in the same city as your highrise commercial and vise versa, there are lots that take away the polution which you can grab on a search here.

 

You are going to want to use the region and cities to your advantage by placing types of stuff in there own cities around the region just as you don't see the heavy industrial right next to your city center in real life but in simcity it can be in the next city instead but try to be abit realistic about placement for looks.

 

Also don't skimp on the parks, gardens, flowerbeds tennis courts etc anything in that tab for any zone, always have one park or so in every zone between roads it helps to increase the building wealth and desirability.

 

Also lay out plenty of bus stops and connect them up to rail etc use nam which includes bus stops on road rather than the built in separate lot also the traffic editor which lets you assign how much of your mass transit the sims prefer to use, I run a custom config between mass transit and fastest and see a average use of 30,000+ as theirs no reason to put car in traffic sim as fastest will be car if its faster or mass transit if thats faster.