How RCI works

[Bibor_Kiraly 21]

Okay, I finally cracked it. Took me a while, and the reason for the delay is, quite honestly, the impossible number of false reports and people being simply wrong (while being so arrogant about claiming being right at the same time).

 

The way SimCity RCI works is actually quite, quite simple.

 

RCI Active agents - people:

Workers are active agents that move from a R building to nearest cash generating building (I or C).

Shoppers are active agents that move from a R building nearest happiness generating building (C, parks etc.)

Kids are active agents that move from a R building to the nearest education building.

 

 

RCI Containers - buildings:

Buildings containers that agents travel to with a goods and convert it into another value.

Industrial (or work commercial) converts WORK into MONEY.

Commercial converts MONEY into HAPPINESS.

Happiness converts buildings into HIGHER DENSITY.

 

RCI Containers (buildings) have two very important values:

1) Density/tech level

2) Wealth ($, $$ or $$$)

 

 

****

 

This is how it works: 

 

A $ residential building sends out $ workers to any $ workplace to bring $ money to any $ residential.

A $ residential building sends out $ shoppers to buy at any $ store to bring $ happiness to any $ residential. 

 

 

A $$ residential building sends out $$ workers to any $$ workplace to bring $$ money to any $$ residential.

A $$ residential building sends out $$ shoppers to buy at any $$ store to bring $$ happiness to any $$ residential. 

 

 

A $$$ residential building sends out $$$ workers to any $$$ workplace to bring $$$ money to any $$$ residential.

A $$$ residential building sends out $$$ shoppers to buy at any $$$ store to bring $$$ happiness to any $$$ residential. 

 

***

 

And therein lies the problem. A $ sim that left a $ R building that becomes $$ will not go back to the same building, will not go back to the good ol' $ store or back to the $ workplace.

 

But buildings are $-based. So if you have 50 $ skyscrapers, it doesn't help $$ sims at all. They cannot go back to them: new $$ Rs need to be built. And the 50 existing $ buildings will attract new 100.000 level $ sims. 

 

The only way a building can "upgrade" in wealth level (at least from my observation) is when it changes in density.

 

***

 

And that's why your city traffic implodes at 100.000, 200.000, 400.000 citizens (as long as there is any region in play; single city region is easy) because new wealth citizens have to migrate to other cities for live, work and shop for their $$ or $$$ level.

 

What helps?

 

BULLDOZING.

 

Look at your city right now, check how many $$ population you might have and check how many $ skyscrapers you have in the middle of your city.

 

You want to keep your residential and commercial centers of $$ wealth or above? Bring down the $ buildings, make room for the new $$ ones. Let the poor sims make new buildings on the edges.

 

***

 

EDIT: Traffic

 

Obviously, what the above stated means is that the good ol' idea of RCI separation is a pile of crap. You want your sims to get the shortest R--I--R--C--R route. The less sims have to travel, the greater the chance that they will complete the RIRCR cycle. Keep $$ R close to $$ C and $$ I. Then keep $ R close to $C and $$ I somewhere else.

[Teksun 1]

I am under the impression that you can 'force' buildings into a $ catagory with parks. Put a bunch o $ parks in the area, you will get high density $ R. If you change those parks to $$, the buildings will (slowly) convert to $$ R. I am still testing this, but so far it seems to work. I even believe that $ parks can convert a $$ R to $ R.

[duxie 0]

1) you SHOULD separate 'I' away from your 'R' as the pollution from 'I' will reduce the land value of all surrounding area.

Also 'I' ground pollution spreads germs.

2) you SHOULD NOT separate 'R' and 'C', you simply place 'C' in the centre of you 'R'

3) you SHOULD check the population tab at all times to see if you are lacking workers or if you have jobless.

 

edit: bulldozing generates pollution as well as far as I know so be careful of not over-dozing

[Bibor_Kiraly 21]

1) you SHOULD separate 'I' away from your 'R' as the pollution from 'I' will reduce the land value of all surrounding area.

Also 'I' ground pollution spreads germs.

2) you SHOULD NOT separate 'R' and 'C', you simply place 'C' in the centre of you 'R'

3) you SHOULD check the population tab at all times to see if you are lacking workers or if you have jobless.

 

Forests (50$ per plop) are surprisingly effective at negating air pollution. I'm not advocating placing I in the middle of the Residential zone, but keeping it close enough (i.e. not on the opposite side of the map). High Tech industrial is just fine to keep very close

I am under the impression that you can 'force' buildings into a $ catagory with parks. Put a bunch o $ parks in the area, you will get high density $ R. If you change those parks to $$, the buildings will (slowly) convert to $$ R. I am still testing this, but so far it seems to work. I even believe that $ parks can convert a $$ R to $ R.

 

 

I am under the impression that you can 'force' buildings into a $ catagory with parks. Put a bunch o $ parks in the area, you will get high density $ R. If you change those parks to $$, the buildings will (slowly) convert to $$ R. I am still testing this, but so far it seems to work. I even believe that $ parks can convert a $$ R to $ R.

 

I'll check this too, but I doubt any building can be "forced" into changing a higher or lower level income. It can definitely be rebuilt from ground-up.

[Sunfighter 186]

My city had a problem with too much Commercial generating happy shoppers, who then had no R to go to and thus defaulted to trying to leave the city totally messing up traffic. The only way to fix it was to destroy almost ALL the commercial zones and rezone R. This in effect produced little traffic, and even more baffling the limited C zones left where suffering from not enough shoppers (?!). Its almost like C generates its own shoppers to satisfy itself once a city hits a certain size.

 

I really dont understand how RCI works in this game. I really dont.

 

Explain this to me...High wealth C. Surrounded by High wealth R. With a bit of Mid R mixed in.....

 

yet...not enough shoppers....

 

So youre saying its due to the R not having enough I or C to make money to spend it? yea?

 

 

So basically I need more C.....to get more C so C can not go out of business? How....why is the mechanic like this?

[Board_Marshal 104]

All work in determining and reporting the precise dynamic mechanisms of RCI is much appreciated.

[Bibor_Kiraly 21]

My city had a problem with too much Commercial generating happy shoppers, who then had no R to go to and thus defaulted to trying to leave the city totally messing up traffic. The only way to fix it was to destroy almost ALL the commercial zones and rezone R. This in effect produced little traffic, and even more baffling the limited C zones left where suffering from not enough shoppers (?!). Its almost like C generates its own shoppers to satisfy itself once a city hits a certain size.

 

I really dont understand how RCI works in this game. I really dont.

 

Explain this to me...High wealth C. Surrounded by High wealth R. With a bit of Mid R mixed in.....

 

yet...not enough shoppers....

 

So youre saying its due to the R not having enough I or C to make money to spend it? yea?

 

 

 

So basically I need more C.....to get more C so C can not go out of business? How....why is the mechanic like this?

 

 

What I am saying is that a High Density $$$ Residential container provides only 67 wokers and probably an equal number of shoppers. But a single High Density $$$ Commerical building can service much, much more customers.

What you need is not "C for C", but agents that are not residents, yet consume commerce: Tourists. Otherwise, I'm afraid it's better to stay at Medium Density $$$ commerce (reduce street level to medium).

As an alternative, you might want to create as many $$$ non-Commercial jobs as possible (industry, and non-RCI).

[CoolColJ 42]

You have to make sure the C have goods to sell, otherwise they will complain about not enough shoppers

[moeom 1]

So for theories sake, lest take these numbers, 

 

R$ = 50 Workers

C$ = 200 Shopping + 25 Jobs

I$ = 75 jobs

 

Take these numbers for example, and lets say we have 4 R$ 'Containers', thus creating 200 workers/residents. Which in turn will need 200 jobs, thats where each I$ 'Container' will come in. Growing 2 I$ will create 150 jobs. This will than keep 50 Workers jobless. Grow 1 C$ to create the 25 jobs that it comes with and your good to keep the R-I-R-C-R cycle in good shape for 175 workers and 25 jobless lads. At this point, u will have to create more R$ and I$ to satisfy the jobless to create an equal balance.

 

And this will have to be done for all $,$$ and $$$ levels of residents. It will take fine balancing to get right and will have to take into note the finer details of jobs and shops created. Now if this is the correct way of seeing it, how many jobs that I$$, for example, create for R$ and R$$ in 1 industry/manufactor building? And same goes for C$$ and higher wealth buildings.

 

Now all this is just me thinking out loud.

[Toiletguy 0]

The game is broken to the level where supply and demand doesn't exist in this game. You could just plop a R 100% zoning without any city in your region as well.

[Board_Marshal 104]

The game is broken to the level where supply and demand doesn't exist in this game. You could just plop a R 100% zoning without any city in your region as well.

 

Yes, so the challenge instead becomes more than just not going broke or having a large population.  Having a balance of RCI all in one city AND having a large population that's happy is the true test of city building skill.  The mechanics may be strange and some broken but finding the challenge none-the-less is at least trying to get something for the money.

[Sunfighter 186]

The game is broken to the level where supply and demand doesn't exist in this game. You could just plop a R 100% zoning without any city in your region as well.

 

Yes, so the challenge instead becomes more than just not going broke or having a large population.  Having a balance of RCI all in one city AND having a large population that's happy is the true test of city building skill.  The mechanics may be strange and some broken but finding the challenge none-the-less is at least trying to get something for the money.

 

How would you know you even had a balance? What is considered a balance? traffic? zoning %? problems? money?

 

Ironically, I think traffic is a sign of a healthy city, and cities that have extreme traffic troubles are in fact the most healthy balance wise, but that the agent system failed the game.

 

Ive redesigned my city a several times over the past 3 days trying to find this mystical balance and stability. The first one had a TON of traffic, but only leaving the city, no buildings ever went abandoned, cept for industrial as they were complaining about the stupids randomly mucking up their works.

 

So I figured I had too much C not enough R to soak up the shoppers. So I removed a lot of C and rezoned R. Traffic stopped...but everywhere...pretty much traffic cleared up completely. The city was lifeless, the tourists dried up, leaving town saying "this town is boring". Population went from a meager 80K to 200K though. Strangely, income went into the red thanks to the casinos having to be shut down and shuttered due to red income. Strange, commercial went abandoned now due to no shoppers. but..the traffic was solved!

 

So today, i tried to revive the C and get the income to the red, and try to tweek via this guys general rules (though not sure I understand it completely, so it still could be me).....

 

Traffic has now exploded again all over the city this time. Commercial doesn't go abandoned. Industry has places to ship again....yet this time..strangely R is going abaondedon due to..i dunno what...buildings just go abandoned. *shrug* but now im suffering from huge amounts of traffic....looking for work. So i guess I have an unbalance in wealth....

 

So tomorrow..its time to tweek the parks I guess...plus the citys skyline is uglier than ever. but im pretty even wealth wise.

 

[Board_Marshal 104]

 

The game is broken to the level where supply and demand doesn't exist in this game. You could just plop a R 100% zoning without any city in your region as well.

 

Yes, so the challenge instead becomes more than just not going broke or having a large population.  Having a balance of RCI all in one city AND having a large population that's happy is the true test of city building skill.  The mechanics may be strange and some broken but finding the challenge none-the-less is at least trying to get something for the money.

 

How would you know you even had a balance? What is considered a balance? traffic? zoning %? problems? money?

 

Ironically, I think traffic is a sign of a healthy city, and cities that have extreme traffic troubles are in fact the most healthy balance wise, but that the agent system failed the game.

 

Ive redesigned my city a several times over the past 3 days trying to find this mystical balance and stability. The first one had a TON of traffic, but only leaving the city, no buildings ever went abandoned, cept for industrial as they were complaining about the stupids randomly mucking up their works.

 

So I figured I had too much C not enough R to soak up the shoppers. So I removed a lot of C and rezoned R. Traffic stopped...but everywhere...pretty much traffic cleared up completely. The city was lifeless, the tourists dried up, leaving town saying "this town is boring". Population went from a meager 80K to 200K though. Strangely, income went into the red thanks to the casinos having to be shut down and shuttered due to red income. Strange, commercial went abandoned now due to no shoppers. but..the traffic was solved!

 

So today, i tried to revive the C and get the income to the red, and try to tweek via this guys general rules (though not sure I understand it completely, so it still could be me).....

 

Traffic has now exploded again all over the city this time. Commercial doesn't go abandoned. Industry has places to ship again....yet this time..strangely R is going abaondedon due to..i dunno what...buildings just go abandoned. *shrug* but now im suffering from huge amounts of traffic....looking for work. So i guess I have an unbalance in wealth....

 

So tomorrow..its time to tweek the parks I guess...plus the citys skyline is uglier than ever. but im pretty even wealth wise.

 

There's little transparency of the system so finding "balance" is, well, pretty difficult unless that is your goal.  For me city balance is employing all the possible mechanisms, buildings, roads, zones, etc and not having the whole thing collapse in on itself.  Its not perfect balance but its sufficient.  Until the "MMO" components are up and running properly for us to compete against one another we can each set our own goals, mine is simply not to go bankrupt and its a good day (what can I say, my benchmark is pretty low).

 

There was a post on the SimCity reddit where a person was expressing his or her frustration over not being able to attribute success or failure of their city to themselves because he or she couldn't tell what they had done to make things improve or deteriorate.  I too feel that frustration.  For now my city building is nothing more than making it look nice, keeping my ink in the black, and responding to the Sims' requests.  I'm not really making any attempt to maximize anything in terms of optimal strategy.  It would be nice if Maxis was composing a comprehensive explanation of the mechanisms but with so many changes likely being made its pointless for them to do it now so the community will likely figure it all out and write it up first.

[elektrichead22 10]

Okay, I finally cracked it. Took me a while, and the reason for the delay is, quite honestly, the impossible number of false reports and people being simply wrong (while being so arrogant about claiming being right at the same time).

 

The way SimCity RCI works is actually quite, quite simple.

 

RCI Active agents - people:

Workers are active agents that move from a R building to nearest cash generating building (I or C).

Shoppers are active agents that move from a R building nearest happiness generating building (C, parks etc.)

Kids are active agents that move from a R building to the nearest education building.

 

 

RCI Containers - buildings:

Buildings containers that agents travel to with a goods and convert it into another value.

Industrial (or work commercial) converts WORK into MONEY.

Commercial converts MONEY into HAPPINESS.

Happiness converts buildings into HIGHER DENSITY.

 

RCI Containers (buildings) have two very important values:

1) Density/tech level

2) Wealth ($, $$ or $$$)

 

 

****

 

This is how it works: 

 

A $ residential building sends out $ workers to any $ workplace to bring $ money to any $ residential.

A $ residential building sends out $ shoppers to buy at any $ store to bring $ happiness to any $ residential. 

 

 

A $$ residential building sends out $$ workers to any $$ workplace to bring $$ money to any $$ residential.

A $$ residential building sends out $$ shoppers to buy at any $$ store to bring $$ happiness to any $$ residential. 

 

 

A $$$ residential building sends out $$$ workers to any $$$ workplace to bring $$$ money to any $$$ residential.

A $$$ residential building sends out $$$ shoppers to buy at any $$$ store to bring $$$ happiness to any $$$ residential. 

 

***

 

And therein lies the problem. A $ sim that left a $ R building that becomes $$ will not go back to the same building, will not go back to the good ol' $ store or back to the $ workplace.

 

But buildings are $-based. So if you have 50 $ skyscrapers, it doesn't help $$ sims at all. They cannot go back to them: new $$ Rs need to be built. And the 50 existing $ buildings will attract new 100.000 level $ sims. 

 

The only way a building can "upgrade" in wealth level (at least from my observation) is when it changes in density.

 

***

 

And that's why your city traffic implodes at 100.000, 200.000, 400.000 citizens (as long as there is any region in play; single city region is easy) because new wealth citizens have to migrate to other cities for live, work and shop for their $$ or $$$ level.

 

What helps?

 

BULLDOZING.

 

Look at your city right now, check how many $$ population you might have and check how many $ skyscrapers you have in the middle of your city.

 

You want to keep your residential and commercial centers of $$ wealth or above? Bring down the $ buildings, make room for the new $$ ones. Let the poor sims make new buildings on the edges.

 

***

 

EDIT: Traffic

 

Obviously, what the above stated means is that the good ol' idea of RCI separation is a pile of crap. You want your sims to get the shortest R--I--R--C--R route. The less sims have to travel, the greater the chance that they will complete the RIRCR cycle. Keep $$ R close to $$ C and $$ I. Then keep $ R close to $C and $$ I somewhere else.

so basically this is the one dynamic that is the same as sc4 ????

[Bibor_Kiraly 21]

How would you know you even had a balance? What is considered a balance? traffic? zoning %? problems? money?

 

First step: Stop looking at the RCI bars and stop looking at the population numbers. The RCI Bar is just showing you the *potential* your city has ("we dont' have enough local $ wokers - let me put the first bar into full green for you"), and the population number is arbitrary (sum of all R building/container maximums).

 

There are two distinct categories in the "balancing" act:

 

One is for stand-alone no-region cities, where the ideal would be to have unfulfilled jobs and unsold goods close to zero.

 

The second one is taking the whole region into account. This is way more difficult, because your other cities are experimenting and changing all the time... you, me, especially "other" people play pretty hysterically right now. One minute you might have an influx of workers just because someone obliterated half of his city, the other you might have a shortage because he zoned 100 R slots.

 

There's no perfect balance in regional play, but your city also needs TIME to grow closer to a state of equilibrium, and equilibrium can be achieved even if the numbers are showing otherwise.

 

 

For example, this city is in equilibrium now. It earns more than it spends, no traffic jams, profitable casino and landmark. It had to accomodate for the region, and as you can se over 50% of its workforce is imported.

[Kabloosh 7]

My main solution has always been to just expand, expand, expand. With such small city sizes this has made things quite difficult since I prefer to build out before I have to build up.

 

The only reason why my city is alive and not broke is because my city makes like 360k off of the alloy and metal it produces which I mine up. I've been slowly building neighboring cities where I have been moving utilities too which is where I stick to building out.