city population problem

[Vast_Deathmaster 0]

Ok, first off, I am using an eMac with 512mb memory and OS10.3.9

I am ONLY using SC4, there is no RH.

I am having trouble getting cities to get beyond 3500 sims.

I'm not good at the game, so I am following Thy451's walkthrough to 40k.

I got one city to that number once. That was on an empty region; the generic one created by the game.

I have tried several times since. One time, I did actually got beyond the 3500 mark but I was about 9 years down the line.

The most recent game/city I was sitting at about 3500 sims and it was 13 'years'. Thy451's guide has you at about 4500 by year 3.

What's going on here?

This is on the generic region map. I don't have any Mods running, and I have tried deleting the game (did a search in finder for simcity and deleted everything, did a search for aspyr and deleted everthing) and reinstalling. Same thing.

Oh, one other thing. The game is running with the game update I got from Aspyr's website.

[Zelgadis 638]

There are a few things to consider.

But first, can you tell us what your demand levels are for all zone types?

Your first city is always the most difficult. Neighbors always help increase demand.

Your citizens might be demanding services. Electricity, water, schools, medical services. Growth can stagnate if something is missing.

At 3500 sims, you should at least have the mayor's house reward. Place it. That should make your town more desirable.

But all this is conjecture. Again, tell us what your demand levels are and, if possible, show us some screenshots of your cities so that we can see what you're up to.

ISF

P.S. I believe that the word you're probably thinking of in your signature is meddle.

[Vast_Deathmaster 0]

As far as the Zone demand levels, I figured I'd post a screenshot instead. Hopefully it will help. This town is sort of a test so I called it Crap Shoot It is currently at year 7 and it has stagnated at 3000(about) sims



Next is a screenshot of the city itself. Again, I am following Thy's scheme. It has worked once or twice, but not regularly



Since I am following a plan, there are no Schools, Medical or Fire services. By Thy's plan, at year 3 I will fill out the Industrial area and add a fire station. The 'amenities' are added and continue to be added starting at year 8 (assuming a population of 17k or so.

As you can see, the city is very basic by design

Below is one of the cities further down the road on Thy's scheme. Instead of following his residetial layout, I put another one on the opposite side of the idustrial area. It also took a bit to get beyond the 4k mark, but once I did, the city growth ran smoothly. I stopped playing this one because I thought I made a mistake on the layout.

[warll 0]

what are you're tax's? Remember at first its ok to go into the red so a school is a (at lest for me) must. maybe police mit be a good idea it looks like there's a lot of crime. but most Important just keep playing. The city will get better and you'l get better.

[Zelgadis 638]

Well, I have some theories.

1) Build some schools. Your city will be more desirable without all that dirty industry and manufacturing industry doesn't start to show up unless you have at least an elementary school. Eventually, you'll need high schools and colleges for high tech industry.

2) Raise taxes on dirty industry... a lot. I almost always have my dirty industry tax around 15%. Before you have neighbors, it is almost impossible to keep out dirty industry no matter what your tax level is on it, but at least you can make a bit of money. Later, however, it will encourage dirty industry to stop coming and the others to start growing.

3) Got water? You don't have to water everything just yet, but try to water something. Higher wealth commercial and residential must have water to grow.

Try some of that. Tell us how it works. And since these are experimental cities, don't be afraid to go into the red on your budget or use the money cheat. That's how you practice.

Also, your issues are not Mac-specific. You might want to ask a moderator if this topic can be moved to the general SimCity discussion forum. You'll get more replies there.

ISF

[warll 0]

He does have water from two water towers. also he mit of burned out demand by zoneing all of the res at once. i had at one time a city in sim city 2000 that was perfect but i over zoved and it took days of playing to get ity back on track. 

[Vast_Deathmaster 0]

Keep in mind that I am following THY451's guides. They have worked once before. That is why I have not added things like police or fire dept. If you go to the Omnibus and read, his plan has putting in firedept in at year four and about 4600 sims.

Taxes: R: 8.3%, 8.0%, 7.5%
C: 7.0%, 7.0%, 7.0%
I: 9.0%, 7.5%, 7.0%

The real question here is why these formulas have worked before, but have since stopped being reliable.

I should be able to follow that plan and consistantly get a city working. Unless the game is uber random and not ever city will succeed, this seems crazy to me.


So remember. I'm following a plan. The plan has worked before. Sure I could follow advise and add things here and there, but I don't want to (though thank you for that particular advice) Thanks.

[Zelgadis 638]

Jack up all your taxes to at least 9.0%. This will have absolutely no detrimental effect on demand and it is, in fact, recommended by Maxis. In RH, they actually reset the default taxes to 9.0%. And, like I said before, always make your dirty industry tax much higher.

Yes, there does seem to be water. I didn't notice until warII pointed it out.

And good point too, warII, about overzoning. It does appear to be overextended. Try to make smaller zone areas and wait for them to fill. Overzoning probably makes your property values fall too much.

Sometimes, Deathmaster, the game does appear to be random, but sometimes you never know what can cause things such as your problem to happen. Keep experimenting. I had a similar problem once, and I built a reward (private school) that I had been neglecting and my population exploded.

ISF

[Vast_Deathmaster 0]

I will try to gradually fill in the Residential instead of all at once. Admittedly, THy's guide is confusing at times and has been posted as such by others.

[Vast_Deathmaster 0]

While I have attention here, I have a question about Water Pipes.

In previous Simcity games, it was advantagious to to run the pipes in loops (that is, to not have them them end as open pipes. I was wondering if it mattered in Ver. 4 of the game.

I don't know which one, but there was also better watersupply for certain areas. That 'feature' seems to have been left out here.

[Zelgadis 638]

About water pipes:

There is no advantage to running them in loops. However, a limited amount of interconnectivity is desirable just in case you accidentally sever a connection. I've done that a couple of times.

ISF