A few questions: Unemployment, Service Vehicles, Water, Waste, etc.

[aschroeger 0]

Hello.

 

I've been playing the new Simcity since launch and have played all previous version of the game as well.  So far, I am liking the new game however, I have been scratching my head on a few things.  I was hoping to ask here, bounce them off of you other smart people and see if I can't better understand what is happening and what I can do to fix or prevent in the future.

 

1) Unemployment & Not enough workers:  The biggest issue I am having right now is unemployment.  I'll take my time building up R C I zones and things go great.  Then, without any apparent reason, I hit a big unemployment spike, get a lot of homeless in my parks, abandoned homes and such,  This confuses me because I have this happen, even when I make no changes to the city.  I can have a thriving city and I'm just watching it on 2-speed, then.. boom, homeless in my parks.  Any suggestions?

 

(speaking of parks, I also noticed when I mouse over some parks, they say too many homeless.  But when I open the park, my homeless count is 0)

 

2) Water / Waste:  Oh how I loathe these.  My advisers will constantly say I need more water or my sewage pipes are backed up.  However, when I open up the specific building for either water or sewer, the meter is green.  They tell me I am making excess water or have excess room for sewer.  Bug?  Also, my water tables are good ye some buildings show no water.  Does location of the pumps & towers matter in relation to the buildings? 

 

3) Service Vehicles & Buildings (Police, Fire & Clinical):  I'm still having traffic issues with my service vehicles.  I read it was fixed, but it doesn't seem to be,  I try to place all my service buildings on divided roads.  Even then the fire chief is always yelling at me that service is too slow.. 

 

Clinic is where I am having the most issues.  It seems if even one person is in the waiting room (ie: 25/25 being seen, 1/25 in waiting room) I get yelled at that I need to improve my health services.  How many clinics are you placing?  

 

When you build up your city hall to allow Police Precincts, Hospitals and large Fire Stations, do you close the smaller ones?

 

Police:  Here's a funny one.  Maybe this is a bug I dont know... Jail Cells.  In one of my cities I have 2 police stations and a precinct.  Each are maxed in jail cells.  The Precinct will be for instance 12/75 jail cells used, but the 2 smaller police stations are max capacity and I'm being told they are releasing criminals due to the lack of space.  Why aren't they being put in my Precinct?

 

I think that's it for now.. Thanks for your help in advance!

 

 

[perafilozof 143]

1) Does your city have a specialization? It's a big worker sinc. If you only have services, utilities and some C and I to be your place for workers while having a large population you will hit large unemployment fast. If you don't have a place for workers that ar $ or $$, don't be afraid to simply bulldoze there homes. They will come back when you zone for R again. If you hit high density before actually needing the extra workers then that is your problem.

 

2) The sewage pipes is a tricky one, I figured that problem out just last night. When you place a line of sewage outflow pipes on a single street, sewage always goes for the first building, and then takes it to max capacity, then your advisor starts telling you about it, while the rest of the sewage figures out that there are more sewage outflow pipes just next door. But that still won't stop your advisor from telling you how that first building is constantly at 100% capacity.

 

When you upgrade and have 2 large sewage treatment centers don't place them down the same road. Because if the first one doesn't have the capacity the sewage will spill out into the ground regardless of the fact that 2 meters down the road you have another 500 capacity sewage treatment center.

 

3) If you lose a building to a fire, because your fire truck was stuck in a traffic jam your advisor will tell you about it. Having more fire trucks or closer to the fire isn't important. My every single city has be fine with just 1 fire truck. Even if you have more they just keep going to the same fire anyway. (Maxis told they are going to fix that in 2.0 patch)

 

4) Yes, police and clinics will keep filling up the room at the small ones regardless that the big ones are empty. You have to shut the small ones down.

 

[aschroeger 0]

Thank you for the reply.

 

Just to be clear.  When I upgrade to have a large fire station for example, I should close the small ones?  

 

Thx

[Rhadamant5186 19]

#1. If you click the Details tab under the Population Table it will show you details about your population, including # of unemployed people and # of available jobs. Sounds to me like you need more C & I or a Specialization. To decrease your homeless population you can setup a bus depot, and they'll ship themselves out.

 

The reason for the influx of unemployed is that if your R becomes a higher density before your C and I, you won't be creating jobs faster than you're creating new civilians. Always watch the Population Details table to make sure you're suppling enough jobs/workers/shoppers/etc.

 

#2. I've found you need a fair bit of excess sewage capacity in order to have your pipes not blocked up. Think of this as sewage pressure, if you're barely in the green the sewer pressure is too low to flow.

 

#3. Maxis said that they'll be patching the way Firetrucks work in 1.8 or 1.9 because currently they clump together. Basically the dispatcher for the Fire Department is a raging alcoholic and dispatches all of the firetrucks to one fire while the other buildings burn to the ground. Don't sweat this problem, its Maxis' fault.

 

#4. The cop that arrests the criminal brings the criminal to where his car is owned. Basically your small precinct cops are places in an area with a lot more criminals than your large precinct.

 

 

 

To answer your question....

 

Whenever you unlock the larger version of something, more often than not you should close/bulldoze the older  version. This is especially true with education buildings. When you have a University you should not have a high school or grade school.

[aschroeger 0]

Excellent reply, thanks.

 

I forgot to mention, each of these cities I am having these issues in are either Oil or Coal/Ore spec'd.

 

I should even destroy the grade schools?  I've never thoughts of that.  I figured there would just always be grade school aged kids in the city.

[Rhadamant5186 19]

Excellent reply, thanks.

 

I forgot to mention, each of these cities I am having these issues in are either Oil or Coal/Ore spec'd.

 

I should even destroy the grade schools?  I've never thoughts of that.  I figured there would just always be grade school aged kids in the city.

The way kids/students work is that each residential house has 'kids'. When they enroll at ANY education building they become 'students'. Kids and Students have no age and they can attend any educational facility. If you want a high tech level then you should DEFINITELY demolish your grade schools and high schools. Attending universities and community colleges are a lot more beneficial for your population than attending grade schools and high schools. More educated populace will also allow you to make money off of recycling.

[aschroeger 0]

Excellent, thank you!

[perafilozof 143]

I forgot to mention, each of these cities I am having these issues in are either Oil or Coal/Ore spec'd.

 

Mines and oil pumps require only a few jobs. But a fully upgraded Smelter, now that thing needs hundreds if not a thousand workers.