Counterintuitive Tips

[TuxedoKamen 1]

I've been playing Simcity 2013 now for a while and have noticed some 'odd' things with the approach you need to take to 'succeed' in the game.

 

By 'Succeed' I mean: A good propserous city as normal real life humans would judge.

 

 

Income

To begin with your only source of income is from taxes.

No ability to charge for services or make monetary investments that yield a return.

 

Tip: You need to mass produce housing/people to get as much tax income as you can quickly so you can move on to specialization (the real source of income).

 

 

Go Big Soon

You need to get a sizeable population early on.  The more the better.

High population unlocks the ability to have city hall modules, and progress in which buildings can be plopped.

This is unrealistic, as we should be allowed to plop what we want to plop regardless of the population. 

 

Tip: Get as many people as you can so you can unlock what you need, then kill them off!

 

 

Need to Specialize

I can understand 'Tourism' as a source of income.  But it is unrealistic to derive income from processor/computer manufacturing or shipping out ore/oil/etc.  Yet this will be the main source of income after a certain point.

 

Tip: Specialize as soon as possible to establish a better source of income.  (I usually go: Trade Depot (import alloy, import plastic, export processor), and Processor Factory).

 

 

Killing People is Good

If your population grows you can easily destroy buildings quickly to reduce population.  You can also dezone to prevent buildings from popping up again.  People do not complain and this can increase happyness.

100 people complain no jobs, kill 100 people, no one complains, happyness go goes up, traffic problems go down, garbage/sewage use goes down.  Win win!

 

Tip: Kill em.. kill em all.. kill em without care!

 

 

 

Illogical Housing/Commercial/Industry Construction

People will move into a city and then complain there is no job.... They should not move there to begin with.

Commercial businesses will appear and then complain there is no one to shop from them... They should not open their store if there is no demand for them.

Factories will open up and then complain there are no workers... They should not open a factory if there are not enough people to work there.

 

What should happen is first the demand (shoppers, workers, jobs) THEN the respective people/buildings appear.  So this is happening backwards.

 

Tip: Ignore it.  No real drawbacks from their complaints.

 

 

Incorrect Population Figures

The values shown are wrong.. It is 'fudged' for people who suffer from 'big number syndrome'.

 

Tip: Ignore the population, or use the patch to give you unfudged values.  Going with the unfudged values will make things VERY more logical and easier to manage.

 

 

Invalid RCI Suggestions

The suggestions from advisors is wrong.

 

Tip: Ignore them.  The 'demand' figure is not something you have to meet and do.  It just means how 'popular' something is.  No action is needed on your part.

 

 

Low Tax And All Is Forgiven

The tax rate and happyness rate are directly related.  The lower the tax, the happyer they are.  Regardless if the world is falling apart around them.

 

Tip: Lower tax to draw in more people.  Drop tax to 0% when you have alternative source of income.

 

 

Therefore, my short consolidation of tips (that are counterintuitive):

• Create a large population early on to unlock things, then kill them off.
• Create a trade depot and processor factory, then start importing alloy/plastic and export processors as soon as possible for good revenue
• Ignore all suggestions and pop-ups everywhere, they are wrong or will lead you on the wrong track.
• Run a 'small' city (less than 10k unfudged) for best results

 

 

Following this, I was able to setup a computer processing chain on 25% of my city, 50% is housing (wide blocks).  Generating something like 10M/month and have 80M in the bank.  All within one day.  (Yes, the game is unrealistic).

 

 

[Zpike 79]

No need to create a large population in a city you want to keep small to get the city hall plops.  You are not using regional play to advantage, you just need one large city in a region to have everything for your smaller cities.

 

The game is not supposed to be realistic... It's a game.

[perafilozof 143]

People aren't killed, it's not a FPS. People are forcefully moved out.

 

I don't see your need for millions upon millions of simoleons, you can build a big, profitable and working city with 10k /h profit or the equivalent of that in exports. Population, shopping and jobs are balanced out by having more then one city in the region.

 

You have to first play the game as it was made to be played before you start looking for alternative ways.

[16minuteman 57]

Hi where can I get the patch for simcity 2013 to change the fudged population values please and thanks

 

[AlexMBrennan 11]

Actually, you don't need a large population at the start - just enough to unlock a city hall; then take out three bonds and invest everything in mining/oil. That way you won't need police/medical/fire services before you start raking in tons of cash