City Problems- Help!

[Tom88876 0]

Hey guys

I'm new to Simcity 4 but I already think it's a fantastic game.

So a few days ago i Started my first big City

 

However I'm having some small problems getting commercial skyscrapers to appear. My city size is about 60,00 and I have a very good Health, education sytsem and high land value. I also have a large Residential neigbouring City with population of about 75,000 (but i have a high rate of unemployment).  However I still have low demand for Co£££ and Cs£££ in my Main city.

oh yeah i also have a fair bit of High tech and not much Dirty/Manufac

 

Any ideas and i'd be grateful  

 

P.S you can ask for some my info about my city if you want 

 

 

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

We need to have a level playing field here.  Is your game loaded from CD or downloaded?  There are up to four possibilities for CD loaded games.

 

But anyway, you don't have enough population for commercial skyscrapers.  You need about 20,000 more Sims.  And your education level needs to be above 120, you need to have a pollution free area for them, and many other criteria.  Check your desirability display.

 

Good luck in your endeavours.  Read around in the pinned threads and the Omnibus for tips and tutorials.

[Bdub01 201]

NAM, NAM, NAM. that's for starters. I know you want tall skyscrapers STAT!!! But it takes time and patients. I didn't get my first skyscraper to grow for the first 4-5 months I played. If Mr. Moose didn't say it yet play on turtle mode to enjoy the game more. Slowly build up your city and the towering towers will grow!

[Tom88876 0]

Thanks guys for the advice. Oh yeah i meant my city population was 60,000 not 6000

[Tom88876 0]

Oh yeah I alo have another big problem  My RCI Demand for Residential and Commercial is very negative but I just don't know why. The only positive rci is Dirty and Manufacturing Ind which I don't really want. So at the moment nothing is growing in my city. This will be one of the main reasons I'm not getting skyscrapers.

 

If i could just get demand for Residential and commercial up.....

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

You have probably zoned too much.  How much of your city contains unbuilt zones?

 

Might be a good idea to start a neighbour city, connect it with an avenue or a highway, and see what happens.  Grow slowly outwards, then  up (by increasing zone density) later.

 

Here is my current region (a little out of date).  All of it is profitable, and growing.

 

[Bdub01 201]

Oh yeah I alo have another big problem My RCI Demand for Residential and Commercial is very negative but I just don't know why. The only positive rci is Dirty and Manufacturing Ind which I don't really want. So at the moment nothing is growing in my city. This will be one of the main reasons I'm not getting skyscrapers.

If i could just get demand for Residential and commercial up.....

I would suggest building a city that just has DI and MI. There are great manufacturing building on the STEX that hold 2k+ employees. Building a city like that alone will help R and C demand which of course helps the whole region.

Even at 60k it's not easy to get many skyscrapers. As others have said in other threads build out before trying to build up. When you do build up only zone a small block or two of high density commercial, make sure you have plazas, water, and police near there as well.

[Tom88876 0]

Oh yeah I've connected to a large neighbour city (pop:75000) and lots of the population comes to my city for work via freeway or Subway

[Tom88876 0]

Here's a picture of my city and my RCI  Demand anyway

 

 

well that didn't come out right....

oops

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

Pictures need to be uploaded to an image hosting website, and then you copy and paste the link into the "Insert Image" box.  You can also click the "Edit" button to add to a previous post to avoid double-posting.

 

But anyway, the best cap-relievers for commercial skyscrapers are things like landmarks and airports.

[Cyclone Boom 16,854]

With city development, time is the critical factor. Beforehand you'll notice apartments and small office blocks. Skyscrapers won't show up until demand caps are met. These prevent higher staged buildings from growing until you have a certain RCI population. Building and connecting adjacent cities can help speed up this process.

Once the requirements are met, a good idea is to zone areas of high density 4x4. This is done by holding the CTRL key when zoning. Most stage 7&8 skyscrapers are this size. So by doing this, it'll provide the suitable areas to encourage development. Doing this in areas of high desirability / land value will further promote growth. Be sure to connect these areas to an avenue in your city's central district.

[Tom88876 0]

 Oh yeah thanks for the pic advice

Here is the Picture of my city and RCI Demand (and this time the pictures actually there)

Any body tell me why ive got such low residential demand?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The demand graph is asking for more jobs.  Seems you have enough Sims.  Do you have any neighbour connections?

[Bdub01 201]

I wouldn't zone anymore R for now. Seems like there is too much as is. Then like a said before I'd start an industrial city to generate more jobs. As demand for I starts to fall demand for C and R will grow. Anyway that's my two simoleans worth.

[Tom88876 0]

thanks for the advice guys

[.anonyman 28]

One more important thing, when you've sorted out the demand issues and are actually ready for skyscrapers to grow, is Bdub's advice:

 

 

 When you do build up only zone a small block or two of high density commercial

 

 

Don't overlook this point. You have to choose a place for a skyscraper and force all the Co. demand into one building at a time.

 

Good luck and have fun.

[simcity1999 34]

First, what that effects commercial demand is not residential population, but the number of commercial jobs and industrial jobs (yes, they are related to each other). Second, your city doesn't need a skyscraper yet (the city where I (in real life) live has 1.7 million citizens, and there are no hi-rise offices. Even the tallest building is only 27 storeys and it is a hotel/apartment and not an office building). Third, make sure the city has big roads/avenues (4 lanes at least) and public transport system other than bus (commuter railway, rapid transit, monorail, ferry, etc). Finally, when commercial demand starts to appear, don't forget to zone hi-density commercial zones.

[Bdub01 201]

^ That is true! The city I live in Harlingen, TX has a pop of 64000 and no high rises either. In my downtown areas I have avenues with one way streets on either side of the avenue so I never have probs with traffic in my downtowns.

I could be wrong but I would think more industry creates products that raise demand for CS and them eventually for CO. R just raises demand for jobs and visa versa.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

On your high-density C blocks, also be sure to create very congested traffic conditions.  This is a determiner for high customers.

[Ltw 401]

I could be wrong but I would think more industry creates products that raise demand for CS and them eventually for CO. R just raises demand for jobs and visa versa.

 

The products that your industry creates are always going to the border of the city, after that the freight trucks/trains disappear. It would be more realistic if there was a stronger correlation between commercial zones and industrial zones but sadly that isn't the case. Industry always provide goods for the 'outside world', even though there might be a large market in the city itself.

 

It is quite easy to build a city without any industry. You will need industry in the beginning but after a while you don't really need industry to make a big city with jobs and residents. It might be possible that there is a correlation between industry and commercial demand but that isn't noticeable if you're building slowly (resulting a higher demand). Negative desirability effects of dirty industry are very noticeable, so if you're building commercial zones close to industrial zones the development in this area will stop/slow down, even though the demand is extremely high. In a lot of cases low wealth industry will cause commercial stagnation instead of growth because of the negative effects on the desirability and pollution, even though it might have a positive effect on commercial services. If the zones are more separated the negative effects are minimal.

 

I-HT is mainly for high wealth citizens, the effects are quite similar to the effects of commercial offices. I can imagine that there would be a stronger positive correlation between those two types of businesses. 

[Metalpuritan 160]

Looking at the picture he has posted here it appears all the conditions have been met to begin building skyscrapers.  MY suggestion is to destroy some of your medium and high wealth low density commercial areas and re--zone them as high density in another location, a location that is heavy with traffic congestion, but with good traffic access.  Take out your low density high and medium wealth commercial zones section by section and move them to a high density area, when you destroy your low density stuff, you will create demand for it again.  Consolidation.  That is what I would do if I was hard up for skyscrapers.  You obviously have the proper conditions already, that much is clear.

 

So:

 

Step one:  Bulldoze sections of your low density CO$$ and CO$$$.  This creates positive demand for CO$$ and CO$$$.  Do not destroy too much, you will cause your Sims to not have jobs.  So just destroy just enough to create positive demand.

 

Step two:  Now that you have some positive demand, pick an area on your map that has heavy traffic but easy access to traffic infrastructure(highways, subway, monorail, etc.)

 

Step three:  Zone 1 single 4X4 zone on a very busy street/avenue.  You can do this manually by holding down the 'CTRL' key while zoning.  Make sure to leave some space around this zone somewhere close by to put some parks or some plazas.

 

Step four:  Because you destroyed some buildings earlier and created some demand by doing so, something should grow here.  It is likely not yet a skyscraper though. To keep the property value up in this area, place a park or two just to see what happens, to see if the building changes.

 

Step five:  Bulldoze some more low density CO$$ or CO$$$ to create some more demand.

 

Step six:  Return to the high density zone you created earlier and place a new park or plaza or two and see if it grows even bigger.

 

Continue this process until this 4X4 zone becomes a sky scraper.  You may have to destroy your parks and replace them, the good effect they have is only temporary, so you may actually have to bulldoze and replace your parks and plazas many times during this process.

 

You have met the conditions in your city to begin growing skyscrapers.  75k in one city and 60k+ in this current city tile, yeah, you qualify for skyscrapers.  You just need to create the ideal location for them to grow now.  basically you have gotten to the point where the brainless zone and grow strategy no longer works for you and you need to use advanced techniques to make the city grow the way you want it to grow.  You need to step up your game now, well, if you want to achieve your goals anyway.

 

While you are at it, check out this tutorial(shameless self plug). 

[Cob92 360]

Looking at your city, I see you have a very spread out business district. You really need to limit dense development to just a few blocks in your city center; anything else will dilute demand and create a forest of mid-rise office blocks. As for your resident situation, you need more industry. Doesn't have to be in your main city, but you need it somewhere in the region.

[simcity1999 34]

And don't forget too (industrial revolution mod).