Help! I have too much High Tech demand!

[boddole 1]

I've got my little region running smoothly, every zone is operating according to plan, and every zone is making money. But a problem has developed....I can only seem to get my educated sims to demand IHT, while CO $$ and $$$ demand remain negative in every zone. More details below:

 

Region: Fairview

Pop: about 450k

Land Usage: about 50%

I've tried moving CO jobs closer to residents, no change.

In certain zones, I also have the Stock Market and Convention Center awards among other, still negative demand.

 

On the surface, it would seem that I should just continue to "build out", making more and more industrial zones to satisfy this demand. My problem with it though is that IHT is not a very dense industry in terms of jobs (maybe 100-200 tops per building, while CO can offer thousands of jobs per building), eventually, I'll end up in the same position, with my land maxed out and still a demand for IHT. Is there a way to "convert" all this IHT to CO demand? I was under the impression that the requirements for sims to demand these job types was "education". So if they are demanding IHT, would they not also demand CO (either $$ or $$$)? 

 

Any ideas?

[Cyclone Boom 16,852]

First of, if you haven't already, check you've installed the EP1 update by hovering your mouse over your SimCity 4.exe file (located in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps"). This patch fixes numerous bugs present in the original game. If the number reads less than 1.1.638.0, download it from here. Once installed, make sure the same exe file has the new version number.
 
Then I suggest you install the As the name goes, this fixes a bug where R$$$ Sims cannot be employed in high-tech industry. Although it's a bit complex, you may want to follow the instructions to install it correctly.

 

Please let us know if it helps.

[nhgriffith 179]

Also, if you're just generally interested in zoning a higher ratio of commercial to industrial, then you could get an industry double/tripler/quadrupler mod.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

One thing at a time, please.  Sit tight on the industry multiplier.  This doesn't seem to be what you need.

[infamousjbe 592]

Surprised no one has mentioned that it could possibly be a CO cap that needs to be released to allow further demand growth in that employment field.  Make sure you place plenty of plazas around your CO areas. Might be time for an airport to be placed down if you don't have one already in your CO area.

 

Of course this would be after checking that the game is indeed patched up correctly.

[boddole 1]

Surprised no one has mentioned that it could possibly be a CO cap that needs to be released to allow further demand growth in that employment field.  Make sure you place plenty of plazas around your CO areas. Might be time for an airport to be placed down if you don't have one already in your CO area.

 

Of course this would be after checking that the game is indeed patched up correctly.

A few more details:

-My game is fully patched and running the most recent version of NAM

-A few of my CO cities have the Stock Market, Convention Center, and a Airport, no change. I've also tried covering the map in plazas, no change.

-All areas show high desirability for CO

 

Also, if I did hit a cap, wouldn't the demand be 0, not negative thousands? (Think I read that in a few places).

[nhgriffith 179]

I thought if you were capped, you'd still have positive demand, it just wouldn't grow.

[jason leo 485]

Good desirability, fully patched game, has used a lot of buildings that increased the demand and possibility of getting a CO with no avail. What about the tax?

Remember, even though you have all of the ideal conditions to make a large commercial area full of skyscrapers, without low tax, all of that is nothing more than just your hope. Usually, I myself taxed my CO-$$ 8.0% and CO-$$$ 7.0-7.5% to encourage them to start in my cities. If you tax any type of RCI more than 9.0%, they will be discouraged to grow in your city, or in another word, you will reduce the demand significantly in a very short time. Have you check your tax system?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

That, and think about any large commercial buildings you may have plopped.  One with a large number of jobs will cause the demand to drop though the floor.

[boddole 1]

Good desirability, fully patched game, has used a lot of buildings that increased the demand and possibility of getting a CO with no avail. What about the tax?

Remember, even though you have all of the ideal conditions to make a large commercial area full of skyscrapers, without low tax, all of that is nothing more than just your hope. Usually, I myself taxed my CO-$$ 8.0% and CO-$$$ 7.0-7.5% to encourage them to start in my cities. If you tax any type of RCI more than 9.0%, they will be discouraged to grow in your city, or in another word, you will reduce the demand significantly in a very short time. Have you check your tax system?

-The taxes for CO in every zone that I want them to be in is 9% (basically either the tax rate in a zone is 9 or 20, depending on what I want there)

 

-Really, what I'm trying to understand is why educated sims seem to only demand IHT and not CO. When I run the simulation, IHT always goes up (now its at 6000+), while CO just sits in the negative (-2500ish). 

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Other people might be able to help you figure out the problem better than I can, but if you're looking for high capacity I-HT buildings I've made a few that are on the STEX. 

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If your desirability for CO$$$ is OK, try zoning a few 4 x 4 high-density C and don't add any IHT.  The conditions for both of these is the same.  Perhaps you are just not being patient enough.  Drop the tax rate to 7% on CO$$$ and run for about a Sim-year.

 

I generally don't have demand for IHT as high as you describe.  Generally I step my taxes down as my margins permit usually in  0.5% decrements.  If you want to turn off any category, up the taxes to around 12% or more to drive them away.  The income harvest is always good in these situations.

 

If you have much low and medium density C, try just upping the density on these lots.

[Cob92 360]

You should just download some higher capacity HT buildings. What you'll find is that growth in high tech industry is part of what drives demand for commercial offices, so you need it somewhere in your region.

[His Divine Hand 244]

 

-Really, what I'm trying to understand is why educated sims seem to only demand IHT and not CO. When I run the simulation, IHT always goes up (now its at 6000+), while CO just sits in the negative (-2500ish). 

 

This is because the demand drive for CO$$$ is sims with an eq of something like 120-160 and proportional to R$$$ population.  The demand drive of IHT is sims with an eq of 120-160, and that is it.  So if you have a large population of sims who are highly educated you get a large IHT population.  Unfortunately CO$$$ is a bit more tricky since you need a large population of highly educated R$$$. . .

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

But be a little careful of that.  Remember, as jobs go the rule is also "the higher the fewer".  You will find that a CO$$$ will employ only a few R$$$.  To find out the job profile of a building you need the Extra Cheats dll.  To get the building profile (debug view) open the query operator (/) then holding down the CTRL+ALT+SHIFT keys move the cursor over the building.  Voila, building profile.

 

It is unwise to have more than about 15% of population at R$$$ level.

[boddole 1]

 

 

-Really, what I'm trying to understand is why educated sims seem to only demand IHT and not CO. When I run the simulation, IHT always goes up (now its at 6000+), while CO just sits in the negative (-2500ish). 

 

This is because the demand drive for CO$$$ is sims with an eq of something like 120-160 and proportional to R$$$ population.  The demand drive of IHT is sims with an eq of 120-160, and that is it.  So if you have a large population of sims who are highly educated you get a large IHT population.  Unfortunately CO$$$ is a bit more tricky since you need a large population of highly educated R$$$. . .

 

So by extension, CO$$ demand would be driven by a fractional population of R$$ with 120-160 EQ (or lower?). And also that CO demand is always going to be a fractional derivative of industrial jobs (in that in order to bump the population up, more industrial jobs are needed, then the inflow of new residents will drive up CO)? And that it will never be the other way around (CO demand driving industrial demand)?

[His Divine Hand 244]

So by extension, CO$$ demand would be driven by a fractional population of R$$ with 120-160 EQ (or lower?). And also that CO demand is always going to be a fractional derivative of industrial jobs (in that in order to bump the population up, more industrial jobs are needed, then the inflow of new residents will drive up CO)? And that it will never be the other way around (CO demand driving industrial demand)?

 

 

The eq requirement for CO$$ should be the same as I-M.  But if it is exactly like I-M, that means that if your sims are educated enough to increase I-ht demand, than you will not get CO$$.  I unfortunately cannot remember exactly how the eq requirement works in regards to CO demand (especially the potentially more temperamental CO$$ demand).

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Y'know, fellas, I don't sweat all this.  I just play and let the chips fall where they may.

[boddole 1]

Few updates on some things I've tried:

-Took a educated city and took their EQ down, no change (CO demand would sometimes get slightly better, but only briefly)

 

-Took a uneducated city and moved their EQ up, lead to a noticeable growth in CO (from 90-120 EQ and a HUGE spike in CS$ (not surprising, though I am a little confused as to why CS$ would spike so much)

 

-Added another I-HT city, and as soon as I un-paused the game (I was zoning), demand for CS and CO shot way up (although CO$$$ changed much more than CO$$, suggesting that CO$$$ is tied to IHT and CO$$ is tied to I-M).

So:

Is there any known mechanic that for a given city wide EQ level, a certain % of each R wealth level will create a demand for certain jobs?

Ex. for every 10 R @ EQ 40, 5 CS demand (split along R wealth levels), 5 I-D demand?

Ex. for every 10R @ EQ 120, 4 CS demand (split along R wealth levels), 2 CO demand (split along wealth levels), and 4 I-HT demand?

And/or a similar demand mechanic created by job types?

 

My point would be that at a certain EQ level, demand generated by EQ seems set, and nothing (without changing taxes (which is only effective when using other regions) or adding jobs outside of that region)) will change it. Of course, building up the city population is one way to get around that, but I inevitably end up with fully serviced cities with high desirability and room to expand with negative R demand until I add Industrial job Cities, which was the entire problem in the first place.