Making small towns

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

Have you created a tiny town, limiting yourself to a certain population?  A fun one to achieve is to keep your population under 5000, the number needed to upgrade city hall the first time, without sandbox.  (It's okay to do it in a region with upgrades already available.)  Because you can't really grow, you have to content yourself with keeping the people happy and problem free.

 

I've been finding it to be a fun little challenge.  I draw a road out from the region entry and put my little township somewhere nice.  While you'll never build a resource empire, selling stuff on the global market can make some extra cash.

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

Here's an example:  "Cheese Junction".  I bulldozed the high density road and replaced it with simple low density.  It has a town hall and a school.  Sewage outflow is on the far side of the pic.  There is a school, helping offset any fire or health issues.  Population 162.  +143 simoleons coming in per hour.

 

Grow slowly from something like this, and you'll keep up with your expenses.  Act like an old council member who's grumpy about changing the town.

 

[SockoJr53 51]

Small towns are something I feel like we lost from Simcity 4. I used to make tons of small towns and villages with rolling farmland covering the spaces between my large cities. Perhaps if there was a farming DLC it would lend itself to small town making in SimCity 5. I feel like the way the game is designed now, we are almost forced to build wall-wall sky scrapers. My "small" towns are always around 50,000. Even if you wanted to build a small mining town, you still need tons of residential population to work the mines, thus turning your small town into a small city overnight.

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

Small towns are something I feel like we lost from Simcity 4. I used to make tons of small towns and villages with rolling farmland covering the spaces between my large cities. Perhaps if there was a farming DLC it would lend itself to small town making in SimCity 5. I feel like the way the game is designed now, we are almost forced to build wall-wall sky scrapers. My "small" towns are always around 50,000. Even if you wanted to build a small mining town, you still need tons of residential population to work the mines, thus turning your small town into a small city overnight.

 

I'm confused what kind of towns they expected us to make in this game.  Tiny towns?  Can't really do a whole lot.  Big cities?  Traffic's gonna kill you.  What the heck were they building during playtesting?

[MatlockMan 370]

Small towns are something I feel like we lost from Simcity 4. I used to make tons of small towns and villages with rolling farmland covering the spaces between my large cities. Perhaps if there was a farming DLC it would lend itself to small town making in SimCity 5. I feel like the way the game is designed now, we are almost forced to build wall-wall sky scrapers. My "small" towns are always around 50,000. Even if you wanted to build a small mining town, you still need tons of residential population to work the mines, thus turning your small town into a small city overnight.

Always loved the realistic farmlands between the urban centres in SC4. Yeah perhaps the next "expansion" after the future cities could be a farming pack. I don't see EA releasing such a thing without that much fanfare.

[SAGGG 47]

Here's an example:  "Cheese Junction".  I bulldozed the high density road and replaced it with simple low density.  It has a town hall and a school.  Sewage outflow is on the far side of the pic.  There is a school, helping offset any fire or health issues.  Population 162.  +143 simoleons coming in per hour.

 

Grow slowly from something like this, and you'll keep up with your expenses.  Act like an old council member who's grumpy about changing the town.

 

Very quaint. Where's your industry, or do your citizens go to other cities in your region?

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

 

Here's an example:  "Cheese Junction".  I bulldozed the high density road and replaced it with simple low density.  It has a town hall and a school.  Sewage outflow is on the far side of the pic.  There is a school, helping offset any fire or health issues.  Population 162.  +143 simoleons coming in per hour.

 

Grow slowly from something like this, and you'll keep up with your expenses.  Act like an old council member who's grumpy about changing the town.

 

Very quaint. Where's your industry, or do your citizens go to other cities in your region?

 

 

Those two buildings to the far side of the curve near the sewage outflow pipe.  You really don't need a lot of industry with such a small population.

[SAGGG 47]

 

 

Here's an example:  "Cheese Junction".  I bulldozed the high density road and replaced it with simple low density.  It has a town hall and a school.  Sewage outflow is on the far side of the pic.  There is a school, helping offset any fire or health issues.  Population 162.  +143 simoleons coming in per hour.

 

Grow slowly from something like this, and you'll keep up with your expenses.  Act like an old council member who's grumpy about changing the town.

 

Very quaint. Where's your industry, or do your citizens go to other cities in your region?

 

 

Those two buildings to the far side of the curve near the sewage outflow pipe.  You really don't need a lot of industry with such a small population.

 

Ah, I see. Thank you for the info.

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

 

 

Those two buildings to the far side of the curve near the sewage outflow pipe.  You really don't need a lot of industry with such a small population.

 

Ah, I see. Thank you for the info.

 

 

It's kind of like those towns where "Everyone works for X factory".

[specializedguy 193]

I'm confused what kind of towns they expected us to make in this game.  Tiny towns?  Can't really do a whole lot.  Big cities?  Traffic's gonna kill you.  What the heck were they building during playtesting?

 

SimCity is about making a city/region however you want it. If you want to have a tiny town, you can. If you want a big city, you can have it. To go even further, the dev blog has provided several types of cities that you can make with some nice screen shots. If you continue to have traffic problems, it is most likely due to poor road design or poor balance.

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

I tried to make a tiny town using the bare minimum of zoning.  I ended up with a population of 12 (budget in the red, of course), no tourists.

 

What was funny was I counted the actual tiny people and found 14 milling about my town - 10 at the wind power plant, three hanging around in front of the one store, and one guy on his porch. 

[Rokugatsu 126]

Creating this town took you like what, 15 min? And then what? 

I like building small towns but there is not much you can do in SC if you're building a village/small town... 

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

Creating this town took you like what, 15 min? And then what? 

I like building small towns but there is not much you can do in SC if you're building a village/small town... 

 

Well, it's the same with large, sprawling cities in these tiny little maps they give us.  You build to the edge - and then what?  I just gave myself more limitation, then shared the concept for anyone looking for a different challenge.  They really should be giving us more for making small towns, though.

[Gregg247 0]

I've been thinking about doing the same thing.  I may take a map in my region, place a single street for some industry, then across the map, have a little commercial and the rest will be all suburbs, using the wavy road tool.  Maybe I'll add the neighborhood I grew up in (but put back the woods that were bulldozed in real life when I was 12!).

[annekate 0]

You know, this is a great idea for a challenge! I might try to make a small population town that also uses a fair bit of the map... like one of those rural towns where your closest neighbor is half a mile away.

[eburress 267]

 

I'm confused what kind of towns they expected us to make in this game.  Tiny towns?  Can't really do a whole lot.  Big cities?  Traffic's gonna kill you.  What the heck were they building during playtesting?

 

SimCity is about making a city/region however you want it. If you want to have a tiny town, you can. If you want a big city, you can have it. To go even further, the dev blog has provided several types of cities that you can make with some nice screen shots. If you continue to have traffic problems, it is most likely due to poor road design or poor balance.

 

 

OK, I'll bite.  How exactly is it possible to make a big city in SimCity?  NYC, LA, Chicago, and Dallas (just to name a few) are all big cities, but I can't even begin to imagine how a person would create any of these cities in SimCity.  

 

It would be doable in CitiesXL...

[specializedguy 193]

 

 

I'm confused what kind of towns they expected us to make in this game.  Tiny towns?  Can't really do a whole lot.  Big cities?  Traffic's gonna kill you.  What the heck were they building during playtesting?

 

SimCity is about making a city/region however you want it. If you want to have a tiny town, you can. If you want a big city, you can have it. To go even further, the dev blog has provided several types of cities that you can make with some nice screen shots. If you continue to have traffic problems, it is most likely due to poor road design or poor balance.

 

OK, I'll bite.  How exactly is it possible to make a big city in SimCity?  NYC, LA, Chicago, and Dallas (just to name a few) are all big cities, but I can't even begin to imagine how a person would create any of these cities in SimCity.  

 

It would be doable in CitiesXL...

 

Every game has limitations. If you feel it can be done in Cities XL, and that's what you want to do, I'd suggest you play Cities XL. I thought I read on the ST home page its being sold for $1?

[eburress 267]

 

 

 

I'm confused what kind of towns they expected us to make in this game.  Tiny towns?  Can't really do a whole lot.  Big cities?  Traffic's gonna kill you.  What the heck were they building during playtesting?

 

SimCity is about making a city/region however you want it. If you want to have a tiny town, you can. If you want a big city, you can have it. To go even further, the dev blog has provided several types of cities that you can make with some nice screen shots. If you continue to have traffic problems, it is most likely due to poor road design or poor balance.

 

OK, I'll bite.  How exactly is it possible to make a big city in SimCity?  NYC, LA, Chicago, and Dallas (just to name a few) are all big cities, but I can't even begin to imagine how a person would create any of these cities in SimCity.  

 

It would be doable in CitiesXL...

 

Every game has limitations. If you feel it can be done in Cities XL, and that's what you want to do, I'd suggest you play Cities XL. I thought I read on the ST home page its being sold for $1?

 

 

I'm not honestly trying to be a jerk or anything.  It's just that your comment "SimCity is about making a city/region however you want it" is a sore subject for me, being that it is precisely what's wrong with the game...precisely what you can't do. 

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

Simmer down folks - small towns here.  Take comparisons about other games elsewhere.

[specializedguy 193]

 

 

 

 

I'm confused what kind of towns they expected us to make in this game.  Tiny towns?  Can't really do a whole lot.  Big cities?  Traffic's gonna kill you.  What the heck were they building during playtesting?

 

SimCity is about making a city/region however you want it. If you want to have a tiny town, you can. If you want a big city, you can have it. To go even further, the dev blog has provided several types of cities that you can make with some nice screen shots. If you continue to have traffic problems, it is most likely due to poor road design or poor balance.

 

OK, I'll bite.  How exactly is it possible to make a big city in SimCity?  NYC, LA, Chicago, and Dallas (just to name a few) are all big cities, but I can't even begin to imagine how a person would create any of these cities in SimCity.  

 

It would be doable in CitiesXL...

 

Every game has limitations. If you feel it can be done in Cities XL, and that's what you want to do, I'd suggest you play Cities XL. I thought I read on the ST home page its being sold for $1?

 

 

I'm not honestly trying to be a jerk or anything.  It's just that your comment "SimCity is about making a city/region however you want it" is a sore subject for me, being that it is precisely what's wrong with the game...precisely what you can't do. 

 

As mentioned, every game has limitations. 

[eburress 267]

Simmer down folks - small towns here.  Take comparisons about other games elsewhere.

Well ultimately, my point is that in this SimCity, all you can realistically do is make small towns, so this thread is very appropriate. 

[specializedguy 193]

 

Simmer down folks - small towns here.  Take comparisons about other games elsewhere.

Well ultimately, my point is that in this SimCity, all you can realistically do is make small towns, so this thread is very appropriate. 

 

Actually, all across of the web you'll see cities being made in the new SimCity. Look, if you don't like the game, don't participate in the discussions. It's that simple.

[Robotica 36]

First off, Cities XL would probably be my preferred city builder right now if it ran properly. Apparently the game was written originally in LUA and rather than being rebuilt in an appropriate development environment, they just continue to patch up the current engine... The problem though is that they are not able to fix the massive memory leeks, like ever, so it will never work properly. It's great for smaller type cities, but as soon as you get a decent sized city going you have to restart the game every 10 minutes or your system drops to like 5fps and it becomes unbearable. However, it is a great game, and basically has all the features that this game left out (large maps, realism, modding, offline mode, etc). But, in a lot of ways, I somewhat prefer the look of the new SC.

 

Now, about map sizes. It's true, you can't really build a big, immersive city in this current installment of SC. Which really sucks, because as we all know, once you make a handful of cities you have just about done everything there is to do in the game and there is no room left to build onto any of your existing cities. There are no real comsetic features apart from some parks and the trees along the road, so after you layout all your roads and have all your RCI developed the tile is finished and there is nothing left you can do. No fine tuning, cosmetic additions, or anything really... It's basically game over, and all your left with is a boring simulation of agents moving around on the screen... It really sucks because at that point all you have left to do is either stare aimlessly at the screen and watch the agents roam around, or start a new tile and build the same exact city all over again but only slightlty different... Or with a different "specialization" which is nothing more than a few different ploppables. So yea, the small regions and lack of deep customization really, REALLY put a major drag on this game...

 

But even still, I love it, and I love what this game COULD be. In a lot of ways SC4 is boring, as it's regions can be a bit too expansive and the building aspect becomes rather tedious (especially when building highways, (RHW I am looking at you)). Usually I will play SC5 for a while, make a region of identical cities and get bored with the lack of customization so I will then go start playing SC4. But, then in SC4 I spend a week building just a quarter of a region and I get tired or the tedious boring and rather sloppy nature of SC4. Not to mention the cities in SC5 do look drastically nicer, even if they are not realistic.

 

but yea, just my story

[eburress 267]

 

 

Simmer down folks - small towns here.  Take comparisons about other games elsewhere.

Well ultimately, my point is that in this SimCity, all you can realistically do is make small towns, so this thread is very appropriate. 

 

Actually, all across of the web you'll see cities being made in the new SimCity. Look, if you don't like the game, don't participate in the discussions. It's that simple.

 

 

1. I don't have to like the game to get to participate in discussions.  Sorry, but may have to read opinions that don't happen to coincide with yours.

    

2. When I look all across the web, I definitely do not see big cities being made in the new SimCity.  People might be able to create a portion of a big city, but it's simply not possible to create a realistic looking big city. 

 

Back to the point of this thread, I think this SimCity does a very good job of enabling players to create realistic-looking towns/small cities (depending on how you distinguish the two).  

[eburress 267]

First off, Cities XL would probably be my preferred city builder right now if it ran properly. Apparently the game was written originally in LUA and rather than being rebuilt in an appropriate development environment, they just continue to patch up the current engine... The problem though is that they are not able to fix the massive memory leeks, like ever, so it will never work properly. It's great for smaller type cities, but as soon as you get a decent sized city going you have to restart the game every 10 minutes or your system drops to like 5fps and it becomes unbearable. However, it is a great game, and basically has all the features that this game left out (large maps, realism, modding, offline mode, etc). But, in a lot of ways, I somewhat prefer the look of the new SC.

 

Now, about map sizes. It's true, you can't really build a big, immersive city in this current installment of SC. Which really sucks, because as we all know, once you make a handful of cities you have just about done everything there is to do in the game and there is no room left to build onto any of your existing cities. There are no real comsetic features apart from some parks and the trees along the road, so after you layout all your roads and have all your RCI developed the tile is finished and there is nothing left you can do. No fine tuning, cosmetic additions, or anything really... It's basically game over, and all your left with is a boring simulation of agents moving around on the screen... It really sucks because at that point all you have left to do is either stare aimlessly at the screen and watch the agents roam around, or start a new tile and build the same exact city all over again but only slightlty different... Or with a different "specialization" which is nothing more than a few different ploppables. So yea, the small regions and lack of deep customization really, REALLY put a major drag on this game...

 

But even still, I love it, and I love what this game COULD be. In a lot of ways SC4 is boring, as it's regions can be a bit too expansive and the building aspect becomes rather tedious (especially when building highways, (RHW I am looking at you)). Usually I will play SC5 for a while, make a region of identical cities and get bored with the lack of customization so I will then go start playing SC4. But, then in SC4 I spend a week building just a quarter of a region and I get tired or the tedious boring and rather sloppy nature of SC4. Not to mention the cities in SC5 do look drastically nicer, even if they are not realistic.

 

but yea, just my story

 

I think that's a good and fair assessment of the games.  I genuinely feel like this SimCity is superior to SC4 in most ways...except for some of the most important ones (being able to create realistic-looking cities).  It's a real shame too, but if they ever do figure out how to increase the tile size or position the city tiles side-by-side, then maybe they will really have something.  

[specializedguy 193]

 

 

 

Simmer down folks - small towns here.  Take comparisons about other games elsewhere.

Well ultimately, my point is that in this SimCity, all you can realistically do is make small towns, so this thread is very appropriate. 

 

Actually, all across of the web you'll see cities being made in the new SimCity. Look, if you don't like the game, don't participate in the discussions. It's that simple.

 

 

1. I don't have to like the game to get to participate in discussions.  Sorry, but may have to read opinions that don't happen to coincide with yours.

    

2. When I look all across the web, I definitely do not see big cities being made in the new SimCity.  People might be able to create a portion of a big city, but it's simply not possible to create a realistic looking big city. 

Back to the point of this thread, I think this SimCity does a very good job of enabling players to create realistic-looking towns/small cities (depending on how you distinguish the two).  

 

 

I didn't say stay out the forums, I said if you don't like the discussion, you don't have to participate. That truth remains. Also, I don't have a problem reading different opinions. If you haven't found big cities being made in the new SimCity, then either you haven't looked, or your opinion of a big city is different. I see them all over. If I want to make a realistic looking city, I wouldn't use a game to do so. Why? Because's its a game. If you think you can do that in SimCity 4, or Cities XL, great - I'd suggest playing them. I just see a lot of non-valuable negativity coming from you about the new SimCity. 

[specializedguy 193]

 

First off, Cities XL would probably be my preferred city builder right now if it ran properly. Apparently the game was written originally in LUA and rather than being rebuilt in an appropriate development environment, they just continue to patch up the current engine... The problem though is that they are not able to fix the massive memory leeks, like ever, so it will never work properly. It's great for smaller type cities, but as soon as you get a decent sized city going you have to restart the game every 10 minutes or your system drops to like 5fps and it becomes unbearable. However, it is a great game, and basically has all the features that this game left out (large maps, realism, modding, offline mode, etc). But, in a lot of ways, I somewhat prefer the look of the new SC.

 

Now, about map sizes. It's true, you can't really build a big, immersive city in this current installment of SC. Which really sucks, because as we all know, once you make a handful of cities you have just about done everything there is to do in the game and there is no room left to build onto any of your existing cities. There are no real comsetic features apart from some parks and the trees along the road, so after you layout all your roads and have all your RCI developed the tile is finished and there is nothing left you can do. No fine tuning, cosmetic additions, or anything really... It's basically game over, and all your left with is a boring simulation of agents moving around on the screen... It really sucks because at that point all you have left to do is either stare aimlessly at the screen and watch the agents roam around, or start a new tile and build the same exact city all over again but only slightlty different... Or with a different "specialization" which is nothing more than a few different ploppables. So yea, the small regions and lack of deep customization really, REALLY put a major drag on this game...

 

But even still, I love it, and I love what this game COULD be. In a lot of ways SC4 is boring, as it's regions can be a bit too expansive and the building aspect becomes rather tedious (especially when building highways, (RHW I am looking at you)). Usually I will play SC5 for a while, make a region of identical cities and get bored with the lack of customization so I will then go start playing SC4. But, then in SC4 I spend a week building just a quarter of a region and I get tired or the tedious boring and rather sloppy nature of SC4. Not to mention the cities in SC5 do look drastically nicer, even if they are not realistic.

 

but yea, just my story

 

...if they ever do figure out how to increase the tile size or position the city tiles side-by-side, then maybe they will really have something.  

 

On one of the new maps, the preview appeared to have tiles close to each other.

[Robotica 36]

 

 

 

 

Simmer down folks - small towns here.  Take comparisons about other games elsewhere.

Well ultimately, my point is that in this SimCity, all you can realistically do is make small towns, so this thread is very appropriate. 

 

Actually, all across of the web you'll see cities being made in the new SimCity. Look, if you don't like the game, don't participate in the discussions. It's that simple.

 

 

1. I don't have to like the game to get to participate in discussions.  Sorry, but may have to read opinions that don't happen to coincide with yours.

    

2. When I look all across the web, I definitely do not see big cities being made in the new SimCity.  People might be able to create a portion of a big city, but it's simply not possible to create a realistic looking big city. 

Back to the point of this thread, I think this SimCity does a very good job of enabling players to create realistic-looking towns/small cities (depending on how you distinguish the two).  

 

 

I didn't say stay out the forums, I said if you don't like the discussion, you don't have to participate. That truth remains. Also, I don't have a problem reading different opinions. If you haven't found big cities being made in the new SimCity, then either you haven't looked, or your opinion of a big city is different. I see them all over. If I want to make a realistic looking city, I wouldn't use a game to do so. Why? Because's its a game. If you think you can do that in SimCity 4, or Cities XL, great - I'd suggest playing them. I just see a lot of non-valuable negativity coming from you about the new SimCity. 

 

I was going through some old posts and came across this. What a load of bs... I love how you say if you looked and you cant find it then you obviously didnt look hard enough, but at the same time you don't bother to even link a single one to prove your point. I mean it should be soooo easy right, because there are soooo many of them alllll over the web like you say. I mean just look guys, people are making massive realistic cities with the new sc and if you don't believe it or you can't find it then oh thats because your so stupid and don't know anything... Your pathetic, absolutely fucking pathetic and you really should learn to not only stop lying and being delusional but how to also prove something when you want to tell someone they are wrong. Merely saying something does not make it so, you must prove your slanders to have any merit at all. And, at this point you have done nothing but state things which are obviously, OBVIOUSLY false for the current state of the game.

 

And, if you think you can not make realistic cities with SC4 or Cities XL YOU should go search because THOSE actually return THOUSANDS of projects that have been built by players all over the world. God I hate people like you, who are delusional and try to push your ignorance on others. Oh, and here are some links to prove my point. Actually I am not even going to bother searching, instead I will just post links to the various city journal forum categories on here and if you look at any of them you will see exactly what I am talking about:

 

Cities XL: https://community.simtropolis.com/forum/62-cxl-city-journals/

SC4: https://community.simtropolis.com/forum/11-sc4-city-journals/

 

And just so other players reading this can really understand how stupid you are, here is a link to the SC13 city journals. Notice how not only do all the cities look the exact same, but they are all laughably small and do not even remotely deserve the adjective of large.

 

SC13: https://community.simtropolis.com/forum/193-simcity-2013-city-journals/

[eburress 267]

The name calling and insults are not constructive and would undermine the points you're trying to make, but in spite of you do make some very good points.  If you look at the SC4 and Cities XL journals, the cities look like actual cities.  Some of the screenshots even look they could be photographs of a real-world city.  None of the aerial views of any of the SC2013 cities looks even remotely like an actual city, which is a thoroughly damning problem, when the entire point of your game is to make cities.  It's like a basketball game without a basketball or a bar that doesn't serve drinks.  

 

Regarding the negativity you perceive, JGellock, the fact that my perception of this game is largely negative doesn't diminish the "value" of my opinions.  I don't have to drink the SC2013 cool-aid in order to get to express my opinions or for those opinions to be considered valuable.