Need more knowledge: GROW STAGES

[Fantozzi 4,067]

In general:

Want to get a better understanding of grow stages. How to use it to get a balanced game (to avoid: some residentials grow a hundred times, some never show up).

In detail:

I think grow stages and occupant size (capacity satisfied) is related - but how exactly? What are the proportions, settings?

How do Vanilla and CAM differ on stage 1 to 6 exactly?

Does lot size matters regarding grow stage? Does wealth matters regarding grow stage.

I appreciate if you can point out some readings, hints, thoughts etc.

Thank you.

 

EDIT:

Can I make my own CAMelots by simply editing growth stage - or are there other entries to change, if I do so?

[Fantozzi 4,067]

(Sorry for double post, but ...)

I found these two helpfull overviews:

Vanilla:

http://www.wiki.sc4devotion.com/index.php?title=Tutorial:Stage_Limits_and_Threshholds

CAM:

https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=3578.0

New question - the CAM data dates from 2008. Are they still valid for latest CAM?

[vortext 573]

3 hours ago, Fantozzi said:

Does lot size matters regarding grow stage?

Yes. In fact lot size is the determining factor for growth stage because it's a function of occupancy divided by lot size, i.e. density per tile. For example a R$ building with an occupancy of 50 on a 1x1 lot size will be growth stage 6, as the density is 50 sims per tile. The same building on a 5x5 lot will be growth stage 1, as it has a density of 2 sims per tile.

 

3 hours ago, Fantozzi said:

Can I make my own CAMelots by simply editing growth stage - or are there other entries to change, if I do so?

Given the above it follows only changing the growth stage without considering occupancy and lot size is bad practice. The result will either be the lot growing like weeds, or hardly ever growing at all because the growth stage no longer properly matches density. Haphazardly changing the growth stage is one of the biggest contributors to an unbalanced game.

To make properly balanced lots use the SC4PIM instead, especially because it's been expressly developed for CAMelots. And imho it's better than Maxis PIM & LE anyway.

 

3 hours ago, Fantozzi said:

New question - the CAM data dates from 2008. Are they still valid for latest CAM?

  iirc, the default option in CAMv2 corresponds to the CAMv1. However, stage limits & thresholds have no relation to density, i.e. lot growth stages. It only affects the rate at which lots grow.

 

 

[zahrul3 471]

If you want to make a CAMelot, lotting using the PIM-X will result in you getting the most appropriate growth stage for whatever you're trying to make a CAMelot of.

Quote

Does lot size matters regarding grow stage?

Yes it does, as growth stage is a function of density.

[Fantozzi 4,067]

@vortext precisely the information I was seeking. Thank you so much for your help. With the help of your hints I found this table by RippleJet (for the CAM)- that makes it quite easy.

And yes, PIM-X makes many things very comfy. But sometimes I'm not satisfied with the ratio between the visual aspect of the building and the occupant size. For realism I don' t like it if a 3 story building has more residents than a 10 story building. I have many buildings - in my opinion they should appear earlier in the game (others later) and I changed grow stage and nothing happend. Now I understood I have to lower the occupancy accordingly. Only for this few cases I'd like to adjust the values manually.

Again: thanks for the help.

 

[vortext 573]

34 minutes ago, Fantozzi said:

But sometimes I'm not satisfied with the ratio between the visual aspect of the building and the occupant size. For realism I don' t like it if a 3 story building has more residents than a 10 story building.

Ha yes that's where the filling degree might come into play.

Occupancy is calculated from the dimensions of the LOD, represented in SC4PIM by the yellow box you see around the actual model. However, sometimes the LOD is way too big for the actual model and it will result in way too large occupancy.  So in your example the 3 story building probably has a large LOD and the default filling degree of 0.5 is already too high.

Or to take another common occurrence, say you have two identical models: one orthogonal and one diagonal. Because of the orientation the diagonal model will have a larger LOD, and consequently a higher occupancy. This makes no sense because the actual model is the same as the orthogonal counterpart. The solution is to lower the filling degree until the occupancy of the diagonal matches that of the orthogonal.

You can find more examples of how to properly use the filling degree in the SC4PIM manual.

[Fantozzi 4,067]

Aaaahhhh ... that's the culpit! And me ... I was always wondering - I made some lots where I used the building as a prop and had a "empty/blank" building-model instead. And shure this "blank model" had a very tiny LOD and so PIM-X gave me three or four residents for this lot. That's great - half an hour ... and I learned many things.