Eliminate pointless tedious micromanaging

[vladpen 1]

I find it game-killingly annoying that I have to constantly keep adjusting the amount of water I'm selling to neighbors as my water pumps wear out. That isn't what I regard as "gameplay". Surely there's some way to tell the game "sell excess water to neighbors" rather than having to keep setting the amount manually. Same goes for schools and hospitals ("spend what you need").

[matias93 7,535]

well, a good option is to simply overfund all utilities and services, and to accelerate population growth to a point when overspending isn't a problem at all. That's what most people accustomed with the simulation does.

But there are other alternatives:

• To disminish the rate at which the utilities degrade
• To use 'moolah', a cheat to change your money amount
• To use a 'money tree', a lot that gives you money at a fixed rate
• To use an ordinance to gives you money (I didn't found the one I use, but there are several, both with and without secondary effects)

None of them is optimal, but is the most flexibility the game modding allows; to make a smart spending mod is, at least up to what is known, impossible.

[CorinaMarie 29,574]

For the problem you are having I love the no degradation mod for the utility buildings.

Additionally, (in case you run into this) I created my own problem once. What I had done was create a few small towns in one city tile and each had their own utilities. As I played they grew towards each other but I still had not interconnected their water supplies. So, my overall chart said I had bunches of excess water. I set up a deal to sell some to a neighbor. Then like every three months the deal would fail. It was very frustrating until I figured out the part I've already explained. At the time I didn't realize I was overloading that particular "town's" supply.

 

[HayleyRenaNemeth 465]

4 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

For the problem you are having I love the no degradation mod for the utility buildings.

Additionally, (in case you run into this) I created my own problem once. What I had done was create a few small towns in one city tile and each had their own utilities. As I played they grew towards each other but I still had not interconnected their water supplies. So, my overall chart said I had bunches of excess water. I set up a deal to sell some to a neighbor. Then like every three months the deal would fail. It was very frustrating until I figured out the part I've already explained. At the time I didn't realize I was overloading that particular "town's" supply.

 

that seems a little bit like it would take the fun out of the game. what I do is produce more than I need so I have a surplus. and choose to sell a few options less than the maximum I could sell. 

[matias93 7,535]

10 minutes ago, AprilAero said:

that seems a little bit like it would take the fun out of the game. what I do is produce more than I need so I have a surplus. and choose to sell a few options less than the maximum I could sell. 

Fortunately, Paeng's mod is very flexible, allowing to double and quadruple the lifespan of the Maxis utilities buildings, aside making them eternal

[CorinaMarie 29,574]

30 minutes ago, AprilAero said:

that seems a little bit like it would take the fun out of the game.

Yeah, it certainly can depending on one's play style. That's why we each have the option to play how we like.

[SecretMbr_735754 2,157]

One strategy I use when I play in 'no-mods' mode to avoid a city being decimated by a sudden total failure of either water or power supply, is to build multiple plants in offset times so that if one fails another is still operational.   This gives a clear message to replace a plant without having to be constantly micromanaging.  

In SimCity 4 especially, the Mayor is more of a civil engineer than a politician, so we have to do our routine engineering systems checks rather than take another vacation at the taxpayers expense