Different effects for parks?

[MarcelVos 0]

Hello everyone,

I recently started playing SimCity 4 again and I am loving it. I was always under the impression that all the city parks (skatepark, flower garden, community garden, tennis court, etc) have the same effect and just increase the desirability a bit or something. However, today I saw a video about getting the most people in a small plot and they said something about the different effects of those things.

Is there a place somewhere that has all the effects listed (and also other info about similar things)?

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

Yes, the Maxis parks do indeed differ in how much Parks Aura they produce.

Here's a list of the strength (magnitude) and radius of each:

M = 10   R = 10   Open Paved Area
M = 20   R = 80   Ranger Station
M = 25   R = 15   Small Plaza
M = 25   R = 25   Medium Plaza
M = 30   R = 15   Open Grass Area
M = 30   R = 30   Basketball Court
M = 30   R = 30   Tennis Court
M = 30   R = 50   Soccer Field
M = 30   R = 50   Softball Field
M = 30   R = 60   Skateboard Park
M = 35   R = 30   Large Plaza
M = 40   R = 35   Community Garden (All 4)
M = 40   R = 40   Gazebo
M = 50   R = 15   Small Park Green
M = 60   R = 15   Small Flower Garden
M = 60   R = 15   Small Playground
M = 60   R = 30   Medium Park Green
M = 70   R = 30   Medium Flower Garden
M = 75   R = 25   Medium Playground
M = 75   R = 45   Large Park Green
M = 80   R = 10   Beach
M = 85   R = 45   Large Flower Garden

(M = Magnitude   R = Radius)

(Originally I posted this in reply here.)

 

For an insightful perspective into viewing the Parks Aura effect in game, you might be interested in the mod Cori and I developed which adds this info as a data view. If building plenty of parks within a concentrated area, the aura will then accumulate and be a stronger purple shade in the data view.

As follows:

 

[rsc204 21,808]

11 hours ago, MarcelVos said:

However, today I saw a video about getting the most people in a small plot and they said something about the different effects of those things.

Park effects, like landmark effects are essentially just a single property, it's the values that define how strong their effect is and over what range.

To create the most dense lots, i.e. the most sims in the smallest of space, doesn't really directly correlate to Park Effects, although it certainly affects how likely higher wealth sims are to want to live somewhere.

Due to quirks of the game, the simplest method to get the highest population density, is to zone 1x2 residential. Once these upgrade to higher growth stages (probably needs Medium Density zoning), the occupancy is quite high. That said, for the 3x3 - 4x4 R$ buildings, you can cram many thousands of sims into that space with Stage 7/8 High Density zoning. In the same space, single-homes only will maybe give you a couple hundred sims. But depending on how developed your region is, you will only be able to get a certain percentage of your buildings to be that developed.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

21 hours ago, MarcelVos said:

I was always under the impression that all the city parks (skatepark, flower garden, community garden, tennis court, etc) have the same effect

Nope. Each "park" has some "park effect" to please residents and a "landmark effect" to please commercial. Each effect has a magnitude and radius (although a magnitude can be zero). In addition, each provides some cap relief. You pay both to build and (maybe) a monthly fee. Parks also take up space, but they don't need to touch road, so they can fill gaps.

I use green parks in residential areas and plazas near commercial zones. Here's a lengthy table:

https://strategywiki.org/wiki/SimCity_4/Parks_and_Recreation

[Max4k 721]

I totally forgot about Plaza in the Parks menu that boost Commercial, but I have it at the very bottom of menu.

The BSC Parks has some perks for both Residential and Commercial depending on the piece and size varies.

 I have the Thing Park System and MPS that takes up huge chunk of mouse scrolling though menu -

 

Is there anything equivalent to the Maxis Plaza in Parks to be compared to ? 

[Max4k 721]

I finally found the file from Jeroni that pushes Maxis Parks to bottom of menu and got rid of it so I can use that Maxis Plaza more.

I spent massive massive amounts of hours putting The Thing Parks system together with the intention this would be for Medium and High Commercial zoning.

It kills me to find out this has zero comparison to the Maxis Plaza that is different for Commercial zones ?

 

This is only info for stats

For Park and Landmark effect, the more you give, the more you get :

Plop cost <= 100      Park effect 30/15      No landmark effect

Plop cost = 200         Park effect 30/15      Landmark effect 30/15

Plop cost = 400         Park effect 50/25      Landmark effect 50/25

Plop cost = 800         Park effect 50/50      Landmark effect 50/50