Challenging Suggestions

[Eusebio Ptolomeu 24]

I've been playing SimCity 4 for a long time, and at this point, I already know how to build a self-sustaining city. Not exactly perfect, but enough to have good services and good budget as well. Now, it is a game, obviously, so I don't expect nor want it to be as hard as manging a city in real life! I just think it got a little too easy, even if taking that into consideration. The problem, for me, is clear: I've developed what is pretty much a fool-proof way of building a city, which will guarantee you'll get a sustainable metropolis in time, even in difficulty settings. I would like to know tips to make the game more challenging for me; if possible, tips that somewhat simulate real-life challenges for managing cities. It could be tips from different natures:

1- Already Existing Mods: maybe there are mods which increase the cost of something, or make it harder for you to do a certain task. Last time, I asked if it was possible to create a mod where it gets waay costlier to bulldoze RCI buildings, forcing you to adapt more to this situation. It is impractical to make such a mod, but the motivation is the same: taking away some of the liberties you have as a mayor to force you to adapt.

2- Suggest Custom Modifications: I have ILives Reader, I could try to modify myself the game files in order to do this. Maybe I could increase the negative impact taxes have on the mayor's popularity? As a side note, is it possible to add conditional checks to buildings which doesn't orginally have? By conditional checks, I mean things like requiring a certain mayor rating for Solar Plants, for example; could I add custom checks such as these for buildings which doesn't have them originally, such as Wind Power Plants, subways, recycling centers... in a way that would make the city development more challenging and possibly more realistic?

3- Gameplay Challenges: This here involves no change to the game files, only on the way how I play the game. Maybe I could set rules such as "I will only build a highway when I achieve a certain population", or "I won't set taxes higher than this value".

In the end, I'm really looking for suggestions here about how to make the game feels more challenging and somewhat realistic when it comes to manage a city. Any tip is welcomed

 

P.S.
This mod follows the idea I'm looking for here. Any other tips to make the game harder and more realistic in termos of administration?

[CorinaMarie 29,785]

On 5/1/2024 at 8:03 AM, Eusebio Ptolomeu said:

P.S.
This mod follows the idea I'm looking for here.

I thought of @pcwhiz24's mod as I started reading your post so it's good to see you've already found it. (I left a comment on it when I tested it out long ago.)

 

On 5/1/2024 at 8:03 AM, Eusebio Ptolomeu said:

As a side note, is it possible to add conditional checks to buildings which doesn't orginally have? By conditional checks, I mean things like requiring a certain mayor rating for Solar Plants, for example; could I add custom checks such as these for buildings which doesn't have them originally, such as Wind Power Plants, subways, recycling centers... in a way that would make the city development more challenging and possibly more realistic?

Yep. That's completely possible and you can take it however far you are willing to go. For buildings/lots which are already conditional, you could simply modify the Lua code triggers for when they become available. There can be multiple conditions too so whatever combination you like. If you've ever run a CORI Reports you can see a few hundred variables we can access via Lua and use them in the criteria. Other buildings can be made conditional in Reader and then you can create new Lua triggers for them by using existing code as a template.

I've already made a commitment for some Lua coding which NAM might want to use and then possibly some for the CAM Revision Project after that, but if you are willing to learn Lua coding it's not really very difficult to do what you want and your imagination will be the limit. Most of the basics of what I'll do for those first two projects will be the same as you'll need so you could learn from them.

If you've never done any Lua coding for the game, this thread would be a good place to start so you can get your feet wet. There all you need to do is some very minor edits to use different game effects. That'll also show more options which could be added to your Extra Challenges mod.