Money, money...anywhere?

[+Guest]

Hello again,

With my cities, I am able to generate enough income to support a small city with fire, health and schools, however, my monthly revenue is only about $100-200 a month which is just not cutting it. So, I build more residential and industrial zones (my taxes are already set at 8%+ in most cases) but then I have to increase funds for the services and end up where I began. Should I just zone commercial and industrial zones and hold off on residential? Any other ideas on how to generate larger income? Thanks to all.

[rybolton 135]

Go broke, and then you'll get offers for business deals... Make sure that you've got somewhere for your garbage to go, my military base went away recently because the garbage kept getting piled up inside...

[IrishProvo 0]

Do not go broke! You dont want to use anything they give you when your broke, your sims dont like it. I was in the same mess your in now. I would just go without fire and police in areas if you can. Go without as much as you can. It may make you a mean mayor but so what. Try to make money on other citys.

[rybolton 135]

They don't like going without services either... So it's kind of hard to decide whether or not you want to use the business deals or not. If you want to provide your sims with everything, the only way to pay for it is to accept some of the business deals. At least at the beginning.

[Screwballl 196]

ok heres a few easy things to take care of... even on a small city, never build the small police, fire or hospital until after 50 years and you need a corner covered... also, always build water pumps, never towers... the only time you'd needa water tower is in a small map with ALL farming... also run pipes 12 squares apart from each other and only cross them every 40 or so... i will elaborate more when i release the second installment of my so called tips guide

[Bobby T 0]

I am having the same trouble with money managment in my city. I want to expand my city but I have already filled it up with low-density residential. I want to move my city forward but I can't seem to without installing municipal buildings such as schools, hostpitals etc. Can you includ more tips on how to save my already existing city from the dreaded debt?

[edd_erickson 0]

If you are experiencing money management problems, do what I do....cheat!

Go to the modds section on the right of the screen and download Simolean or Simolean RH (depending on your version) and you'll never have money troubles again. You can always remove the modd once you get the a feel for the game.

 

[howler7 0]

remember low density residential doesnt need water this can be a huge saving.

In my current city, all residential is low density no water, my commercial is low density / medium density, the low density stuff has no water. Insutrial is all high-tech (watered of course). services for my sims, im running 2 large elementry schools, 2 large high schools, a college, a university, about 4 libraries and 2 museums. health wise they have 2 large medical centers, a bunch of police and fire stations. all this and im still making 5K a month profit.

i didnt even add water to the map until i had a fairly high demand for high tech and Commercial offices. once this demand was high i chose a spot far away from the dirty i had then. zoned for high tech and watered it and a close by commercial zone and upgraded some of that to medium density commercial and gave them some water.

after awhile HT demand was increasing and Dirty/maufacturing was dropping, so i slowly started dezoning bits of my dirty and started zoning a little bit more high tech (do this gradually pay attention to demand). Now i have no dirty and am nearly ready to replace my coal power stations with solar power plants, and then ill almost be pollution free

[ABCD12345 1]

im having this money problem too  i have a med size city all high density stuff litterately it produce

[bobucles 0]

Here's the ultimate secret to saving money, that the government won't tell you about: DON'T SPEND IT!! It sounds simple, and it is. If you can not afford to build something, do not build it. Remember to go to your taxes menu, and click on every eyeball there. It will let you adjust your funding for buildings that are underused.

Sims are very resiliant, and will tolerate all sorts of trouble. As mayor, it's not your job to create a utopia, it's simply not possible. It's your job to budget your taxes, and to spend them where they'll do the most good. A small town does not need an airport. A small town does not need solar power, or fusion power. A small town does not need a 30 acre park, when it is surrounded by open land. A small town does not need recycling centers, a gigantic school system, or a martial law police force. It is a waste of resources, and the town can not afford it. So don't build it.

Okay, then. What does a town need? What is vital to keep the town running?

A small, low density town NEEDS:
- Electricity. Pick your favorite- coal, oil, windmill (for really tiny towns)
- A main road.

That's it. A small town can afford:
- Water towers.
- Garbage disposal. Landfills will work for now.
- A fire station for industrial zones.
- An elementary school, if there is spare money.

A fair sized town, with a little medium density NEEDS:
- Electricity.
- Enough water for the medium density zones. If a few water towers can't cut it, then get the pump. You can not lower pump funding without causing disasters.
- Garbage disposal. If landfills aren't cutting it, get a waste to energy plant. Even though it's $1K a month, it'll still save a ton of money over a large landfill.
- Main roads, side streets.
- A fire station for industry.

The same town can afford:
- An elementary school, or two.
- A college, or university. The upfront cost is big, but the upkeep is cheap.
- Healthcare. The big hospitals have the best overall value, all the time.
- A few rewards to expand.

A large town, with lots of medium density NEEDS:
- Electricity.
- Water. Water pumps are fine.
- Garbage disposal. Waste to energy is king.
- Main Avenues, side roads.
- Some mass transit to ease up congestion.
- A fire station for industry, and thin coverage for residential zones.

A large town can afford:
- Some elementary schools. Upgrade to a large one if needed.
- A college, or university. Cost should not be an issue, if you've skimped until now.
- Healthcare. Big hospitals rule.
- ONE layer of police coverage.
- The rewards needed to expand.

Some other tips:
- Zone far and wide! Low density residential zones are a gold mine for small towns.
- Run power plants at 75% capacity. It will keep them alive the longest, and power plants are expensive to replace.
- Run water pumps at 90% or more. NEVER change the water funding.
- You should eventually burn all of your trash to save the most money. Keep a tiny landfill so the incinerators won't overflow, if you like.
- Always keep a healthy profit. Buildings will need replacing, so you will need a constant profit in order to replace them.
- Always keep a healthy reserve. There may be some times where you have to suffer losses for a while. A healthy reserve beats paying a loan any day.
- Don't take a loan that you can't pay off. Heck, if you don't know how to handle a loan, don't even bother with them. Just play slower and save up more money.

[DaMaster_architect 0]

another ultimate secret: build as many connecting cities as possible! then your demand will fly sky high!

The newest city in my region makes a profit of 33.000 simoleans A MONTH. And I am NOT using cheats/mods etc. in the ENTIRE region. As soon as you got a few connected cities running, your demand goes boom! and so will your region grow! and thus will your money go boom boom boom!

[FavreKev04 13]

Actualy right of the start I only build a fire dempartment power and water. Lets the popultaion go up. Then once about i get extra money a month I buy school and $%&^!. You have to keep doing this. Well this is what I do

[DanNukesAll 0]

CHEAT! Thats what i do

ctrl+x:weaknesspays=1000 in the treasury

ctrl+x:youdon'tdeserveit=al rewards

 

[EricN 0]

Tip #1: Get rid of Ambulance and School Bus funding entirely. If you want more coverage area, just build more buildings. You'll save a ton of money.

Tip #2: Fire, Police, Health, and Education are never needed. Even R$$$ will move to an area with no services, as long as there is demand and a nearby park.


The real benefits of services in residential areas:
Power_______Mandatory
Roads_______Mandatory.
Water_______Mandatory above low density
Fire________None. Fire coverage protects expensive buildings like powerplants, but bulldozing residential rubble after fires is cheaper than paying for coverage.
Police______None. Dollar for dollar, parks raise desirability more than crime lowers it.
Education___Some. Higher EQ boosts demand for CO and IHT, but raw population growth is more important.
Health______Good. Higher HQ decreases the percentage of taxpayers that need somewhere to work. Health coverage pays for itself in the long run, as retired sims still feed the coffers.


Tip #3: A sagging mayor rating is cheaper to boost with landmarks than with services. If your sims are complaining about crime, just say, Look, kids! It's Big Ben!

Tip #4: Only provide services you can afford. If desirability is sagging, Parks and Trees are cheaper than civic services. If building a new school will cut too much in to your desired budget surplus, then don't build it.

Tip #5: Never build a civic building or take out a loan that will put your monthly budget in the red.

Have fun swimming in cash.

[danurve 1]

Straight money cheats are not the answer, yeah it's just a game so I realy don't care if you cheapen 'your' gameplay by doing so. However there are obscurities with the game such as polution, garbage, and depriciation that have, well allowed for tweeks, mods and adjusted gameplay.

Still this requires some micro-managing job skills as a mayor of your cities in the region for demand, growth and squeezing some fun out of the game. I think alot of players try to concentrate on one major city and get so much out of it that they forget about building up the rest of the region. 

 

I don't belive there is any one dedicated course of action that will cure every city you create. Unless you use completely flat terrain every time and boring grid-like layouts. bobucles makes an interesting point with saving money, not building unessesary stuff, and eyeballing your budget. That's smart gameplay. Once your city get's huge then maybe as a reward you can have silly money, and reward your sims etc.

 

With that said I do have a tip for money advise in small cities / new ones.

Alot of people start out with the Coal-Power. I don't anymore, well 90% of the time I don't. I use the PEG Solar power deal. They are only 1x2 and run clean. Then right about the time (if) the city reaches 5k then you of course get the Garbage notice. So then I switch power to the Black-Hole unit. It is a multi-use lot (ok slightly on the radical side) that can produce 3kw of power and chews garbage to do it. At that time I turn the funding on the Solar units to zero, not destroying them. I think they look cool and you can always put one or two back in service if the city 'crys' for more juice.

 

By the way I have given up on the games wind-mills. They are inefficient to the game imo when you look at their cost and power output. Bummer to because we actually have some of them close to where I am. Now if their cost vs. output was like the solar panels then I'd use the variety.

[Duke87 1,070]

oh, wow! look!

[pepsi71ocean 2]

you can let the fire station go

i have found out that placing 3 in a large tile will prevent fires.

Cops however i wouldn't mess with.

 

also zone industrial an ciommercial they donot need health or education just cop coverage.

Place libaries will also help with your edu levels. at a reduced budget. but yuou still need a school and HS for that to work properly.

 

Use watertowers untill it's cheeper to run a water pump.

 

Hoped that helped.

[soldyne 111]

making money is the easy part of the game.  I actually have trouble NOT making money.  after about 50 game years I usually have 1mill or more in the coffers and cant spend it fast enough.

 

the key is knowing how to save money.  only spend what you need.

 

I actually compiled a mini tutorial a while ago about MONEY SAVING TIPS but the disscussion kind of went off course and the thread became a topic about the philosophy of cheating (which I dont like to do).

 

so, after reading the mini tutorial, if you still need some help with making profitable cities I may be persuaded to post a mini tutorial about how to start and maintain a profitable city.  but, only if a lot of people ask.  there are so many tip guides and tutorial already on this site in various places I dont want to clutter things up.

 

hope that helps.

 

for some inspiration about how to design a city or two with profit in mind try visiting and commenting on my City Journal, Newtopia Valley, (see link in sig below).  every city I showcase in the CJ is making a profit.  many of them have over 1 million simoleans in the bank and growing.  I dont use money cheats.