What else does the difficulity level change?

[Sporally 0]

I have started a map on easy and later i started a couple of maps on the hard difficulity since i found out you wouldn't have that much money (thought 500k was too much to start with).

1) But now i wonder - does the difficulity level change anything else than the starting cash? If not, then i'm fine with it, but if something else is changed i should have picked easy for all maps.

2) Is there a way of finding out what difficulity level i play on a specific map?

3) Only to be answered if there is more than the starting cash as difference between easy and hard: Is there a cheat code to change the difficulity level? And if yes, can i be sure everything is set to easy with the exception of the starting cash (can live without those money, as long as i don't have to restart the map in order to get the right difficulity).

[Peorth 17]

The difficulty level also changes the speed at which your cities grow. Cities grow fastest at Easy and slowest at Hard. Furthermore, advisors give more advice at the Easy level. Some rewards, like the spaceport, are only available if you choose Hard. You can easily check the difficulty level by clicking on the city in the Region view and viewing how many stars there are. One star is Easy, two is Medium and three is Hard. Lastly, as far as I know, there is no way to change the city's difficulty level once you've established it.

[Sporally 0]

You say "speed your city grows with". So if i understood you correctly it isn't more difficult like so, but just that it takes a longer time before changed happen. Or should i understand it like everything is more difficult? The sims demanding more recreationary and education and stuff before they build cool buildings.

If so i will be asking everyone with a cheat code to take part in this chat then.

Thx so far for your fast response Peorth.

[AspieGamer13 11]

Here are the differences:

Funds_________
Easy - $500,000
Med. - $200,000
Hard - $100,000

Stage Growth Boost_____________
Easy - 83% (taller buildings faster)
Med. - 91% (taller buildings faster)
Hard - 100% (no early tall buildings)

Demand Boost
Easy - 6%
Med. - 3%

Tax Boost
Easy - 1.2
Med. - 1.1

Area 5.1 - only available as business deal on Hard; available from U-drive it on all levels

Advisers less likely to give you a pop-up box when things are about to get sticky (ex: strike) when playing Hard


Here's how you tell what difficulty your city is: the number of stars you see in regional mode before you enter the city (below mayor's name)


I'm almost positive you can't change the difficulty level by any cheats or anything like that... Hard is only the pre-rush hour settings, and any city started pre-rush hour expansion is considered the Hard difficulty... It's no harder than it was initially designed to be



edit - wow... it took me over 10 min. to type this responce... considering no one had replyed before me when i started... lol... that's enough off-topicness... lol

[Sporally 0]

Well, thx a lot though. Very detailed. And then the Spaceport is not available as Peorth said. Think i will pick one of the two levels and then only continue playing on these maps and leave or restart the old ones. But which should i choose. I think it is fair it takes a bit to get taller buildings, but on the other hand if easy isn't sandbox mode then i can live with that difficulity level.

Is the spaceport available through U-drive? I've always considered U-drive a bit of cheat in a way since they aren't temporarily. I believe they all get back although you have completed them once already, right?

[AspieGamer13 11]

Space Port is U-drive it unlockable, any difficulty, i believe


U-drive it missions involve trains


edit - btw - U-drive it is a part of the game, and the rewards reflect difficulty, and number of missions to get reward... at least i think they do...  U-drive it is NOT a cheat

[Sporally 0]

I know it is not a cheat like that, but not to realistic. But ok, quite fun i can agree on. However, getting 10k more or less whenever you want (i always have a handful of missions i can pick from) allows your city to run with a negative montly profit. But maybe i am wrong - i just have a feeling those missions are always available...

[Peorth 17]

Personally, I always play at the Hard level in all my cities. This is mainly because the Hard level is the original difficulty level envisioned for Simcity 4. The Medium and Easy levels were only put in RH because too many people were complaining that SC4 was too hard (compared to the previous incarnations of Simcity). SC4 at Hard isn't that tough if you do micromanagement and keep some important principles in mind.

[mayormot 4]

Doesn't the difficulty level also affect education? Like the starting EQ for a "new" Sim is higher on the easier levels, the Sims' educations don't degrade as rapidly, and more of an older Sim's EQ is passed to his/her children? Something like that, and similar for health levels? I'd swear there's more to it than just demand and stage cap easements.

A higher "base" EQ would have a huge effect - taking you to manufacturing and office development much more quickly. If Sims don't forget their schooling so fast, you can get away with not building libraries and museums for them so you have more money for expansion and transit infrastructure. Better health means fewer jobs needed to support the population, means less traffic and pollution, means higher land values for less infrastructure cost... yeah, that all would make a city grow much faster!

[Sporally 0]

True. I didn't know about the realism really, but there are always a lot of side affects when something like education is changed a bit.

[AspieGamer13 11]

i doubt difficulty level has any effect on EQ or health...

then again, i might need to look more closely at Prima's Official SC4 guide

[Sporally 0]

So a SC4 fanatic has made a SC4 guide? Now that's what i call entusiasm...

[Xob_Alibob 0]

Wow. Here I was going all this time with only thinking it affected starting money. So I never gave the other ones that much thought. THink I'll play on hard from now on. Mostly for the less frequent advisors lol

[Sporally 0]

Yeah. The advisors doesn't make it easier since you spend time removing those messages while you could have done something more important than that. I only want my advisors or citizen to contact me when something is not going perfectly. Hate to get the thump up in my messages

[Peorth 17]

Originally posted by: Sporally So a SC4 fanatic has made a SC4 guide? Now that's what i call entusiasm...quote>

The Prima Strategy Guide is the official strategy guide.

[Sporally 0]

And where can that be found? Do you have a link...

[AspieGamer13 11]

you buy it at a store...

i got my copy at best buy the same day i got Sim City 4 Deluxe Edition

both were b-day presents... back in... several years ago?



PS - you could also buy it at any online store

[Sporally 0]

Ah ok, that way. Thought it was an online guide. But thx for the info...