Simple cities for a beginner

Contributor/author(s): Kristen

Okay, here's the situation, you just got SimCity 3000 Unlimited, and you can't seem to figure out how to get started. This is where I come in. I have a method for building simple cities. Is it realistic? No. Is it efficient? Usually. First of all, start with a new city. Customize your ground color and trees. Name your city whatever you desire. Name the mayor (which is you). Choose your buildings. Set the year to 2000 and click the disasters button (make sure you turn it off, you don't want an earthquake to destroy your city before you finish). Make your city small or miniaturized. Now, when you edit your terrain, make the ground level, flat, and smooth. You may add trees if you want to. Put a thin stream on one of coasts of your city. Only one. Make it relatively small. Start the game and you are on your way to being a great mayor (results are not always guaranteed). Put water pumps on the edge of your stream. Place a power plant (or however many you want) a few tile away from your water pumps. Build a recycling center near the power plant and an incinerator beside the recycling center. Make a highway in the shape of a plus sign (+) in the middle of you map. In one of the spaces beside the highway zone light residential. In a space near the residential zone light commercial. In one of the other spaces zone light industrial. In the last space place a school, hospital, police department, fire station, library, museum, and any other civic buildings you want. Add roads where they are needed. Place pipes under the roads and zoned areas. Add power lines where they are needed. It should look like this:

Don't forget to connect power lines, roads, and water pipes to your neighbors (just run them to the edge of the map) so you make deals with each other.

See also
Several tips to start and keep a big, successful city
It pays to start your city away from the map centre