Starting the First Town in a SimCity 4000 Region

Contributor/author(s): RobertB

Start with some agricultural zones. Make sure you use streets between them, and have one street go out to a neighbor, and make a road connection using as few road tiles as possible (about 2 or 3).

In the residential area (light only), have a few neighborhoods, and for aesthetics some outlying streets with only one or two 3x3 zones. Spread the residences out, but not too far, so that you may have an elementary school and a hospital in a central area. Start out with a water tower and a wind power plant (unless you want to build coal in a neighboring city), and make sure the water reaches the residential areas, especially where there are 3x3 or larger zones. Use a grid plan for the water system, avoid diagonals. Water covers 6 tiles on either side of the pipe: use this to your advantage -- avoid placing pipes too close together. Finally, in a flat spot place a city college and fund it at $10/mo. Make sure you adjust health and education budgets, and leave the utilities alone. Upgrade streets to roads as necessary. Other than some piles in the streets, garbage is not a big problem and can be taken care of later on. Unless you have a sizeable amount of dirty or manufacturing industry, you won't need a fire station. You won't need a police station either. In rush hour, don't be afraid to use the large medical center very early on. For $200/mo, it will cover a huge area plus about $50 to service a population of 1,000-2000 people. Three medical clinics would have $300/mo. for service area alone.

The key: patience rewards those who start small. With this general formula, I've started a brand new region and saw high-wealth estates in less than 5 years. Did I forget commercial? A few 3x2 zones will be all you need in the beginning.

See also
Early tips
SC4: Getting Started.
Tips for Realistic-looking Cities