mattamillion

Absolutely speechless. Amazing.

Have you tried a refurbished model? I've had a lot of success with refurbished stuff in the past. Still not sure you'd hit those minimum specs for the price point, but might be worth a shot.

Software rendering. I know it's not ideal, but I had no problems with a Surface 1 Pro with 4GB of RAM. Its still really fast, since a core I5 is so much superior to 10-year old hardware. I think you can also skip compatibility mode, as the app seemed to run fine with just the standard shortcut / switches for custom resolution, etc.

You might want to consider clean air / auto emmissions ordinances. That will help some of your overall pollution. I don't know if you had removed the oil power plants after these screenshots were taken but have you considered creating a neighbor connection to build a power plant(s) in another city and importing polwer? Also there's a SimGoober air purifier lot you might consider too. That and let the simulator run for a few years to clean up some of the pollution.

How is crime in the area? Have you tried de-zoning the area, letting the simulator run for a bit, then re-zoning? You also might have more luck if you de-zone and then only re-zone a small area at a time. Just a couple of thoughts.

Sometimes you do have to tweak things a bit, though. One of the problems you mention, with R$$$ moving in despite the region not being able to support all of them, is often a problem. You can resolve that by withholding water, other desirable amenities, or VERY high taxes (>10%) on R$$$ to keep the demand and new growth of them down. You should also flag R$ buildings as "historical" so they aren't automatically upgraded to R$$ or R$$$ as other conditions improve.

I think you really just need to experiment. Start playing a little bit and figure out how the game works, the mechanics, etc. Know that you'll probably scrap your first region when (not if) you get sick of it. But that's your best bet.

Originally posted by: A Nonny MooseFailing this, examine all your displays. Particularly Jobs and Pop and Population by Age. How old is this city? Your population might be aging out, and you will need to attract younger Sims. quote> I wonder if you could explain your last comment... I know that when residents move in they tend to be young but what happens in the game when the old sims "pass on"? Aside from de-zoning and then re-zoning new R areas how do you accomplish this? Your thoughts appreciated as my big city is in about year 200 and it may become an issue soon. Thanks!

I really would rather just continue to focus on my MAIN city, but I suppose if it's stagnating in population, then I should start up some new neighbors and build those out too?quote> Essentially, yes. By creating neighbor connections, specifically road/rail, you increase the capacity limits the game places on your city. Realistically, even the biggest cities are connected to smaller suburbs or to farms, which helps fuel their growth.

I really would rather just continue to focus on my MAIN city, but I suppose if it's stagnating in population, then I should start up some new neighbors and build those out too?quote> Essentially, yes. By creating neighbor connections, specifically road/rail, you increase the capacity limits the game places on your city. Realistically, even the biggest cities are connected to smaller suburbs or to farms, which helps fuel their growth.

Cities need medium/low wealth sims to properly function. The best way to solve this is to destroy the mansions and high wealth apartments to allow medium wealth to move in. Alternatively, build a neighbouring city and allow medium wealth and low wealth sims space to live. one thing I do with my cities is deprive a small section of land amenities like water and schools, which stops rich people from moving in and allows low wealth neighbourhoods to grow. quote> I like that idea about not providing water... that's a pretty sweet idea, except then it would also preclude high density R$ too, right? The other thing that I do is raise taxes past 10% for R$$ and R$$$. If you get enough R$ to move in, then use the query tool and check the "make historical" box otherwise if you lower tax rates you'll have those buildings convert to higher wealth in very short order.

Long story short: create traffic. You want to place Commercial zones along roads where there is ample traffic, typically between Residential and Industrial lots (sims driving to their factory jobs...).

The problem is that over time, especially in a well-established city with high education/health/parks/amenities, you'll end up with a lot more R$$ than R$. Adjusting taxes to >9.6% on R$$ and R$$$ will generally drop the demand negative quickly and allow R$ to develop. Before adjusting rates back down, make sure to mark the buildings in the info view as "historical" to prevent them from redeveloping into a higher wealth level. That's a problem I've been having with my current region where many/most of the population is R$$ and I'm actively trying to encourage R$ growth.

Originally posted by: kolnikov inc - take a look at a real subway map thats the best advise. but also try to build 4 lines that all connect at the CBD (if you're still using the H pattern) and build stations every 2 blocks (or every 8-9 tiles) to get more commuters. quote> I'd add that at least in my experience, you get more usage if you put them on the right-hand side of the road as they go toward their job (sims will take the shortest route, and won't cross the street on their way to work if they don't have to). Additionally, enacting the commuter ordinance will help drive traffic to the subway as well.

Thanks, z1. That makes sense. I have the Census Repository Vault installed, and I've attached a screenshot for this city to my post. (Never tried that, hope I did it right.) So what the mouseover help says is that the "drives" for the R is essentially that my city can support up to 118,000 people based on the available jobs out there. It also says that my sims are looking for 33K commercial jobs and 17K industrial jobs. (Side note: R$ taxes are 9.0%, R$$ are 9.6%, R$$$ at 9.7%.) The upshot here is that I should build a bunch more R$, ideally with a lot of CO$$$ nearby? Am I reading that correctly?