Temelin

I have looked through many of the tutorials and lots of the CJs on this site. I'm wondering if anyone knows where I can find a tutorial that runs up to getting your first skyscraper or the tall R$$$ buildings (if there is one). I play my cities for hundreds and hundreds of in-game years and can't seem to ever reach "stage 8." How do you know how far along you have progressed (besides looking at the buildings)? There is nothing in the Query tool that tells you that. I have been playing the game on and off for about 6 months and I still feel like a complete newb. I never had trouble with SC2K or SC3K and have thought about quitting SC4 out of frustration. I try to model my cities after some of the ones I see here and I have read lots of tutorials, but I always seem to end up with an unbalanced budget or a small city. When I see these CJs with amazing downtown sections I wonder how people develop these in less than 100 in game years and sometimes around 50 or 60. (I don't like to use "cheats" or anything like that, but I guess I would if that is what it takes to develop them so fast.) I really liked the ones in the CJs: Cristallo and Tropicana Islands https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=23&threadid=60749&STARTPAGE=2&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=79445 (for reference) Thank you very much for any help you can give me

Hey thanks a lot guys. I tried the industrial city and RC city connection and it is working well so far. It seems like cheatery that polluton doesn't carry over even though they are really 1 tile away across the border Didn't get any skyscrapers yet, but I didn't get the chance to play for very long. I think this is the case, but if I build up the cities around the one I want to be a sprawling downtown FIRST, I would assume that the buildings would "level up" a lot faster when I started the downtown city as sims can move in from the neighboring cities. (with all the necessities in place of course) Again thanks for the tips and thanks for the welcome. I really enjoy this site.

Another question came up as I was reading more into this topic. Is industry a must in cities? I have seen a couple of cities with absolutely no industry whatsoever. maybe the industry is in a neighboring city, but could a city survive on its own with only R and C? I'm at work now, so i'll have to try it when I get home.

Forgot 1 thing. I'm also wondering if anybody could show me a view of how their zones are layed out in some of these larger cities. I'm wondering if I'm just not doing it correctly. I usually start with an industrial section near the edge of the map and put a buffer of C, and then R after that. I never have long commute times and pamper my sims with fire/ po-po/ water/ garbage/ school etc. And after my city gets going I basically just keep branching out from that with no real overall plan, but not completely random either, just wherever the city "flows". I know I am asking a lot of questions here, but I'm just trying to be as clear as possible. Thanks