Jared001

If you know how to terraform. you can do this. Gets rid of those pesky level crossings and creates a more realistic inner city look: The drawback (asides from the time involved) is that it requires a 3:1 tile ratio. So you'll probably have to demolish some buildings. Btw, you'll need it to be 8m deep for the tunnel to work properly.

You can also play around with terrain leveling to try and put some of those transport modes underground. This will open up space for you to smooth out those 90 degree intersections. You can also split those avenues into dual direction one-way streets as well. Fiddling around with that can "straighten out" that off-set avenue running through the middle of the intersection. An example below:

Like this? Marrast Embankment Sets. You'll have to manually terraform your coast to create a relatively straight line; in order to get the set uniform looking. Not terribly hard and I only used the normal terraform tools found in the game to do it.

Fair enough, but I rkn a bit of planning ahead (through just leaving a few squares for the rail-line that may run through there when demand picks up) does allow for better expansion opportunities later on, without the headache of re-shifting populations. Not sure about different parts of the world, but down here in Aus; we have land trails owned by the gov't called "Crown Land"; which can then be used to expand transport infrastructures when required. Also, planning is a must if you want to (like me) eliminate those level-crossings that running through your downtown CBD. I'm not sure, but I have a sneaky suspicion they do add to the commute times.

Idea;;u, heavy rail/monorail (and even el-rail) should be incorporated into the initial planning phases of city design. If you think about it logically, outward growth of cities usually follow the direction of public transport. Also, you don't want to be putting in these system in place AFTER building development has begun; as it will mean large-scale demolishing of established sectors in your city - which can become quite expensive (especially the loss of tax revenue). I personally lay down/allocate space for all public infrastructure during the initial planning stage. Hence I can create (IMO) more realistic and integrative results: My layout is (in part) inspired by some epic creations by Clark Palmer (whose you-tube creations had me so deflated for a while):

I also set up a central rail terminal with lines spreading out in a North, South, East and West directions. I've also made a "inner-loop" for the northern quadrant of my city; where the majority of the population resides. As you can see, I also eliminated any level crossings in the city by using different terrain levels. (I try to keep my city as "original" as possible by not using custom-road pieces - i.e. FLUP, Raised Avenues/Roads etc. Just a personal taste) You can also remove intersecting lines by playing with levels (if you dont want to use the custom rail pieces in NAM).

Yep, but the majority of my connections are highway connections of avenues. My city centre is laid out in a big grid pattern; and I don't connect the roads/streets to the neighbouring cities - forces my sims to ride the train a lot more due to the congestion created on the avenues and highways. BTW, how do you get rid of the UDI balloons. They drive me mad most of the time; when I'm trying to plop something down.

Always loved how SimCity 4 can allow you to create your own little miniature model railway without taking up the room of a real one. It's a pity the limitations in SimCity 5 doesn't allow you to have the same ccity building experience. Anyways, my advice is to continue building out your city to connect with neighbouring regions; then limit road/avenue/highway access to them. If you do it right, and build an effective railway (supported by a good bus network), you'll keep transit time below 100 minutes (post-NAM) and make a nice little profit on the side. You can also cut down transit time by moving your railway network underground or above ground (i.e. Shameless self plugs):

I've actually tried that. If you have a look at my region, the city in the north was built specifically with only residential buildings. It is fully watered, powered and my education level is actually at 196ish (so almost 200) plus the majority of my population there is R$$$, Yet, it seems as though none of those people seem to be coming over to work. Perhaps would they possibly travel through my main city on to another city to work? If that is the case, I'm not sure why desirability of my main city is so low. I have better health care, education, police protection, fire protection; Even my pollution level is better than my outlying cities. Does age of a city have an impact? Main city is about 1000 years older than the others.

Hi guys, I am hoping one of you can help me with this problem. It is related to the questions previously posted regarding stage 8 bldgs. I am also one of those people who cannot seem to be able to achieve the stage 8 commercial bldg lots. I had had a look through the threads and the recurring theme is to have Co$$$ very high. Unfortunately for me however, is that my Co$$$ and my R$$$ for the city I want my Stage 8s to be in is at rock bottom. I have managed to get all my surrounding territories to have a very high R$$$ plus Co$$$. So my question is, whether surrounding demand for different RCI categories affect a city's RCI chart. I have even tried to transplant the city into a blank region to see if RCI demand would change, but no luck. Also have some pictures attached for one the more knowledgable folks to have a look at. Region View North East Corner North West Corner South East Corner South West Corner RCI Demand Education Level Commute Time Jobs And Population spread My tax is on the higher end with low wealth (8.6), medium wealth (8.6), high wealth (9.2) for both residential and commercial. I have tried lowering $$$ taxes down to as little as 0.1 but it has almost no effect ond RCI demand either. Really dissapointing that my downtown areas look like a little "flat". I am also not sure if "mods" affect RCI demand, but none were used in any of my maps except for the "moneytalks" cheat.