soldyne

hi again everyone, I have another request if I may: In addition to my review of City Life being added to the omnibus (link in sig) I was wondering if I could also have my short tutorial on Money Saving Tips added. The topic kind of died a while ago when the disscussion turned to a philosophical debate about cheating but I think there are some pretty good tips there. review it and let me know what you think please. thanks!

OMG your updates are so huge! this CJ really brings back memories of FF7. great job on everything.

amazing really! 4 regions and there is stuff going on in all of them. I like the first region pic, especially the mountains in the south. Keep it up. <edit> 500TH POST! </edit>

one experiment you can try is to delete all routes to the industrial stations except via rail. then the sims will have no choice but to use it. if they still dont use it then something is definately buggy. if they do use it then clamor_m was right. also, remember to give the simulator a few game months to catch up to what you plop down. the traffic simulator does not update very often so you have to let things simmer every once in a while. <edit> also, not that I look at your pic more, I dont see any stations actually in the res zones. The stations need to be IN the RES and IND zones or the sims have no reason to use them. also, make sure to make a neighbor connection with your rail or the industry wont use the shipping center at all. hope that helps </edit> oh and no offence shivsood but please no LEET! lol

"You say your toilets clogged again?"

hamburger

A: If I told you they would shoot us both... Q: At what point does a fly flip over to land on the cieling?

Thanks Gnargenox. Yes I have lots of subway stations positioned strategecally around the isand. and as swamper77 said, those are special tiles called Pedestrian Mall Tiles which come with the NAM. They allow only pedestrian traffic and only allow commercial (and I think industrial) to grow next to them. you still need to have a road, street or avenue for residential though.

Maybe I can help keep this thread alive and help some others out there get some ideas for university campuses: This is a pic of Rive Creek State University. Its a small campus but caters to a variety of sorority and fraternity houses as well adequate facilities for all your higher learning needs: yeah it's small but Rive Creek is only a suburb. The downtown is still under construction.

Well I know it is an old topic but I have some excellent screen shots of ped malls in action from my CJ, Newtopia Valley: All of these shots are of Posieden's Reef in Rive Creek, the largest Pedestrian Mall in SimNation. The only way to get on the island is by pedestrian ferry or subway. only special vehicles used for the transport of goods or the construction of new buildings are allowed on the island. Pedestrians can rent small electric cars (golf carts) to get around easier but those are mostly for the elderly or people who work on the island. For more shots of Posieden's Reef Visit my CJ (see sig below). hope these shots help others learn about the power of pedestrian mall tiles and inspire them to use all the tools they have in new and creative ways. Good luck.

Well at the risk of lowering the bar of excellence with my humble pics here are a few parks and reserves from my CJ, Newtopia Valley: Welcome to Timber Vale in the lush Newtopia Valley: This is the Timber Vale Wetland Preserve and Resort Hotel: This is Transformation Park in the quiet village of Quiescence: Here is a shot of the canal falls at Posieden's Reef, the largest Pedestrian Mall in Sim Nation: This is a shot of some river front housing that I thought was peaceful: and the Rive Creek suburbs in the spring:

I am stunned by the realism and detail. the mix of urban and rural is amazing. this is the kind of effect I hope to achive in my own cities, and I will use your CJ as my inspiration, thank you for making this.

here are a few pics from a mass transit experiment I was running a while back. not quite as complex as some of the more ambitious designs here but unique and useful none the less:

without a pic of what you have done already then my answer will have to be broad: make sure you have stations in both residential areas and the work areas (comm, industry, or both). if they get on at a station they have to get off at a station too. make sure that the rail is touching one side of the station and the road/street/avenue is touching the other side. the stations come with some limited parking so you should not need a parking garage. you may want to try putting a bus stop next to the station if the station is in a more remote area. this way the sims can take the bus to the station and then take the train to work. hope those pics help.

it looks like a good layout but I would also set up some parking garages in the residential zones to increase usage. I am not sure what you are asking about in your question. I only know of the elem school and the large elem school. there is a three stage school on the STEX that acts like an elem + high school, is that what you are refering to?

I used to go for the large, dense sky scrapper forests in the 100k - 300k range but with my CJ I am sticking to the 5000 or less range as it is more of a rural to urban development journal.

envelope

A: the square root of Z number of pies. Q: Will that dog have an accent?

wow, a CJ with tutorials. more CJs should have tutorials, but I guess that might spoil some of the magic. lol. great region shots on page one though. I love region shots.

This is my first visit here and I am impressed. You say this is not a real city but with all the detail in street names and traffic signals I would have been surprised. I really like the sign pics; they give the CJ a very unique touch.

Welcome to Simtropolis Daddy-O! good suggestions all around. here's my input for what it is worth: I have not really used the My Sims part of the game to any great degree but never noticed any problems with it, nor have I come across any topics which reference such a situation. As far as keeping the cities up to date, there is no rule for it. Infact there are some cities which you may want to set and forget, like dump ciites where the entire city is one big landfill and the upkeep is way more than the income. you set it up, save and exit and never go back. on the other hand, if there is a neighbor city or two that you are running and which are essential to the progress of the region then you may want to make sure you play all cities evenly. This is mainly to do what Bones1 suggested and let the traffic and demand simulators catch up and update based on anything new which happened in the neighbor cities. also, you may want to think about education in a neighbor city. Education is a prime factor in determining demand and demand is shared and affected by neighboring cities. it is a good idea to play a new city long enough to have the eductaion raise high enough so it can positively affect demand. just try not to neglect any one city for too long and you should be ok.

yep those responses are probably the best your going to get at this point. It is difficult to help you when you have such an open question. The best thing to do is to start asking specific questions. However, it is highly recommended that you do a search for the question you are asking and make sure that no one has asked that question before. I am sure that even the most seasoned city builders among us will say that they are still learning the game so don't expect to become some grand master city planner overnight. build lots of cities, experiment with game and look through the "Show us your..." threads and the City Journal sections for inspiration. this is how I started and I have my own CJ now. good luck and welcome to Simtropolis.

yeah this is a really good thread, I have always wondered what some people's screen names meant. Soldyne - "Sol" = the Sun; "dyne" = Power; the Sun's power. it is from a character I played in a Table top RPG called DC Heroes. his power set was that he could absorb the suns energy and use it to become stronger. but of course his weakeness was pure darkness and being underground or indoors for extended periods. he was a fun character. My avatar is a pic of an incarnation of Soldyne in the latest MMORPG, City of Heroes. The original character had the quirk of looking like a golden statue when he was fully charged with energy.

A: Because if you didn't your nose would fall off. Q: shhhh, do you smell that?

I feel I should chime in here. I am actually not ready for a SC5 yet. I like SC4 and all it has to offer. I have learned so much and have so much more yet to learn. with all the new stuff being uploaded on the STEX every day and all the mods that have been created for the game (NAM et.al.) it really is a different game now than when it was originally released. I have a CJ now and have only just begun to build my dream region. if they released SC5 anytime soon i would feel like i was playing an old, obsolete game. I would like to see a SC5 someday down the road but right now SC4 gives me all the city building I can handle.