Grid secrets: a tutorial CJ
Hello fellow Simizens!
Before we get started; I have a few pre-determined comments.
1. I searched up Grids in search window and read everything I could find about Gridding entire cities.
2. No one posted the real facts. At least I found nothing about it.
3. I know grids are considered boring to some, but feel free to criticize me. It is perfectly okay and un-offending to me.
4. Contrary to beliefs, SimCity was designed, so players could find an absolute or logistic pattern, for a perfectly functional city. It was not designed to function well, when imitating real life city plans.
Cheats/Mods in place
BAT Bank for unlimited funding. You don't deserve it for pre-determining placement of final stage objects. NAM(Network Add-on Mod) All other plug-ins removed entirely from game.
Grid history
I have been gridding out entire cities since SC2k. In SC Classic, the secret was parallels with no intersections and no gridding ever. This forced my Sitizens to stay in their respective strip of land. Attempting the paras didn't work for SC4, as traffic cannot cross the street, so Sitizens couldn't get to work, even when their job is directly across the street from them, they still cannot find the job and go NJZ and then leave. This shows us the real problem issue with SC4: Traffic cannot turn, without an intersection or roundabout in place.
The most efficient grid size
I have attempted several sizes of grid systems and only one size will let all utilities, transits and public services, work at maximum efficiency. that answer is 6x6 tiles. 4x6, 4x4 are not good, as traffic accidents do increase. same with 5x6. 8x8 is way too big and sitizens begin having longer commutes and a rougher time finding jobs, as they tend to go around blocks and double back to their destinations. thus, when a city block is 7x7 the sitizens go clear around the block to enter their own driveways. This adds 4 tiles of avenue to the commute, not just one tile. 8x8 was total nightmare and abandonment increased dramatically.
6x6 is what you want in all districts; res/comm/ind. there is many reasons for this size and I will be covering those as I go, so bare with me.
Grids and the NAM(Network Add-on Mod)
The NAM adds turning lanes to every intersection made with avenues. This seems okay in-game play, as it slows down the game, only a bit. It does however, effect construction tremendously.
I started building out my grid like so.
Notice above, that the news ticker is recognizing traffic, that doesn't exist. I have no Sitizens or autos yet.
The more avenues I added the slower contruction became. Remember; my only plug-in files are the NAM and BAT Bank, nothing else.
Gridding entire large city without NAM: 1 hour 10 minutes (allowing for 5min. margin for error)
Gridding entire large city with NAM in place: 4 hours 25 minutes (allowing the same margin)
I also attempted, letting the avenues and the little yellow dozers, finish contructing each strip I laid. I thought maybe the dozer activity was slowing me down. That wasn't the case. It seems the NAM is most definitely the culprit. The more completed aves. I had, the longer the game took to start contructing a new strip of ave. how long did it take to, click and drag my last 24 tile long section of Ave with the NAM: 1min. 12 seconds!
Busing is the answer
Once I finally completed my grid, I go to my one and only useful transportation vehicle: Busing.
Rails cause traffic back-ups. EL or subways are too expensive to maintain and limit your capacity. Buses however, do not cause traffic congestion, which allows for un-limited capacity. Buses are not limited to a track and they mimic the same commute path as the autos, which is very crucial to performance of transport. this is a huge minus for other forms of transportation.
In order for busing to be most efficient we must build diamond shaped access to busstops, as shown below.
What does it look like in the region view? Edit: how much did this grid cost? 935,000 simoleans
To be continued: I will be showing the most efficient placement of every object in the game. I do mean the best place for everything, every utility, airport, school, Stock market, etc.....
Now please, comment, question or criticsize. All is very much welcome and taken in to consideration.
Before we get started; I have a few pre-determined comments.
1. I searched up Grids in search window and read everything I could find about Gridding entire cities.
2. No one posted the real facts. At least I found nothing about it.
3. I know grids are considered boring to some, but feel free to criticize me. It is perfectly okay and un-offending to me.
4. Contrary to beliefs, SimCity was designed, so players could find an absolute or logistic pattern, for a perfectly functional city. It was not designed to function well, when imitating real life city plans.
Cheats/Mods in place
BAT Bank for unlimited funding. You don't deserve it for pre-determining placement of final stage objects. NAM(Network Add-on Mod) All other plug-ins removed entirely from game.
Grid history
I have been gridding out entire cities since SC2k. In SC Classic, the secret was parallels with no intersections and no gridding ever. This forced my Sitizens to stay in their respective strip of land. Attempting the paras didn't work for SC4, as traffic cannot cross the street, so Sitizens couldn't get to work, even when their job is directly across the street from them, they still cannot find the job and go NJZ and then leave. This shows us the real problem issue with SC4: Traffic cannot turn, without an intersection or roundabout in place.
The most efficient grid size
I have attempted several sizes of grid systems and only one size will let all utilities, transits and public services, work at maximum efficiency. that answer is 6x6 tiles. 4x6, 4x4 are not good, as traffic accidents do increase. same with 5x6. 8x8 is way too big and sitizens begin having longer commutes and a rougher time finding jobs, as they tend to go around blocks and double back to their destinations. thus, when a city block is 7x7 the sitizens go clear around the block to enter their own driveways. This adds 4 tiles of avenue to the commute, not just one tile. 8x8 was total nightmare and abandonment increased dramatically.
6x6 is what you want in all districts; res/comm/ind. there is many reasons for this size and I will be covering those as I go, so bare with me.
Grids and the NAM(Network Add-on Mod)
The NAM adds turning lanes to every intersection made with avenues. This seems okay in-game play, as it slows down the game, only a bit. It does however, effect construction tremendously.
I started building out my grid like so.
Notice above, that the news ticker is recognizing traffic, that doesn't exist. I have no Sitizens or autos yet.
The more avenues I added the slower contruction became. Remember; my only plug-in files are the NAM and BAT Bank, nothing else.
Gridding entire large city without NAM: 1 hour 10 minutes (allowing for 5min. margin for error)
Gridding entire large city with NAM in place: 4 hours 25 minutes (allowing the same margin)
I also attempted, letting the avenues and the little yellow dozers, finish contructing each strip I laid. I thought maybe the dozer activity was slowing me down. That wasn't the case. It seems the NAM is most definitely the culprit. The more completed aves. I had, the longer the game took to start contructing a new strip of ave. how long did it take to, click and drag my last 24 tile long section of Ave with the NAM: 1min. 12 seconds!
Busing is the answer
Once I finally completed my grid, I go to my one and only useful transportation vehicle: Busing.
Rails cause traffic back-ups. EL or subways are too expensive to maintain and limit your capacity. Buses however, do not cause traffic congestion, which allows for un-limited capacity. Buses are not limited to a track and they mimic the same commute path as the autos, which is very crucial to performance of transport. this is a huge minus for other forms of transportation.
In order for busing to be most efficient we must build diamond shaped access to busstops, as shown below.
What does it look like in the region view? Edit: how much did this grid cost? 935,000 simoleans
To be continued: I will be showing the most efficient placement of every object in the game. I do mean the best place for everything, every utility, airport, school, Stock market, etc.....
Now please, comment, question or criticsize. All is very much welcome and taken in to consideration.