Any good SimCity 4 players out there?

[TecHNooB]

So I just started playing SimCity 4. Was a big fan of SimCity 2k but absolutely hated SimCity 3k. Loving SimCity 4 though. I just wanted to know what some good strategies are, how to view zone colors, and how much money you can make per month.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Just like you I loved SC2k and hated 3k. Make sure you have the Rush Hour pack installed because it makes the game a lot more fun. I would do a write up if I weren't just about to leave for work.

 

[ussfletcher]

So I just started playing SimCity 4. Was a big fan of SimCity 2k but absolutely hated SimCity 3k. Loving SimCity 4 though. I just wanted to know what some good strategies are, how to view zone colors, and how much money you can make per month.

There are strategies to get an entirely high-tech industry economy, mainly by focusing on education. It seems pretty effective.

 

[Wyndru]

Do you have Deluxe edition? If so, that has rush hour built in.
Check out simtropolis.com. Tons of good info on that site, the forums are still very active. You can also find the NAM there (network addon mod), which although I like the game vanilla, this is a must have mod.

The most basic tip I can provide is to start slow, use low density zones, then upgrade them later. Make sure that all services are covered (education, health, power, water, police, fire dept, garbage). For power and water, start off with the cheapest, lowest capacity units and upgrade slowly, so you save money. Money is slow at first, but eventually you will have more than what you know what to do with. One of my city tiles with 5 million sims makes over $50,000 per month, and that is with taxes set to 3%.

I personally like building different city tiles for each type of zone, but if you are just starting out you should just build all in one city to get an idea of what works doesn't.

 

[JTsyo]

When I played, it took time to get the idea of building a city support by the tiles next to it. What would be weird is that the cities would be at different time. I admit I gamed the system a bit by having one tile being the garbage dump and making back the money by selling them water. I couldn't keep my attention on it to develop a whole map. Most I did was 2 large tiles with a handful of smaller ones proving support.
One thing that got annoying was keeping hospitals and schools from overcrowding. Better plan ahead and have a few spots open.
read up on how traffic and mass transit works in the game, it helps when designing the city. For example, having bus stops near your subway stations and trains will really help boost the effectiveness for the entire system.

 

[EvilComputer92]

The game has a lot of stupid problems, so NAM is an essential mod. Once you get to the larger cities later in the game you'll always have certain cities that are total dumps where all garbage gets exported and low income industrial is everywhere. These cities are necessary so neighboring cities can becoming gleaming clean places whit high rise high wealth buildings. You have to have a plan for the entire region once you start connecting cities since every city is dependent on the others.

The sims are insanely demanding, as in they won't drive past 3 or 4 blocks to get to a school, and generally want all services to be within 5 blocks of where they live. They usually complain about commutes that are greater than 5 blocks of driving.

 

[Acanthus]

is there a fix for perma-crime in airports? I'm so sick of it.

How did that make it passed QA and then slip through all the patches?

I hate EA.

They killed one of the most successful franchises in gaming.