Tweet
Yes the best trick to learn is never, ever, ever plop a building down and ignore its personal sliders. Always go into the query tool and click on it to adjust its funding level and its radius (if different). Revisit it regularly and change it to meet current demand. unlike S3k it will change all the time. If you keep flicking back to the city ratings screen you'll soon see if the ratings are stable. Anything going << which you haven't messed with lately needs attention. Probably one of the facilities is overstretched. Don't wait for strikes or messages that your police force are ordering 9 different varieties of donut from their local delicatessen to address issues 
I'm having luck with my high-cost strategy now. Here's how it works:
- pick a large flat tile (no sense in making things hard in your first game)
- switch to pause mode
- select a large police station and position it so that the effect radius is nearly touching two edges. Plop it down and immediately reduce its funding to a small level after making a note of what full funding is normally (the top of the slider is over-funding, you don't want that.)
- Make it the corner of a road intersection. Draw the roads to the 2 nearby map edges and connect to your neighbours.
- Establish a sunstantial grid of 9x9 zones around the intersection by drawing in streets. Check out how many to make by looking at the police radius when at normal funding (not maximum funding.) Leave the centre empty because its going to be commercial and public buildings. Zone the rest as medium residential with a tree filled 3x3 gap in the centre.
- In the corner where the police coverage won't reach, site your power station and leave room for all the other nasty stuff like garbage later. Dial down its power output to 25%.
- To one side of your residential grid create an industrial grid. For the time being it will need no police or fire cover. It needs to be about the size a small/fire police station can cover to provide jobs for all the residential you have zoned.
- Use a water tower and pipes to provide water to your zones.
Once the sim starts running you should have no problems with sims move in. The police radii should slowly be notched up to provide increasing safety. Some commerce can be added to your town centre. This can be followed by a large fire station once your income is positive. Pretty soon you'll need another water tower and can think about introducing an elementary school.
The only time I have problems is when water pollution gets heavy from the industrial pollution. Placing a water treatment plant will solve this but normally causes a crash in income. That has to be rectified with some or all of the deals. I've had no problems with the missile base having sited it on the far side of a 10x10 agricultural zone. A few orange trees have been singed but nothing serious.
As soon as you have filled your orriginal area and can afford to start a new police-coverage sized grid you should see your money soar. Currently I am at 32,000 population pulling in $2,500 a month at a tax rate of $9.00 and all RCI indicators strongly positive (except heavy industry who are moving out in favour of high tech due to my ordinances and education levels.) At last I'm starting to see my first true high-rises. The city is making all sorts of tempting new buildings available, many for free. I'm replacing some of the 3x3 empty spaces with parks, plazas and sports grounds. This demands an access road but thats a good excuse to demolish the ugliest building on the block
I'm having luck with my high-cost strategy now. Here's how it works:
- pick a large flat tile (no sense in making things hard in your first game)
- switch to pause mode
- select a large police station and position it so that the effect radius is nearly touching two edges. Plop it down and immediately reduce its funding to a small level after making a note of what full funding is normally (the top of the slider is over-funding, you don't want that.)
- Make it the corner of a road intersection. Draw the roads to the 2 nearby map edges and connect to your neighbours.
- Establish a sunstantial grid of 9x9 zones around the intersection by drawing in streets. Check out how many to make by looking at the police radius when at normal funding (not maximum funding.) Leave the centre empty because its going to be commercial and public buildings. Zone the rest as medium residential with a tree filled 3x3 gap in the centre.
- In the corner where the police coverage won't reach, site your power station and leave room for all the other nasty stuff like garbage later. Dial down its power output to 25%.
- To one side of your residential grid create an industrial grid. For the time being it will need no police or fire cover. It needs to be about the size a small/fire police station can cover to provide jobs for all the residential you have zoned.
- Use a water tower and pipes to provide water to your zones.
Once the sim starts running you should have no problems with sims move in. The police radii should slowly be notched up to provide increasing safety. Some commerce can be added to your town centre. This can be followed by a large fire station once your income is positive. Pretty soon you'll need another water tower and can think about introducing an elementary school.
The only time I have problems is when water pollution gets heavy from the industrial pollution. Placing a water treatment plant will solve this but normally causes a crash in income. That has to be rectified with some or all of the deals. I've had no problems with the missile base having sited it on the far side of a 10x10 agricultural zone. A few orange trees have been singed but nothing serious.
As soon as you have filled your orriginal area and can afford to start a new police-coverage sized grid you should see your money soar. Currently I am at 32,000 population pulling in $2,500 a month at a tax rate of $9.00 and all RCI indicators strongly positive (except heavy industry who are moving out in favour of high tech due to my ordinances and education levels.) At last I'm starting to see my first true high-rises. The city is making all sorts of tempting new buildings available, many for free. I'm replacing some of the 3x3 empty spaces with parks, plazas and sports grounds. This demands an access road but thats a good excuse to demolish the ugliest building on the block
Comment