441 replies to this topic

[Warbz]

I meant I would look to see if it was pointing at the road. I've already done the zoning tutorial. I'm guessing I'd just need to rezone that particular area as I put the zone down square by square before placing the roads because I wanted it laid out a certain way.

[TheDR]

You can hold down shift while zoning to create a zone without roads.

[Ion Cannon!]

You can also press end to change the orientation of the zone, also works for all buildings as well.

[Alias]

I thought Alt changed orientation?

[CJ]

W!, on 14 Apr 2010, 12:41, said:

wth... :( It's literally touching a street. I even replaced it with a proper road, no success. :@

Don't forget also that the street connected to that zone has to be at it's turn connected to the other streets of the city, you can't have two neighborhoods which are completely unconnected.

[Ion Cannon!]

Alias, on 14 Apr 2010, 13:31, said:

I thought Alt changed orientation?

I know its end for buildings, but tbh I can't remember what it is for zones, its sort of become automatic.

[Ion Cannon!]

- Yes alt changes the orientation of zones, end changes the orientation of buildings.

Updated downtown shot, I demolished it all and restructured it to allow bigger buildings, its pretty much all 4x4 lots. Some are 5x4.

[Warbz]

Okay, so my first ever 'real' attempt at SimCity4...


Profit megin is errr... marginal. Not really sure what to do now. Go to the block next to it and try again I guess.

[Warbz]

Scrapped that one.
Now have this...


Also, what does it mean if there's a suitcase in a red circle?
Like...

[TheDR]

The suitcase means they can't get any work.

[Kris]

You should read the manual for the basic description of stuff

[Warbz]

Lost it

[Slye_Fox]

Here's my city

New London Keyes


No cheats used, just a few graphics mods (e.g.; the Sea Walls and the no ramp bridges)

[Warbz]

I just can't seem to get skyscrapers. :(

[Ion Cannon!]

W!, on 19 Apr 2010, 11:06, said:

I just can't seem to get skyscrapers. :(

It takes a while, especially the massive commercial ones, as they can provide up to 7k jobs each. The suitcase in red means they don't have a job, or at least some of them don't. It can be due to commute time, or the jobs you have provided are not suitable. Wealthy residents in particular are picky about the jobs they do, but more often than not its just long commute times.

[Wizard]

It might be something to do with the fact that you've zoned it very sparsely. You're wasting huge amounts of space that are clearly needed for more residents and ofc more industry. That is why you won't have skyscrapers as there is no demand for commercial.

[Ion Cannon!]

To get skycraper districts you need to have densely zoned areas, which means an extensive subway system OR use region play so designate one tile as your main commercial city and one as your residential, although if your using low density you will need more than one tile of low density housing.

The game has stage limits, and these aren't unlocked until your regional population is high enough. I think the stage limit for the massive commercial buildings is 500k residents, and even then they will only be a certain proportion of your city. Theres 8 stages, stage 8 being the tallest, to begin with only about 3% of your buildings are allowed to be stage 8, as your population increases, so does the % of buildings allowed to be stage 8. Unlike demand caps, stage caps are regionwide, once you grow stage 8 buildings in one city, they can grow in any city of that region - even a brand new city.

EDIT: Updated region shot, not done any work on it since friday, as i've been away this weekend.

Edited by Ion Cannon!, 19 April 2010 - 15:39.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Wow, I never knew about stage limits. It was a bitch trying to get enough people in one city to get skyscrapers and fusion plants. Often I would just settle for making small sleepy coastal hamlets, trying to give my cities a little character.

[Ion Cannon!]

Updated region shot, getting quite large now. I'm also making some cities which aren't just skyscraper forests though.

Biggest city has 2.2million res, 1.4 million commercial and 300k industrial.

Edited by Ion Cannon!, 08 May 2010 - 15:51.

[Ion Cannon!]

Back home for 2 weeks, so boredom is kicking in, thankfully I have shitloads of games to play.

Heres my new city, Eaton. Its my biggest yet, 3 million and counting. Of course with such a large population you would think traffic would be a nightmare, not so - I have an extensive underground highway / avenue systems and a massive subway network.

There are still two areas which can undergo development, one of which will be a suburban area with parks and canals and the other will be a high class neighbourhood with some commercial highrises situated along the canals.

Edited by Ion Cannon!, 20 June 2010 - 10:56.

[Dutchygamer]

Don't you get massive lag when having such large cities with so many structures?

[Alias]

You have way too much patience and time on your hands, Ion.

[Ion Cannon!]

Making big citys is easy, making a good looking realistic one is the hard bit. Eaton took a fair amount of time, but probably less than you might think. I do however have to much free time at the moment, I miss university..

@Dutchy - I get some lag if I turn on shadows, but I turn them off as they don't make much difference visually anyway. Without shadows, there is no lag at all, the only hit is when you switch from overground to underground view, it can take a few seconds to load.

[Dutchygamer]

Hmm, I should try that next time I play this game. Thanks for the tip

[CJ]

I don't see how you can manage to build such cities without feeling the urge to use that excellent catastrophe option to turn everything into ashes