SIM City 5 - Actual Strategy Discussion

[redrider4life4]

Have they fixed the region issues? IE can you have an oil city, ore city, then send those resources over to a tv city?

This is never worth it because you make so much money just importing the goods for money and selling, I mean you can do that, but you will be limiting your profit. Plus at some point your resources will run dry so you have to switch to something else anyway.

In my cities I drill/mine all the resources asap then switch over to TVs asap or another specialty.

 

[MrSquished]

This is never worth it because you make so much money just importing the goods for money and selling, I mean you can do that, but you will be limiting your profit. Plus at some point your resources will run dry so you have to switch to something else anyway.

In my cities I drill/mine all the resources asap then switch over to TVs asap or another specialty.

that's exactly what ive been doing. mine, then smelt, then processors, then tv's. when your minerals run out, you can import the alloy and plastic (and recycle it) and produce the tv's and make a profit. my cities become purely residential with the mining and manufacturing operations and services. no commercial and no industrial. you make bank. my city budgets are generally around -50k an hour but you make it up and way more with the trade. at least could we build a larger variety of manufacturing stuff.

the only other option is to go full tourist. it seems there are only two different economies to build/specialize in. starting to wish there were more options.

 

[paperfist]

that's exactly what ive been doing. mine, then smelt, then processors, then tv's. when your minerals run out, you can import the alloy and plastic (and recycle it) and produce the tv's and make a profit. my cities become purely residential with the mining and manufacturing operations and services. no commercial and no industrial. you make bank. my city budgets are generally around -50k an hour but you make it up and way more with the trade. at least could we build a larger variety of manufacturing stuff.

the only other option is to go full tourist. it seems there are only two different economies to build/specialize in. starting to wish there were more options.

Stupid question, with mining and manufacturing operations alone where do your sims work? It doesn't seem like there would be enough jobs to support a large population that way.

 

[dagamer34]

This is never worth it because you make so much money just importing the goods for money and selling, I mean you can do that, but you will be limiting your profit. Plus at some point your resources will run dry so you have to switch to something else anyway.

In my cities I drill/mine all the resources asap then switch over to TVs asap or another specialty.

Then again, the game was designed to have global market pricing turned on, but it's off right now. Prices will eventually fluctuate such that raw goods cost a ton and TVs/computers/processors aren't as profitable.

 

[MrSquished]

Stupid question, with mining and manufacturing operations alone where do your sims work? It doesn't seem like there would be enough jobs to support a large population that way.

in the beginning i do zone commercial and industrial, maybe about 20-25% total of the land. after you hit 50k and you have a specialization going, i just end up rezoning most of them. my two cities at 100k+ have virtually no industrial or commercial zones in them.

 

[Newbian]

Stupid question, with mining and manufacturing operations alone where do your sims work? It doesn't seem like there would be enough jobs to support a large population that way.

Have a heavy indust city in the region they commute to.

 

[pcslookout]

I like this.

 

[KentState]

Stupid question, with mining and manufacturing operations alone where do your sims work? It doesn't seem like there would be enough jobs to support a large population that way.

You would be surprised about how many sims it takes to operate the specializations. I have almost no industrial in my mining towns.

 

[randay]

one of my cities is so broken its actually kind of funny. 44k pop, 335k visiting. theres so much traffic the criminals cant get into my city. streetcars are broken. i abandoned to try and fix it, reclaimed and gifted myself 2m. now the 2m gift happens every month. the line of cars to go into my city literally goes all the way to other cites and god knows how much more further lol. i bet it would be a complete loop if it drew that far.

 

[KentState]

one of my cities is so broken its actually kind of funny. 44k pop, 335k visiting. theres so much traffic the criminals cant get into my city. streetcars are broken. i abandoned to try and fix it, reclaimed and gifted myself 2m. now the 2m gift happens every month. the line of cars to go into my city literally goes all the way to other cites and god knows how much more further lol. i bet it would be a complete loop if it drew that far.

I found that breaking the connection to the region will remove most traffic.

 

[paperfist]

http://imgur.com/a/2WzBT

Chart about tax rates and their effect on happiness.

 

[KentState]

http://imgur.com/a/2WzBT

Chart about tax rates and their effect on happiness.

Nice find. Basically tells me that I can jack up taxes without an impact on happiness.

 

[Mixolydian]

One of my cities is running out of water. There is very little water left in the water table. According to the in-game guide, rivers and lakes provide unlimited water. I have a water pumping station right next to a river, but it's still running dry.

 

[BrightCandle]

Sewage plants add to the water table. Put you water extraction next to a sewage plant and it will basically run forever.

 

[MrSquished]

Sewage plants add to the water table. Put you water extraction next to a sewage plant and it will basically run forever.

yep that's what i had to do. and make sure you use the filtration units otherwise you will be pumping dirty water to your sims.

now from the get go i plan on my sewage plant and water treatment plant right across from each other.

you can delete the original water plants 1st default unit and make it a filtration pump fyi. go into the water building add on mode and then select the bulldoze button, you can now delete the individual original unit and make it the right filtration kind.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Are you using sewage outflow pipes or sewage treatment plants? I don't believe the treatment plants cause ground pollution so I don't quite understand why you need a filter as well.

 

[redrider4life4]

Agreed, you shouldn't need the filter if you have a treatment plant. Some people just delete their outflow pipe and then put a treatment plant on top which won't work because the ground pollution is there from the sewage outflow pipe. When you switch over you need to relocate your sewage treatment plant.

 

[BrightCandle]

Use some trees to clean up the area over a time period and you can eventually put something there again. But yes water treatment shouldn't be necessary with a sewage treatment plan, it already cleans up the water that goes into the water table.

 

[MrSquished]

Are you using sewage outflow pipes or sewage treatment plants? I don't believe the treatment plants cause ground pollution so I don't quite understand why you need a filter as well.

the ground around my sewage treatment plants is brown, which i took it to mean its polluted water.

 

[Genx87]

So I built up one of my cities to produce TVs\Computers and gifted the other city 600K to fix its problems. I used the 600K to build up a TC\Computer industry and it is making cash big time. So I used the proceeds to fund a rejuvenation program and fix up the park situation to increase high wealth sims. It ends with having a much taller and nicer skyline but my population was cut in half. From 240K to 125K. My budget is a mess but I make so much from exporting TVs and computers my wallets is approaching 3 million.

So i am assuming a taller building doesnt translate into higher density?
Also does the value of exporting TVs or Computers ever go down?
And is it possible to have the Willis Tower + Empire State building in the same city and they both make money? Two of my cities have these and neither can make them both profitable. It is either one or the other.

Also if I build the solar array in the great works will it provide enough power for the surrounding cities?

 

[HarvardAce]

So i am assuming a taller building doesnt translate into higher density?

The "tallest" buildings are high density *and* high wealth. High density but medium or low wealth buildings are still high density, but aren't visibly as tall. That said, density goes down as you go up in wealth. For example, a high density low wealth residential building holds 600 sims, while a high wealth one only holds 100 sims, even though they both cover the same amount of land. Therefore, your density level didn't change, but your sims went down because your wealth level went up.

Also does the value of exporting TVs or Computers ever go down?

It is supposed to be dynamic based on supply and demand, but Maxis/EA hasn't enabled that aspect of their simulation yet.

And is it possible to have the Willis Tower + Empire State building in the same city and they both make money? Two of my cities have these and neither can make them both profitable. It is either one or the other.

You probably don't have enough tourists or ways to get them into the city.

Also if I build the solar array in the great works will it provide enough power for the surrounding cities?

I think it provides something like 18,000 MW which should be more than enough to run every city in the region.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

For what it's worth, none of my tactics to increase high wealth tourism has done much and I've tried many different things.

None of those ultra-expensive landmarks have done anything other than drain money. The pro stadium is ok but KILLS traffic.

 

[HarvardAce]

For what it's worth, none of my tactics to increase high wealth tourism has done much and I've tried many different things.

None of those ultra-expensive landmarks have done anything other than drain money. The pro stadium is ok but KILLS traffic.

Drop an airport or a cruise ship terminal, the high wealth tourists flow in from there.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

In past cities I've done the cruise ship thing without much luck. My current main city doesn't have water access, but it does have an airport with the passenger terminal.... Still no luck. It also has rail access and the nicer buses.

 

[velillen]

I played my first real city this weekend. Only saw real since my other cities were more learning curves. This city ended up being one too. But the city sits around 290-320k people. First tim ei really went for a specialization and did the electronics. Will say i hit around 250k with just RCI and nothing special. Just time mostly and i had a decent budget. Mostly low and medium wealth sims. Was about the time i hit 200k i started to go for the specialization. Which in turn put my budget all to crap. I struggled a bit since the specializations made my budget income negative. But i was ok with exports making enough. But then it seemed like services just couldnt keep up. Police stations (1 large and 2 smalls) kept saying high crime in area and the such. Then i ran into water problems. Cant seem to get enough that lasts. Zoning wise has just become a bit annoying. I have things spread out preventing me from really fixing issues like water. My roads and traffic are a mess. But i still have ~3mil in the bank. Learned a lot this go around and Im going to start another city now and hopefully itll work a lot smoother in the more mid-high pop time frame.

Anyways i know what i did wrong and ill zone it a ton better in the next city!