SIM City 5 - Actual Strategy Discussion

[iamwiz82]

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?

I have ~100,000 people, 7 or 8 casinos and the Willis Tower and Empire State Building all are profitable over the course of a day.

 

[pwoz]

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

This means either you built it on top of a polluted water table, or your treatment plant lacks sufficient capacity to deal with all the sewage, at which point it dumps raw sewage. If it's working properly it will dump clean water.

 

[Wreckem]

Is it safe to buy yet?

 

[KentState]

Is it safe to buy yet?

My advice is to wait until you get the game on sale. There is still a lot broke/bugged with the game and it will be probably take a few months to sort out. Nothing worth rushing into unless you just have to play the game.

 

[dagamer34]

Is it safe to buy yet?

Depends on what your reasons for not buying was. Server issues are... largely fixed (i've never personally had my cities roll back and I've been playing since the 11th). Traffic has improved somewhat, though I've never explicitly tested it. There are still features like Cheetah speed, leader boards and global trading turned off last I checked, so I would wait until those are turned on before buying or if you find some ridiculously good deal.

 

[sswingle]

I'm happy enough with the game, although traffic is still a nightmare once your city gets larger and/or you have a lot of tourists. Learning ways to make it better but the whole left hand turn thing is pretty ridiculous.

 

[paperfist]

I have ~100,000 people, 7 or 8 casinos and the Willis Tower and Empire State Building all are profitable over the course of a day.

It must be all about placement. I have the Empire State Building in a dense area, but not the densest. It does have rail and avenue connections, but it doesn't do that great. I have Big Ben in a dense area, not to far away from the region connection and it does well.

Casinos I can't figure out. I have a sleek one near the Empire State Building with the 2 gambling wings, hotels, etc and I loose my shirt in the tune of $52,000. I have like 3 million tourist in my city and the population is 60k.

Now for kicks I started a new city, it has a pop of 300 and I built a casino right off the region connection and it makes $32,000. I don't get it.

 

[Mixolydian]

this game really pisses me off yet i cant stop playing........

 

[KentState]

Well, I built an Arcology and it wrecked my region. Crime in all cities is out of control, fires everywhere, education levels dropped to zero and traffic is a mess.

 

[dagamer34]

It must be all about placement. I have the Empire State Building in a dense area, but not the densest. It does have rail and avenue connections, but it doesn't do that great. I have Big Ben in a dense area, not to far away from the region connection and it does well.

Casinos I can't figure out. I have a sleek one near the Empire State Building with the 2 gambling wings, hotels, etc and I loose my shirt in the tune of $52,000. I have like 3 million tourist in my city and the population is 60k.

Now for kicks I started a new city, it has a pop of 300 and I built a casino right off the region connection and it makes $32,000. I don't get it.

You need to make sure those tourists are high wealth tourists.

 

[TheUnk]

Placement is so important it's stupid.

I had a bus terminal directly next to a tourist attraction, can't remember which exactly. Anyways it always capped in # of tourists. I had a second one 2 buildings over that was doing just as well. Later on I built a road between the terminal and the attraction. Nothing should have stopped sims from going there, the only difference was they had to cross the street.

Visitors at that site stopped entirely.

 

[paperfist]

You need to make sure those tourists are high wealth tourists.

Any tips?

There's parks galore, cruise ships, landmarks, etc all around the casino. The land values are green. Not sure if that directly influences the tourists or if it's just luck of the draw from the region.

Well, I built an Arcology and it wrecked my region. Crime in all cities is out of control, fires everywhere, education levels dropped to zero and traffic is a mess.

Thanks for the heads up, was just going to embark on that project. Were there any benefits to building it?

 

[Mixolydian]

My sims are all very unhappy. Educated, medium wealth. I zone commercial/industrial areas and they go vacant because they can't get any workers - then I zone those areas residential and they complain there are no jobs and they have no money. Got plenty of parks, an expo center, plenty of public transit.

UGH!!!

 

[paperfist]

My sims are all very unhappy. Educated, medium wealth. I zone commercial/industrial areas and they go vacant because they can't get any workers - then I zone those areas residential and they complain there are no jobs and they have no money. Got plenty of parks, an expo center, plenty of public transit.

UGH!!!

I like to mix commercial with residential. A lot of times even if I put a small commercial plop near residential zones those green smiley faces pop up right away. Sims want to spend the money they have and the farther they have to go to shop the less likely they will.

If you have a large population you might need buses or to sort out the roads a bit for better flow.

 

[KentState]

Any tips?

There's parks galore, cruise ships, landmarks, etc all around the casino. The land values are green. Not sure if that directly influences the tourists or if it's just luck of the draw from the region.



Thanks for the heads up, was just going to embark on that project. Were there any benefits to building it?

From what I read, the arcology is suppose to boost shoppers, workers and education. I just wanted to try building a great work, but it wasn't that exciting/beneficial when completed.

 

[Redinit]

It can get kind of stupid. I have a city with no water, sewage, electricity, yet my population is increasing from 120K+ as long as taxes are at 0%

Foolishness

 

[Mixolydian]

I like to mix commercial with residential. A lot of times even if I put a small commercial plop near residential zones those green smiley faces pop up right away. Sims want to spend the money they have and the farther they have to go to shop the less likely they will.

If you have a large population you might need buses or to sort out the roads a bit for better flow.

Yeah I've been doing that too. Plenty of buses and streetcars/avenues.

I have a couple of police stations and one police precinct. When funds are low I turn off the precinct to save $$$$, and when I turn it on the population drops. :hmm:

 

[bonkers325]

Played a few hours last night in dagamer34's (Falafelist's) region last night. Built my entire city on medium avenues, then upgraded to streetcar avenues eventually. My entire city is serviced by streetcars; except the streetcars all go to the same stop. There will be literally a depot's worth of streetcars lined up to go to one stop. It's kind of silly.

 

[bonkers325]

I have ~100,000 people, 7 or 8 casinos and the Willis Tower and Empire State Building all are profitable over the course of a day.

How profitable are your casinos and tourist attractions? I put down a tourist attraction next to my rail station and it made $15k/day when the going was good. It fluctuates a lot though, I don't know how to control tourism yet.

 

[Nintendesert]

How profitable are your casinos and tourist attractions? I put down a tourist attraction next to my rail station and it made $15k/day when the going was good. It fluctuates a lot though, I don't know how to control tourism yet.

I'm betting real cities have those kinds of problems too. Booms and busts for those kinds of venues.

 

[redrider4life4]

I built the Arcology too and it is slowly destroying my city, when I first built it everything was fine because it's population was only 300k. Fast forward, now it's population is at over 1 million and there is a line of traffic from the arcology to my city and all my streets are now grid locked.

Since my city was a TV city my entire income is based on shipments of processors/tvs which can't get made due to traffic so I am bleeding dry, I can't even log into my city because it will just die until this issue is fixed.

 

[Wreckem]

Depends on what your reasons for not buying was. Server issues are... largely fixed (i've never personally had my cities roll back and I've been playing since the 11th). Traffic has improved somewhat, though I've never explicitly tested it. There are still features like Cheetah speed, leader boards and global trading turned off last I checked, so I would wait until those are turned on before buying or if you find some ridiculously good deal.

Well I got it for $19.99+tax at amazon.

Amazon had the boxed copy going for $39.99. But they have a special if you by $15 worth of Dove Mens Care + products you get $20 off of select EA games(Sim City being one of them).

 

[maevinj]

Well I got it for $19.99+tax at amazon.

Amazon had the boxed copy going for $39.99. But they have a special if you by $15 worth of Dove Mens Care + products you get $20 off of select EA games(Sim City being one of them).

Wow that's actually a good deal. You should post that in the hot deals section.

 

[bonkers325]

Wow that's actually a good deal. You should post that in the hot deals section.

if you pre-ordered you have a $20 promotional code that you can use as well... potential free sim city 5 if you want to. unfortunately, i don't know anybody who would want to play sc5 even if it were free

 

[TheUnk]

It can get kind of stupid. I have a city with no water, sewage, electricity, yet my population is increasing from 120K+ as long as taxes are at 0%

Foolishness

Yep. Nobody cares if taxes are 0%. I have a city with just over 1 million. No water, power, sewage, trash, police, fire, clinics, nothing at all but residential. Fires don't happen, people don't get sick, crime is non-existant.

Oddly enough only 11,000 of them commute out. The rest stay there, jobless, no power, parks, doing nothing. Just existing. Then again maybe the other 990,000 don't really exist in the first place, from that fudged population stuff..

Whats also strange is that the next city over, which is all commercial, has high fires and crime even though commercial taxes are 0% too. For some reason criminals come to this city from the "normal" city nearby, but those criminals never visit my pure residential city.