Build it Up: Starting a City
Hey everyone! Last week I talked to you about SimCity’s new road tool, how it can be used to control the density of your buildings, and the road guides that help bring it all together. Now that you know a bit more about how our roads work, I’d like to walk you through the planning of a new city.
When planning out how you want to begin building, you should first have a look at the resources available to you in the city by browsing through the data layers. Once you’ve done that, all you need to do is figure out what kind of city you want to make. Various natural resources are available to exploit for additional simoleons, and by taking a quick glance at the land value map, you can get a sense of where the middle and high wealth Sims would prefer to live, provided you spruce up the place (we’ll talk about this in more detail in a future post). Additionally, it’s important to make note of which way the wind is blowing, as setting up dirty industrial buildings upwind of the rest of your city will make your Sims sick from the air pollution. Instead, you should try and put them downwind so you can blow away all that nasty smog.
Fortunately, zoning and unzoning in SimCity is now free, in large part because the infrastructure cost that zoning used to represent is accounted for by tying zones to roads. But it’s important to keep an eye on your simoleons as you make new roads and to start small, particularly in your first city. Power, water, and sewage treatment will still need to be handled once your Sims have broken ground on their new homes. It’s a good idea to start thinking about where you are going to put your dirtier services like garbage and sewage, as well as any Big Businesses you want to pursue. Specialization buildings (like the University, Gambling HQ, Trade HQ, etc.) also provide boosts and penalties to the area around them, and may have several buildings or modules that you’ll need to accommodate, so make sure you leave room in your plan for where they can do the most good and the least harm. Once you have an idea of what you want to do, you’ll want to start laying down your roads.
No city starts in a vacuum, so every new city begins by connecting a road to the highway (after all your people have to come from somewhere). Even though any road can be used, I generally like to start by building out a Medium Density Avenue as a main street coming into the city. This street lets you get up to Mid Density buildings, and has the flexibility to be upgraded to add an additional lane, and even add light rail along the center. These roads are pretty expensive, so to save costs and keep my grid tight, I then like to use two-lane roads or dirt roads to start building out the side streets to maximize my space and keep my useable area compact.
Depending on what specialization I am going for, I can use an avenue to make a direct thoroughfare to my resources, or I can start building it out a beltway around my city to better manage the flow of people within the city. Once I have a few blocks laid out, I will start putting down my zones, so my Sims can get building and generating tax revenue for me. Now that the city is underway, low wealth Sims will move in, but while they are eager to get a new start in your city, if you fail to get your basic services covered, they won’t stay for long. If I was a little overzealous in my initial layout, I can also take out loans to make up for the cost of these services. These are a great way to get a little bit ahead when used wisely. Loan payments can take a real toll on your city as it’s starting out, however, so make sure you keep an eye on your budget!
As my city grows I will need to start thinking about density and traffic flow, so I will likely remove some of those two-lane roads to make larger blocks, and upgrade others to accommodate some of the larger high density buildings we have. Keep in mind that any high density road will get high density buildings, not just the avenues, so when you upgrade your roads you had better be prepared for it with public transportation options and plenty of services, or the city’s demands will really start piling up! I hope this helped you get an idea on how to plan out your cities in SimCity, and with a little exploration of your options and pre-planning I think you should have no trouble setting up a city from scratch.
Comments
Amazing, I am so excited, but
Amazing, I am so excited, but when will we find out about the diner contest? Anyway keep up the wonderful work.
This all works out nicely for
This all works out nicely for me, since I tend to "start small" with just the lowest densities anyway (and lots of gaps for network expansion and park-space).
How do you specialize a city?
How do you specialize a city? Is it just build certain buildings or is there a list before you play where you can pick?
No need to pick before you
No need to pick before you start your city. Big business buildings that allow for specialization are unlocked as your city grows.
Thanks!
Thanks!
we will have a pedenstain
we will have a pedenstain street? in argentina we call it Peatones... i dont know the exact word in english
pedestrian? I haven't heard
pedestrian? I haven't heard anything about that, probably not.
Sidewalk?
Sidewalk?
Pedestrian malls and the like
Pedestrian malls and the like would be amazing. Also having the ability to control where foot traffic prefers to go could be useful.
Interesting idea! But we will
Interesting idea! But we will not have pedestrian only streets in the release version of the game. We definitely have sidewalks though and pedestrians are a lot of fun to watch. Each of the Sims is real, so you can follow them to work, shopping and back home.
The game is hands down
The game is hands down amazing, and while I'm desperately waiting for the Beta, I want to Pre-Order the game. The only problem is I have a Mac, but I want the Digital Deluxe Edition. When I Pre-Order do I get a PC/Mac copy or just PC? If not, when can you bring Mac Pre-Orders?
So no virtual State Street
So no virtual State Street (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Street_(Madison)) in my University city? At least think about it for a later update. ;)
Love the idea of
Love the idea of pedestrianised streets for shopping/mall areas!! CAN. NOT. WAIT.
I know what your talking
I know what your talking about. In Concepción del Uruguay,, there are Peatones about a half a block/a block from La Plaza. They are just like streets, even just as wide, but you can only walk. I think they're called walk-ways, although they're kind of like boardwalks. I don't remember the exact name in English either.
I love the fact that Sim City
I love the fact that Sim City is coming along as a deep and complex city building, can't wait to hear more info about it!
Can you keep adding lanes to
Can you keep adding lanes to an existing road to make it wider? Or is there a limit to how wide it can be?
So the density of a zone is
So the density of a zone is directly and solely dependent on the density a road can hold? E.g. only high-density roads can accommodate high-density zones? Or can two-laned roads accommodate high-density zones?
BETA?
BETA?
But in all reality this is very exciting! Is there a more stream line way to upgrade roads or will we have to destroy the entire city block before increasing the density? I cannot wait to tinker with the new data layers and data gathering agents.
I am a lot less worried about
I am a lot less worried about the mechanics of roads now, because it sounds like the mass transit options will no longer take up awkward space and will be easily integrated into areas that are already developed. One thing that bothered me about the previous sim city games was the fact that to implement mass transit such as bus lines it required you to demolish a few buildings to make room, and it only took one square so if you had a skyscraper in a 3X3 area you couldn't place a bus stop without preventing it from ever being rebuilt and that defeats the purpose of the bus in the first place.
Which is pretty much one of
Which is pretty much one of the big reasons why I look so forward to working with the transit features in this game... Gone are the days of knocking out buildings and placing in awkward stops (that in real life aren't taking up actual city real-state in the first place) and time for some actual tinkering with the ebb and flow of city motion!
I am So excited for this game
I am So excited for this game!
Im hopein that my local game store will have it first day so I can buy it asap!
And 2 Questions:
How much aprox will it be to buy hardcopy?
&
Will there still be a beta scince there is a release date?
Ok, next screen shot please,
Ok, next screen shot please, don't zoom in the city i want to see all the city in 1 screen.
No zoom, stop, please, =/
I always have problem
I always have problem starting the city because I tend to make it to large and want water, fire and police from the beginning. Can't wait to try it out my self, will probably have to start over a couple of times :)
FREE ZONING!?
FREE ZONING!?
Interesting... Hope you won't have to download origin to run this game, I don't like the idea having two programs on my computer to run one game...
Sim City will require you to
Sim City will require you to be signed in to Origin and online all the time you wish to play the game.
Are you gonna have a open
Are you gonna have a open beta??? WANT IT!!!
In multiplayer, if i do not
In multiplayer, if i do not have friends who play the game will i be able to play with random people or is it restricted to friends only?
You can play with random
You can play with random people and you can also play multiple cities yourself in one region.
AHHHHHH!!!! Why is this not
AHHHHHH!!!! Why is this not out yet?! I keep having dreams that I'm playing it only to wake up to realize that I still have to wait several months :(
any word on when the beta
any word on when the beta will come out? i'm really excited to try out this new sim city. the videos and pictures make it look so good!
is there anything that can be
is there anything that can be said on the MAC game (e.g Release date etc...)
Will we be able to name the
Will we be able to name the streets and roads in the game? I would love a feature that allows you to "drag" along the length of a road and then assign it a name. The name could even be used in-game, such as "Fire on Maple Street!". Keep up the good work!
This is looking great so far
This is looking great so far cant wait to play beta and build citys and destory them with disasters such as tornadoes I love tornadoes
Hi, I was wondering...
Hi, I was wondering...
I have Sim City 4 Deluxe Edition. in that game, you are able to make your OWN Sim. This feature also let you pick where you live, which car to have, and where to work. I was curious if there will be the same or similar option.
I was also wondering if you could drive vehicles, trains, planes, and boats like Sim City 4.
I am a huge fan and have always LOVED the Sim City games. I look forward to the new release and will for sure buy it for the Mac when it becomes available. That leads me to my third question. I presume that all the pictures and videos are for the PC version of the game. Will the Mac version be any different, and how so? if you could answer any of these questions, i would be much obliged!
Thank You
Miles-Jensen-555
The game looks good and all
The game looks good and all but Maxis, what happened to the God mode, and large cities? That is what made Simcity 4 so special and awesome. I see there want be any god mode. So what gonna happen, are they going to have a god mode mod. And also what if I don't want to play online?
I feel kinda embarrassed
I feel kinda embarrassed saying this, I've always been a fan of SimCity and have been playing it since SimCity 2000. I have never beaten it. When I say beat it I mean, making a full city and have it be making money.
I was wondering if anyone has read an article about how difficult the game will be?
Wait so building larger roads
Wait so building larger roads automatically zones higher density? That makes no sense, especially when looking at cities like GIlbert, AZ where large 4-6 lane avenues are used in through low density residential suburbs. What is the reason behind making the zoning density an automatic setting vs. making it a players choice?
Do zones and roads upgrade by
Do zones and roads upgrade by themselves or do we have to upgrade them?
Hello to all creators of
Hello to all creators of simcity, I wonder when you guys will release the game here in Brazil, we Brazilians like much of the game, including several sites that have game files. Thank you and I await response.
Will available with grid
Will available with grid vision?. It would be necessary to design my city symmetrically.
It would be a good idea to also have a mirror tool to repeat structures. For example the layout of roads.
Will it have any good or bad
Will it have any good or bad effect on the population of the city if there's too high pollution? (p.s); I want another example other then the water tower situation.
This game looks AMAZING! I
This game looks AMAZING! I signed up for the Beta testing thing, when could I get an email?
THIS GAME SUCKS. ihave a
THIS GAME SUCKS. ihave a REALLY beefy computer for gaming and this game shuts my computer down after 5 min
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