Playing SimCity 4 has been around for a while now, and the biggest thing I've learned from this game is that it's not easy to be a mayor, and you have to learn to be smart with your money, or else you'll be kicked out of the mayor's chair if you don't get your good deed done. From the beginning of the play when the debt, to now built up can live thousands of people in the high-rise buildings, the heart of the feeling is quite a lot, now I am in the game of the experience introduced to you, I hope that you can benefit from it, to enjoy the fun of building the city.
I. Basic knowledge - ten essential common sense:
1. $,$$$,$$$ - money is everything
These three signs represent the income of the residents of your city high and low. In descending order, they are $$$, $$$, $$$.
Note: In the game you have to try to attract high-income people ($$$$), who will pay a lot of taxes, so that your city will have enough money to run.
2. High Density, Medium Density, Low Density - different densities, different sizes
As the name suggests, they each represent the density of this area. If you build a low-density residential area, this area will never be able to develop into a high-rise building, at most a small building with dozens of people, of course, the higher the density, the greater the cost.
Note: high density is not the same as high income, do not think that you built a high-density area of those high-income residents will come, the same low-density areas may be living in high-income population. For example, you can often see low-density areas built on the high-income villas.
3. RCI - It's all up to you:
It refers to the amount of demand for each aspect of the city. It is very important and changes on the 1st of every month depending on the growth of the city, so it is very important for you to look at it at the beginning of every month in order to target the construction of various facilities.
Note: In RCI, there is a distinction between services and commerce, but in Build there is only commerce. That's because the game's services are included in commerce, and the game automatically chooses whether to build services or commerce based on the RCI, and the density is not tied to income, just like residential areas.
4. Pause key, high speed key - city development, high speed magic
The previous mentioned that at the beginning of each month it is best to take a look at the RCI, this time we need to use the pause key, if you do not use the time to let the time to go forward will cause delays in the timing of the construction of the city is best to build the best in the pause mode. I generally only use two keys pause and high speed key, so that neither waste of time, but also can be quickly developed, the middle key two role is not big.
5. Landmarks - the rich man's game:
Landmarks are some of the most famous buildings in the world, but they're also the most expensive in the game, and have a monthly maintenance fee. Unfortunately, it only makes the city look better, but it doesn't bring you any extra income. I hope EA will improve it in the future and add a tourism industry to increase the income. So if you're not particularly rich, don't build it.
Surprise: In order to make you appreciate the charm of SimCity 4, I have made 5 screenshots of SimCity 4 for you:
(1) Residential and commercial area (day view) (2) Residential and commercial area (night view 1) (3) Residential and commercial area (night view 2)
Note: These three pictures contain all the coordinates of SimCity and many of the distinctive buildings. buildings, which are carefully designed by me. Please compare (2) and (3) carefully. Some of the coordinate buildings can not be lit up at the same time, it may be designed by EA intentionally, so that the night view can be different every time. The other two are screenshots of the day and night scenes in the high-tech area.
6. City Polls - Residents are God
In the game, city polls can clearly reflect the operation of the city, if a certain item is in a rising state (green to the right of the small arrows, the more arrows that indicate that the faster the rise) means that you do this aspect of the very good. If an item is on the decline (small red arrows to the left, more arrows means the faster the decline) you need to quickly open the overview and select the item that is declining to find out why.
7. Overview - city status at a glance
It allows you to see all aspects of the city, such as education and pollution, gives coverage and displays them in different colors depending on the weight, which is very clear and useful. It's very clear and useful. Managing your city from now on is much easier with it.
Note: Pressing the small arrow on the top right shows the coverage of public **** facilities clearly on the mini-map. The map also shows the degree of pollution in different colors. This is more intuitive and visual.
Tip: Select "Area" and press the small arrow. See if you can see the state of your city planning at a glance.
This will help you to change your original low-density planning to high-density areas later in the game.
8. Table - City development rules, in your hands
It reflects the city's development status in the last year in the form of curves, and there are curves for available and current usage of power and water resources. So please pay attention to it.
9. My Citizen Mode - Caring for Citizens Every Day:
My Citizen Mode is a very unique feature that allows you to get a more direct view of how each resident is doing. In the game you can choose any 5 citizens and listen to them. If they pass away, their children and grandchildren will take over and continue to tell you the truth about their lives. My Citizen Mode makes up for the shortcomings of Profile, for example, when the city grows to a certain size, it builds a lot of schools. It is hard to see the coverage of each school in the Overview, and since the coverage of elementary schools is small, it is easy to overlook some places. This is where my Citizen Mode comes in handy, if you put citizens into the area you can learn about every aspect of the area from their mouths, which usually speak with a bit of humor. You can also move them out of the area and put them where they are more needed if you feel the area is no longer in need of observation.
10. Consultants - sound advice, wise choices
They are your advisors, and they will give you the best urban planning advice. When you achieve results in a certain area they will not mince words of praise, but when you can not satisfy them, they will also give you the harshest criticism, according to their words to do it, I believe you will benefit greatly.
II. At the beginning of the start - careful planning - planning in advance - twice the result with half the effort
In the early stages of urban construction you have to have a plan, I present my experience to you. Residential areas should be 3 × 3 square grid, supplemented by 3 × 4, special circumstances can be built 4 × 4 grid will be accounted for later, other forms of square grid should not be built. Because it is very easy to appear "no connection out of the road" situation square grid above the marking will be displayed. This will make the city look beautiful, but also to ensure the smooth flow of traffic.
When building, you should first draw the grid with roads, and leave a 3×3 space in the center so that you can fill it with neighborhoods. Why don't we use the "streets" that come with the neighborhoods? First of all, we need to understand that residential areas come with "streets", not "highways". Highway" is a high capacity road, while "street" is a low capacity road. In the middle of the process, "street" will not be enough to meet the requirements of the city, and the traffic conditions will deteriorate, so instead of having to change it sooner or later, it is better to build a "highway" for the first time, and the highway will not be expensive either. The first highway also plays a role in planning, the game comes with the "street" after all can not be arranged according to our wishes.
Tips: You can drag the mouse to select the area you want to build when you build a residential area, instead of filling in the planned roads one by one. You don't have to fill in the planned roads one by one. The same applies to other areas.
Here are the steps for development:
Preparation: Press the pause button.
1. Plan the roads first.
Note: Since large medical centers take up a 3×4 grid, make sure there is a 3×4 square in the middle at the beginning.
2. Build a clinic, police station, water tower, and wind power station.
Note; building these types of buildings together doesn't mean building them right next to each other, it means that the squares they're on are together
The reason for not building large facilities straight from the start is because they're too expensive to maintain, and they have all sorts of problems if you fund it down to what you think is appropriate. For example: when you reduce the funding for a large medical center so that it has just enough beds to cover your patient load, it's supposed to save money and meet your needs, but within two months it's guaranteed that the doctors will go on strike. The same is true of the police station; you reduce the funding to just enough so that the police station covers the residential area, and the thieves celebrate in unison because the police are also on strike. This is because at the beginning, no one will have many patients, and no one's neighborhoods are likely to be large. I'm guessing that EA set a ratio for the various utilities when designing the game, and below that there's a high chance that something will go wrong. And of course you try not to have your patient count higher than your bed count that would be just as bad. The adverse reaction to underfunding utilities is a leaky pipe, and you'll have to go in every month and get that pipe to patch things up. If you do not adjust the funds to the normal standard that is, the white line at the same situation, but the problem is that the cost is too high, my approach is the beginning of the game to adjust the funds to about 3/5 of the normal funds, if there is a leakage phenomenon on the funds to the standard, so that the pipe does not leak, and then a month and then adjust the funds to a little more than 3/5, and so on and so forth until the pipe does not leak until the general Once or twice will be fine. This saves a lot of money. Oh, not easy ah!
3. To these buildings as the center, to the surrounding residential areas, mixed with a small number of commercial areas, because the beginning of the commercial demand is not large, the specific construction of how much according to the RCI.
Note: At the beginning of the game, the residential and commercial areas are mainly low-density, because this can save a lot of money. And even if you plan a high-density area, you can only build up some small houses. Later, you can change the low density to medium density or high density. You just have to remove the original zoning and rebuild it again. The density of the area can be found in the "General Information", see above.
4. Industrial zones are mainly planned as 4×4 or 5×5 neighborhoods, which saves roads and makes the factories denser.
Note: The industrial area is a fire-prone area. So it is very necessary to build a fire station. But it is best to have a certain scale in the industrial area and then build the beginning of the fire is unlikely to occur, so that another part of the savings. Industrial areas should not be built together with residential areas because they inevitably produce pollution, so they should be separated from residential areas by a certain distance. The middle must be connected by roads, so that the industrial area can solve the employment problem of the residents, but also conducive to the development of the industrial area.
5. Let the water coverage encompasses the entire residential area connected by water pipes, wind power station funds to just meet the needs of the residential area can be used to account for the amount of 80% to 90% of production, if there is no water and no electricity even low-income ($) residents will not come.
Note: the coverage of the water pipe is extended to the left and right of each of the 6 squares, the construction of special attention, do not let the coverage of the water pipe overlap with each other to ensure maximum utilization of the water pipe, after all, the water pipe also need to repair costs ah.
6. If you want to build, you can also build an agricultural area to replace the industrial area, or both. But in my experience, building an agricultural district is not a good way to make money. We can't get tax revenue from an agricultural district. It can solve the problem of employment for a small portion of the population, but the main effect is to increase the demand for RCI residential areas, if your residential area demand stops trying to build some agricultural areas might help a lot. But from the point of view of making money, I do not recommend that you build agricultural zones.
Note: the demand for agricultural areas has been very large do not therefore wildly build agricultural areas, the footprint is also very large, the development of a period of time will also produce water pollution pollution is no less than the degree of industrial zones, which is one of the reasons why I do not recommend the industrial zones can not be in the limited space to produce the greatest benefits.
Start: Press the high speed key.
7. After a few months of development press the pause button, observe the RCI demand and build according to the demand.
Note: It is not easy to build too much at this time, 5.6 cells (3×3 squares) per month will do. If the plot planned last month has not yet been developed, there is no rush to plan again until it is built.
8. After a period of development to maximize the use of small fire stations, elementary schools, police stations, clinics (if necessary, you can increase the fund to expand the scope) can be transformed. The police station into a police station, the small fire station into a large fire station, the clinic into a large medical center, in addition to adding an elementary school this is because the coverage of the elementary school is much smaller in comparison. If funds are available a high school could also be added to help attract a higher income population. The water tower can be converted to a pumping station as needed in the middle of the development, since water is not in high demand.
Note: At this point, be sure to cut back on each facility just enough money, otherwise it is likely to fall into a cash flow dilemma.
9. If the expenses are too large, it will be "financial collapse", then the consultant will propose some solutions. For example, "missile base ($ 450)", "toxic waste treatment plant ($ 400)", "military base ($ 350)", etc., they will increase a small amount of additional income. It is better to build them at the edge of the map. It is better to build them on the edge of the map so that they do not pollute the environment. Don't worry about the no-power sign, you'll still get money even if you don't have power.
Note: Do not intentionally build more than you need to in order to earn this extra money. SimCity 4 is a city in which it is quite difficult to make a profit once you have lost money, because if you cut back on money to make a profit, you will inevitably bring some bad effects, resulting in a loss of inhabitants, and the tax revenue will naturally be reduced. These facilities will undoubtedly act as your "lifesaver", allowing you to maintain the normal development of the city and turn it into a profit.
Special reminder: SimCity's loans give me the feeling of a "trap", he does not let you pay off once a few years later, but to pay a portion of the monthly payment, ten years to pay off, after calculating the interest rate is as high as 46.4% usury? This has been a loss for the financial is undoubtedly worse, the city is very easy to fall into a vicious circle of not enough to borrow again, borrowed more loss. It is strongly recommended that you do not loan as much as possible, try to get out of the financial difficulties through other means specific methods can refer to the following (II.6).
10. Don't raise taxes because it costs too much, think of other ways. The game's 7.5% tax rate is reasonable. If you don't believe me, you can raise the tax to 20% and make sure that almost all the buildings in your city will be black. See (II.8) for a solution to the "black room" problem
II. Mid-development - Steady as She Goes - Top 10 Questions - Answered for You
By this point in your development, your city has grown to a small size, and you'll be able to use every penny wisely. The city will grow steadily. The approach to development is much the same as in the early stages, but I'll give you some specific advice on what to do in the middle stages:
1. Are education facilities that important?
My feeling is that it is very important. With a well-developed education system, you can attract more high-income residents to your city, and lay a solid foundation for the construction of high-tech industries later on.
2. How many educational facilities are appropriate?
It's best to have every area covered by an elementary school and a middle school. The university can build one at this point, it is to cover the whole city, so the requirements for the location of the building are not very strict. I would recommend building in the center of a residential area, so that residents don't have to spend a long time going to school and reduce their commute time.
3. What is the use of "local libraries", and if so, how many?
Local libraries are educational aids that serve to keep adults from forgetting what they have learned. In other words, it is only an aid to education, but when it is built, it will contribute to the development of education in the city, as evidenced most clearly by the upward trend in education in "public opinion polls". If you have the money, you can build more of them to cover the whole city.
4. Does the ordinance work?
Yes, it is, and the later it gets, the more effective it becomes. For example, the Energy Conservation Program reduces the amount of power generated in the city by a percentage of the current power usage. So the more power you use, the greater the effect of the decree. Of particular note here are the Juvenile Curfew Act and the Air Purification Program. The former reduces the crime rate, but the citizens have a strong opinion about it, they feel that they are not free in the city, and the ordinance is not conducive to the growth of the city's population. The latter will reduce air pollution in the city, which is not very obvious, but it will hinder the development of industrial areas and many highly polluting factories will be banned from operating, which will reduce the industrial income. So these two should be used with caution in city ordinances.
5. Why is my electricity always overloaded, and do I need to build those polluting power plants?
Yes. Wind farms are only an initial option. Later on, you'll need to build something bigger. I recommend choosing a "coal-fired power station", the monthly maintenance fee is 5 times that of a wind power station $250 the cheapest of the large power stations, the power generation is also very large but the power generation is 30 times that of the wind, but it also produces the most highly polluted air pollution, anyway, there is a lot of pollution in the industrial area, and then more does not matter, so the best place to build a power station is in an industrial area. If there is a lot of open space in the city, you can build it there too, but you have to pull a power line to the industrial area so that it doesn't pollute the residential area. Connect the residential area to the industrial area with a power line and then remove the wind farms to save money. Finally, the "coal-fired power station" to reduce the funds about so that the use of 80% to 90% and then adjusted every few months to ensure that the use of 80% to 90% of the actual power generation.
Note: Try not to pull the wire too long, because it is also necessary to have maintenance costs.
6. I found out in the Fact Sheet that there is water pollution in my industrial area, but the cost of a sewage treatment plant is too high.
This depends on the situation, if you build, it is a loss usually build 2 to solve the problem, which will be $ 700, the later will be 3, do not build, we must hurry to find ways to increase the city's population, increase income can be expanded residential, industrial areas, maximize the coverage of your public **** facilities to increase the area, increase the number of people, more people, the tax revenue is also natural! More people, otherwise it will not pay for itself. If you can guarantee that after the construction of the profit is still more than 400, then you can rest assured that the construction, there is a good environment, the city will have good prospects for development.
7. Citizens in my city complain about too much garbage.
Hurry up and build a "landfill", of course, if you have enough money, not too big, just enough to get by, and then not enough to build again. Since the landfill is polluting, it should be built far away from residential areas, and don't forget to connect the residential areas to the landfill with roads so that it can work properly.
Note: Later in the game, you can build a non-polluting Resource Recovery Center, which also recycles garbage proportionally. If you have too much garbage, you can build an "incineration power station", which reduces garbage and provides energy, but the only bad thing is that it's highly polluting.
Tip: If the planned "landfill" is too big and a lot of it is not being used, you can use the Residential Unplanning method to reduce its size.
8. Why are so many houses in residential and industrial zones blacked out and have zero inhabitants?
This is a common phenomenon in SimCity 4. There are many reasons for this phenomenon:
1. Please open the "Profile Overview" to double-check whether the public **** facilities (such as water, electricity, schools, etc.) in this area are complete. If it's not perfect, please make it up quickly.
2. It is possible that the RCI has a very low demand for these facilities. For example, if there is a high-income ($$$) villa, but the RCI has a negative demand for high-income at this time, then the middle-income or even low-income residents are likely to live in this villa. Viewing this villa, we see that what was a high income villa has become middle income or even low income housing This housing will be slightly darker in color. Some of them are simply unoccupied, which is what we call a "black house", a particularly dark color that is easily recognizable in the game. If no one lives there, you won't receive a penny in taxes. You can tear down all these houses and redevelop them according to the RCI, but it costs a lot of money to do so, so there's no way around it. If you don't tear them down, it is possible for them to change back again, but it depends on your patience, and it usually takes longer.
9. Are some recreational facilities such as gardens useful?
If you want to attract high-income people these facilities are essential, and the later the more necessary. Gardens and green spaces can be used to purify the air. Basketball and volleyball courts can enrich people's spare time.
Note: Not only parks can purify the air, planting trees can also purify the air. But I do not recommend planting trees, because trees can only be planted in the open space next to the house, with the development of the city's original foundations built on a larger area of the building, the tree will disappear, so not very useful.
Myth: Some players think that using the terrain tool to plant more trees at the beginning will benefit the urban environment in the game and reduce pollution. I've personally verified that this is not the case, so if you don't believe me, you can plant a lot of trees on the ground at the beginning, and then verify it in the game. The trees created by the terrain tool are just for looks look closely these trees are not the same as the trees that can be planted in the game, they are extra large. These trees will obscure the squares in the game and are not conducive to the player planning the area, I don't see the need to build them.
10. Every aspect of my city is fine, but the RCI demand never goes up, and no one lives on the planned land, what can I do?
You can build a museum as it can organize exhibitions to attract business, and don't forget to adjust the "votes" to save money.
Low taxes are a great way to promote your city, so if you're earning a decent income, try lowering your taxes, and you're sure to attract new investment to your city.
III. The first time I saw this was when I was a kid, and it was the first time I'd ever seen a kid in a movie, and it was the first time I'd ever seen a kid in a movie, and it was the first time I'd ever seen a kid in a movie. If there is no accident, the monthly income should be at least a thousand dollars or more. Next I'm going to take you to the real charm of SimCity 4.
I think you'll find that the demand for high tech in RCI is very high, and it's time to build them. How do you build high tech businesses?
The first thing we must understand is that high tech zones are created from industrial zones.
I will give you a few conditions for building a high-tech zone:
1. The population of your city must be highly educated (university degree or higher). In other words if you have only 1 university in your city it is not enough, build more universities, it will make more inhabitants to get high education.
2. The area where the high tech is built must have good environmental conditions, no water and air pollution.
3. The area where the high technology is built must have high land price. This is shown in bright green on the "Overview" map.
4. It is better to have a very low negative demand for high and medium polluters, so that all the areas you plan to build in will be high tech areas. You can lower the demand by raising taxes.
Note: Why not build high tech and general industry together? This is because the pollution generated by general industry can adversely affect the construction of high-tech businesses. High-tech districts not only increase the city's income all high-tech districts are high-income enterprises and most importantly, it is very low pollution, can be vigorously developed. If there are general industrial zones interspersed with high-tech zones, especially highly polluting factories, the only thing we should do is to dismantle them. They must not be allowed to affect the development of the high-tech zone.
Problems that need attention in the late development of the game:
1. Traffic problems in the city:
Due to the fact that high-rise buildings can be found everywhere in the city, the population density increases, and the traffic problem is bound to become more and more prominent.
Solution: 1. Build "public **** bus station" cheap, practical, recommended.
2. Construction of a "subway" high-speed and fast transportation, carrying the passenger flow is also large, but the cost is too high, if the funds are not sufficient not recommended.
Note: They will also bring some income to the city, after all, to do the bus is to pay.
2. Aging of public facilities
In the late game, some of the public facilities will be aging, generally the water and electricity facilities. For example, power stations, pumping stations. Specifically manifested in the "operating conditions" reduced This is inevitable, the public **** facilities "operating conditions" will be reduced with the growth of time. If you find that the "operating condition" of a facility has dropped to less than 50%, and the "operating condition" of a recently built facility is 100%, you should tear it down! Tear it down, because it's not worth the money you're giving it every month. A decrease in "operational status" is equivalent to a decrease in efficiency without a decrease in funding, and that's something I don't want to see.
Note: If one of your facilities is deteriorating your consultant will also inform you that you need to dismantle it, and if you don't wait until its "operational status" drops to zero, it will catch fire and explode, destroying the surrounding buildings.
3. Citizen Unemployment
You'll sometimes see buildings in the game that are labeled with a "Can't find a job" sign, which means that the building's inhabitants are unemployed. The best solution would be to build some business districts in their neighborhoods so that they can find jobs at the nearest location.
4. Environmental Issues
If you have more than 3,000 high-income residents and a mayor's rating of 55 or higher, you can build a non-polluting, high-power solar power plant to replace the high-polluting "coal-fired" power plant, and I believe that the city's environment will be improved. Nuclear fusion power plants are also a good choice if necessary.
In the process of urban development, if you meet the requirements of some incentive buildings, they will be located in your city. They are not only beautiful, but also functional. For example, a medical research center can greatly improve the health of your citizens, and a private school can enroll the children of the rich without costing you a penny.
Would you like your city to have some distinctive architecture? Landmarks are a good choice if your city is financially sound, but be aware that they come with a maintenance fee.
Win the love of the people:
If your city's population grows to over 100,000 people, the people will ask you to build a "large statue of the mayor", which you can choose to be either a man or a woman, to signify that you are a qualified mayor and are respected by the people of the city. Congratulations!
Your journey as a mayor is not over yet, and in the end, you will be happy as a mayor.
Your journey as Mayor is not over.