Simcity 4 Deluxe Created 15 years ago2009-10-14 19:00:58 UTC by The Mad Carrot

After that dissapointment know as Cities XL, i've decided to play some Simcity 4 again.

Anyone else playing it? I know Rabideh does...

I play it from time to time, although I often have to reinstall it as it becomes unstable after a while fsr.

I have it and I love it. I still play it when I'm not doing homework or trying to finish my Rooms entry

I think I'm pretty good at it.

Then maybe you can help me. Im never able to get a decent sized city, i run out of many pretty quick because there's always more outcoming than income.

The game is hard.

Build your city slowly, and tax your dirty industries once you have a small part of the map filled with them.
Cut your expenses down as much as possible, (Just over "Strike" level) until you can afford them.
Don't buy expensive things like landmarks unless you can afford it and have a positive balance.

I always have trouble with the police and whatever draining my money.
Can't remember which SC I'm talking about.

Is it 3D?
Is it on DS?
Do the alien attacks involve a giant metal flying eye with arms?
That should narrow it down a bit.

simcity 4 never addicted me like 3000 did, which is odd, since it's hardly different.

@Atom: Back in SC3k, my cities invariably went bankrupt after a few game months, just the same as you I was never able to balance my expenses and income.

What I do to keep my expenses and income balanced, is to not include certain things until I really need them, and try not to place them until I can afford them. As a personal rule, I try not to let my expenses be more than $1000 over income. Of course, you'll find what works best for you as you play.

When you just start, ask yourself what do you need the most. If you want any development, you need power. Without it, nobody will move in. So assign some small zones and build a windmill or two (they're cheap for low power reqs). As the city grows you'll need to add more windmills, but once you have 4 or 5, that's costing you about the same as a gas plant which produces a lot more power, so you should change over.

Then you need to take a look at your taxes. Higher taxes will discourage development, and lower taxes will encourage it. Think of which population/commercial/industrial types you want the most in your city, and adjust taxes accordingly. Normally (this is from the SC official guide, but actually it varies with the overall desirability of your city), taxes from about 12% upwards will make that population segment start to leave.

I don't like dirty industry, it's the least you want in your city as it decreases desirability for all other development types. Sometimes I let it in and then raise the taxes, and sometimes I just raise the taxes so they don't come at all. Also, the ordinance for clean air discourages dirty industry as well as encourages high-tech industry. Use it if you can afford it.

I usually don't add anything else for a little while. Then add a fire station, some time later a small hospital and later schools as needed, but only when income is above expense in about the amount I need for what I'm about to add. I usually don't need police until way later.

Always keep your power, health and educational funding just enough for their capacity to be just above actual use. Fire department funding just changes coverage area, so adjust it as needed. I don't like to change police funding, it doesn't significantly affect coverage but it does affect performance - and you will see that soon.

I could go on and on, but I better let you get used to all this I said before cramming more down your throat. Just let me know how do you do after this.

Edit: Wow, I didn't expect this post to be this long.

Thanks man, that certainly is usefull information.

My goal is to establish a space port in my region (what else can you expect from a space guy!)

I always add a hospital and schools along with windmills (only kind of power Jeffton uses! :D) and add water towers after a little bit.

Also, Atom, you'll need lots of High tech (and therefore, low pollution) for a spaceport.

...Just to clarify, I did not see that post. Good coincidence, though.

Windmills are beautiful for low power requirements, each one of them produces 250 MW/h and costs $50. But build 6 and you're spending $300 for just 1500 MW/h, and for the same monthly cost you can get a gas plant which produces 6000/7000 MW/h. You can always adjust its budget to regulate the power output if that's too much, and then it'll cost you much less. Of course, if you wait enough, you can be awarded the nuclear plant or the solar power plant, but by then you'll have several gas plants already.

All this is without mentioning vehicle missions in Deluxe, those are very helpful in acquiring award/blocked buildings way earlier than they would be offered otherwise. But I won't spoil the fun and you'll have to find out on your own which one gets you what.

By the way, besides police, also don't adjust the water budget, even if your pumps produce too much water. Pipes will start to burst almost as soon as you do. You're probably better off keeping the excess water, maybe try selling it to neighbouring cities.

I've read somewhere that in some systems there's a compatibility issue with the startup video, you could try and disable it...

@ JeffMOD: I think it was Sim City 3000. I haven't played it in a while.