SIMCITY 4 question (1 Viewer)

[Bill Griffith]

Just picked up the game recently and was playing it this weekend.

I have one question to those that have played this. When you lay the High Density Commercial zone and High residency zone down they say that they'll sometimes generate high rises and skyscrapers. I have yet to see this happen. Are you supposed to do something special to get them to show up.

I have big cities of almost 20,000 people but there completely flat. A few apartments and such but no high rises.

 

[Brandon_H]

Generally, the land value also must be high for a high-rise or skyscraper to occur. Generally, cities also must be much bigger than 20,000 Sims.

It's better to build out as much as you can, then up -- a multitude of individual tracts will contribute more to the tax base than skyscrapers.

 

[Brian Ruth]

Bill: I'd hold off the high-density zoning for a while.

You probably have to have a region of 100,000 citizens or so before high-rises will will pop up. It's best to first zone out, then up. Besides, the resources needed (parks cost a monthly fee) are almost impossible to fund when your city's small. Also, those high-density zones are a LOT more expensive. You're pretty much wasting your money until you get a certain population in your city, so zone low-to-medium until your city's fairly well built up.

Interestingly enough (according to my reading in the SC4 Strategy Guide), the whole REGION counts towards population limits when it comes to skyscrapers. This means you can have a city of 5,000 sprout skyscrapers, if other needs are met, as long as the rest of your region has the population to support it. I'd suggest building up a network of 4 or 5 cities (or more), connect them together, and go from there.

When you get to the high-rise threshold, be sure to build plenty of beautification sites around your city to keep that land value up, and also be sure to fill citizens' needs.

One last thing - high-value commercial zones won't develop without proper city-wide EQ. Be sure to put LOTS of schools in your city to provide the commercial sector with those high-EQ jobs it needs to fill the skyscrapers.

Hope that helps.

 

[Bill Griffith]

Thanks guys that helps answer a bunch of questions