OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

There is nothing more frustrating than to spend eight hours playing SimCity4 Rush Hour, build one of the best cities of your life, have everything clicking, have over 10m in the bank with an average of 20k a mth coming into your coffers, spend hours setting up your parks system, transet system, and economy only to have @#$(@($(%&&&@#*@!ing crash and loosing everything!

I am utterly and completely discussed with myself for not having saved my game and WindBLOWS for casuing the uber crash in the first fricking place.

There are times where I really have to lie to myself and say that throttling Bill Gates to death just wouldn't be fun. I bet if this happened to him, he would be firing a bunch of programers!

eight plus hours on that city gone! GD IT TO F***ing H***!

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Crazy AT, What wouldn't you have saved it during play - especially with a game like SC4.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Ummm... I have nothing to say other than I guess this falls along the line of backing up your hard drive. Saving would have taken what? 20 seconds max?

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

I've learned to always save. You never know when something will crash. No complex program is perfect, and either Windows or the program will crash. On a side note, can you give me pointers for SimCity 4, without the expansion? I can never seem to balance growth with expenses, and I either have the whole city abandoning me because of lack of public services, overcrowding, or unbalanced zones.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

The Rush Hour expansion really makes the game playable. You can dowload some nice buildings like the water front casino to get extra cash, $25,000, if you want, but I find I don't need that if I take out 2 million in loans. (25k a month pay back) but with 2.5 million to start the game with, a vast expanse of res/com/ind you will do fine. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Oh well, I guess I might as well go start the game up and see if I can rebuild.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

I had a 17,000 population city, but it somehow collapsed. Was making a good 300 a month, then suddenly, it went kaput. Everyone started leaving... My profits collapsed to about -500 a month... I think I stressed the city too much with my rapid residential growth...

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Come to think of it, simcity has never crashed on me once

I just tend to build up the city just for the sake of striking it down with disasters (i get bored easily lol)
I get it too about 200,000 pop, and put a few tornados through it, start an alien invasion and so on until the pop is down to something near extincted... and start re-building and repeat http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

As much as I hate Micro$haft Windblows, I rarely have it crash on me, the last time it was doing it, I found it to be a problem with my SB 5.1 sound card, got rid of, and problem solved

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

You really need to constantly be adjusting the costs for schools. They fluxuate a lot and you can save a lot of money by keeping an eye on them.

Also don't build un-needed roads until needed.

What I do from game start is:
500k

0. Put Game On Pause
1. Lay down a huge swath of R$ residential
2. Lay down a small swath of C$ comerical
3. Lay down a small swath of I$ industrial (near the boarders)
4. Plant a Power Planet
5. Plant a well near the Res
6. Lay Pip with some room for expansion
7. Plant a Pre-school in the middle of the R$
8. Planet a High School in the middle of the R$
9. Planet a Fire Dept near all three zones
10 Planet a Police Station near all three zones
11 Planet bus stops all over to establish Mass Transit
12 Lay down rail from edge to edge with one or two Transit station and one frieght station.
13 Lay down a dump zone for garbage near edge of map.
14 Unpause game
15 Enable Gambling
16 Adjust the PS and HS so as not to be over paying.
17 Expand as needed but in small patches
18 Replace roads with streets in all zones
19 Lay down extra firestation if needed in I$ zone.
20 Take out a loan for 200k (About 6k a month pay back so be sure your making at least 6k in order to aford loan)
21 Use 200k to expand all zones, build additional schools, libraries, and a college. Rezone I$ to I$$ (High Industrial) and lay down a patch of C$$ (Medium Comerical)
22. Take any deals that are offered and place buildings on edge of map.
23. Monitor the school expenses
24. Add a hospitol or a clinic or two - watch them for growth spurts.
25. Keep adding bus stops and plan for road and rail lines.


In the image I do have a 25k Casino in play, but that is because I am rebuilding the city after the crash and will eventually ditch it.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Only ever upgrade streets/roads/etc if there traffic is in the red

And, if you dont need it, dont build it

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Sweet... That city is awsome. I usually never take out a loan. I'm going to try that... I usually only place amendities when I really need it.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

If your earning about 25k a month you can take out a loan for 2 million. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Also consider downloading some new buildings and such from one of the fan sites. Simtropolis (?) is a good site.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Why do you have a hole in your city? Got mad at your city one time and tossed a meteor at it?

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

I don't know... it came with the map. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

man, i want to play this now. guess i'll have to pick up a copy. its been a long time since i reticulated any splines.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Be sure you get the Rush Hour version.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Next stop to the mall I'll get it.

I've made a very succesful city so far, 15,000 population, and I'm making 600 dollars a month!

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

i see there is a deluxe version now, that includes rush hour.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

I broke 20,000 people! Yay!!! I almost have enough profits for schools, and maybe hospitals!

EDIT: My new city hit another bump that derailed my other city and drove it into the ground. Before I knew what was happening, profits suddenly dropped like a rock, and I was in the red from 1,000+ surplus a month. I got a bunch of those goverment NIMBY projects to push it back over, though, and the bump is over. Once my budget stabilizes again, I'll get rid of them.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Be sure to enable gambling, watch those education costs as they fluxuate. Do not over expand! And only build enough to keep your city going. Cemetaries are gifts and good ones. Accept the status, but DO NOT put them down. The mayors house is the only gift that I accept that costs me money early on.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

I'm probally going to have to overpopulate my schools for a while in order to get in the green. It dropped again when I placed my schools... Maybe my budget will stabilize soon and I'll stop having to worry about this stuff...

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

I always wondered what that said...But then again, the last SimCity version I have is 2. Maybe it's clearer in 4.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

My region has about 4 million sims...
My strategy for building a city is to build a "core": a large block (8x8 or larger) that has all the main utilities (not power), place a power plant and dump far far away, and zone away. I go in the red for a few months to a year, but when building takes off, I'm close enough to even that one or two NIMBYs takes care of the rest. As the city grows, I can torch the NIMBYs (much more fun that bulldozing) and keep building. Destroying NIMBYs helps a lot, as the overall happiness goes up.
A very useful tip is to tweak all the budgets all the way down so you don't pay for extra capacity. This can bite you in the *** if you don't remember to adjust each budget as time goes.
Also, I play a stock game, with no mods, just official downloads. I'm thinking of getting transportation mod, though, because the transit times in the game are just a bit unrealistic. I've never cheated, and the hardest setting is almost always a breeze to win at.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

I always use a money generating tile. I don't play to "play the game" but to build a nice looking city. However, due to some silly computer issues and time constraints due to SE:IV commitments - don't load it up very often. :-(

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

The 100 dollar a month from gambling thingie? That's kinda boring...

Why bulldoze, when you can launch a precision targeted meteor at it? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif I like to use the lightning tool. It can be used to cut lines through your city. Just keep clicking really fast, and eventually, whatever it's on will vaporize.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Or there's nothing more frustrating than looking at a thread, remembering you've got a copy of SimCity 4 giving it a quick play then looking up and realising you've wasted an entire day which you really should of spent doing some work. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Hehe...

My city broke 30,000 pop! I think I may finnally have the budget stabilized. My city finnally has those high-rise buildings that can hold about 200 high-wealth citizens. Commercial enterprises are on the up-swing, as more and more people flock to my city. Commercial is catching up to industrial now. I got full coverage of elementary schools and libraries. Only amendity that my city doesn't yet have is hospitals, and that'll sooon be fixed!

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Woohoo! I now have healthcare!!! *cheers*

Soon, Metro City shall expand even more, and require even more amendities... Wish me luck...

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Yay!!! Skyscrapers!!! And an international airport! Soon, I'm going to run out of room http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Ever Drive the TANK? Ohhhhhh that is much much fun. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Today I'm getting Rush Hour! Yay!

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Enjoy. Be sure to visit simtroplis to get some good downloads and the mods.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

I don't like to mod games at first, I like to finish it the way it is http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

the only reason i dont buy things online, is because i like the instant gratification of being able to have it 'now'. of course, the three game selling places I went to near downtown SF didnt HAVE sim city.

they (Comp USA, EB, and Circuit City) DID have at least one strategy first (different, in each case) game on their shelves, so I felt a little better about SE5's chances.

Anyway... yesterday I found myself up in the north bay where the insufferable yuppies live in tract-mansions (like tract housing, but bigger) and display their poor driving ability in oversized vehicles (tangentially, this is also the rough area where Aaron Hall makes his abode...) and so I thought id try a game store at a mall up there.

reason being, that there were probably more middle-aged fathers in that region, and they would be more likely to sit in their home office and play a pastoral game like SC4. and thus if it got better sales up there, managers would be more likely to keep it on the shelves. and guess what? found it at the first place I stopped!

So its fun, but theres no random terrain generation. No Reticulating Splines. Have to use what they give you, or terraform by hand. Oh well, i can live with that.

So I started a little city. and then I started another city next to it. and in the city next to it, i stuck a big poluting power plant, and an expensive water pump, and a whole lot of industry.

Then I made some road, power, and water connections back to my first city. and then loaded up the first city, and started building residential zones. And my residential paradise GREW! with no fire threat from the industry, no pollution from the power plant, no crime, just pristine houses and condos on some nice costal hills.

and then I discovered something that made my little evil-emperor heart swoon! I could raise taxes on the poor and lower them on the rich! Ah, force those degenerates somewhere else! now nothing but nice buildings, and rich residents. ahh... just like the place where I bought the game from...

funny how art immitates life, eh?

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Metro City will not grow widthways any more. It's filled the map...

Didn't get it yesterday, going to have to get it some other time...

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

I bought the Chronicals of Riddick "Escape from Butcher Bay" and so far I am impressed with the game. A bit glitch on my less than high end machine, but otherwise so far a fun game that has a lot of action and story to it.

The best new games I have played in the last year would have to be:

1. Farcry (Simply outstanding)
2. Riddick EFBB
3. Tribes Vengeance

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Atrocities, how do you get commercial skyscrapers? The most I've had a building provide jobs for is a little over 1,000 people.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

all that stuff is outlined in the tips on the Maxis web page. and there's a hint card that came with the game that tells you how to raise the desireablity of different zones. you need a large enough plot of C$$$ with high land value, water, power, low polution, flat, educated workers, etc. etc.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

It takes a lot of time to get the big ones.... Mainly zone your C$ then rezone to C$$ then again later to C$$$. Keep rezoning your surrounding Residential as well.

It takes a bit to get the populations high enough in a concentrated area to get the sims to build those big buildings. That is why I say expand slowly and in small increaments. If you start to see slums, plop down a baseball part or something near by. Also be sure you have plenty of bus stops and eventually next to the bus stops, sub way portols.

If you run into big problems visit simtropolis for some $$ making buildings. I can even send the water front casino to you if you need it. (Goes into your MyDocuments/SC4/Plugins folder. Let me know.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

since this seems like the thread to go for Simcity 4 answers, I'd like to ask you SC4 buffs a question:

On a city like mine (see attachment) the roads around the downtown area (the one with all the skyscrapers) keep clogging, which causes the transportation advisor to keep nagging at me. Do you know of a solution that would keep the advisor shut once and for all without having to demolish a good chunk of my skyscrapers?

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

TerranC,

How's the public transport in your city? If you make sure there's enough other modes of transit around, it can reduce the road traffic.

Another thing to consider is creating one-way streets. They take up as much space as a normal main road, but have twice the capacity.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Is there actually any way to get public transport to work? Maybe it's just me (in fact it probably is) but I can't spot any pattern, I have subway stops running at 200%+ capacity next to stops my transport adviser won't stop complaining about.

So how does anyone else lay out a working public transport system?

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Public transport is rather tricky to get working correctly, but if you do manage to get it that way, it will actually pay for itself (and make a nice profit too, in larger cities).

I think it's a bit too complex to discuss it in detail here, plus I'm not really an expert on the matter myself, but may I suggest the forums at http://www.simcitycentral.net/ (although the DoD/DHS seem to have seized that one...) and http://www.simtropolis.com/

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

I'm starting to construct a subway system. My attempt for highways was a big failure, probally due to the fact that I can't build highways through skyscraper zone, else I end up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Got commercial skyscrapers http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif All it took was a quarter of a million people squished into a 4k by 4k zone http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif. I'm going for even more, by promoting low-wealth citizens. I hope to have more city density than Tokyo. I don't suppose there's a very high density zone?

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

now THAT's cheating. one of the things i saw on there was a money tree. plop down a tree that generates billions. I'm just using official Maxis buildings. I might miss some neat stuff, but im not making the game easier than it should be.

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

Some new landmarks that aren't too imbalanced might be nice. Does anyone know if the Empire State Building and Bank of Tokyo generate jobs? I got both of em http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: OT: Nothing More Frustrating
 

the route-query tool is infinitly helpfull. if you have a traffic mess near a certain area, you can use it to see how people get to and from buildings in that area. then you can put mass-transit stops near their homes or businesses.

the public parking lots are great. stick one near your residential suburbs, and then put a subway and/or bus stop next to the public parking lot. people will drive to the parking lot, then ride mass transit to work. make sure you've got bus stops or subway stations within 5-8 squares of everything downtown.

Or, go for broke. replace your downtown roads with a monorail.

the most frustrating thing though, is when you've played for a few hours developing some high-proffit slums to feed your massive industrial park in the town in the next region over, and the power goes out. and since the power is out, you cant play your PBW turn that is due, because even though the laptop with SE4 on it has a battery, the wireless network you were using is also affected by the power outage and you cant get to PBW.