Sim City 4

[Grundig]

Anyone played this game? It came out in '03, so it's no spring chicken, but it runs great on my new comp, and with the Rush-Hour/Deluxe addon, it's extremely sophisticated. I just got it working again on my new computer after losing my serial number. There's actually a TON of mods available for the game, not the least ambitious of which is the Sim Mars mod...

So, does anyone have any stories about the game? Or any tips about how to get High Tech industry vs. the Dirty Nasty industry which we all know and hate.

[stitch626]

I have it.
Easiest way to keep out DI is to have ordinances that hurt them. Also, having cleaner air and slightly higher property values help. Also need a pop of 4000 (I think, may be more). And raise their taxes (though I tend to let them build and then raise taxes to extreme amounts when my clean industry starts to build, I get lots of money that way, and eventually the DI go away).

[Grundig]

Haha, sounds smart to me! But how do you "have cleaner air?" That's kinda my question!

[Grundig]

Also, have you tried any plugins or mods? I have the Network Addon Mod, which adds TONS and TONS of tiles for roads, trains, subways, monorail (and all other transportation types). It also supposedly solves some programming issues SC4 has. Unfortunately, I think it makes my game crash every once in a while, so I just have to remember to save. I'm just starting out, but I'm building my cities in the New York City region, and hoping to make a giant megalopolis. Someday anyway.

[Tsukiyumi]

Dammit. I still haven't played this one.

[stitch626]

Well, to get cleaner air, you need many things.
Starting with a Natural Gas power station instead of Coal or Oil is good (unless you want to shell out millions for Solar, though Wind can be ok for starters). Also, have lots of trees. They absorb pollution.
Keping traffic down is helpful, so if you want to start using mass transit, busses are a good beginning.
And of course, not having DI will always help.
Enacting ordinances, such as clean air act and many others, help keep air pollution down.

Oh, and if you get farms, you should not put Res or Com nearby... farms produce major water polution. Of course, you can always built a water treatment plant.


If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask. I have had many successful cities, and even more unsuccessful (though most do to volcanoes and meteors ).

[Nickswitz]

I play it, but mostly for the terrain editor, which is amazing.

[Sionnach Glic]

I never really got into the miscellaneous Sim games.

[cbosdell]

I bought it when it first came out in 2003 and bought Rush Hour later that year. Earlier this year I bought the SimCity Box to get both games along with the not-so-good Societies in one DVD-Case boxset. It's an awesome and addicting game with lots of attention to detail needed to successfully run a city. Every now and then I start playing it again and for a few weeks am totally addicted to it. They don't make many games that good anymore and it stands up well even today.

[Grundig]

Seriously addictive, agreed. My goal is to keep going with the same region for as long as I can, and build it up to a super giant city. So far I don't have much - just 3 cities with 100k people total. But they all have positive cashflow, and are expanding faster than I can keep up with.

Also agreed: the attention to detail is amazing! Each person has a house and a job, and a commute route to work. With the Network Addon Mod, there are TONS of transportation options. I haven't even downloaded any of the other mods, except the "dark blue water" mod.

There are some really hilarious jokes here and there too. I think one of my favorite things about the game is the music. It sets the Perfect mood for city building. Not to mention, it's just great music in it's own right. The same was true of the other games. I have to say, music really makes a big difference in how much I enjoy most games.

[stitch626]

What is this Network Addon mod you speak of?

[Grundig]

It's a mod some people made that gives you more transportation options, and fixes some of the problems with the game's commuting programming. It's here: http://www.simtropolis.com/modding/inde ... ils&id=380 and there's a separate version for Mac if that's what you use. It does cause a crash every now and then, but just save your game and it's totally worth it! Also, it requires Rush Hour/ Deluxe.