ExedExes wrote:Freeland
The Freeland map seems like an obvious best map. 100% land to build on. BUT! Waterfront always has high land value. It's a definite trade off. You'll have more land for more zones, but you wont have that high land value from waterfront property. I've yet to try out the Freeland map, but I've always been curious. My bet would be having water is better.
Ack wrote:I always went with 3x3 blocks, usually using the center block for police, fire, or parks to cut pollution. Then I would build roads around the square, followed by rail, then a new road, then another 3x3 block. That way I could save money on power lines(touching squares share power), have relatively unclogged streets, keep up police and fire coverage, and cut pollution. I also always kept at least one 3x3 block of Commercial districts between the 3x3 blocks of Residential and Industrial.
Yes, I use to always do the "donut" style layout, the center is perfect for parkland or gifts since they don't requires roads or rails to be touching them at all.
My layout, for years, came mostly from the game manual. It's been a while since I've read the manual, so I forget what tips I got from it and what I came up with on my own.
I would do the 3x3 layout, but with NO roads, just rails. You'll get the nag "more roads required" often, but it doesn't actually matter. Unlike rails, having roads doesn't benefit you in the slightest. It only adds pollution, so you're better off without them. Rails, on the other hand, can get you two rail stations, which are a great boost for commercial zones.
Anyways, that's what I've always done as a kid. In my adult Sim City years, I was more eager to get to 500k. There's a lot of stupid things you can take advantage of. The game only requires roads/rails to just ONE square of a zone, although I'm not a fan of crazy zone staking techniques and whatnot. But I've abandoned the 3x3 layout in favor of a 2x∞ layout. You don't need cross streets, just rails to be touching ONE side of each zone. My layout is rail, two zones, rail, two zones, all across horizontally and just repeating vertically. The less rails/roads you have, the more room you have for zones.
Using commercial zones to separate industrial and residential zones is key. Do you also make the perimeter of the map industrial? Some of the pollution falls off the map, since it's on the boarder, and then doesn't count. The only problem here though is that I've found the perimeter doesn't allow for enough industrial zones without having major pollution problems. I've also found no way to get to 500K without massive pollution problems, so, yeah.
Other stupid things to take advantage of... Seaports don't need power to satisfy the city's need to have one. Without power, it wont pollute, you wont get the inevitable ship wreck every few years, but you'll still gain the benefits of having it. Airports... I like to build one and supply power. Then as soon as the first plane takes of I hit the plane crash disaster button. The plane immediately crashes into the airport. Wait for the fire to go out, and hope you're only left with just a few squares of airport left (instead of 5x5 or whatever it is - it's huge). It takes up less room, and pollutes less, and still works! Win-win! Put parkland in the areas left that you can fit any zones into.
