OT: Nothing More Frustrating

[NullAshton]

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.

[Atrocities]

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.

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

[NullAshton]

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...

[DeadZone]

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

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

[Atrocities]

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.

[DeadZone]

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

And, if you dont need it, dont build it

[NullAshton]

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.

[Atrocities]

If your earning about 25k a month you can take out a loan for 2 million. Also consider downloading some new buildings and such from one of the fan sites. Simtropolis (?) is a good site.