Late Adopter: Enjoying SimCity Complete Edition

by troshalom
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Late Adopter: Enjoying SimCity Complete Edition

★★★ Guide

So, I am a late adopter to the SimCity 2013 game. I loved playing SimCity 4 Deluxe, but after the Sim Societies debacle and all the horror stories I heard in 2013 and 2014 I decided not to purchase the game. Well the other day I saw the SimCity complete edition at a steal of a price and decided to try the game out and am glad I did. I am really enjoying it. Minus the small size of the cities compared to SimCity 4 and lack of terrain tools and I am enjoying his new iteration of the SimCity franchise and I hope that the franchise doesn't end, but that EA listens to what people love and hate and admire in its competitor game and  wow us with the next version.

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Re: Late Adopter: Enjoying SimCity Complete Edition

Hero (Retired)

Megatowers are tricky, no getting around it. The response time on Megatowers is very slow, too. For some reason, it can take months for the Megatower to react to an addition such as the school. Some general things about megatowers can help. Don't mix wealth levels in the same megatower. Make sure the land value around the megatower matches the land value of the sims. Plop parks of appropriate wealth level all around the megatower. If shoppers can't get to their commercial shops they will go to parks and you can keep them happy there. 

 

I've played this game off and on since launch. At this point, if I get a message like yours (or the "fun" of one level complaining they're overworked and another level complaining there are no jobs available), I'll balance as much as I can and if that doesn't work, demolish down to the working levels. I just don't have as much patience as I once did to wait it out. Especially since sometimes no amount of waiting will help. Just so you know - you can demolish all the levels on a megatower and leave the base. It won't cost any simoleans to run if it's just a base.

 

You are absolutely correct that the regional education doesn't work right. Unfortunately, one of the bugs that is here to stay is Sims leaving a city for any reason lose their tracking and don't return. So it is best to balance population and education on a per-city basis. This is probably the source of your complaint message. There are times when things get "stuck" or "lost". If you have a university draw in the other city, unfortunately what may be happening is the student sims in the megatower are tracking out of the city. As soon as they leave the city, they lose their tracking - they will not return to the city, much less the megatower. More than likely you have lost the student sims from the level completely. The complaint bubble is because there are no educated sim components there any more. The game won't create new ones without rebuilding the level.

 

A couple of tips - You only need one type of education per city - I tend to use community colleges scattered throughout residential areas, so that the sims will walk to school. Having several will raise your tech and education levels quite nicely, while costing less than expanding one single building and adding traffic challenges.

 

Conversely, the utility sharing works very well - power, water and sewage will share among connected cities very well.  I generally set up a utility city in the region and stack all of those services in one city, share with the region and then never touch the utility city again (unless I need to add more capacity). The available amount will be split evenly between cities that are connected to each other via the regional highways.

 

I'm glad you're enjoying SimCity. I hope this doesn't put you off of playing - it's so unfortunate that the game is no longer being developed. There are a couple of bugs, like the tracking out of the city, that can be really frustrating. As much as they wanted to make it a regional sharing game, the synchronization challenges really hit them hard and they never solved some of it. However, once you know about the way it works and what to avoid, I find it to be a fun and challenging experience. 

 

I hope this helps - this was a really long way of saying "Probably best to demolish the levels that are complaining and try again". But I wanted to give you some background info so you have a better experience going forward.

 

Happy Building!

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Re: Late Adopter: Enjoying SimCity Complete Edition

[ Edited ]
★★★ Guide

I haven't quite figured out how to make those Elite Megatowers work. You put a school in the building and people still complain that their children need an education. You put a college in the neighboring town and they aren't smart enough to send their children there. Since you can't bulldoze a level without destroying the whole building, not sure how to work around it.

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Re: Late Adopter: Enjoying SimCity Complete Edition

Hero (Retired)

Megatowers are tricky, no getting around it. The response time on Megatowers is very slow, too. For some reason, it can take months for the Megatower to react to an addition such as the school. Some general things about megatowers can help. Don't mix wealth levels in the same megatower. Make sure the land value around the megatower matches the land value of the sims. Plop parks of appropriate wealth level all around the megatower. If shoppers can't get to their commercial shops they will go to parks and you can keep them happy there. 

 

I've played this game off and on since launch. At this point, if I get a message like yours (or the "fun" of one level complaining they're overworked and another level complaining there are no jobs available), I'll balance as much as I can and if that doesn't work, demolish down to the working levels. I just don't have as much patience as I once did to wait it out. Especially since sometimes no amount of waiting will help. Just so you know - you can demolish all the levels on a megatower and leave the base. It won't cost any simoleans to run if it's just a base.

 

You are absolutely correct that the regional education doesn't work right. Unfortunately, one of the bugs that is here to stay is Sims leaving a city for any reason lose their tracking and don't return. So it is best to balance population and education on a per-city basis. This is probably the source of your complaint message. There are times when things get "stuck" or "lost". If you have a university draw in the other city, unfortunately what may be happening is the student sims in the megatower are tracking out of the city. As soon as they leave the city, they lose their tracking - they will not return to the city, much less the megatower. More than likely you have lost the student sims from the level completely. The complaint bubble is because there are no educated sim components there any more. The game won't create new ones without rebuilding the level.

 

A couple of tips - You only need one type of education per city - I tend to use community colleges scattered throughout residential areas, so that the sims will walk to school. Having several will raise your tech and education levels quite nicely, while costing less than expanding one single building and adding traffic challenges.

 

Conversely, the utility sharing works very well - power, water and sewage will share among connected cities very well.  I generally set up a utility city in the region and stack all of those services in one city, share with the region and then never touch the utility city again (unless I need to add more capacity). The available amount will be split evenly between cities that are connected to each other via the regional highways.

 

I'm glad you're enjoying SimCity. I hope this doesn't put you off of playing - it's so unfortunate that the game is no longer being developed. There are a couple of bugs, like the tracking out of the city, that can be really frustrating. As much as they wanted to make it a regional sharing game, the synchronization challenges really hit them hard and they never solved some of it. However, once you know about the way it works and what to avoid, I find it to be a fun and challenging experience. 

 

I hope this helps - this was a really long way of saying "Probably best to demolish the levels that are complaining and try again". But I wanted to give you some background info so you have a better experience going forward.

 

Happy Building!

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Re: Late Adopter: Enjoying SimCity Complete Edition

★★★ Guide
Thanks so much and great tips.
I just abandoned that region and started a new one. But, I will use your tips and go back and try to fix it.
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