Rich Infrastructure

[PubSim5]

Hi,

I'm a bit lost here.

I got the game, I've even been recommended to start out

with some "sandbox mode" that would unlock all buildings,

but for some reason I cannot build a beautiful city even

half-full with infrastructure such as those that appear

on some Youtube videos like :

URL : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehK9oyMTyOg
     (+) titled : "Somewhat Awesome Games"

                       They seem to have one or two big buildings on time mark of 00:05
                       that I can't find available in my own installation.
                       They also have a nice train on time mark of 01:37 -- how can I
                       "convince" a train to ride the tracks I'm building ?

URL : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC3s67H0dHo
      (+) titled : "SimCity (2013) - Transport Efficiency | SimValera"
                       They seem to have, on time mark of 00:58, those "street cars",
                       that are the only type of urban train available when I start
                       a new city, but unlike a new city, I do NOT seem to have access
                       to other train types such as a monorail on time mark of 00:39,
                       or a zeppelin on time mark of 02:09, or any of the big skyscrapers
                       that are all over the city.

My question is :

Are there any cheats I could use, to make a leap directly
to being able to build large cities with lots of
infrastructure, train types especially ?

Thanks much in advance
GB

[BlackjackWidow]

Hi @PubSim5 ! I can understand the confusion, when you're looking at cities that have grown over the course of time. The short answer is - you can't build skyscrapers directly. The size of the buildings depend entirely on the road or avenue on which you've zoned. Dirt roads and low density streets = Low Density buildings (LD); Medium Density = MD buildings, and the High Density streets and avenues will give you the skyscrapers you see in the videos.

Generally, you lay down lower density roads first and the Residential, Commercial and Industrial (RCI) buildings fill with small buildings. Then, as time goes on and your city income increases, you can upgrade your roads to higher densities. As your residents get happier and you supply proper services (garbage, sewer, water, etc) they will build larger buildings based on the road densities.

Sandbox mode unlocks all of the ploppable buildings, and you can use cheats to have enough money to build High Density roads and avenues right away. But, you still need fairly happy sims to get them to move in and stay in the city. "Somewhat Awesome Games" at :05 - a couple of HD residential buildings. The trains - you need to make sure you have built stations on the tracks, go into edit mode on the stations to add trains. Sims will ride them if they can get to the stations. Make sure there are roads connected so they can get to the stations, and that there is somewhere for them to go. "SimValera" - the "monorail" is actually just the train tracks built high up, like a bridge. Bridges will make themselves, if you're laying a road or tracks over hilly terrain, for example, but you can also use shortcut keys press M to raise and press N to lower. The zeppelins are an add-on dlc called airships. 

I learned a lot about SimCity and building in general from Sky Storme's Let's Play videos. His series for the Cities of Tomorrow expansion is probably the most up-to-date, and can give you some ideas on building beautiful infrastructure, even if you don't have CoT. There is also a Let's Play for the Base Game itself, but it was done when the game first came out and you may find some problems and issues that aren't in the game any more. Still worth a look if you keep in mind when it was made, and makes a good intro to the CoT series. His 60 second tips are also well worth the time.

Hope this clears up some of the confusion. Happy Building!

[PubSim5]

My O. my...!!!

Amazing response !!!

And a quick one, might I add.

Thanks so much for the wealth of information.

Not to mention the sheer quantity : 86 videos,

110 video, 34 videos -- I'll bet they're gonna keep

me busy for a while now, thanks to you.

Thanks again

PubSim5

[BlackjackWidow]

I'm sure those videos can keep you busy for a few days at least lol. I started out watching a few of the 60 second tips, which led me to the Let's Play series. Highly recommend the road spacing tips and medium wealth coverage tip. I followed along on the Cities of Tomorrow series, and would occasionally pop back to the original series for something he might reference. If you have the CoT expansion, you might want to do the same. 

Enjoy - and Happy Building!