Help me get started playing Sims

I’ve been trying to place Sims with my son . I think it’s just the basic game that we have but all my cities seem to go bankrupt within the first year or so. Any tips for getting over that beginner’s hump?

You’re playing Sim City, I take it? (There are several different Sims games, is why I ask.) It’s been a while since I’ve played but from what I can remember, I always had an easier time using the pre-made cities than with my own. If you do start with your own city, start very, very small. Like only a few blocks.

And use small density zones.

Keep pollution spewing industries far enough away from residences that you don’t get any spillover. Using commercial zones and parks as a buffer is good.

Also, there is a limit to how far away from a road people will build. Its something like 4-6 “blocks” Any further then that and it doesn’t matter how much water and power you dump into the zone, no one will build in it.

This can be used to one’s advantage for residential areas: zone a 9x9 block but leave the middle empty. Then place a park in the middle.

Thanks for tips so far.

By the way, the 4-6 blocks rule doesn’t apply to farms–those need lots of space. Not to mention a location far away from pollution.

Woah, wrong thread!

Yeah that works great for Parks, and pretty much anything else you want to put there. For example when you get the big parks, you can make bigger zones, with a 4x4 square in the middle.

In commercial zone you can dump City hall. And industrial plop down a power plant, though I would wait on that until you get a power plant that runs somewhat clean. If you do it with a coal plant pollution will get out of control fast, assuming it’s a dense zone. I usually put my coal plant way way off to the side and run a few strings of power lines to the hub of the city. By the time the city expands to where the plant is, it’s about to die anyway and I just upgrade to a cleaner one and build an industrial park around it.

To maximize space, you should try alternating high density and low density zones coupled with the corresponding item (park, city hall, stadium, etc). Depending on your plan for a city, having a low density residential area surrounding a marina may be very attractive. Conversely having a high density commercial district around the same marina will help push your commence.

Some items just don’t jibe at all, even though marinas and seaports both sit on water, a seaport doesn’t enhance a residential area and marinas don’t help out industry too much. The trick is figuring out which works best with which in genera and then working that into your grand scheme as god-mayor. A good rule of thumb is to think what do you like to do in your city, (parks near work (i.e. Central Park) are parks near your home (i.e. Prospect Park). Hope this helps a bit more.