# Sim City 4 questions **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 14, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-4-questions/481188 "2009-01-14T02:37:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-4-questions/481188/21 "2009-01-21T06:43:10Z")
> [@Discordia](#): > > **lee** , do you use a tree-like system with highways as the trunk and roads as branches? And how do you use trains specifically? I never did get the hang of trains. > > Hmm, getting the urge to re-install it now :\> In the mega big cities, I have tried one highway, but never got any good out of it. I bulldozed it and replaced it with monorail and that works well. I use trains by connecting all neighbors through rails and also putting a rail station near the ferry. I always put a bus station one little square away from the rail station and when I have them, subway stations next to them. As the density gets higher, I add more train stations, often having two adjacent in high density areas. It takes some trial and error before finding the optimal placements. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-4-questions/481188/22 "2009-01-21T06:51:09Z")
And the tree like system works in high density, you just gradually switch from streets to roads for some areas, and zone up the density levels. I do use oodles of mass transit. the initial # of roads eventually becomes first one way and then avenues as density increases. I do set aside some areas in each city as forest preserve, and use lots of parks to control pollution For me the real challenge is a regional strategy to manage trash. Also a hint, never rely on another city for water. There is a bug in the algorithm that will drive you insane over time. if you have to, put in a sewage treatment plant in and put your water pumps near that, but keep them in the city. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-4-questions/481188/23 "2009-01-21T19:18:38Z")
Unfortunately, I got set to pull out SIncity 4 again and try to play it, and… It was gone! :eek: Now, I cannot play it until/unless I get myself another copy. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Discordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Discordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discordia)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-4-questions/481188/24 "2009-01-21T19:35:32Z")
You could, uh, get it from you know where. Doubt many people could object if you just lost the CDs. **lee** , what’s this water bug? re: monorail vs highway, don’t only rich folks use monorail? It’s been a while but IIRC highways and tons of busses was the only way I could get all the $ and $$ sims to move. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-4-questions/481188/25 "2009-01-22T06:05:13Z")
If a city relies for another for water, the demand grows much higher than if you use local water, and tends to fluctuate wildly. I found this out by switching over to local water and building enough pumps to meet demand and found after the first month, I had way too much capacity. I have bus stops and sub stops across from the monorail, and usually a parking garage for good measure. I seem to remember that i did get bus to monorail transfers. And do check out the bargain bin for the rush hour simcity 4 delux version. Two for the price of one. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-4-questions/481188/26 "2009-01-31T20:42:51Z")
One idea I’ve had is building a ring-highway around my large-square-city-core, with connections (usually two per zone) into outer areas. The outer areas will have residential on one side and manufacturing/residential on the other. Then comes some smaller towns and farms. Inside my center city would be one huge highway “+”, almost all elevated, with avenues in the shape of a giant “#”. My monorail and the subway would be in the shape of two big “8”'s meeting in the middle (sort of like a clover). Is that a pretty sufficient model? How many bus stops do I need? ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-4-questions/481188/27 "2009-02-01T16:24:14Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > One idea I’ve had is building a ring-highway around my large-square-city-core, with connections (usually two per zone) into outer areas. The outer areas will have residential on one side and manufacturing/residential on the other. Then comes some smaller towns and farms. > > Inside my center city would be one huge highway “+”, almost all elevated, with avenues in the shape of a giant “#”. My monorail and the subway would be in the shape of two big “8”'s meeting in the middle (sort of like a clover). > > Is that a pretty sufficient model? How many bus stops do I need? There’s no set number for your bus stops. You need as many as you need. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-4-questions/481188/28 "2009-02-01T16:50:03Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > There’s no set number for your bus stops. You need as many as you need. I’ve just had a hard time identifying where to put them. Sometimes my sims just assert they have no water, or their commute is too long, but they refuse to ever acknowledge a change. I’m tryig to avoid having my beautiful apartment blocks go empty forever because the neighboring comlpex started using too much aqua. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-4-questions/481188/29 "2009-02-01T17:04:24Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > I’ve just had a hard time identifying where to put them. Sometimes my sims just assert they have no water, or their commute is too long, but they refuse to ever acknowledge a change. I’m tryig to avoid having my beautiful apartment blocks go empty forever because the neighboring comlpex started using too much aqua. Head to the traffic view and look to see where they’re needed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-4-questions/481188.md?page=1)