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**If you have tips that you would like to add, please post it to this thread ( http://redd.it/19hg7v ) and I will try and update it here.
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Date AddedSourceTimeCategoryTip/InfoHelpfulness
(Scale of 1 - 5)
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3/1/2013Green City1:47.35EducationPlop a university near your industrial zones to jumpstart their transition to high tech. Also, make sure to leave space around your university for its upgrades.5
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3/1/2013Green City1:50.18EducationYou can draw pedestrian paths around your university to create snap points and help you design your university to look the way you want it to.5
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3/2/2013/u/Wild_Marker (from Shape Of)TrafficMaking a dirt road intersect with an avenue does not create an intersection. So, if you want small roads to feed into an avenue without stopping traffic on the avenue, have them intersect with dirt roads (i.e. cars on the dirt road will feed straight into the avenue if they have an opening).5
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3/2/2013/u/MaxisSparksTrafficAlso, workers still have to get to industry (or commercial) to work. They go 2x a day, while shoppers go 3x a day, so they commute less. But you'll get more traffic "crush" from workers because they all leave at once, alongside the grade school students.5
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SimCity ManualGameplayKeyboard Shortcuts? Check the tab below.5
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/u/PinstarTrafficPlace buildings that use cars (i.e. police, fire, etc.) on lesser-used roads so they can more easily get their vehicles on the road with less chance of hitting traffic.5
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3/6/2013/u/macallenTrafficStreet cars choose which direction to go at an intersection at random. The key to light rail is ZERO intersections. The street cars need to only be able to go 1 way, a snaked rail path through the entire city. They will leave the depot going a random direction (ideally the station is at the end of the line) and travel along the line until they are full, then they will flip to the other side of the track and go back the other way.5
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3/1/2013/u/MaxisGuillaumeTrafficBuild your streetcar system as 1 line per depot (i.e. follow one avenue straight down and back)5
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3/1/2013/u/MaxisGuillaumeTrafficKeep buses on avenues and off smaller streets. Place bus stops on both sides of the road in pairs to minimize the number of U-turns they have to make.5
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3/10/2013IdeoRex (YouTube)TrafficDirt roads can cause ground pollution. As sewage passes underneath dirt roads it leaks to cause more ground pollution.5
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3/1/2013Disaster CityTrafficUpgrade roads using keyboard shortcut "R" when hovering over a road. Higher density roads bring in higher density buildings (obviously) and more wealthy Sims.4
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3/1/2013Green City2:26.15UtilitiesBulldozing a garbage dump, sewage center, or dirty industry puts all of the trash into the ground at once and severely impacts ground pollution and land value. Think before you destroy one!4
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3/1/2013Green City0:24.42PollutionGround pollution will dissipate into air pollution over time. Air pollution can be dissipated faster by planting trees and plopping parks4
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-If garbage goes out of control, you might see a lizard monster marching toward your garbage destroying everything in his way. He then will disappear / die once he eat some chunks of your garbage dump.4
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3/1/2013Green City0:34.11EducationResidents that are educated consume less power and water, and also produce less garbage. You may see solar panels on top of the houses of educated Sims. Get started putting in education early if you want to have a "greener" city.4
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3/1/2013Green City1:15.20ZoningYou can daisy-chain parks off of each other (i.e. as long as one park is plopped on a road, you can connect other parks to it that are not connected to the road). This will help you build parks in the middle of a zoned area.4
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3/1/2013Green City1:21.45ZoningIf a building has an issue that doesn't get solved (i.e. no water) than it will become abandoned. If you fix the issue, and abandoned building could come back. If the issue remains unsolved for a longer period of time than it will turn into rubble. Once a building turns into rubble than it must be bulldozed.4
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3/1/2013Green City1:30.10RegionYou can "buy" research from a neighbor city in the region (for example if they have a university and you don't.)4
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3/1/2013Green City2:00.40EducationIf you have another city in your region with a university you can speed up your ability to research. Otherwise, you need to build up education in your own city by plopping schools, then a Community College, and eventually unlocking the ability to get a University.4
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3/1/2013Green City2:14.10UtilitiesUse dirt paths in your wind farm to plop your windmills in better locations. Wind speeds tend to be higher at higher altitudes so you can draw a path up the side of a hill and place windmills along that.4
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3/1/2013Green City2:40.55TrafficWhile a bus terminal can really help traffic, be careful not to put too many buses on the road (more than you need) because then they will actually cause more traffic. There is a sweet spot: watch how many riders you have and that you don't have too many empty buses running. Wait for the alert from your traffic advisor to alert you that the bus waits are long.4
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3/1/2013Green City2:53.30UtilitiesRecyling Centers not only reduce garbage but can also produce plastics, alloys, etc. that can then be sold on the global market.4
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-TrafficTraffic patterns are different for morning/evening commutes (plan accordingly with public transportation).4
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3/2/2013/u/CaptainCoreyRegionIf you are outsourcing utilities to another city and that city upgrades its capacity, you need to STOP the sharing and then START it again at the new capacity or else the outsourcing city will not have all of its needs met. (You can also reload each city - /u/CheezyArmpit)4
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3/2/2013/u/MaxisSparksTrafficSims will NOT shop on the way home from work -- shoppers and workers are separate. This could mean that you will have high traffic in commercial zones placed in between residential and industrial zones during evening commute time as there will be both shoppers and workers trying to go both directions on the same street.4
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3/2/2013/u/MaxisSparksTrafficCollege Sims also shop and can contribute heavily to traffic. (Consider putting commercial areas close to universities?)4
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3/3/2013City in the Shape Of1:15.35ZoningInfluence - when you specialize a city, you may see different types of buildings related to those. For example, if you have a casino in your city it may influence your commercial to start having more hotels. Education buildings will influence residential homes to have solar panels and become more efficient (i.e. less waste and power needs).4
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3/2/2013/u/MaxisSparksUtilitiesThe water treatment plant comes with a basic water pump. So 4 filters + 1 pump = 5 pumps, with 1 (20%) unclean. Try deleting the starting pump and replacing it with a filtration unit.4
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3/2/2013Coal City-SpecializationLike the water treatment plant, the trade depots come with a basic add-on that can be bulldozed and replaced with a more specialized add-on of your choosing.4
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3/2/2013AMA with MaxisTrafficYes, you can build a walkable city! To geek out about our simulation for a moment – when buildings with jobs need workers, they actually send out invisible “Help Wanted” requests for that travel along your road network looking for residential buildings. First they send out a request for walkers that only travel a few blocks, and if that goes unanswered they send out another request for drivers that travels much further. This means that by mixing up areas of residential with commercial and industrial in close proximity, you’ll tend to get much more foot traffic. If you want, you could build a city where everyone is forced to drive, by putting a lot of distance between homes and businesses.4
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3/3/2013City on the Brink0:37.00UtilitiesAs uncollected garbage piles up, the chance of having fires on that lot increases.4
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3/3/2013City on the Brink1:40:00ZoningTo make stadiums successful, make it accessible by public transportation and on a main avenue. Also make sure that crime is low where the stadium is because crowds attract crime.4
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3/3/2013City on the Brink2:56:00DisastersWhenever a meteor lands there is a small chance that it will bring ore, radiation, or ground pollution with it.4
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3/3/2013City on the Brink3:17:00PollutionWhile planting trees will accelerate cleaning ground pollution, the ground pollution will also kill the trees so you will need to re-plant the trees to keep cleaning up the pollution. Parks will also clean pollution, but not at as fast a rate. Sims who visit parks in polluted areas run a higher risk of getting ill.4
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3/4/2013Based on Beta 3 gameplay (Confirmed by 4 Cities)ZoningHigh wealth sims will not use mass transit. As a result, you will want to make sure that high wealth sims have high wealth commercial in close proximity to them (so they can walk) to avoid traffic.4
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3/4/20134 Cities1:04:00PopulationFerries will "commute" the largest number of sims of all of the mass transportation options.4
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3/4/20134 Cities1:06:00ZoningParks are the best way to attract wealth to your cities. They will also keep young sims that are not in schools out of trouble and keep crime lower.4
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3/4/20134 Cities1:20:00UtilitiesThe recycling centers act independently of the garbage dumps/trucks.4
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3/4/2013/u/PinstarTrafficPlace your schools in the opposite direction of your industry so that rush hour traffic and school traffic aren't trying to go the same way at the same time.4
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3/4/2013/u/PinstarTrafficMinimize the number of intersections off of a main avenue to cut down on the number of lights (and cars trying to turn)4
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3/6/2013/u/nootronTrafficWhen you add a 2nd garage to your service building (i.e. police/fire/hospital), place it on a different road from the first garage. This way, if one road is blocked, there is a still a 2nd road for the emergency vehicles to get out on.4
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3/6/2013/u/unoimallthtTrafficHigher density roads have the right-of-way, meaning traffic doesn't stop if entering the road. If you have medium density roads intersecting a high-density road, you will not have traffic lights (i.e. uninterrupted flow of the high-density road). If you have high-density roads everywhere, then light traffic residential high-density roads can make the more trafficky main road stop unnecessarily. Use a mix of high-density roads/avenues throughout the city to control the flow.4
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3/1/2013/u/umezoomZoningHigh wealth sims will commute to other cities for jobs, but they drive so be prepared for traffic. Placing high tech industrial zones at the entrance to cities where the jobs are will help traffic a lot.4
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3/7/2013Ocean QuigleyUtilitiesPlacing water towers or pumps adjacent to lakes, rivers, or ocean gives you an infinite water supply. (There is a bug right now that is making so that this is not the case, but he has confirmed that this should be the way it works)4
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3/9/2013/u/areiamusEducationA high school education improves citizens' health (less likely to become injured/get sick) and reduces their change of becoming a criminal (kind of heavy-handed on the social commentary there, maxis). But it does not improve citizens' IQ or educated-ness beyond an elementary school.4
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3/9/2013/u/tofutakahashiEducationLibraries are really useful for a starting city and if you are looking to boost education for adults and low and medium wealth sims. Grade schools only educate the kiddies, and high school the teens, but libraries are accessible and used by adults. So early on they can really help get a head start on education, and since their effect on education is very gradual it works very well with grade schools and high school.4
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3/10/2013IdeoRex (YouTube)TrafficIn general, you want avenues to carry your most traffic-heavy throughways. You want to avoide avenues intersecting each other, and instead have medium density streets intersect avenues. Try and avoid placing streetcar avenues (unless you have to use streetcars).4
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3/1/2013Green City0:07.56EducationAdding education will help upgrade industry to high tech which does not pollute as much. Adding schools is the first step towards high tech.3
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3/1/2013Green City0:25.41ZoningAt the end of the Parks menu for "Nature" you have the option to "paint" in trees (the single tree with the green arrow)3
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3/1/2013Green City0:28.00HealthSick people will be able to get to clinics/hospitals on their own, but injured people can only get to hospitals by ambulance (so plant more ambulance bays if you have a lot of injured people).3
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3/1/2013Green City0:32.35PollutionWhile air pollution can travel to other cities in the region, ground pollution will likely dissipate before it gets to a neighboring city.3
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3/1/2013Green City0:33.32PollutionWind direction does change, but not dramatically (within about 45 degrees either direction). *Quigley said that it actually varies 60 degrees3
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3/1/2013Green City0:45.35UtilitiesSolar Power panels can be daisy-chained in very flexible configurations. You can connect up to 16 to one plant.3
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3/1/2013Green City0:52.00PollutionCars DON'T contribute to pollution.3
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3/1/2013Green City0:52.45TrafficSims are "lazy" and will take the shortest and easiest route. They will work at the closest place possible. You can use public transportation to get them to further parts of the city.3
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3/1/2013Green City1:01.40UtilitiesWater Pumping Station produces more water than a tower and can also filter dirty groundwater (with the filtration pump addition).3
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3/1/2013Green City1:07.10RegionSims will first look for employment/shopping in your city, but if they can't find them, they will start commuting to a neighboring city.3
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3/1/2013Green City1:09.30BudgetWhen a city goes complete broke (budget crisis), time will stop and UI will pop up and give you options aside from abandoning your city. You will have a list of alternatives (i.e. loan from the bank, get a gift from a neighbor, found a new city and gift money to yourself from there, abandon city.)3
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3/1/2013Green City1:37.38ZoningRoads will limit density of the buildings around it. When you see that you have green bars in your "Building Density Map" than you should try upgrading the roads in those sections to allow for more population in those buildings.3
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3/1/2013Green City1:40.40UtilitiesFerry buildings snap to the coastline and comes with a road stub. Once it's plopped on the water, you need to connect the road stub with an existing road to get it on the map.3
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3/1/2013Green City1:46.00UtilitiesFerries will bring in commuters and can also bring in tourists (if you plop the cruise ship addition). This would be especially helpful for a city with specialization in casinos or tourism.3
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3/1/2013Green City2:22.10UtilitiesRunning a nuclear plant requires educated sims. Running a nuclear plant WITHOUT educated sims in your city will dramatically increase the risk of having a meltdown.3
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3/1/2013Green City2:32.25BudgetIf sims are having a hard time finding jobs you can set up places for employment near them, or set up public transportation to make it easier to get farther away to where the jobs are.3
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3/1/2013Green City2:34.50GameplaySpecializations vary in challenge-level. While it is easier to get a profitable city with a mining specialization, the education "big business" (i.e. universities) or trade specialization can be more challenging or slow-going to get into.3
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3/1/2013Green City2:43:00ZoningCheck out your budget window to see where the demand for jobs is (i.e. low, medium, high wealth) and then build up density in the corresponding areas according to the land value map.3
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3/1/2013Green City3:16.02EducationThe more students you have in your university, the faster your research goes.3
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3/2/2013/u/MaxisSparksZoningWorking industry sends out trucks that deliver freight. If the freight successfully delivers, the industry gets 1 happiness. Freight is normally delivered to commercial buildings. They have a certain amount they can take per hour, and consume what they have slowly over time. Trade Lots with the freight module can act as a freight delivery site in the same way.3
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3/2/2013/u/MaxisSparksZoningIndustrial demand is based on how much extra freight capacity you have. Commercial demand is based on how much more shoppers could buy. Residential demand is based on how many extra jobs you have.3
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3/2/2013/u/MaxisSparksZoningCommercial buildings don't need freight to sell goods. Goods sold regenerate independently. You can build an RC city, for example, and you'll have to deal with significant unemployed, rather then unhappy shops.3
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3/2/2013/u/chromose UtilitiesIf ground pollution is tainting your water, then it’s time to start thinking about moving your water tower to a cleaner ground source. Make sure your new water tower is up and running before demolishing the old one. Remember, it takes a few hours for water to reach new utility and industry buildings, and you don’t want to leave your residents without water during the transition.3
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3/3/2013City in the Shape Of1:00.45ZoningAreas around water or on hills have a little boost in land value.3
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3/3/2013City in the Shape Of1:09.26ZoningTo build commercial, build landmarks and other touristy things like casinos. Then providing public transportation for them for them to get there.3
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3/2/2013/u/chromoseZoningHigher density buildings have higher density traffic problems and they also require more water, produce more sewage and garbage.3
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3/3/2013City in the Shape Of1:21.29PolicePolice coverage depends on police cars (rather than solely station placement) and how far they will travel. You can invest in a single station to increase its scope (i.e. adding helipad or more cars) or building additional stations in other parts of town.3
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3/3/2013City in the Shape Of1:26.35UtilitiesSewage will dissipate over time (although groundwater could dissipate it faster). Upgrade to treatment plants to clean it before dumping it into the ground and reduce ground pollution.3
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3/3/2013City in the Shape Of1:28.00RegionHigh tech industry and education impacts the region not just the city where it starts. 3
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3/2/2013Coal City0:35.00SpecializationIf you have a lot of coal sitting in storage, you should make sure that you are exporting it from trade depots to make some more money from it.3
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3/2/2013Coal City1:06:00MiscFor Deluxe/Limited Edition: Dr. Vu will accumulate criminals and then unleash them in a wave to your neighbors to steal goods and bring money to your city when they return.3
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3/2/2013Coal City1:26:00EducationBus stops cover all the schools -- you don't need to plop new bus stops for every specific school3
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3/3/2013City in the Shape OfSpecializationPay attention to the type of casino you plop and the type of wealth it corresponds to. If you plop an elegant casino in a city with a low population of high wealth the casino will bleed money. In other words, match your casino to your population's wealth.3
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3/3/2013City in the Shape Of3:05.00SpecializationSimilar to casinos, monuments attract different wealth types of visitors. Consider which type of tourist you want to attract to your city before you plop.3
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3/3/2013City on the Brink0:50:00EducationOne of the ways that criminals are created are by kids that don't have a school to go to. A way to address crime in the long-term is to bring in education and making sure students have a way to get to them.3
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3/3/2013City on the Brink1:26:00ZoningAbandoned buildings attract criminals, increase likelihood of injury, and are at higher risk for fires3
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3/3/2013City on the Brink1:42:00ZoningMaximized the number of sims that walk to your hospital by checking out the green radius that appears around the hospital when you plop it. Homes within the green radius will walk, but outside that circle they must be picked up by ambulances.3
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3/3/2013City on the Brink1:58:00ZoningBasic parks don't increase land value (more for aesthetics?) For other parks, the green circle around the parks before you plop them will show the reach that park will have in improving land value.3
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3/4/20134 Cities1:30:00RegionWhen you volunteer your vehicles to other cities, you don't need to worry about keeping some for yourself. They will prioritize your city, and just visit other cities infrequently to take care of their issues too.3
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3/7/2013/u/nockleTrafficMaking a U shape with heavy rails and having train stations at various locations in your city will help with traffic. Having only one station at the edge of town means everyone is getting off or on there and need to transfer or take a car from there.3
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3/7/2013/u/CheezyArmpitUtilitiesOne recycling plant at a large (50k+) city can produce enough recycled plastics and alloys to supply the processor plant (Electronics City Specialisation) with multiple production lines. The processors can be exported to the global market, making excellent profits.3
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3/7/2013/u/CheezyArmpitDisastersLots of drilling makes earthquakes more likely. Having garbage problems increases the likelihood of having a monster visit your city.3
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3/9/2013/u/areiamusEducationAn elementary school education is necessary and sufficient for people to be considered "Educated", which means they improve the productivity of various factories. I think that being Educated is a necessary requirement for RES$$ and RES$$$ but I'm not sure.3
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3/9/2013/u/areiamusEducationA community college allows for adults within your city and from neighboring cities to become educated, if they weren't educated as children, and will cause (?) industry buildings within its influence radius to be tech level 2.3
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3/9/2013/u/areiamusEducationA university seems to fulfill exactly the same function as a community college, except with specific effect addons (e.g., law school allowing police to catch criminals in their homes). A university will also cause industry buildings within its influence radius to be tech level 3.3
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3/1/2013Green City0:48.20UtilitiesAdding more solar plants does not necessarily add more power than adding another solar panel to an existing plant. As long as there is still room to plop a panel to the existing plant.2
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3/1/2013Green City0:58.34TrafficStart with a medium density avenue which can be updated to a high density avenue later. Streets can be upgraded to high density streets, but not to avenues. It's a good idea to start with a medium avenue off the highway.2
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3/1/2013Green City1:04.20BudgetYou can boost budget by bumping up taxes -- low wealth sims won't complain about high taxes as much as high wealth sims. Also taking out bonds for temporary boost.2
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3/1/2013Green City1:26.32GameplayWhen one of your icons in the UI is flashing red, than there is an alert for you. If you miss the initial alert, you can click on the red exclamation point by the advisor to read the message again. The blue "i" icon next to the advisor also gives you additional tips and tricks for the different systems related to the advisor.2
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3/1/2013Green City2:06.25RegionAn arcology is a place for tons of sims to live -- they will come to your cities to work and shop so that you will not need to zone for them as much in your city.2
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3/1/2013Green City2:11.45ZoningYou can have more than one specialization in your city -- some pair better than others. Sometimes your city may evolve over time (i.e. starting as a coal specialization then when the coal runs out, you can switch over to oil or a trade network).2