I just got a new computer,one capable of running SC4,so I'm a novice to that game and I'm awaiting SC 5000,or whatever Maxis names it.
I still run SC3K Unlimited,despite a few bugs I inherited when I reloaded to the new Dell.
The largest city I built on the old platform,before I dumped all my old cities was "Cleve" (...Lando Hio was Mayor...) and I created it using--duh--Cleveland as a prototype.
THE LOST CITY OF CLEVE
I played with this city for about a year creating and destroying until I got what I wanted,then would visit from time to time to make changes.
The city's airport,sports complex(Browns 'n Indians Park),rail yards and major industrial zones were all along the waterfront,eventually bleeding into expensive waterfront suburbs;industry followed the river and the shore,and most outlying neighborhoods were clean and eventually became high value zones.
Since Cleveland actually had a pretty good rail transit system,so did Cleve.Trains encircled the area,and all the stations were heavily used.Freeways bordered the top and bottom of the area,and just like in Ohio the CBD is bordered by twin limited-access highways and reached over big river bridges:a dual-laned inner loop/parkway circles the central city.Traffic was always moving around the CBD.I tried to follow actual street patterns,although that did grow into problems at times,like when I introduced freeways in the late 40's.
I used the Gold Tower flanked by 2 Retail Exchanges for the actual Terminal Tower,built a Public Square with a lot of old and new Landmarks around it and down along"Euclid Ave"I created a Mansion area; I plopped out the skyscrapers,zoned the Commercial area and the neighborhoods and historic areas within the CBD and I had a fair representation of the real city's skyline.A LOT of trial and error there.
CL,Ohio has an extensive Parks system,and I tried to imitate that in the game,devoting large areas to greenspace.It also has a lot of universities,and I built several neat campuses,including a Gothic John Carroll Univ and a zoomy,21St Century Cleve State campus.They were all placed in approximation of how the real city is laid out.
Cleve got built out.I found myself making tough decisions about what to tear down.The city eventually became a set peice,something I'd visit from time to time to see how things were and to see what happened when I clicked it to run.The only thing I could do was destroy to rebuild,and that was senseless.
Cleve was created mostly through cheats and plops,although I did allow a lot of the outlying zoned areas to do whatever the game wanted.
Cleve followed the 1900 timeline.I tried to develop the game along the lines of Cleveland's 20th Century evolution.I had a Depression in the '30s,taxes went way up and the City floundered.
There were wars,when whole neighborhoods were sacrificed for wartime production.After the war,it turned residential again.I allowed several fiscal crises,like a year without water,to test and discourage the city's success,because no matter what I did to it,Cleve,from about 1945 onward was amazingly successful.
Also,it was one of the few towns I made where Sims actually used the Expressways.For whatever the reason,these guys LOVED the freeways.
After awhile,I stopped using "i am weak" and let tax money fund everything.Tax money funded the waterfront airport (a major plop job)--and even rebuilt it again,tax money funded the subway and it paid for a huge,inept and expensive freeway realignment job,one that turned into a 1960's urban renewal project and caused me to take out loans to continue it.Tax money built the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Foam (That was it's name.It was California Plaza)an elaborate waterfront complex that I had to put in the wrong place,way across town from where the real one is located.
Taxes reached and stayed at 3%-4%(unless I raised them to fund projects),and provided more than enough to play.
Cleve reached 400,000 in the 1970s and was at 720,000 when it passed on.
Despite long corridors of high-density apartments,Cleve was predominantly low/mid residential with large areas of dark blue Property Values.The whole map was blue,except for a few areas.Some res wound up in the Hot zone near the Power Plant Cluster and always stayed a slum no matter how many parks and museums I'd plop there,so I let them be the ghetto.Surprisingly,res areas near heavy industry became high and sometimes astronomical.
It had tax revenues of 35,000 simoleans per year,high satisfaction and land value indices,ICR graphs were showing slight but even demand ratios,and the city just plain worked!
On August 22,2005,when both our calendars coincided,it passed forever --along with East Jesus,,Gonzo Quarters,Drughole,N Upper Lower E Side (NULES),Villagetown City and Butt,Montana(a city with NO highrises).
Yet of all my cities on th old disc,Cleve was the favorite,the most successful,the one most missed.It had 360,000 s in the bank,was awaiting 40,000 more and EVERYBODY was happy.
Oh,by the way,I'm NOT from Cleveland.
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