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W0lfsBane1224's avatar
6 years ago

What's the Best Way to Earn Money and Grow My City Strategically?

So apparently the quickest way to earn money is to grow your population by building and improving Buildings. However, increased population obviously means increased demand for services. It seems there is a disproportionate difference between the amount of money one can earn and the amount of money it takes to buy improvements.

For example, I'm level 11. I'd like to invest in transit for my citizens rather than building wider roads all the time, but the Department of Transportation building is 40,000 Simoleons. It's a slow process to earn that much when you're selling 5 Seeds at a time at 30 Simoleons a pop.

Then, if you do improve your buildings so you can increase your taxes and you hit a new level, you might be suddenly slammed with a new responsibility, like suddenly having to buy police stations to cover your entire city. I don't even know how much that costs, but I'm afraid to even try to level up without having some cash reserves.

Does anybody have any advice for how to earn money without investing in building improvements? Does anyone have good advice for growing my city strategically, so I don't get surprised with sudden inability to meet demands of water, power, new responsibilities like Police stations, etc.?

8 Replies

  • When I was at earlier levels (now at level 52), I found that producing and selling wood was a good way of making money as it is quick to produce and 5 can sell for the max price of 100 simoleons. Visiting Daniel can be ok too as he often has good items for sale and at their lowest price, which you can then sell for the highest price.

    But that's just me, I'm sure other people have different suggestions as well.

  • W0lfsBane1224's avatar
    W0lfsBane1224
    6 years ago
    @roccodonovan8 Thank you, that's helpful. I found the same thing with Sims Mobile...as you're first starting, it's hard to collect enough money to even have fun; but once you've reached a certain level, it's almost not challenging any more. I'll just enjoy the slow progression while it lasts.
  • @morgana-mac Thanks! I also noticed that buying and re-selling from Daniel is a good way to turn a profit. I appreciate the advice. I'll focus on wood, too.
  • OwenGraham147's avatar
    OwenGraham147
    5 years ago

    So far, I can't make money in the game. I don't understand how this is done yet. At the moment, I earn money for the game using best money making apps. I have downloaded several such applications at once, and by performing elementary tasks, I make a little money. Sometimes it can be up to ten dollars at a time. So I spend this money on building my city in the game. Sometimes I buy groceries at home. It turned out to be very convenient, I'm surprised. At first, I doubted it at all, but in the end, I was convinced.

  • Your first city is a trial, second is practise. The third city is what you really plan. Do not underestimate the power of the market. Sell the items that are laying for no reasons. You can make money as well as clear the stock. Also, keep your sims happy. They will give you more tax than. Listen to their needs. Do not place sewerage plant near residential area, keep Fire station, hospitals, police station intact in the ratio of your population.

    All in all, keep your Sims happy at 100%, keep auditing the stock and sell what is of no use. You will make some crazy money.

  • I’m fairly new to the game, definitely not an expert, but I went looking on YouTube for videos about this. I’m level 26 at the moment, and I think around level 22 I started using some tips I found there.

    From a few different videos, these tips stood out to me-

    Stop spending Simoleons/coins for a while. Don’t upgrade houses, etc. 

    Best items to make at lower levels can be found here- score down and look for “Simolean/coin profit per minute”. This is very helpful https://simcity.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_items_in_SimCity_BuildIt

    At level 11, you can make metal and use the building supply shop to make nails. Do that- over and over. Max out all your factories to make just metal and put them through the shop and list on the market. This can yield 12 Simoleons/coins per minute profit. 

    When putting the nails on sale, make sure you’re selecting the box that says “advertise”. You can do this every 60 seconds for items, so come back and make sure they’re advertised (otherwise no one is seeing them).

    While doing this, as you accumulate coins and Sim Cash, use those only to upgrade factories when you can, increase slots at factories to create longer queues, and add slots to your market HQ selling place to list more items.

    As you level up there are other items to make too that are quick and have decent profits, like chairs and flour bags come to mind. Also like others said, check Daniel’s daily for discounted items and sell what you don’t need. Also keep an eye out in the market for underpriced items and buy/resell them if they’re things that sell quickly. Also visit other cities daily to get free item (little blue presents) and resell as needed. 

    While doing this, I also only really bought items related to storage (camera, lock, grate) because those are essential as you move on.

    I just spent a bunch of coins tonight so I’m back to grinding and selling nails, wood boards, grass, chairs, etc. It’s not fun but it helps you get on to other parts of the game 

  • Balancing city growth and finances in simulation games can be a real challenge, just like managing real-life budgets. If you're looking for ways to make money within the game or strategize your city's development, here's some advice.
    1. Economize: Prioritize essential services like water and power. Focus on cost-effective improvements before expanding. Save your in-game currency for crucial upgrades.
    2. Specializations: Explore different city specializations like industry, commerce, or tourism. Specialized zones can generate higher profits and taxes.
    If you're interested in real-life ways to make money, there's a useful guide on making $100 a day. While it's unrelated to the game, it might provide insights into achieving financial goals outside the virtual world.

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