Unsatisified Sims
I was on here back in August and found that my version of SimCity is not popular I am using Sim City Cities of Tomorrow Expansion Pack. I've been having a lot of fun with it but have a question rel...
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@bloomlwold - Both SimCity 2013 (PC) and SimCity BuildIt (mobile) have a Cities of Tomorrow expansion pack, so that's why I asked. The two platforms are VERY different, but if you're playing on PC, you're in the you're in the right place and playing SimCity 2013. Sorry for the confusion!
I have played SimCity Deluxe (with the CoT expansion pack) for years. It's a great game - you're right, not as popular as some other games, but it definitely has a core group of players who enjoy the game as much as you do.
@bloomlwold wrote:
I've been having a lot of fun with it but have a question relating to Sims (mostly of the lower class) being unsatisfied with shopping.
First thing to remember is that the game loves to constantly tell you that you need something (like more commercial), but that might not actually be the problem. You can read unsatisfied shoppers as "needing more commercial" - or - "needing less residential". Or - and this is more likely - "Shoppers can't get to the Commercial properties" - or - "You don't have enough commercial in the same wealth class as your shoppers" (and again, "you have too many shoppers / residential for your commercial properties".
Keep an eye on the Population Details tab. In each wealth class, you want the Total Satisfied to be at least half of the Total Shoppers. The bars may tell you that you need more Commercial, but the sims population will be satisfied as long as at least half of the shoppers can find the existing commercial.
As with most everything in SimCity, it's very possible that the real issue is not the amount of Low Wealth Residential (LWR) or Low Wealth Commercial (LWC), but that your shoppers can't get to the LWC because of traffic. The easiest way to solve this is to lay out your city so that your sims can walk to the shops.
I usually lay out my cities so that there is an approximate ratio Residential to Commercial ratio of 3:1. Zone a few Commercial next to a block of Residential, so a typical street zoning looks like this: RRRRRRCCRRRRRRCCRRRRRRCC. Since you have unsatisfied shoppers, I would replace some of your existing LWR with LWC. Laying it out this way does 2 things - 1. It ensures the wealth class of the R & I are the same 2. The Shoppers can walk to the Commercial buildings without increasing traffic.
Here's a picture of the layout as I use it:
@bloomlwold wrote:
It seems that is I increase the amount of commercial the number of the unsatisfied decreases somewhat. Before doing increases the sims can be numbered in a third to a half the number of shoppers. I am looking at this info on the population panel and see very minimal decrease in the unsatisfied when I add commercial zoning. If I add too much commercial then the zoning icon pops up with there is not enough shoppers, zone more residential, and the opposite is true if I put in too much residential. It seems to me a continuing problem and if I continue to follow the zoning icon's back and forth instructions the city soon has no space for anything but commercial and residential. leaving no room for stadiums academies and other useful city improvements.
The thing to remember is that the game will give you warnings like this, but if your city is running fine, you don't need to act on them. As you can see, the city I have is running fantastic - I keep my population controlled and watch the happiness & all the numbers in the Population Details. But the advisor still says I have unsatisfied shoppers and need more commercial. I choose to ignore these messages - the city is running great, and you will always have "something" needed according to the advisors.
If you have less than half of your shoppers that are unsatisfied, the city is running well. You can use my tips about layout to bring it closer to zero unsatisfied shoppers, but there will come a time when it will switch to having unhappy commercial properties & unsold goods. In my example, I have a small percentage of unsold goods for LWC - which is why the advisor is telling me I need more shoppers. But I don't really - it's not affecting anything.
I hope this helps - if not, please let me know, and maybe supply some screenshots of your concerns.
Happy Building!
! cannot begin to tell you how helpful and generous you have been. It gives me hope for our future as a nation that there are still friendly and cordial people like you out there. I have no idea as to your age, I just turned 80 this month.
When you first helped me back in August I took your three to one ratio to heart. I would have four blocks of equal size together, one block would be commercial and the other three residential. I've since began designating the 3 to 1 by drawing the commercial in 3 to 1 within one block. Also, I think I have discovered the importance of public transportation with in a city using shuttle and trolley. It also helps with fire suppression.
I have torn down and started from scratch numerous times and each time seems I get better at it. My population panels look remarkably similar to yours so I must be on the right track.
The thing I am wrestling with now is specialization of cities. I've been able to to use tourist effectively. Using Mega Factories leads to a never ending scramble for oil and raw ore but it pays really well. I am going to try science and research next. Working on that now.
Anyway thank you again for your invaluable and generous help.
LB
