So, the most basic and fundamental advanced strategy I use is the water table tracing I do at the start of every level. What does this mean exactly? Well basically, I take a look at the water map and -- while it is displayed on the screen -- I add roads to my community making extra careful to keep the roads on the driest (read: lightest blue) portions of the water table.
The advantages to having your water table traced in streets is a) you can see where your water table is without having to bring up your water map, and b) you can zone areas that you know for sure to be light blue with industrial and other polluting ploppables -- thereby minimizing the amount of pollution you'll have to deal with later in the game
Once you can visually see where your water table is via roads, the next step is to close the water table data layer and begin broadly zoning the sections you traced out. Any section that you know has no water table underneath of it is a location you want to dedicate to garbage, sewage, mining, and industry. Anywhere that you know has water -- especially deep water -- you want to zone commercial and residential or install clean ploppables like parks, government buildings, and schools. Also, obviously, your water towers will go here.
Episode 5: Tracing the Water Table
Posted March 11, 2013
In this video, I cover the basics on how and why to trace your water table using roads. If you regularly have problems with water pollution, then this video may be for you.
The Water Table From Above
You never really get a shot to see the water table from directly above (or at a distance) in SimCity 5. However, I put together this composite image tracing to show you what a water table looks like. This particular map -- Corsair Coast (region: Sunrunner Bay) -- is a well balanced water table by my estimation. You can clearly see that there are plenty of dry spaces for industry and polluting ploppables as well as an even number of watering holes above which go residential, commercial, and, of course, water towers.
Most maps are more complex than this one and some are almost completely covered by water table. Cinder (region: Reflection Atoll) is a good example of this
Now, I'll be the first to admit that you can't lay your roads solely via the water table on most maps. For instance, the elevation changes in this map make the upper right corner impossible to follow 1-for-1. In that case, simply cut the road short in the dry area to make sure ground pollution remains sequestered.
The more mindful you are of your water table, the better for the long-term health of your city.
Benefits
This is a huge preventative benefit that keeps major pollution problems from creeping up on you as your city begins to expand and grow. These pollution problems usually will stop and even reverse the growth of your city as people get sick and die and can consume huge amounts of time and money later on that are better spent on expansion. The key to maximizing your fun in this game is to think now -- at the start -- about where you want to store your ground pollution.
Disadvantages
It's sometimes ugly, difficult to draw the roads, and can be limiting from a design aspect. Take the city in the photo above: Trinity Point. The industrial zones (yellow) follow exactly the path of the dry bedrock beneath. Esthetically, this isn't very pleasing.
More importantly, the squirrely nature of the water table makes the roads themselves a pain to draw. In other city sites these aren't really issues, but for this site the problems are more evident. Sadly, I agree with each of these criticisms, but in the long run I know that this strategy is saving me from future headaches and that makes it worth the sacrifice.
Leaderboard
In terms of ascending to the top of the leaderboard, I consider this strategy to be indispensable.
No comments:
Post a Comment