SimCity 450: Resources

Resource management is one of the key features of SimCity. Specifically, you're looking at oil. coal, metal ore, water, and wind. These five resources combine to provide power, money, and stability to your city states and your region. City states with lots of resources have a major advantage at the beginning of the game; those without will suffer to grow.

Maxis provides a vague resource report at the start of every game that explains approximately how much of each resource is available in the city site you select. By adding them together, we can determine which city states are the richest in resources and the poorest in resources.

Region Outlook

Regions can make up for the lack of resources in any one city site by allowing mayors to network and pool their resources to help each other out. A mayor who is blessed with a large amount of coal can sell it to a neighbor or burn it and sell the neighbor electricity.

However, some regions are better than others when it comes to resources. By adding together the resource levels of each of their constituent city sites, we can compare regions based on the average number of resources their city states contain. The lower the average, the more difficult mayors in that region will have it.

In the chart above, we see that the horizon archipelago -- due in large part to it's windy terrain -- is the easiest place to set up shop. However, we also see that Reflection Atoll and Cape Trinity are both woefully lacking in resources. Reflection Atoll especially must share four levels of coal, metal, and oil across seven cities. This is a tough setup.

Best Resource Sites

Without question, Ceylon Steppes, Kazoo Pass, and Hokusai Cliffs are the three best cities if you are seeking an easy time of it. Ceylon is well balanced and has tons of water -- essential for long term success. Kazoo has tons of coal and metal -- a good source of revenue on the open market. Hokusai is blessed with a ton of wind, meaning that the amount of real estate you'll have to dedicate to power stations is minimal.

Worst Resource Sites

Some city sites just weren't meant to be colonized. There are seven city sites in the game that offer zero chance of setting up mining or drilling operations. Clearwater and Twain are at the top of that list. Of the two of them, Twain is possible the worst of them all. Twain -- wait for it -- doesn't even have wind. What the hell is that all about?