SimCity 258: Mayor's House and Mansion

So, there isn't much to say about this one. It doesn't do anything for your city except take up room and it doesn't have any modules, so really it just sits there. It's cosmetic and goes really nicely with some of the high-wealth, low-density buildings, but if you need the room don't think twice about demolishing it.

My Other House is a Mansion

Once you earn a certain level of prestige and renown, your people will bless you with your very own mansion. My advice would be to chop down that hideous house the second your mansion is habitable.

My Architect is an Idiot

So, while I was working on taking the photo of the mansion with all of its accoutrements in place, I had quite a time trying to get all of the modules on the board in the allotted snap points.

The image above is a more elevated view that shows where everything goes. Basically, someone over at Maxis had definite ideas of how the mayor's mansion was going to be laid out and left little room for error. I'm sure there are others, but if you're having trouble making your mansion work, here's one layout that keeps everything compact.

The modules for the mansion -- none of which do anything except look pretty -- are as follows:

• 1 Guard Post
• 1 Guest House
• 1 Balcony
• 1 Sports Car Garage
• 1 BBQ Patio
• 1 Fountain (can only go out front)
• 1 Flag
• 1 Extension Wing
• 1 Party Wing
• 1 Tennis Court
• 1 Swimming Pool
• 1 Frankly Nazi-looking Eagle
• 1 Limo Garage
• 1 Greenhouse (all the better to stone you with?)
• 1 Suicide Tower
• 1 Helipad (compliments the one at your office)

SimCity 232: Police Station

Police stations are the first line of defense for a new city against it's growing population and the criminals it births. At first when you build your city, everyone is oddly sociable and well adjusted. However, as the city grows, if you fail to provide any police protection, your city will descend into anarchy and some Lord of the Flies stuff that, frankly, I don't even want to think about.

The police station (shown above with all of the modules added) is the first and least expensive of the crime fighting ploppables, but it also has a limited range and effectiveness. Without additional buildings and upgrades, the two cops who come with it will become quickly overwhelmed by the crime families and gangs that naturally incubate inside a city.

Module: Jail

It's simple: when a cop finds a criminal, where's he going to put him? He can't just ride around the countryside with dozens of con men smashed into the back of his patrol car. That would be cruel and unusual. Building jails to house your criminals will allow you to slowly reduce the overall crime rate of the area around your station.

You can have up to four jail modules per station. One of them can get plopped on top of the station proper, however I think that looks goofy. It's better to lay the first two jail modules side by side and then plop the second two on top of the first two. It takes up a little more space, but I think it's worth it.

Module: More Cop Cars

Adding more and more cop cars is very important. Each pair of cop cars you add to your fleet will reduce crime exponentially. I highly recommend maxing out your bruiser cruisers whenever you can.

Module: Sign

It's a sign. It says "Cops" just in case there are English-speaking tourists in the area who need help or directions.

Module: Flag Pole

It's a flag pole. I adds that little bit of something that you'll only notice while you're plopping it down because the thing is so freakin' thin that a thousand times you pass by the police station you'll never see it.

SimCity 231: Fire Station

Fire stations are the initial ploppable by which you will control your citizens' ability to set themselves on fire. These buildings dispatch fire trucks around your city in response to fire events. Depending on how you upgrade the building -- and you're going to want to fully upgrade each one you build -- they dispatch more trucks and they do it faster.

The photo above shows a fully upgraded fire station. I put my flag pole on the corner between the main building and the garages, the sign on top of the first garage I added, the bell on top of the main station, and then ran the garages down the street because I wasn't overly concerned about maximizing real estate. Upgrades are important. Without them, fires will be put out but they will absolutely be reduced to rubble.

Module: Bell

When a fire is about to start, the Sims will make humorous comments that show that they have done something stupid and their house is about to catch fire. When a bell is attached to your fire house, your engines will begin rolling the second this though bubble pops up. Failing the installation of a bell, your engines will roll shortly after the fire begins. Having a bell on each of your stations will greatly improve your fire coverage, reduce your rubble and abandonment problems, and help you mitigate the amount of pain engines caught in traffic will cause you.

Module: Garage

Unlike the police station which simply plops down two extra cars in their parking lot, fire trucks require their own garage in order to function. This means that generally speaking, fire stations take up more space than police stations. The best way to handle this is to build a road along side your fire station that pulls back away from the main road dedicated solely to your garages. This keeps them from taking up valuable real estate.

Module: Pole and Sign

Sadly the fire pole is a flag pole and not a fireman's pole. Other than my personal disappointment, these two modules are cosmetic and offer no benefit to your city.

SimCity 230: Health Clinic

Health care in SimCity is mostly about prevention -- as it is in real life. With this in mind, the health clinic is very sparse and offers your citizens very little in the way of protection and recuperation. That's why things like water pollution and garbage pileups can be so devastating before you can build a hospital.

But while you're waiting for your citizens to become too smart to eat bad Chinese, your clinic is better than nothing.

Modules: Patient Wings

Expands the number of people that the clinic can see at any given time. This reduces wait time and saves lives.

Modules: Ambulance Bays

While Sims will try to walk to your clinic if they have no other way to get there, some Sims are too sick (injured) to try. As a result, they either need an ambulance or they need a coffin. Plop down some ambulance bays (max: 4) to give your Sims a speedy recovery.

Module: Sign

Nothing is as comforting when you need a doctor as seeing the sign in front of the clinic. If nothing else, it's something to stare at while you're sitting in the waiting room for an hour.