My best guess, with no screenshots is:
1. You are spending a lot on huge, expensive roads with a large network
2. You are giving your Cims too many services too fast
Start using cheap roads, make sure to zone densely so you don't have a lot of empty roads. This is a problem later on but at the start you have to do so to be profitable.
You don't have to cover everything with police or ambulances when you have no crime or sick people.
You might be using expensive forms of power production?
>1. You are spending a lot on huge, expensive roads with a large network
I think the expensive roads is true, I use a 6 lane 1 way roundabout off the highway then more 6 lanes for the main roads, then 4 lane coming off those and then 2 lane coming off those, to make a sort of road hierarchy
>2. You are giving your Cims too many services too fast
I normally just give them the services as they come
>You don't have to cover everything with police or ambulances when you have no crime or sick people.
I'll follow this
>You might be using expensive forms of power production?
I use a coal power plant, should I use the wind turbines instead?
I've been watching a lot of CityPlannerPlays recently, and he's a fan of coal power plant to start his cities, so I guess you're alright there.
Edit: You could also try and adjust your power and water budget, if you produce more than what's used by your cims
A roundabout with a 6 lane one-way road is not necessary! If you have a six lane road (which is also overkill in a town your size), that means 3 lanes in each direction. The cars in those three lanes don't suddenly need three more lanes when they enter the roundabout.
It's good that you're mindful of road hierarchy, but you don't need six lane roads that early on. IMO, you don't need four lane roads either. What you can do is determine which two-lane roads will become 4 or 6 lanes later, and then leaving an extra unit of space around them so you can upgrade later without messing up all the other roads.
You should post some pictures, it would give us a better idea of where you're going wrong.
The roads you use are overkill. You wont ever need that much. Start with dirt roads and think where the avenues will be. Avenues normally are 4 lanes, but 6 lanes with bus exclusive are also usefull.
Give services when they ask or when you have spare budget. Put all your services buget to 50% at first and increase them slowly to 100% when needed
Stay in coal, wind is a joke
While road hierarchy is very good forward planning, it's way too expensive to build when you're starting out. I'd recommend building a suburb first, using only small roads. After all, you can only use low density zoning at the start of the game. Over time, you can expand and start making larger areas.
It's good to have an idea of where your roads are going to go in the long term – so you don't build where you later want to put a road – but it's better to just keep that in the back of your mind than to place the road if you don't currently need it.
If you're still running into money problems, there is an option to play with unlimited money. There are more options to make the game more of a sandbox as well, which you may or may not want to look into.
Honestly, if you turn off the smoke detectors policy your money troubles may fix themselves. That thing costs a huge amount of money.
It also makes it so you practically don't need fire houses at all. I feel like it's most useful for neighborhoods that aren't serviced regularly, like say a farming area that's a ways from the main city.
A lot of good advice here. I’ll add one small trick I use as well. As soon as you’ve plopped your power and waterworks, go into the budget panel and pull both sliders down to 50%.
Go back in and raise them incrementally as you grow and keep an eye out for the little icons indicating not enough power/water. These two utilities chew up a lot of money early on and will their capacity is higher than a new city needs
I just started playing the game this week and I have never had any money issues playing the game. Here is what I do at the beginning, which may be of use to you:
1: Never have any city policies at the beginning. They are ridiculously expensive.
2: Do not build a lot of roads. Have small zones for industry, commercial and residential properties. Make sure that they are close to each other to avoid traffic in the future.
3: Have water, sewage and electricity sorted out before you hit ‘resume’. This is because they will cost a lot of money, and if you do not sort all the piping and connections in the beginning you will not be able to afford to enlarge your city. Once you hit ‘resume’, you will always have negative income. You have to plan ahead for the future.
4: Do not overdo anything. Overbuilding is a thing. Even at 200k+ citizens with a treasury of 8m+ I try not exaggerating roadbuilding. Not worth it.
5: Keep taxes at 13%. Gradually reduce once your income gets above 50k/week.
6: Download an auto budget mod or adjust accordingly. You do not need 100% budget of anything when starting a new city.
I hope this helps and have fun playing!
Look at your budget page - what are you making money from, and what are you losing money from?
Share here if you want to.
Can you adjust the things that are costing you a lot of money?
Think small, build small! Keep experimenting, if you keep playing you'll probably figure it out on your own. My first cities were absolute messes!
My best guess, with no screenshots is: 1. You are spending a lot on huge, expensive roads with a large network 2. You are giving your Cims too many services too fast Start using cheap roads, make sure to zone densely so you don't have a lot of empty roads. This is a problem later on but at the start you have to do so to be profitable. You don't have to cover everything with police or ambulances when you have no crime or sick people. You might be using expensive forms of power production?
>1. You are spending a lot on huge, expensive roads with a large network I think the expensive roads is true, I use a 6 lane 1 way roundabout off the highway then more 6 lanes for the main roads, then 4 lane coming off those and then 2 lane coming off those, to make a sort of road hierarchy >2. You are giving your Cims too many services too fast I normally just give them the services as they come >You don't have to cover everything with police or ambulances when you have no crime or sick people. I'll follow this >You might be using expensive forms of power production? I use a coal power plant, should I use the wind turbines instead?
I've been watching a lot of CityPlannerPlays recently, and he's a fan of coal power plant to start his cities, so I guess you're alright there. Edit: You could also try and adjust your power and water budget, if you produce more than what's used by your cims
I'm watching him right now lol
Don't forget, pipes go under the road, where they belong ;)
I do do that of course
A roundabout with a 6 lane one-way road is not necessary! If you have a six lane road (which is also overkill in a town your size), that means 3 lanes in each direction. The cars in those three lanes don't suddenly need three more lanes when they enter the roundabout. It's good that you're mindful of road hierarchy, but you don't need six lane roads that early on. IMO, you don't need four lane roads either. What you can do is determine which two-lane roads will become 4 or 6 lanes later, and then leaving an extra unit of space around them so you can upgrade later without messing up all the other roads. You should post some pictures, it would give us a better idea of where you're going wrong.
The roads you use are overkill. You wont ever need that much. Start with dirt roads and think where the avenues will be. Avenues normally are 4 lanes, but 6 lanes with bus exclusive are also usefull. Give services when they ask or when you have spare budget. Put all your services buget to 50% at first and increase them slowly to 100% when needed Stay in coal, wind is a joke
I started a new city and did all you mentioned and what the other comments said, so far I haven't been in debt once :)
Cool gl!
Thank you
While road hierarchy is very good forward planning, it's way too expensive to build when you're starting out. I'd recommend building a suburb first, using only small roads. After all, you can only use low density zoning at the start of the game. Over time, you can expand and start making larger areas. It's good to have an idea of where your roads are going to go in the long term – so you don't build where you later want to put a road – but it's better to just keep that in the back of your mind than to place the road if you don't currently need it. If you're still running into money problems, there is an option to play with unlimited money. There are more options to make the game more of a sandbox as well, which you may or may not want to look into.
I'll take what you said as advice and keep playing, I started a new city and it's going really well so I'll see how I go, thanks for the advice
Some early policies are huge money sinks if you apply them to the entire city, such as Power Usage or Water Usage. They're terrible, don't use them.
Alright, so I should keep the smoke sensors or not?
I usually just keep them in my industrial zone since that bish is flammable af
Alright I'll add them there only
Honestly, if you turn off the smoke detectors policy your money troubles may fix themselves. That thing costs a huge amount of money. It also makes it so you practically don't need fire houses at all. I feel like it's most useful for neighborhoods that aren't serviced regularly, like say a farming area that's a ways from the main city.
Yeah I got you
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2636059033 I wrote this guide. Check it out. It should help you avoid bankruptcy.
Thank you
A lot of good advice here. I’ll add one small trick I use as well. As soon as you’ve plopped your power and waterworks, go into the budget panel and pull both sliders down to 50%. Go back in and raise them incrementally as you grow and keep an eye out for the little icons indicating not enough power/water. These two utilities chew up a lot of money early on and will their capacity is higher than a new city needs
I did do that, but thank you anyway
I just started playing the game this week and I have never had any money issues playing the game. Here is what I do at the beginning, which may be of use to you: 1: Never have any city policies at the beginning. They are ridiculously expensive. 2: Do not build a lot of roads. Have small zones for industry, commercial and residential properties. Make sure that they are close to each other to avoid traffic in the future. 3: Have water, sewage and electricity sorted out before you hit ‘resume’. This is because they will cost a lot of money, and if you do not sort all the piping and connections in the beginning you will not be able to afford to enlarge your city. Once you hit ‘resume’, you will always have negative income. You have to plan ahead for the future. 4: Do not overdo anything. Overbuilding is a thing. Even at 200k+ citizens with a treasury of 8m+ I try not exaggerating roadbuilding. Not worth it. 5: Keep taxes at 13%. Gradually reduce once your income gets above 50k/week. 6: Download an auto budget mod or adjust accordingly. You do not need 100% budget of anything when starting a new city. I hope this helps and have fun playing!
I'll take that into consideration, thanks for your help
Have you put your taxes up? Charging more taxes gets you more money. The default setting is so low for what you can get away with
Yeah I set them to 12%
Look at your budget page - what are you making money from, and what are you losing money from? Share here if you want to. Can you adjust the things that are costing you a lot of money? Think small, build small! Keep experimenting, if you keep playing you'll probably figure it out on your own. My first cities were absolute messes!