Neustadt: the Early Years

Welcome to Neustadt,  circa 1900.

I always start with a Road connection to one of my neighbors, since this a bit more realistic than a city simply popping out of nowhere. Sims have to get there somehow.  The princple feature of this map is the river, with an attached bay and a little moutainous region. I instend to settle between the moutain and the bay. As you can see, factories and homes are already being established.

On the far side of the map, I connect a road to another neighbor and zone for a landfill. This is a little trick. Since the landfill is "connected" to a road, my Sims' trash will automatically go there. They don't need to have a direct route. It saves me money and gives me the opportunity to take my neighbor's trash in the future.

Another trick: I put the power plant in a corner. Its pollution will drift into the neighboring cities, not mine.

Neustadt continues to grow. I place my first commercial trip near Lake Asimov. Commerce isn't needed at this point, and there's a good chance that the zone will be abandoned given how precarious Commercial Demand is.  You can see an "RCI" indictator to the left of the map. Each tells the mayor how much Residental, Commercial, and industrial space is in demand.  Although growth is very slow, I plan to build around the north of the lake.

The road around the north of the lake is done, and you can see clearly where this town's haves and have-nots live. Land around the lake is at a premium. Since we're starting to grow, I place my first School and Fire Station.

My little commercial strip is growing. You can see that I left a two-tile gap: I plan to build an avenue there, and establish a downtown. Meanwhile, increasing residential demand merits my first medium-desnity residential buildings....slums, for the moment.

In 1921, exciting things happen. I start taking another city's garbage, which is worth $1000 a year. This is a big deal given how sluggishly my economy is growing. I'm also tempted to sell power.  As you can see, the mayor of Greyleaf wants more power than I can sell. Now, I can take a loan and buy another coal plant. However, when I examine how much Greyleaf will be paying me as opposed to how much the loan payment would be, I see that my leftover profit would be marginal.  Considering that power deals are constantly renegotiatied and I would have to take out further loans to finance the plants needed for his growth, I decide against it.

As you can see, I've got residential and industrial taxes high. I can get away with this for a while: demand won't be too much bothered. The deal to take a neighboring city's trash is a major deal for me. I can build a Casino and accept a Maximum Security Prison if I want more money, but those have big drawbacks and I don't need them.

In 1922, the Mayor settles in town. We've also got a police station now.

Here's the town in 1922. Industry is expanding on the highway, while my excess residential population is settling in slum- I mean, apartment buildings -- on the same. I've been leveling the ground to build downtown. Although my start was very sluggish, Neustadt is growing quickly.