14 DAY TRIAL // I have managed to reach 50,000 residents in one SimCity parcel, something that seemed to be pretty much impossible when I first placed down my first zone and road a few days ago.
I was sure that the new Maxis game was too small for my expectations and that I would be forced to either enter a public region or to play alternating areas of a private one in order to develop the kind of infrastructure that would power a high-density city.
Then, I decided to try and see just how limited the city spaces were and how much I could cram into one of them while still having a balance of residential, economic and industrial areas and the best upgrades possible for security, health and education.
I was sure that I hit a wall when I got to 30,000 residents, especially as a few days later, I lost a few thousand because my wind farm just could not keep up with electricity demand (I was forced to add an oil-powered plant to cope).
But then, things stabilized, I managed to turn a profit after paying off all of my loans and, after I filled all possible space with roads and sectors, I just waited, applying an upgrade here and there and sometimes tweaking a few placements.
At that moment, I was sure that higher density was unattainable and I was ready to move to a new plot in order to see how I could improve both through collaboration.
And afterwards, I remembered how dramatically quality of residences could be improved in the old Pharaoh via clever placement of parks and I spent a few thousand dollars in the new SimCity in order to make the city more attractive.
It worked and I soon dinged 50,000, even if the recent placement of a rather large Mayor’s Mansion reduced the number of residents before I captured the accompanying screenshot.