Does Zone Size Matter?

[Dialator]

Obviously it does when you are looking to have skyscrapers, but I mainly mean low-density residential and ag.

[Dialator]

I usually have neighborhoods of 3x3 zones, but in areas I can afford to have more traffic I make 1x1 zones as a way to have "high-density areas" but using low-density zones. I always thought this meant more lots, more people, more taxes, but I never truely understood what effect different sized zones make (aside from skyscrapers and other building that only form on larger lots as mentioned). I play vanilla and I am not a noob; I've played for years on CD.

[NetPCDoc]

Please Note: There are more variations available via sites such as Simtropolis.com ...

For Agriculture (i.e. Farms), there is a minimum zoning requirement of 4x4, and I have seen up to 10x10 fields; and the lot editor shows up to 7Wx6D farm lots. For Residential the lot editor shows up to 4Wx6D for High Wealth, and 4x4 for Low and Medium Wealth.

Lot Editor sizes are the minimum size lots that can be developed; the game may place these lots on larger parcels, and add in some props to indicate just what classifications may apply to the developed parcel. (The Lot Editor is the original modding tool put out by the game's developers.)

If one pays attention to such details, parcelization will indicate what sizes (widths and depths) are currently in demand. Parcelization is the lot sizes the game breaks your large area zoning down to; and can be over-ridden with the Shift, Alt, and Ctrl keys - used individually or in combination. Commercial and Residential zoning will require street / road / avenue access along the side of a parcel that is showing "arrow-heads"; in theory, Industrial Developers are smart enough to develop transit-required pieces next to the required transit (when available), and place the pieces that do NOT require transit deeper into the industrial zones; in practice, there are a lot of head-aches in attempting to develop dirty / manufacturing / high-tech Industrial zones deeper than 7 tiles.

Then there is the trade-off between more smaller parcels and fewer larger parcels. Usually assuming that smaller parcels are higher density, while larger parcels are lower density?

I have read somewhere that fewer sims in larger footprints (sprawled out) are able to pay more taxes than more sims in smaller footprints (i.e. High-Rises), especially early in a city's development; not too sure if I, personally, agree with this or not.

[Dialator]

Wow, thanks for the information! So you think there is more money to be made from taxes per sim than there is in taxes per tile? And for agriculture, do you think many 4x4 farms would produce more taxes than few larger farms. Personally, I tend to zone large farms, but I considered doing many smaller farms for more taxes and more jobs. I do believe there is a difference in the number of jobs depending on the size of the zone, something like 7-12 jobs for 4x4 zones and maybe 20 jobs for 8x8 zones.

I am just wondering if I should adapt my typical strategy (which would consume a post to explain!) because of some angle I can play to maximize tax revenue especially.

[NetPCDoc]

Getting into the controls for taxation would give you a better idea of the issues related to taxes ...

Basically, taxes are on a per sim (not per tile) basis; but then you need to know which type (R§, R§§, R§§§, CS§, CS§§, CS§§§, CO§§, CO§§§, IA, ID, IM or IHT) of sim you are talking about, too! And, yes, a sim may be more than one type - as in a R§§ sim that works on (in?) a CS§§ Job, or the sim that lives in an IA zone and works in a R§§§ zone.

Then, depending on how developed (density vs stages) your current region is, can you get more sims in low density buildings than you can get in high density buildings (of whatever size you are currently zoning for)?

Density vs Stages:

Stages are triggered by total regional (for R, CS, CO and I) population; Residential and Commercial (Services and Offices) have 8 stages, while all Industrial types have 3 stages.

Given 8 Stages, stages 1:3 are considered to populate low density buildings, stages 4:6 are considered to populate medium density buildings, and stages 7:8 are considered to populate high density buildings. While Industrial has medium density buildings (including some IA) being populated by stages 1:2, and high density buldings (including some IA) being populated by stage 3.

Wealth and Taxation:

As your sims are taxed on a percentage basis, higher wealth sims will tend to contribute more § per sim than lower wealth sims will. While your lower wealth sims will be more willing to occupy high density buildings than your higher wealth sims will (be willing to occupy).

Thus it comes down to just where the break-even line is between the § being contributed by §§§-sims vs the § being contributed by §§-sims vs the § being contributed by §-sims? and how many of which wealth you can get to move into which density buildings? Which brings us back to just which type (R§, R§§, R§§§, CS§, CS§§, CS§§§, CO§§, CO§§§, IA, ID, IM or IHT) of sim is being taxed at what (percentage) rate?

[Dialator]

Thank you for all the information. You've answered some long-standing questions I've had. There is one other quick question, although it is unrelated to the topic of this thread.
As I've mentioned, I have played on disk until just recently and have therefore only now discovered the mods and community for this game. Everybody seems to regard NAM as an essential mod, but after so long playing vanilla I am reluctant to change what I know so well. So, do you know if NAM removes or replaces any options available in vanilla, and can I disable it once it is installed to play vanilla once again?

[NetPCDoc]

Caution:

As I understand it, for those subject to such issues - the NAM-mod can be extremely addictive!

Originally posted by Dialator:

As I've mentioned, I have played on disk until just recently and have therefore only now discovered the mods and community for this game. Everybody seems to regard NAM as an essential mod, but after so long playing vanilla I am reluctant to change what I know so well. So, do you know if NAM removes or replaces any options available in vanilla, and can I disable it once it is installed to play vanilla once again?

You should be able to view the documentation in the NAM download before you actually install the NAM mod. Said documentation should answer any questions you may have about the NAM mod. (If I remember correctly, the NAM-mod is so complex that it actually contains some smaller-mods that conflict with yet other smaller-mods contained within it!)

[MGB]

What is the NAM Mod is really a good question to ask yourself. At it's core, it's a collection of fixes and tweaks the fix a lot of broken stuff from the base game. Mainly this means the Traffic Simulator, which NAM hugely improves. You can install this "lite" part of NAM only, it will barely alter anything at all. Certainly nothing is taken away.

After that are a whole plethora of new networks and pieces, that never existed previously. Using a custom install, you can choose as much or as little of this content as you like. For example, you can have Trams (GLR), Wider Roads (NWM), Roundabouts, Overpasses and so much more. There is a learning curve, but it's transformational in terms of the possibilities it offers to players.

To quickly get back to the original question, counter-intuitive it might seem, but using smaller zones generally leads to higher populations and more taxes. This is down to the population density being higher by zoning smaller over zoning higher. Honestly though, that wouldn't be something I'd worry about too much. I tend to build my cities how I want them to look, if that means an area with high rises or a sprawling housing estates, that's what I'll do.

[Dialator]

Sounds good, I might just go and get myself addicted. Thanks for all the help, both of you!