Largest Population without Mods..

[pitbull14218]

Just curious what everyone is capable of. I've read some of the guides, the largest I got my city to was 48k, I have a lot of trouble with transporation services, I only have 5k citizens using the citys transportation services. So on my roads I have roughly 40k people driving around. I felt the city was on its way up but I think the past 2 days I have made zero progress, by the time I finish fixing my traffic jams, I lose 7k people and slowly gain it back.. currently at 37k people.

[grapplehoeker]

The most I've had is 430k but I have seen others get far more. Rmjohnson has a 655k city for example.
Generally, I don't aim for a large pop anyway. I'm quite happy with 200k or so. It's more about the appearance for me.
You should easily be able to get 100k+ and you need at least 75k in order to unlock everything.

[pitbull14218]

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

The most I've had is 430k but I have seen others get far more. Rmjohnson has a 655k city for example.
Generally, I don't aim for a large pop anyway. I'm quite happy with 200k or so. It's more about the appearance for me.
You should easily be able to get 100k+ and you need at least 75k in order to unlock everything.

I when It comes to growing the population, it's all about traffic?

I feel everything else is in place but no growth

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by pitbull14218:

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

The most I've had is 430k but I have seen others get far more. Rmjohnson has a 655k city for example.
Generally, I don't aim for a large pop anyway. I'm quite happy with 200k or so. It's more about the appearance for me.
You should easily be able to get 100k+ and you need at least 75k in order to unlock everything.

I when It comes to growing the population, it's all about traffic?

Nope, not at all. It's quite the reverse.
There is a growth in traffic around the 40k mark as this is usually when you're busy with upgrades to high density and city expansion. Remember to upgrade your old roads where necessary.
From 75k onwards, traffic gets easier and easier to manage actually.
Your main industry - commercial logistical networks will be in place by then and your mass transit options will be fully implemented. This means that your cargo delivery is optimised and your Cims all have alternative options to use instead of using their own cars. So... what traffic? ;)

[pitbull14218]

I think i need to fix my zoning, it started off decent with everything separate but as I grew I put high density residential next to high density commercial and offices spaces also near both. Only thing I tried to keep separate was industrial due to the pollution but I really have minimal industrial because everyone is educated.

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by pitbull14218:

I think i need to fix my zoning, it started off decent with everything separate but as I grew I put high density residential next to high density commercial and offices spaces also near both. Only thing I tried to keep separate was industrial due to the pollution but I really have minimal industrial because everyone is educated.

Keep your unemployment at at least 10% and your educated Cims will work anywhere once the more desirable vacancies have been filled. So, there's no need to limit industry for that reason. You limit industry to match the supply demand of your commercial.

[pitbull14218]

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

Originally posted by pitbull14218:

I think i need to fix my zoning, it started off decent with everything separate but as I grew I put high density residential next to high density commercial and offices spaces also near both. Only thing I tried to keep separate was industrial due to the pollution but I really have minimal industrial because everyone is educated.

Keep your unemployment at at least 10% and your educated Cims will work anywhere once the more desirable vacancies have been filled. So, there's no need to limit industry for that reason. You limit industry to match the supply demand of your commercial.

My unemployment is super low, it's always been at 4%

Not sure how I can make it higher unless I delete office zones.

[pitbull14218]

I got my city up to 38k it took hours, I've been trying to re-zone all commercial/office/industrial to one area of the map with 6 lane roads. Traffic looks better, but growth is slow, it took hours, I'm getting an issue with all the cims going in 1 lane instead of going down 3 on one of my bridges.

unemployment is at like 3%, not sure how I can change that or if it needs to change. the RCI bars stay pretty low, and It takes forever to grow the city, but its growing slowly. Wish I could figure out what would cause this to speed up.

[mbutton15]

Having 3-4% unemployment is not going to help city growth. Really that's the point that everything grinds to a halt - All people who want jobs have jobs, so zoning more industry/commercial/office space will be slow to fill up as you just don't have the man power to fill the jobs. You really need to get 10%+ unemployment, though I think at over 15% they may start to leave your city !!

Check your house levels to mke sure they are reaching the level 4's and 5's. If they are below that then check what they are missing by hovering over the level icon on the house info box.

I use a fairly basic box design with 2-way 3-lane road boarders and have no real traffic problems.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=813191653

My highest population was just over 100K. I stopped at that point as my CPU was pretty much 100% across all cores so I didn't want to push it further !!

[MarkJohnson]

I'm not sure why everyone has so much trouble on unemployment. My workers go to work at about 4%. maybe more 4.5% or it just takes time to get there. I never have more than 8% unemployment at any time, unless I'm zoning 1km squares or something huge.

Originally posted by mbutton15:

My highest population was just over 100K. I stopped at that point as my CPU was pretty much 100% across all cores so I didn't want to push it further !!

If your cities are designed like your picture, then you are likely reaching your agent limits which slow you down. Those mini-island cities are too isolated and can't move around without traveling down the highway and cause lots of traffic issues.

Try the CSL Show More Limits mod and watch your traffic (Active Vehicles) and your pedestrians (Citizen Instances)

And try to lower them. Likely cause for vehicles is freight as the industry/commerce production chain produces a lot of vehicles (up to 9 different vehicle types). You likely have too much import/exports which flood your roads.

[azxcvbnm321]

I think the engine doesn't count students as employed, so around 10% unemployment is optimal to keep businesses filled with enough workers.

[mbutton15]

Originally posted by rmjohnson144:

Originally posted by mbutton15:

My highest population was just over 100K. I stopped at that point as my CPU was pretty much 100% across all cores so I didn't want to push it further !!

If your cities are designed like your picture, then you are likely reaching your agent limits which slow you down. Those mini-island cities are too isolated and can't move around without traveling down the highway and cause lots of traffic issues.

The 100k city was quite an early city, still very much learning so layout was definately not the best. That pic is an improvement, but still not necessarily zoned much better !! I'm away over Christmas so a new project for my return. :)

[pitbull14218]

So higher unemployment is better? I'm confused should I not be build8ng offices or c9mmercial spaces until the bar is half way or more filled, or should I start deleting zones?

[JH]

Originally posted by pitbull14218:

So higher unemployment is better?

To an extent, yes. It's the thing those politicians who promise jobs won't tell you: unemployment is necessary for a healthy economy.

[pitbull14218]

Originally posted by JH:

Originally posted by pitbull14218:

So higher unemployment is better?

To an extent, yes. It's the thing those politicians who promise jobs won't tell you: unemployment is necessary for a healthy economy.

So if I wait longer for the commercial and industrial bars to fill up before I zone, it will make people want to move here because it will look like there are lots of jobs?

[MarkJohnson]

Originally posted by pitbull14218:

So higher unemployment is better? I'm confused should I not be build8ng offices or c9mmercial spaces until the bar is half way or more filled, or should I start deleting zones?

Ignore the bars, they are just guides, not demands. You can ignore commerce completely.

Just watch unemployment. don't let it fall below 5%, then all you need to do is provide jobs.

The easiest job to build are offices as they don't require anything but workers. On the other hand, if you build commerce you need generic industry to provide goods for commerce to sell, causing extra traffic.

Or, if you build generic industry, then you need to build commerce to deliver your goods that they create. Plus they demand raw material, so you need to zone specialized industry which creates two kinds of raw materials to supply generic industry. which creates even more traffic.

Cities Skylines Production Chain diagram.
http://i.imgur.com/F0CQHxY.png