Income changes rapidly (Up/down/up/Down)

[CMDR.FREEZER]

This is a post i make for my Brother.

He fails to understand how his budget/income works.
His main issue is that in one minute of the game he has an income of 1000-5000 per week
next minute its 15-20k per week. this is something that can happen regardless of doing anything drastic to his budget, i have also seen these jumps myself as i've been watching him through steam many many times.

I have an equal size City but i have not seen these jumps that he has. my income goes up and down yes but not by 5-10-15k at a time.

Also a funny thing witch i notice in my city aswell. enabling a policy like the Electricity one, witch reduses the electricity consumption per resident and cost 5 per resident . His income drops like a stone to the ground, going over to minus side...but after a while it goes back to + 1k or 5k or 10k per week. and if he turns this policy off, it shoots high as hell for a short moment until it drops down to 1-5-10k again.

he has a city of 93.000 people and last i saw he earned 4000 per week. i have a city of 82.000 and earn 25.000 per week. Why these differences...and most bizarre...why these drastic jumps ?

[grapplehoeker]

Unless you are both using the same save game of the same city, it is not possible to offer the same solutions or reasons for the differences between two cities run by different mayors.
Neither of you will be managing the city exactly the same way. One may be providing more services and or managing the budget more or less efficiently than the other but in each case it may be necessary for the city they govern and cannot as such, be compared.

What they will have in common however, as they would with any other city, regardless of size, are the same fluctuations in the population cycle and the fluctuations in their revenue.

The population in Skylines is a dynamic we've never seen before in a city builder. It uses real people with a lifespan. Many players used to previous city builders overlook this fundamental difference or underestimate its effects. It's influence on the city is huge and should not be ignored.
This will create a natural rise and fall in your labour force as your young adults leave education and start work and when they retire from work. The severity of the swings between high employment and low employment due to the population life cycle of the city as a whole will depend mostly on how the city was seeded. (See my guide on Seeding your City.)
Revenue will naturally rise and fall as a consequence of this.

Logistics and traffic efficiency will also be responsible for fluctuations in revenue due to exports and imports. There will be differences due to the variations in delivery timing and of course this will result in an observable rise and fall of income.
I hope that helps ;)

[Ketchup Gas]

I think you'd glean more information by watching him play or examining his city. Is he over saturating civil services, pausing the game to place a ton of buildings every little while?

[CMDR.FREEZER]

@grapplehoeker: Impressive answer, and the fact that you have actually noticed that.
as for you guide "Seeding your City" wow...amazing. I read it not long ago and i think its very cool that you actually have to take that into consideration when growing your city futher.
As for your answer to my brothers income fluctuations i think its very possible that you are correct.

Also another thing that struck me. He is useing quite alot of assets that affects money income/expenses and one mod(terraforming tool). while i have only a few assets that affects money income/expenses and no mods. Could possibly be something with that aswell.

But that answer, wow amazing
thank you =)

[CMDR.FREEZER]

@Bonerjam: I dont think he is has more services then needed. as for pausing the game to build more zones here and there. could be something he did in the beginning, first 20-40k. as of lately he has been taking grapplehoeker's "Seeding your city" guide into consideration.