How quickly do cities grow? Haven't hit 10K citizens

[DuX1112]

So I think my longest game so far has been around 6 hours... But I barely reached 8,000 citizens. Is this normal? How do people reach 40K, 100K etc.?

And by the way I am constantly bombarded with "Low Density" zoning requests. To the point I have 18 tiles, and most of them are Low Density residentials (???) and it looks like one huge village taking a huge area.

Any tips?

[Utuabzu]

Wait. If you don't provide any more low density eventually people will accept living in higher density. Rowhouses are the first they'll accept, followed by mixed use and mid density. You can also use mixed use to fulfil commercial demand which will also help with density. The biggest factors, however, are education - the more educated the people are, the more likely they are to want to live in higher densities - and transport - density and good public transport go well together. I also line my streets with trees and grass and provide almost no parking to discourage car use, but I'm not sure how much impact that has.

[icedude94]

Just wait and let that low density residential demand percolate. A lack of housing will gradually raise the land value and with that, the rent will go up as well. Cims will start looking for more affordable housing and that's when the medium and high density demand will start creeping in.

[DuX1112]

But if I wait, won't that stagnate my city's growth? At least until I unlock the higher densities, and I can't unlock those if I don't get more citizens first?

[icedude94]

Originally posted by DuX1112:

But if I wait, won't that stagnate my city's growth? At least until I unlock the higher densities, and I can't unlock those if I don't get more citizens first?

Up to a point. Letting things settle allows the cims who moved into your city time to also find love, get married and have children. You get regular xp ticks when your population increases and just from having people that are happy.

I've gotten up to a very high level city just by letting the simulation run. with only a 50k population.

[Creamy P1e Skwert]

Originally posted by DuX1112:

But if I wait, won't that stagnate my city's growth? At least until I unlock the higher densities, and I can't unlock those if I don't get more citizens first?

There's no critical demand in this game. I mean when commercial zone bar is filled up, you don't have to zone commercial buildings, fast forward 3x until the other zones start building up to their max height, then zone those. It's a really stupid demand system that CO implemented. It makes no sense.

For me, industrial areas are always in high demand, very unrealistic. A small town doesn't need that much industry.

When you see Office zones building up, try to zone that as much as possible, because office zones increase your income in the city. I think, it does increase the income for me. Industrial and office zones.

Again just 3x fast forward, like what are the citizens going to do when you don't meet their demands? Leave? Cool, just zone again. They don't leave anyway, just complain about high taxes or something.

[Avalon Scorpion]

Originally posted by FondledCows:

Originally posted by DuX1112:

But if I wait, won't that stagnate my city's growth? At least until I unlock the higher densities, and I can't unlock those if I don't get more citizens first?

There's no critical demand in this game. I mean when commercial zone bar is filled up, you don't have to zone commercial buildings, fast forward 3x until the other zones start building up to their max height, then zone those. It's a really stupid demand system that CO implemented. It makes no sense.

For me, industrial areas are always in high demand, very unrealistic. A small town doesn't need that much industry.

When you see Office zones building up, try to zone that as much as possible, because office zones increase your income in the city. I think, it does increase the income for me. Industrial and office zones.

Again just 3x fast forward, like what are the citizens going to do when you don't meet their demands? Leave? Cool, just zone again. They don't leave anyway, just complain about high taxes or something.

i raise the tax on indutrial so the demans of it will lower. and stuff like office will rise a bit more. same i did with the blue bar commercial. i tax that to the max 30% and there happy to pay it. got a 50k city what is making 6 mil a mounth. and there not complaying about hi tax what so ever.

[DuX1112]

Originally posted by FondledCows:

Originally posted by DuX1112:

But if I wait, won't that stagnate my city's growth? At least until I unlock the higher densities, and I can't unlock those if I don't get more citizens first?

There's no critical demand in this game. I mean when commercial zone bar is filled up, you don't have to zone commercial buildings, fast forward 3x until the other zones start building up to their max height, then zone those. It's a really stupid demand system that CO implemented. It makes no sense.

For me, industrial areas are always in high demand, very unrealistic. A small town doesn't need that much industry.

When you see Office zones building up, try to zone that as much as possible, because office zones increase your income in the city. I think, it does increase the income for me. Industrial and office zones.

Again just 3x fast forward, like what are the citizens going to do when you don't meet their demands? Leave? Cool, just zone again. They don't leave anyway, just complain about high taxes or something.

Is the constant demand for industry with a small town maybe due to the low education of the citizens?

[me22ca]

Leave things at 3x speed as much as possible. There's alot in the game that depends on children growing up and going through education and such, which takes ages.

Look at the stories of youtubers needing to run the game overnight just to get trees to grow enough, for example. There's lots of waiting to get a city anywhere close to steady-state.

[mackster]

My technique is dont rush. Its not like CS1 where you have to have high pop to unlock the games potential. Build slowly, services and parks raise the land value, which as some have said will generate people wanting to move to more affordable housing. Education is also key, so the cims can evolve and eventually, offices will be required.

Like FPS, I rarely look at my pop now. Its CS2 and no longer a real concern. I am building my city as fast as my cims want it to grow. I am also building to keep it too, I don't want to build only to scrap it later down the road like we did in CS1. Instead, when new requirements come, I open up another area on the map. Its a breath of fresh air compared to CS1

[CH13F]

you need to wait for people to get educated anyway. otherwise your unemployement going to skyrocket. its a long progress. so no, you dont need to keep painting area after area. only if your pop is reducing then plop some.

[Tsubame ⭐]

Simulation is slow paced so that is normal, especially if you are playing "for profit" without Unlimited Money and Unlocks.

[buda atum]

Game burns energy overnight!

Not "how quick", but "how slow".