screwtype
04-23-2005, 15:50
Probably quite a few know about this but since I just discovered it after weeks of playing, I thought I'd share it in case someone else has missed it.
I've always had problems managing cities, trying to figure out which ones are building or not building stuff, what the tax rates are, what the happiness is etc.
Now, it's true that you can open any of your cities' management scrolls and cycle through all your cities with the forward and back buttons at the top of the scroll, but I've never found this method all that useful. For one thing the buttons are really small and hard to hit, and sometimes don't seem to work. More importantly, you are lacking an overview of all your cities so often you have to cycle through them all to figure out where the cash is best spent, and by the time you get back to the start, you've forgotten which cities need what.
Well I've finally figured out a much better way. I've found you can use the city overview scroll (which appears on the left of the screen) and the individual city scroll (on the right) at the same time.
So here's the procedure. First, RIGHT click on the "Town" tab in the Control Panel at the bottom of the screen. This brings up the city overview scroll.
This scroll has many useful features, for one thing it has symbols to let you know which cities are currently constructing buildings and/or units, so you can quickly see which cities are idle. Secondly, by clicking on the column names at the top you can change the way the cities are ordered in the scroll. For example, click once on the word Population and the cities will be listed from highest to lowest population. Click a second time and they will list in the opposite order, from lowest pop. to highest. You can also do this with the happiness button. To cut a long story short, it's a good scroll to use to get an overview of all your cities and what they are up to.
Now here's the part I stumbled on tonight. When you click on any of the city icons on this overview scroll, you will be taken on the map to that city. No big deal. But now you can open that city's management scroll in the usual way (I use the big round building construction button on the top right of the Control Panel).
Now you have the city overview scroll open on the left of the screen and the individual city management scroll on the right of the screen.
But here's the good part. With both scrolls open, if you now click on any city icon in the overview scroll on the left, the city management scroll for that particular city will appear on the right.
You can click on each city icon in the overview scroll in sequence, from top to bottom, or just select the cities you want, and when the city management scroll opens up for that city you can make all the necessary adjustments.
You don't have to hit the tick box in the bottom right of the management scroll to close it when you've finished making your changes. It remembers your changes anyhow. Just go onto the next city in the overview scroll, and when you've done all the cities you want to do, hit the tick box for the management scroll and then the overview scroll, and ALL your changes are kept.
It probably sounds complicated but it really isn't. This method enables you to get a quick overview of all your cities and make all the necessary adjustments with a minimum of fuss. I just wish I'd discovered it earlier, it would have saved me SO much time screwing around trying to figure out which city was doing what and what things I should attend to next. If you haven't tried this method, I recommend you give it a try, I think you too will find it makes the task of city management soooo much easier ~:)
I've always had problems managing cities, trying to figure out which ones are building or not building stuff, what the tax rates are, what the happiness is etc.
Now, it's true that you can open any of your cities' management scrolls and cycle through all your cities with the forward and back buttons at the top of the scroll, but I've never found this method all that useful. For one thing the buttons are really small and hard to hit, and sometimes don't seem to work. More importantly, you are lacking an overview of all your cities so often you have to cycle through them all to figure out where the cash is best spent, and by the time you get back to the start, you've forgotten which cities need what.
Well I've finally figured out a much better way. I've found you can use the city overview scroll (which appears on the left of the screen) and the individual city scroll (on the right) at the same time.
So here's the procedure. First, RIGHT click on the "Town" tab in the Control Panel at the bottom of the screen. This brings up the city overview scroll.
This scroll has many useful features, for one thing it has symbols to let you know which cities are currently constructing buildings and/or units, so you can quickly see which cities are idle. Secondly, by clicking on the column names at the top you can change the way the cities are ordered in the scroll. For example, click once on the word Population and the cities will be listed from highest to lowest population. Click a second time and they will list in the opposite order, from lowest pop. to highest. You can also do this with the happiness button. To cut a long story short, it's a good scroll to use to get an overview of all your cities and what they are up to.
Now here's the part I stumbled on tonight. When you click on any of the city icons on this overview scroll, you will be taken on the map to that city. No big deal. But now you can open that city's management scroll in the usual way (I use the big round building construction button on the top right of the Control Panel).
Now you have the city overview scroll open on the left of the screen and the individual city management scroll on the right of the screen.
But here's the good part. With both scrolls open, if you now click on any city icon in the overview scroll on the left, the city management scroll for that particular city will appear on the right.
You can click on each city icon in the overview scroll in sequence, from top to bottom, or just select the cities you want, and when the city management scroll opens up for that city you can make all the necessary adjustments.
You don't have to hit the tick box in the bottom right of the management scroll to close it when you've finished making your changes. It remembers your changes anyhow. Just go onto the next city in the overview scroll, and when you've done all the cities you want to do, hit the tick box for the management scroll and then the overview scroll, and ALL your changes are kept.
It probably sounds complicated but it really isn't. This method enables you to get a quick overview of all your cities and make all the necessary adjustments with a minimum of fuss. I just wish I'd discovered it earlier, it would have saved me SO much time screwing around trying to figure out which city was doing what and what things I should attend to next. If you haven't tried this method, I recommend you give it a try, I think you too will find it makes the task of city management soooo much easier ~:)