Houses or Luxury Houses

[Olle_Petersson]

... I freeze the game on day one and scroll through all of them.

Why?
The only ones that give any significant info on day one are the mineral survey, the rainfall/soil wettness data, and to some extent the current crop conditions.

All other are highly predictable and/or depends on a population that isn't there yet.

(Example;
Crime rate: Day 1, negligable crime rate!
Conclusion: There will never be any crimes and I will never have to build a police station!)

Cheers
Olle

[Junta_Joe]

Olle, I admit some of the filters are useless on the first day. The ones you point out are the primary ones. Don't forget fishing quality too while your at it.

My point is that you can see what possible industries the island gives. After that everything else is the logistics of keeping people and their needs satisfied. After playing dozens of games a person can get the feel for how many banks, churches, pubs and the like that a given population needs.

I will admit that it easier the more you do it. Zone planning is obviously a fuzzy art. The trick is to keep trying it until you get good at it.

[Sal_Paradise]

here is how I lay out my housing.

I have 1 apartment building (2 later on in game) that I keep free of rent for retired, students and kids. I make lower middleclass neighborhoods that combine bunkhouses at 2$ and country homes at 3$. This is so my single, uneducated can afford bunkhouses, and married uneducated and single highschooled can afford country homes. Then I set up neighborhoods of upper-middleclass homes that include country homes again at 3$ and regular homes at 5$. this way same thing applies for country homes as before, but married highschoolers, single college educated can afford normal homes. And on occasion I will build a few luxury houses at 10$ so that only my upperclass can live in royalty.

Findings-   I have found that if you layout a neighborhood with country homes, normal homes, roads, small fountains and gardens, upperclass tourists dont mind these neighborhoods, infact they like them. And tourists love luxury housing, so I try to keep them near the tourist area (except I like 1 luxury home near my palace because it looks cool.)  

I micro manage my wages/rent so that I keep this layout working. Wages go up? so does rent.

The only hassle is kicking soldiers, engineers and other highpayed workers out of my free apartments.

[The_King]

U guys all scare me I mean i hod on one island only 2 tentaments and the rest aparments. The pay was good enough so everyone could get tenaments and only high school people or married couples could get into my apartments. My highschools over flowed because people wanted to get an apartment (I guess they are losers if they cant get married) That is how i work my houseing and that is pretty much the base of my income

[Coconut Kid]

In the very early game guide (I think it is still available on the Gamespy residue of the Cafe), there is a painstaking analysis of cost, maintenance, vs numbers of people. It probably has some use in planning the economy.

Otherwise, I think too many players allow their "real world" cultural attitudes to take control of their game world use of housing.

The housing factor of overall happiness is important to more people than is usually recognized. The base service quality rate for housing is very important. Instead of getting all wrapped up in micromanaging a fancy matrix of rents linked to pay rates, players should spend time on using housing as one tool in keeping key employees happy (read, working a lot). It is not for nothing that the fourth individual info panel is for Job and House. There's little use in a high wage if there isn't a house with a high service quality to go with it - if your problem is holding hard-to-get employees.

There is something else to consider, How Long It Takes to Recharge the Rest Meter. Yes, your people sleep faster in better housing.  So indulge your mean streak and keep your people in run down houses and they will reward you by sleeping in.