Trying to figure out how taxes and demand for materials/goods works

[Reltzik]

(Originally asked this in the Steam community, got pointed thisaway.)

I've been playing for a few weeks now (all expansions, no mods), and I've got a decent idea for the basics of how the supply chain works, the headaches of traffic, etc. My city-planning skills have advanced from "ooh what does this do" to spreadsheets, and yes, I know that makes me a nerd.

It was in trying to make the spreadsheets that I hit a problem. I've found supply-side reference numbers for almost everything online, from workers required to production rates to prices for materials to residents per cell of housing. What I can't seem to find anywhere is any idea of how taxes or demand for materials/goods work, and I'm hoping someone can link me to some precise charts and formulas rather than vague rules of thumb.

Starting with taxes: What exactly is being taxed? The default 9% tax rate... what is that 9% of? I've learned it's related to land value, number of cims, and building level, but is there a precise formula?

Moving on to demand: How many goods will residents/tourists buy before they're satisfied and my commercial buildings run out of customers? How many goods can a commercial building sell per week before it hits capacity? Do they even have a max capacity, or can a single corner store service an entire city? How quickly does generic industry produce goods? How many raw/processed materials are required for generic industries to produce those goods? Do the luxury goods produced by unique factories differ from the goods produced by generic industries, and if so how?

Without knowing this I can't plan intelligently. I can't anticipate how much revenue a given addition will give me. I can't anticipate the right balance between industry and commercial (meaning I'll either be importing way more than I need to and paying higher prices, or I'll be exporting way more than I want to). I can't anticipate how much commercial is not enough for my residents and how much is too much. All I can do is make ad-hoc fixes after problems arise, and fixing problems that way just makes new problems.

Can anyone point me to a reference for this information?

 

[prismaticmarcus]

unique factories just produce Goods.

and you certainly can plan intelligently without knowing this level of detail.

 

[Sheller]

The game provides infinite money to players whether you have it turned on or not.

Don't try to micromanage this game, it will only misguide you and you'll waste your time on numbers that are gone by the time you can read them.

You have to create something entirely unworking and senseless to go negative on funds, beside that, almost anything will remain positive and level off.

In order to achieve playing as you're describing, with intelligent projection of the impact of present decisions, the best way is to play, reach a problem, analyze it, and start over with a new city.

If you continue iterating this way, you'll gain the practical experience required to play ahead in your mind, and no spreadsheet can do this.
Eventually you'll develop a method of procedurally generating a working city in almost any visual arrangement you wish.

You'll need to dream about how traffic flows around a train station, not study numbers.

 

[Reltzik]

Okay, thanks for the advice. I guess I'm just stuck in the reach-a-problem-and-startover part of that loop, and was reaching for details to analyze it with.

 

[prismaticmarcus]

Okay, thanks for the advice. I guess I'm just stuck in the reach-a-problem-and-startover part of that loop, and was reaching for details to analyze it with.

it's just judgement, thinking ahead and don't panic. the game is very forgiving. after you reach the first milestone.

 

[Sheller]

Here's a basic outline of what to do in response to the game's warnings about the various zones when you reach that point:


Not enough buyers means too much industry, too little commercial or jammed exports.
Remove industry or add commercial

Not enough goods means too little industry, too much commercial, or delivery problems.
Add industry or reduce commercial.
Make sure trains and cars aren't stopped.

Not enough raw materials happens when imports are blocked, or a player has too much industry and commercial, pushing the imports limits.
Reduce commercial and industrial zones around the map.

Not enough customers happens when residents are too few, or too distant.
Add public transport from residential to commercial
Add residential near commercial
Break up larger commercial zones and scatter the zones near residential zones

Efficient Start

You can be cash flow positive, and to the first milestone in 2 under two months. You're guaranteed to be cash flow negative at the start of the game, and there is no benefit to staying out of debt in the first few months of your city's founding...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

 

[Sheller]

Okay, thanks for the advice. I guess I'm just stuck in the reach-a-problem-and-startover part of that loop, and was reaching for details to analyze it with.

Here's a simple breakdown of how you can expect the demand for goods and materials to go.

In the first town you'll see generic industry is doing all the importing and exporting.
That small patch of industry imports and produces way more than those first 16k people need.
It would carry on like this indefinitely. No practical penalty for importing raw materials.

In the industry towns, you'll see how district industry is importing agriculture and forestry products until those start being supplied by the Industry DLC areas.

And in each case, each area is large enough to produce a surplus that gets exported.
This is the balance you want to achieve, and where the warning boxes guide you back into that balance.
(not enough buyers' means over production, or not enough commercial activity, either adjustment can fix the issue)

Split City and Supply Chain Basics - In Pictures

The first component to splitting your city into distinct towns is to create a stable main city. Stable in this case means fully self sustaining, so you'll need to get to the crematorium milestone, and then you can catch your breath. We'll spend...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

 

[deanwebb]

Sheller has some very good advice there. I'll add emphasis to his comment about dreaming about the traffic flow. That's how this game goes. Flashing icons mean your moves did not anticipate where your town was going to be. I generally leave taxes where they are if I have a positive cash flow and take my time with my builds when I am playing a scenario or have infinite money turned off. Even with unlimited money, I like to keep a positive cash flow and I do this more with having the right mix of RICO.

So, when I see a "not enough buyers" icon, I'll generally add a splash more of commercial... or delete the industry and put up a parking lot where the redundant firm once was... or I'll check to see if my railhead/ship cargo facility is close enough to the industry... or if there's a traffic problem. My point being that if I only check industry/commercial balance, I may never solve the real issue.