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Contributor/author(s): Michael Pierce

It seems the most common complaint amongst Sims is about a lack of high tech jobs. For many players it seems, this petitioner request can never be completely satisfied. For those of you wanting to develop a high-tech economy, here are a few strategies that I have used successfully.

First and foremost, if you haven't read the article "How to get high tech industry" that is available on the SimCity official site, go there and read it now. This article will not repeat the information given there, but will offer some supplementary information.

Education

As you are no doubt aware, the education level of your Sims is the single most important factor in getting high tech industry to develop. Getting this education level up as high as possible is the goal. Having lots of schools, colleges, libraries and museums all contribute to raising education levels. However, one of the most effective ways of raising your education level faster is to increase your budget spending on Education using the 'slider' button in the budget window. I always set this to the maximum as soon as I can afford it.

Zoning

When the Sims talk about 'high tech jobs' what they are referring to are the presence of three types of buildings. The smallest, least impressive and easiest to get of these buildings is the "Industrial Lab" which measures 2x2 tiles and will appear in light density industrial zones. The second building is the "Software Studio" which measures 3x3 tiles and will appear in medium or high density zones. The largest (and hardest to get) of these buildings is the "Sim Mars Research Facility" which measures 4x4 tiles and will appear in high density zones only.

This means that if you design your industrial zones too small or narrow (as in 2 or 3 tiles wide) then no matter how high your education levels are, you'll never get the Sim Mars building as it requires a 4x4 tile area.

You should also note that any building that will show up in a light density zone can appear in a higher density zone, but the reverse is not true - high density buildings will not appear in any zone with less than high density.

Land Values

Based on what I've read in forums and newsgroups about this, there appears to be some confusion on this issue. To put it simply, land value is not nearly so important in the industrial zones as it is in residential or commercial. All of the above mentioned 'high tech buildings' can and will appear on land that is "low" or even "very low" in value (if all other factors are there to support high tech industry). Generally speaking, you should not try to raise the value of industrial zoned land using lots of parks and zoos, etc. This is because as your city gets older, larger and higher value, this will raise the value of your industrial zoned land all by itself. If the value of your industrial land gets up too high (above "medium" value), you may find that industry will abandon those zones as they cannot afford to build and operate their business at that location.

As a final suggestion, when these highly desired 'high tech' buildings start showing up, I would recommend that you mark them as "historical" using the query tool. This is not necessary, but I have found that it is very effective at keeping these buildings around when your industry goes through one of its periodic cycles of recession and rebuilding. The last thing you want to see is to have your beautiful Software Studio replaced with a "Double Stogie"!

See also
Hiding industrial buildings, keeping benefits
How to obtain only high-tech industries
Expanding clumps of clean industry

Knowledge Tree
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