my city shrank

[Colonel Sanders]

Wow, what a thread revival. I guess I should contribute to this old relic.

I think the problem you have is related to the age of your population. I'm going to guess your city was made up of a bunch of old people. You should have seen a decrease in the demand for commercial and industrial due to all the old retired people no longer going to work. Then the elders do what they do- die.

Here is an article about the great depression in SC3K and how to prevent it. Link The article states that the depression occurs once less than 50% of your population is in the workforce. The confusing thing is you lost about 66% of your population, so most of your population was probbably too old to work, there was probbably a large number of people getting ready to retire from their job, and there was also probbably a shortage of sims old enough to start working. I think one of the most effective ways to prevent the depression is to make sure the old folk die before they become large masses- decrease the life span.

I myself love the look of SC3K, I like how it looks less realistic and more "ideal", like what you would expect a perfect city to look like. But I like the advancements in SC4 so I have to play em both from time to time.

L J