I have finally mastered this game, and I even bring pics. Anybody who has ever played this addicting game will know the time and effort put into these 2 huge cities. They also might understand what I am talking about there .

Its rare to actually see pictures of completed Megalopolis cities, so here are both of mine!

The first one is my latest, I have perfected the Donut building method and discovered a strategy that ensures all gifts I use will give the surrounding zones full potential (Tops). See the land value picture, I managed to build the pattern in a 6x5 setup for this one, on map 061. What is most surprising about this one is the well below average amount of Industrial zones needed for the average Megalopolis, see the City Overview pic. I think all those Tops and high land value zones compensated for the Industry. In the Pollution pic you can see I had to get clever in placing the I zones, as most of the edge of the map consists of Top zones, which is also rarely seen. A nice bit of advice, save your Cleopatra Headquarters for the center of the map. This way the crime stays lower in a high population density area where it is likely to be higher and also allows you to place gifts around the city center(where they help the surrounding zones the most) and maintain a good police radius. This is my best city so far, and I still have more gifts to use, several more Landfills and the Fountain.

Map 061

City Center View:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v738/sfr...nc/000_0773.jpg

Comprehensive:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v738/sfr...nc/000_0763.jpg

Land Value(love this one):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v738/sfr...nc/000_0762.jpg

Crime Rate(not bad, still gonna get rid of that orange though)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v738/sfr...nc/000_0764.jpg

Pollution:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v738/sfr...nc/000_0767.jpg

City Overview:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v738/sfr...nc/000_0770.jpg

This next city was built on map 137, has roughly the same population and uses the same method of donut building and top zoning. However this one has quite a bit more Industrial zones along the edge of the map, and a more compacted 5x5 top zone setup. This one also has all the gifts used, even the Fountain. Notice how I placed some of the gifts in a cross like pattern along the center axis of the map(see land value pic). This gives the areas around that dotted cross you see when you scroll along the map the most potential.

Map 137

Comprehensive:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v738/sfr...nc/000_0775.jpg

Land Value:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v738/sfr...nc/000_0776.jpg

City Overview:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v738/sfr...nc/000_0777.jpg

Enjoy, and I hope this inspires some of you to keep trying for that 500,000 population mark!