I was wondering :
How much do you guys set the speed limit ? Mine was on 90% (!!!) when installed so I had to slow it down to 50% at least.
This is no tweaking problem, just that I wanted to compare your speeds (I know 50% is lame but I haven't play this game for a while, so...).

Thanks for your feedback ! I've finally put it on 70% because 80 was a bit too fast for me.

I usually set it to 10% when I'm first setting up the layout of the city...clearing trees...putting in first roads and houses, etc.
Then I up it to 80% for most of the play.
Then when I'm waiting to be promoted and want to speed up the little guys and gals I put it at 90%

I usually set my speed to 50% because I like to scroll around looking at things, click on citizens, and basically enjoy my bustling metropolis. I could play at a faster rate, but that mean constantly doing things and wouldn't leave the downtime I like to have to appreciate my city.

As everyone has said 90% is the default. One thing to remember though, we have much better systems now, compared to when C3 was released. I know I never changed it from 90% when I first bought it in 98/99 and it wasn't fast..
I must admit, I never thought of slowing the speed down in the planning stages.. might try that sometime.

I set the speed to 10% when I start a map, then to 80 or 90% for the real gameplay. At the beginning it pays to set the overall setup of the city, so that when people set their homes and the city starts ticking, you shuld have food, water and civics in place and so you don't have to react to problems, but rather get a kickstart directly to trade and army buildup. The overall speed is really an expansion of the skill the player has with "reading" the city and whether it works well. If problems get piled up, slow down, and if it's all smooth sailing, speed up.

Oh, thanks for the awesome speed trick. My city occasionally starts burning down before I came to decide where the prefects are going to be, especially in the desert...
I usually play at 70%, though. 90 is way too fast, I can't even click on someone to see what they have to say. With 70, the cities are still bursting with excitement.

Is there any way to set the speed and display to a pre start default value? I can't seem to find the typical sierra.inf file anywhere in the install dir!
Every time i load a new or saved a game ... the first key i hit is the pause to reset my speed and display prefs... and boy do they move on a quadcore!!!

This reply is way too late for the person who asked it, but for anyone else who reads this thread, I don't know if there's a way to change the default speed, but you can just press the [ key to lower the speed in increments, so if you press it three times you'll be on 60%. ] rises the speed again.

To be clear, you mean the OPEN BRACKET key to slow down, and the CLOSE BRACKET key to speed up. I was just puzzled over what exactly you were setting off there...

Then again, I am a bit dim some days.

Btw. what a great feature this speed regulation option is, isn't it? I wish more developers back then had the foresight to implement it. I wouldn't need to use slowdown tools playing other older games.

I use 80% most of the time, but use 100% when I'm just waiting for income or something.

What I do when starting a map is:
- pause, look for stuff
- 10% for 'ducting wolves building the first settlement etc.
- 80% for regular playing since 70% is a tad slow for me, but if you're a new player and you don't know what to do then 70% might be better for you
- When I have everything to win and just waiting for the prosperity or favor rating to go up, I set to 100%

I never even thought of slowing down the game.. I did wonder if it was this fast when I used to play it.

now I feel like an idiot :P I might try slowing it down when things start going a bit poorly.