I'm playing two cities in a private region. One is doing well. The other, well, not so much…
In an attempt to restore some balance, I decided to send 30k to the less fortunate city via the region-based "gift" feature. The money left my good city almost immediately, but hasn't yet (1hr30 real time) arrived. I've tried leaving the game and opening it again, but all I seemed to be able to trigger was a "Your gift has been sent" notification.
How long do gifts take to arrive? Is there a secret trick for speeding up the process?
Best Answer
The amount of time it takes for a monetary gift to arrive depends on traffic between your city hall and the destination city hall. Excessive server latency can also cause issues in sending gifts, but these issues are no longer as common.
Sending a gift between cities is not instant. A car with a simoleons icon and a thumbnail of the senders Origin avatar will leave their city hall and make it's way toward the receiving city hall. Funds are deducted from the sender's account as soon as the car agent is generated. It is a good idea to wait for the news bulletin indicating that a gift has been sent before switching cities. Once receiving this notification, switch cities and wait for the car to arrive. If you click on the government icon, you can watch it makes its way into your city to your city hall. At this point, the funds will be added to your treasury. Your city hall must be "powered on" to receive the gift.
Server issues used to prevent gifts from ever arriving, but those issues appear to have been resolved.