|
_______ ________ ___ ___ _______ ________ ________ __ __
| | | | | / | | | | | | | | | | |
| _ | |__ __| | / | | _ | |__ __| |__ __| | | | |
| | |__| | | | | | | |__| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | /| | | | | | | | | | | |
| |____ | | | | / | | | | | | | | | |__| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|____ | | | | | | | | | | | | | |__ __|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
__ | | | | | | | | | | __ | | | | | |
| |_| | __| |__ | | | | | |_| | __| |__ | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_______| |________| |__| |__| |_______| |________| |__| |__|
Copyright Maxis 1989, Nintendo 1991
Written By Brian P. Sulpher
E-mail: briansulpher@hotmail.com
Version 2.1
Dates Written: November 18th to November 23rd, 2003
I dedicate this to my parents Carol and David Sulpher. They gave this to me
as my first SNES game, and although I was jealous that my brothers has got
Final Fantasy IV and Super Mario World as their first games, I am now proud
to say I received this game! I thank you for the foresight involved in that
matter, and I hope you will continue to use wise jodgement in your video
game purchases for me.
Also, for Cougar. I miss you, and I hope you are living it up in the
afterlife as you did in this world. You will always be in my memories, and
you will never be forgotten.
Also, In memory of Howler and Koonce. You two never had a good start in
your lives, but you had a good time when you spent your time at my house.
It was oh so unfortunate that you both had your already tragic lives cut
short, but I can only hope that I helped make your life a more enjoyable
experience. You too will be missed, but not forgotten.
-----------
Version 1.0
-----------
-Submitted guide on November 23rd, 2002
-----------
Version 1.5
-----------
-Submitted guide on April 28th, 2003
-Reformated FAQ
-Added ASCII Art
-Added some building stacking information on airports
-Added some building stacking information on resedential donuts
-----------
Version 1.6
-----------
-Submitted FAQ on October 29th, 2003
-Fixed up the format to make the FAQ easier to navigate and read
-----------
Version 1.7
-----------
-Submitted FAQ on January 11th, 2004
-Added http://members.lycos.co.uk/snesreviews to sites allowed to use this
FAQ
-----------
Version 2.0
-----------
-Submitted FAQ on November 11th, 2004
-Decided to upgrade the format of this FAQ, making it more user friendly
-Also altered the copyright somewhat, as people have been taking advantage
of my work somewhat
-----------
Version 2.1
-----------
-Submitted guide on March 11th, 2005
-I added in Honestgamers as a site allowed to use my FAQs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------Table Of Contents----------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Introduction
2) Controls
3) Game Set-Up Menus
4) In-Game Menus
5) Urban Classifications
6) Building Units
7) Gift Requirements
8) Disasters
9) Building Methods
10)Common Voter Complaints
11)The Money Trick
12)Scenario Descriptions
13)Final Word
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------Introduction-------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Welcome to the world of Simcity! This is where you become the Mayor of a
town that is just beginning to form. You will lead your people well as
you make decisions to expand your town. However, whatever you decide to
do, remember that you rule the people only because they elected you! If
you do a bad job with your town, they elect someone else, and your game
will be at an end! So bring new industries to town, build shopping
centres, create beautiful residential areas, offer great police/fire
coverage, and build attractions to make your people prosper! So, run
your town diligently, and reward your citizenry with attractions that
will keep them on your good side! GO about designing the town you want,
and maybe along the way you will achieve the ultimate goal of every
Simcity player, the Megalopolis!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------Controls---------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) This section will go over the controls of the game in the various modes
of play.
o-------------------o
| Game Set-Up Menus |
o-------------------o
D-Pad - Pressing a direction will have the result of the same direction
moved by your cursor towards your selection.
SELECT - No apparent use.
START - Confirms a selection.
L Button - No apparent use.
R Button - No apparent use.
Y Button - No apparent use.
X Button - Cancels a selection you have made, which returns you to the
previous selection screen.
B Button - Confirms a selection.
A Button - No apparent use.
o---------------o
| Game Controls |
o---------------o
D-Pad - Moves your cursor in the direction pressed.
SELECT - Press once to go to the building menu on the left side of the
screen. Press it again to return to the place your cursor was on
the building map to begin with.
START - Press once to go to the options menu on the top of the screen.
Press it again to return to the place your cursor was on the
building map to begin with.
L Button - No apparent use.
R Button - No apparent use.
Y Button - When held, it will allow you to zoom around the map quickly.
X Button - This will remove the menu and building menus from the screen.
Press the Button again to bring the menus back.
B Button - This will confirm any selections you make on menus. This will
also build something when selected from the building menu as well
as use the bulldoze selection.
A Button - When held, it will allow you to zoom around the map quickly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------Game Set-Up Menu-------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) This section will list all of the game set-up menus for you, and what
each one allows you to do in each one.
o--------------------o
| Resumed Saved City |
o--------------------o
This takes you into your two saved cities. Choose either one, and start
your games from the past up once more.
o----------o
| Practice |
o----------o
Welcome to the World of Simcity.
Simcity is a city-building game where you are Mayor. To develop your city,
you need to set a budget, listen to the resident's opinions, and solve
problems like rising crime rates, traffic jams, or environmental pollution.
To begin, let's aim at building a city with a population of 30,000 people.
With these words, you start onto the practice island. It is quite small,
but it should help you to learn the game. Try for a Metropolis on this
Island after you get proficient at the game, as it is a fun little challenge
to try and accomplish.
o----------------o
| Start New City |
o----------------o
This will enter you into a screen where you can select a map. You can
select anywhere from map 000 to map 999 (1,000 maps!). I will give you a
brief diagram of what the MAP SELECT screen looks like:
+-----------------------------------------------------+
| |
| +---------------------------+ |
| | M A P S E L E C T | |
| +---------------------------+ |
| |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
| |
| +-------------------------------------+ |
| | | |
| | | NEXT |
| | | |
| | | OK |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | |000~999|
| | | NO. |
| | | +---+ |
| | | |000| |
| | | +---+ |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | ^ ^ ^ |
| | | |
| | | V V V |
| | | |
| +-------------------------------------+ |
| |
| |
| |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
NEXT ====> Moves your choice to the next map number.
OK ======> Confirms your selection for a map to play.
Map NO. => this shows what map number you are on.
^ =======> From left to right these move the map number by 100, 10, and 1.
V =======> From left to right these move the map number by 100, 10, and 1.
Another 1,000 maps are available to you if you select a map, begin the game,
Go To Menu immediately upon entering to get back to the game set-up menu.
Then enter again to find another 1,000 maps just waiting to be explored by
your eager mind (although this method is agonizingly slow)! I have also
discovered that you just need to select a map, then move to a different
number to view that one, and then return to the previous map to see the
hidden map on that number.
The best choice for a map of the original 1,000 maps is #061. It contains
only 15% water, which means it has the most land available to you to build
on!
o-----------------o
| Select Scenario |
o-----------------o
Entering here allows you to select from the original six scenarios, and then
the two bonus scenarios later when you meet certain requirements with the
original six scenarios. See the Scenario Descriptions section for more
details on each scenario.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------In-Game Menus------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4) This section will look at all the menus that you can access while
playing, and how they work to help you.
o------------o
| Game Speed |
o------------o
You have four choices from left to right: 1) High Speed
2) Medium Speed
3) Low Speed
4) Pause
They appear as a moving characters (from running to jogging to walking to
sleeping from left to right). On sleeping, time does move slightly, but it
is so PATHETICALLY slow that the time passing may as well be labelled as
non-existent.
o--------o
| Option |
o--------o
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Auto Bulldoze
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Starts: ON
Effect: will allow you to build over top of park, trees, powerlines, and
rubble instead of having to manually remove such obstructions.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Auto Budget
~~~~~~~~~~~
Starts: OFF
Effect: If it is toggled ON, you will not go to see the fiscal statement at
the end of every year.
~~~~~~~~~~
Auto Go To
~~~~~~~~~~
Starts: ON
Effect: If it is ON, the traffic helicopter will call your attention to
where heavy traffic congestion occurs (a traffic report).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Background Music (or B.G.M.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Starts: ON
Effect: this controls the music playing in the game, so turn it OFF if you
prefer silence.
o-----------o
| Disasters |
o-----------o
You can toggle the following disasters on this menu selection (from left to
right, top row, followed by the bottom row): Fire, Floods, Plane Crash,
Tornado, Earthquake, and Bowser Attack.
o-------------o
| Information |
o-------------o
~~~
Map
~~~
This allows you to view all kinds of stats about your city. The following
marked off by the "*" lines.
****************************************************************************
****************************************************************************
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comprehensive
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Purpose: Shows map of all Zones, but it can also be used to view a specific
type of Zone as well.
~~~~~~~~~~
Power Grid
~~~~~~~~~~
Purpose: If you see orange across the board, then all of your units have
power flowing to them. However, if you see green, then you have at
least one unit that is without power, so hook them up ASAP.
~~~~~~~~
Road Map
~~~~~~~~
Purpose: To show you where your roads and rails run in your city. Roads are
shown with bright blue lines, and rails are shown with vibrant
yellow lines.
~~~~~~~~~~
Population
~~~~~~~~~~
Purpose One: This one is shows the population density of your city. It
shows which part of your city contains the most heavily
concentrated groups, and the least concentrated groups of
people. The smallest concentrations get dark green colourings,
and this lightens till you hit yellow for medium concentration,
and this increases from light orange, to orange, to red for
highest concentrations.
Purpose Two: This one shows the rate of growth for your city. Anywhere that
is green is losing people, and anywhere that is yellow, light
orange, orange, or red is in a state of growth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Traffic Density
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Purpose: This will show you where in your city you have any traffic density.
The usual dark green to red scale for severity of traffic
congestion.
~~~~~~~~~
Pollution
~~~~~~~~~
Purpose: This will show you the trouble areas of your city where you have
pollution. The usual dark green to red scale for severity of
pollution levels.
~~~~~~~~~~
Crime Rate
~~~~~~~~~~
Purpose: This will show you where your criminals are committing the most
crimes in. The usual dark green to red scale for severity of the
committed crime numbers.
~~~~~~~~~~
Land Value
~~~~~~~~~~
Purpose: This shows you the sections of your city, and how much they are
worth. The usual dark green to red scale for level of value for
your land.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Department Stats
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Purpose One: This one will show you the police coverage you receive for your
city from your Police Departments. The usual dark green to red
scale for level of increased security provided.
Purpose Two: This one will show you the fire coverage you receive for your
city from your Fire Departments. The usual dark green to red
scale for level of increased security provided.
****************************************************************************
****************************************************************************
~~~~~
Graph
~~~~~
This will plot the progression of the following stats on one graph for you
to compare how they have affected your cities growth: Residential Zones,
Commercial Zones, Industrial Zones, Pollution, Land Values, and Crime.
The other two buttons will give you a time period upon which to look: 10
year allows for more recent developments to be viewed for patterns, while
the 120 year allows you to view the long term patterns that have developed.
~~~
Tax
~~~
This will allow you to view the following stats: Tax rate (set between 0%
and 20%), Transit/Police/Fire Funds (set between 0% and 100%), and the
previous years tax collection, special income, and city expenditures.
~~~~~
Voice
~~~~~
Public Opinion: Allows you to see how many people support your endeavours.
It will also list what the population thinks are the worst
problems with your city.
Statistics : the following will be listed: Population, Net Migration
(from the last year), assessed value of city, category of
your city (see Urban Classification for more details), game
level (easy, medium, hard), and overall city score (starts
at 500).
~~~~~
Total
~~~~~
This lists the following number of buildings, and the total percentage of
the buildings they make up: Residential Zones, Commercial Zones, Industrial
Zones, and Other. The total Developed and Undeveloped Zones (Residential,
Commercial, and Industrial only) are also listed along with Roads, Rails,
and Powerlines in km totals.
The second page of this City Overview lists numbers for the following:
Schools, Hospitals, Stadiums, Fire Stations, Police Stations, Air Ports, Sea
Ports, and Power Plants. You also get each square of the following listed
in totals and percentage of map: Park Area, Forest Area, Open Land Area, and
Water Area.
~~~~~~~
History
~~~~~~~
Displays any progression of your town to a new Urban Classification, as well
as any Disasters that have occurred.
~~~~
Bank
~~~~
Becomes available once you build the Bank, this allows you to take out a
loan, or to check on your loan status of payments.
~~~~
View
~~~~
Becomes available once you reach Capital Urban Classification, this is a
scale-model of your city.
o-----------o
| Load/Save |
o-----------o
Load : Allows you to load a previously saved game.
Save : Allows you to save the current game.
Go To Menu: Allows you to exit to the Game Set-Up Menu (it offers the
option of saving first).
End : This will take the game to the good night screen (it offers the
option of saving first).
o------------o
| Dr. Wright |
o------------o
Go here to read if you have any outstanding problems within your city that
need fixing. He will offer some advice for you to follow, so pay attention
as he knows this game. However, if you bother him too much, he gets mad
(but not permanently).
o------------------o
| Magnifying Glass |
o------------------o
Use this to view what level of development a Zones has reached. Note that
Residential Zones will first develop small houses, which means that all
must be filled before a Residential Zone can get a rated form.
o------------------o
| Go To Helicopter |
o------------------o
Use this to find your helicopter quickly on the map.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------Urban Classifications----------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5) This section will look at each new classification of town type, and how
many people you need for each.
o---------o
| Village |
o---------o
This is what your area begins as. The range you will be a village is about
0 to 2,000 people.
o------o
| Town |
o------o
You become a Town at about 2,000 people. You will remain a town for a
while as it covers a population range of 2,000 to 10,000 people.
o------o
| City |
o------o
You become a City once your growing population crosses the 10,000 barrier.
You will remain a City for a fair while as the range of population is
10,000 to 50,000 people.
o---------o
| Capital |
o---------o
You become a Capital once you hit the large number of 50,000. You will
stay as a Capital for a fair time as the population range is 50,000 to
100,000 people.
o------------o
| Metropolis |
o------------o
You become a Metropolis to some booming music, and it occurs at the 100,000
thresh hold. You will remain a Metropolis for a long while as the
population range it covers is 100,000 to 500,000 people.
o-------------o
| Megalopolis |
o-------------o
The ultimate goal of every Simcity nut is to achieve this level of Cityhood.
Once your place hits one half million (or 500,000), you have arrived. This
is the ultimate classification, so feel VERY proud once you reach it has it
is a hard feat to accomplish!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------Building Units------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6)This section will look at each building menu selection, what it does, how
much it costs, the positives, the negatives, and water building
capabilities.
o---------------o
| Bulldoze Area |
o---------------o
Cost : $1.
Effect : This will remove any objects from the map screen (excepting
fire, flood water, and other disasters in progress).
Positives : Removes any unwanted clutter.
Negatives : Can accidentally remove a gift that can not be replaced.
Water Stats: You can not bulldoze water.
o-------o
| Roads |
o-------o
Cost : $10.
Effect : Connects your units to one another to allow access.
Positives : Allows for better buildings, cheaper than railroad, and it also
allows access to all buildings it touches.
Negatives : costs money for upkeep, clogs up in high traffic area (meaning
need for more roads), and pollution from cars.
Water Stats: Double the cost to build over water ($20).
o--------------o
| Mass Transit |
o--------------o
Cost : $20.
Effect : Connects your units to one another to allow access.
Positives : Allows for better buildings, no pollution, no traffic
congestion, and allows access to all buildings it touches.
Negatives : Double the cost of Roads, and need to pay for upkeep.
Water Stats: Double the cost to build over water ($40).
o-------------o
| Power Lines |
o-------------o
Cost : $5.
Effect : These give power to buildings.
Positives : only need to run through any touching units to extend range.
Negatives : They can cause Shipwrecks in the water.
Water Stats: Double the cost to build over water ($10).
o------o
| Park |
o------o
Cost : $10.
Effect : Raises land values, and lowers pollution levels.
Positives : lower pollution, helps get Large Park Gifts (see Gift
Requirements for more details), and raises land values.
Negatives : None.
Water Stats: You can not build Park over water.
o-------------------o
| Resedential Zones |
o-------------------o
Cost : $100.
Effect : Makes a place for people to move into your town to live.
Positives : Makes room for more people to live in your town, if in a good
location they can become high value, they can become schools
to help get Libraries (see Gift Requirements for more details),
they can become hospitals, and two Zones at an R-4 HIGH rating
can form a TOP for maximum population potential in those Zones.
Negatives : Can be come slums with low ratings.
Water Stats: You can not build Residential Zones over water.
o------------------o
| Commercial Zones |
o------------------o
Cost : $100.
Effect : Makes a place for businesses to move into.
Positives : Allows your people a place to shop, raise land values if you
have MID or HIGH ratings, and two Zones at a C-5 HIGH rating
can form a TOP for maximum potential of happiness with services
in those Zones.
Negatives : They are the least needed of the three Zones, and are least
important.
Water Stats: You can not build Commercial Zones over water.
o------------------o
| Industrial Zones |
o------------------o
Cost : $100.
Effect : Makes a place for Industries to move into.
Positives : Gives your people a place to work, and makes items for your
Commercial Zones to sell.
Negatives : makes pollution, need to be close to Residential Zones.
Water Stats: You can not build Industrial Zones over water.
o-------------------o
| Police Department |
o-------------------o
Cost : $500.
Effect : Causes a small radius of your city to be protected from crime.
Positives : decreases crime, and can help get Police Headquarter Gifts
(see Gift Requirements for more details).
Negatives : Cost $500 to build, and cost $100 per building in operation to
maintain coverage.
Water Stats: You can not build Police Stations over water.
o-----------------o
| Fire Department |
o-----------------o
Cost : $500.
Effect : Causes a small radius of your city to be protected from Fires
(when they appear on your map screen).
Positives : Takes acre of fires when they appear, and they help get Fire
Headquarters Gifts (see Gift Requirements for more details).
Negatives : Cost $500 to build, and cost $100 per building in operation to
maintain coverage.
Water Stats: You can not build Fire Departments over water.
o---------o
| Stadium |
o---------o
Cost : $3,000.
Effect : These help boost Residential Zones value, and it is needed to
help your urban centre to grow properly.
Positives : Causes Residential value boost, and they help get Zoo Gifts
(see Gift Requirements for more details).
Negatives : High initial cost.
Water Stats: You can not build Stadiums over water.
o---------o
| Seaport |
o---------o
Cost : $5,000.
Effect : Boosts Industrial productiveness, brings Ship onto your map,
and it is needed for your urban centre to grow properly.
Positives : Boosts Industrial Zones, it does not need to be near the water,
and it allows possible ship wrecks to occur.
Negatives : Pollution is very high, and high initial cost.
Water Stats: You can not build Seaports over the water.
o------------------o
| Coal Power Plant |
o------------------o
Cost : $3,000.
Effect : Powers 40 Zones.
Positives : Cheaper power source, and it does not melt down.
Negatives : Pollution is high, and it powers fewer zones than Nuclear Power.
Water Stats: You can not build Coal Power Plants over the water.
o---------------------o
| Nuclear Power Plant |
o---------------------o
Cost : $5,000.
Effect : Powers 120 Zones.
Positives : Powers more Zones, does not pollute, and looks nicer to the eye.
Negatives : Can melt down, and higher initial cost than Coal Power.
Water Stats: You can not build Nuclear Power Plants over water.
o---------o
| Airport |
o---------o
Cost : $10,000.
Effect : Boosts Commercial Zones, brings Airplane and Helicopter onto
your map, and it is needed for your urban centre to grow
properly.
Positives : Boosts Commercial Zones.
Negatives : Pollutes heavily, very high initial cost, and allows possible
Plane crashes to occur.
Water Stats: You can not build Airports over water.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------Gift Requirements--------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7) This section will list every Gift, how to get them, what type of zones
they affect, and the positive and negative effects of every one.
Gifts not only raise land values, they also allow for better zone
development. Try to get every Gift that you can get your greedy mayoral
hands on!
o----------------o
| Amusement Park |
o----------------o
Requirements: You can get up to three of them, but it shares a total with
the Casino's.
Affects : Residential Zones.
Positives : Brings in $100 to city a year.
Negatives : None.
o------o
| Bank |
o------o
Requirements: You must reach a population of 10,000 people (City ranking),
and you must have less then $2,000 in your reserves.
Affects : Commercial Zones.
Positives : Allows you to take out a loan of $10,000.
Negatives : You spend 21 years paying back at $500 per year (end up
paying an extra $500).
o--------o
| Casino |
o--------o
Requirements: You can get up to three of them, but it shares a total with
the Amusement Parks.
Affects : Commercial Zones.
Positives : Brings in $100 to city a year.
Negatives : Raises crime in that area.
o------o
| Expo |
o------o
Requirements: Build a Seaport and an Airport.
Affects : Industrial Zones.
Positives : Increases your Tax dollar intake.
Negatives : None.
o-------------------o
| Fire Headquarters |
o-------------------o
Requirements: You must build a multiple of 6 (6, then 12, and then 18 total)
for your three Fire Headquarters.
Affects : Commercial Zones and Residential Zones.
Positives : Increased fire coverage.
Negatives : Costs $100 to maintain per year.
o----------o
| Fountain |
o----------o
Requirements: Play for fifty years to receive this present from Dr. Wright.
Affects : Commercial Zones and Residential Zones.
Positives : Brings in $100 to city a year.
Negatives : None.
o-----------o
| Land Fill |
o-----------o
Requirements: Start to run out of room on your map to get four Land Fills.
Affects : No Zones are affected.
Positives : Creates new land to build on, lessens the water on the map.
Negatives : None.
o------------o
| Large Park |
o------------o
Requirements: You must build a multiple of 300 (300, 600, and 900 total) for
your three Large Parks.
Affects : Residential Zones.
Positives : Brings in $100 to city a year.
Negatives : None.
o---------o
| Library |
o---------o
Requirements: You must build a multiple of 3 (3, 6, and then 9 total) for
your three Libraries.
Affects : Residential Zones.
Positives : Raises land values.
Negatives : None.
o--------------o
| Mario Statue |
o--------------o
Requirements: You must reach a population of 500,000 people (Megalopolis
ranking) to receive this gift.
Affects : Commercial and Residential Zones.
Positives : Raises land values.
Negatives : None.
o---------------------o
| Police Headquarters |
o---------------------o
Requirements: You must build a multiple of 6 (6, then 12, and then 18 total)
for your three Police Headquarters.
Affects : Commercial Zones and Industrial Zones.
Positives : Increased police coverage.
Negatives : Costs $100 to maintain per year.
o---------------o
| Train Station |
o---------------o
Requirements: Lay 50 km of track for the first one, lay 200 km of track for
the second one.
Affects : Commercial Zones.
Positives : Better transit service.
Negatives : None.
o------o
| View |
o------o
Requirements: You must reach a population of 50,000 (Capital ranking) to
receive this gift.
Affects : Shows your City as a scaled down model.
Positives : None.
Negatives : None.
o----------o
| Windmill |
o----------o
Requirements: Develop 150 total Zones for the first Windmill, develop 350
Zones for the second Windmill.
Affects: Commercial Zones.
Positives: Increases your tax dollar intake.
Negatives: None.
o------------o
| Your House |
o------------o
Requirements: You must reach a population of 2,000 people (Town ranking)
to receive this gift.
Affects: Residential Zones.
Positives: Raises land values.
Negatives: None.
o-----o
| Zoo |
o-----o
Requirements: Build one Stadium to get the first Zoo, build two more
Stadiums to receive another Zoo. Keep in mind that they do
not immediately come to your town, but take several months
following to arrive.
Affects: Residential Zones.
Positives: Brings in $100 to city a year.
Negatives: None.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------Disasters------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
8) This section will outline what each disaster does, and how dangerous each
one is (on a 1-10 scale), and if they can be purposely triggered.
o----------------o
| Airplane Crash |
o----------------o
Effect : A Plane crashes into whatever might be directly below it when
the accident occurs, often setting some of the 3x3 grid it
affects on fire.
Danger Rating: 3/10
o---------------o
| Bowser Attack |
o---------------o
Effect : Bowser stomps through anything that gets in his way causing
fires as he seeks those elusive Mario Bros.!
Danger Rating: 7/10
o------------o
| Earthquake |
o------------o
Effect : The ground shakes, which can cause wide devastation if it is
a big one on the Richter Scale.
Danger Rating: 9/10
o-------o
| Fires |
o-------o
Effect : A fire breaks out in any spot on the map without the help of
outside disasters influences.
Danger Rating: 2/10
o--------o
| Floods |
o--------o
Effect : Water floods over the banks of the body of water in
undeveloped waterfront property.
Danger Rating: 4/10
o------------------o
| Nuclear Meltdown |
o------------------o
Effect : The fallout will make many surrounding areas unlivable, and
the plant becomes a huge fireball.
Danger Rating: 5/10
o-----------o
| Tornadoes |
o-----------o
Effect : A funnel appears on the ground, and it rampages through your
city leaving a trail of destruction.
Danger Rating: 8/10
o---------------o
| U.F.O. Attack |
o---------------o
Effect : U.F.O.'s fly down over your town, they spray the area with
their disruptors, and the result are lots of burning
buildings (if they survive the initial attack, they may still
be razed to the ground in the ensuing, out of control fires).
Danger Rating: 9/10
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------Building Methods---------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
9) This section will give you some strategies to use in your game to help
your chances of getting a better town.
a) This is probably the most commonly utilized method of building. I am
referring to the "Donut Block" building method. How this works is that
you have a 9 X 9 space grid, and knowing that each Residential Zones and
Commercial Zones are three spaces wide and high, you can fit nine Zones
in this grid. However, since access to a Zone is needed (by road or
rail), so instead you should put something inside the "Donut". I will
use Residential Zones in the following example of a Donut Block:
+---++---++---+
| || || |
| R || R || R |
| || || |
+---++---++---+
| || || |
| R || || R |
| || || |
+---++---++---+
| || || |
| R || R || R |
| || || |
+---++---++---+
As you can see, rails or roads can touch all 8 of the Residential Zones,
and the middle space is open to whatever you want to put in there (Police
Department, Fire Department, Gifts, Park) since they do not require road
access. If the land values are high enough (usually due to a Gift in the
centre of the Donut), two Zones may reach their highest rating beside one
another, and then they might combine into one unit called a TOP. These
TOPS allow for maximum potential of the Zones, so Donuts lend themselves
to many TOPS as possible for all of your Gifts.
b) The other popular way to build your City for a high population is to use
the "Double Zone Columns" building method. How this one works is that
you are building your city infrastructure not in grids of 9 X 9 spaces
for Zones, but instead the numbers are 6 (across) X Y value (down to the
bottom). This makes for tall, narrow columns that still allow for TOPS
to form, and it allows for keeping your Industry separate from the rest
of the Zones.
+---++---+ +---++---+ +---++---+
| || | | || | | || |
| I || I | | C || C | | R || R |
| || | | || | | || |
+---++---+ +---++---+ +---++---+
This is an exert from the WEST point on the map, and the single space
between the Zones are where the roads/rails would be. This allows you to
build a little cheaper while still making a lot of Zones into an
effective area.
c) Setting up proper Police Department coverage and Fire Department Coverage
is essential to having a thriving, prosperous city. How you should set
up your coverage is debatable, however there is one method (albeit a
little expensive) that will help you to keep your crime rate down, while
not harming your fire coverage either. The method that works well is to
have the following pattern in your city (this is for Donut Block
builders:
----------------------+
P - Police Department |
F - Fire Department |
----------------------+
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
| || || | | || || | | || || |
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
| ||P|| | | ||P|| | | ||P|| |
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
| || || | | || || | | || || |
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
| || || | | || || | | || || |
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
| ||F|| | | ||P|| | | ||F|| |
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
| || || | | || || | | || || |
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
| || || | | || || | | || || |
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
| ||P|| | | ||P|| | | ||P|| |
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
| || || | | || || | | || || |
+-++-++-+ +-++-++-+ +-++-++-+
With this set up, you get excellent crime prevention from the multiple
Police Departments, and you get the sufficient Fire Department coverage
needed for the occasional fire that breaks out. Remember that this grid
will not always work because Gifts will be substituted into the Donut
Blocks. Just be sure to use the Fire Headquarters and Police
Headquarters in these areas instead for their extended coverage to help
make up for the hole in the coverage.
d) Industry is an essential part of your city, but it comes with the heavy
downside of pollution. Although it is not possible to rid yourself of
all pollution, but you can utilize the side of the map to cause about
half of the pollution to just go off the map, and hence not count towards
your total pollution levels.
e) Gifts are a great way to expand your land values. However, if you build
too many close together, people will spread out over the many available
Zones that they are boosting. This will cause them to not reach their
highest levels, and thus waste the potential of your Gifts. Try to
spread the gifts out over many months and years if you are receiving many
at the same time.
f) Land Fills are unique Gifts that actually add land to your area. They
can be used provided that one square of the 3 X 3 space is touching one
part of the water. They are best used to make some extra room along the
waterline beside a high value property. This means another Zone of the
same type can be built there to cause another high value to raise up
(since waterfront property had high land values), and then hopefully it
would become a TOP with the aforementioned high value property that was
already established. The other option for Land Fills is to build two of
them out in the middle of your river, and then put two Commercial Zones
or Residential Zones there. The high land values will make for higher
ranking buildings, but be wary that it may be too expensive, and never
fully develop (first option that is listed would be the wiser choice for
you).
g) Despite the danger of radioactive fallout from a meltdown, use Nuclear
Power Plants to power your City. Coal Power Plants pollute, and they
power less Zones per dollar.
h) Modified Resedential donuts have the cability of fitting 8 Resedential
Zones into a smaller space, and it also can be used to decrease space
occupied by public service Zones. This is done through a process of
Zone Stacking, which requires a set-up diagrammed below:
(credit Josh Nelson of jnelson98@cox.net for contributing this)
~~~
ONE
~~~
+---+ +---+
| | | |
| R | | R |
| | | |
+---+ +---+
+---+ +---+
| | | |
| R | | R |
| | | |
+---+ +---+
Build the four Resedential Zones with a "cross of land between them.
~~~
TWO
~~~
+--+ +--+
| | | |
| R| |R |
+--+ +--+
+--+ +--+
| R| |R |
| | | |
+--+ +--+
Bulldoze out the walls along the "cross" of land, follwoed by building park
or power lines in it's place to prevent the zone from becoming a rated unit.
~~~~~
THREE
~~~~~
+--++---++--+
| || || |
| R|| R ||R |
+--+| |+--+
+---+---+---+
| | | |
| R | | R |
| | | |
+---+---+---+
+--+| |+--+
| R|| R ||R |
| || || |
+--++---++--+
Now build four new Resedential Zones where the diagram indicates.
~~~~
FOUR
~~~~
+--++---++--+
| || || |
| R|| R ||R |
+--++---++--+
+--+ +--+
| | | |
| R| |R |
| | | |
+--+ +--+
+--++----+--+
| R|| R ||R |
| || || |
+--++---++--+
Now repeat step TWO with the bulldoze and building odd power line/park trick
to keep the Resedential Zones unrated.
~~~~
FIVE
~~~~
+--++---++--+
| || || |
| R|| R ||R |
+--++---++--+
+--++---++--+
| || || |
| R|| P ||R |
| || || |
+--++---++--+
+--++----+--+
| R|| R ||R |
| || || |
+--++---++--+
Now build your Fire Department/Police Department in the middle (the example
uses a Police Department). This is the Modified Resedential Donut Block,
but read below to see something even more useful.
~~~
SIX
~~~
+-+
|P|
+-+
Bulldoze ALL the Resedential Zones, leaving the Police Department/Fire
Department as one small square.
~~~~~
SEVEN
~~~~~
+---++---++---+
| || || |
| R || R || R |
| || || |
+---++---++---+
+-+| || || |
|P|| R || || R |
+-+| || || |
+---++---++---+
| || || |
| R || R || R |
| || || |
+---++---++---+
Now build the real Donut Block nearby, with the Police Department being
located next to either the north, east, south, or west Zone of the true
Donut Block. this will allow you to place a Gift inside the Donut Block,
still have all Zones reached by road/rail that need it, and you will still
get full Police Department/Fire Department coverage at 1/9 the area taken
up!
i) Another method of Zone stacking (this one for non-Resedential Zones) is
far more inaccurate. You will need to have an Airport and an Airplane in
the skies as well. Wait till the Airplane is over a desired Zone you
wish to resize, and then purposely crash the Airplane through the
Disasters menu (make sure to not hit the direct centre of the zone or it
will explode, thus wasting your efforts). Make sure you have great fire
coverage so the centre of the Zone will not explode, and then build over
the burned out spots, which will allow for more Zones in your map! This
is especially useful for Seaports, Airports, and Stadiums as they use up
larger areas of land for minimal returns.
(credit Josh Nelson of jnelson98@cox.net for reminding me of this)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------Common Voter Complaints--------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
10)This section will list some problems presented to you by the voters, and
what ways these problems can be dealt with. If you get all of the
complaints to less than 20% each, you have succeeded in taking the
problems far enough under control to have the voters deem it a good
enough situation.
o-------o
| Crime |
o-------o
This is a serious problem the whole game, so try to keep lots of Police
Departments spread out over the landscape. Try to use overlapping coverage
so three or four stations have their outer most coverage combined with other
outer most coverages to form a decent security net. Also, in areas that
have pollution, crime will tend to be higher, so try to put more Police
Department in factory heavy areas, and use tactics from the Pollution
section below to reduce your number of heavy pollutant areas.
o------o
| Fire |
o------o
If this is considered a problem, you need to work on your disaster recovery
skills. Be sure to have good fire coverage, and also bulldoze around the
fires to contain them (no fuel = no fire). Then rebuild, and do a better
job on the next set of fires (which will inevatiably show up).
o---------------o
| Housing Costs |
o---------------o
This is caused when your land values are too high, and/or Residential Zones
are too far from Commercial Zones and/or Residential Zones. For the land
values being too high, try to have a few areas of low land values so the
people coming to your town have a choice. The other problem of your Zones
being too far apart, look at the Building Methods section for diagrams of
the following: keep your Residential Zones close to Commercial Zones and
Industrial Zones (make sure not to have Residential Zones directly beside
Industrial Zones). Use Commercial Zones as a buffer between Industrial
Zones pollution, and Residential Zones desire for clean air, striking a
perfect balance.
o-----------o
| Pollution |
o-----------o
This is a common problem faced by every city ever made. To make this
problem lessen in severity (it can not be eliminated completely) here are
some solutions: build your Industrial Zones on the edge of the map to cause
lots of the pollution to go off the screen (it does not register anymore),
use Park where ever you can to raise land values as you lower the pollution
(trees and grass reduce the poisons in the air), use as much of a rail
system as possible (this causes car emissions to be greatly reduced), and
use Nuclear Power Plants instead of Coal Power Plants because they do not
pollute (just be sure to be ready to have excess amounts of them or you risk
a meltdown).
o-------o
| Taxes |
o-------o
The game gives a default ranking of 7% to start the game, and it is alright
for a starting point. However, when you need money, the people will start
to really complain if you raise it too much. Try to stay around 7% or 8%
most of the time so you make a little bit of money from your people, but if
you need cash desperately, jack up your rate up to some obscene level near
the end of the year so you take a little bit extra for the fiscal year (this
is best done in November sometime so the taxes will have time to build up a
bit before collection).
o---------o
| Traffic |
o---------o
The ultimate solution to your traffic woes is to just not build Roads at
all, instead using Rails. However, that is an expensive venture, so try for
a hybrid combination, and be sure to use Rails in the traffic heavy sections
of your city (at least until you can afford to replace all Roads with Rail
instead).
o--------------o
| Unemployment |
o--------------o
Try to keep more Industrial Zones at the start than Commercial Zones before
you become a Metropolis, but once you hit the 100,000 people mark, start to
shift your focus on Industrial Zones to about equals amounts on both. This
allows your work force to shift into services. This should cause your
unemployment % to drop significantly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------The Money Trick--------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
11)This section is dedicated completely to the trick of making your city
funds overflow with cash!
~~~~~~~
Step #1
~~~~~~~
Spend all of your money.
~~~~~~~
Step #2
~~~~~~~
Lower your taxes to 0%, and lower your coverage of your Police, Fire, and
Transit to 0% as well.
~~~~~~~
Step #3
~~~~~~~
When the annual income report appears, hold the L Button down, and "Go With
The Figure"
~~~~~~~
Step #4
~~~~~~~
Still holding the L Button down, go into the Information Menu, and select
TAX.
~~~~~~~
Step #5
~~~~~~~
Still holding the L Button down, you should now increase Police, Fire, and
Transit funds to 100%, and then "Go With The Figures."
~~~~~~~
Step #6
~~~~~~~
Upon exiting, release the L Button, and if you followed the steps correctly,
you will now have $999,999 instead of $000,000!
Use this code for your first couple of cities to get a feel for the game,
and then try to design a legitimate city to fully experience the richness
of the game.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------Scenario Descriptions------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
12)This section will look at the Scenarios available to you, and a quick
list of things to do to make your scenario a success. Keep in mind that
you are not given any gifts, so try to make due with the ones (if
any) given to you in each scenario.
o---------------------------------o
| San Fransisco Earthquake (1906) |
o---------------------------------o
Duration: 5 years.
Goal : Recover the city after the big Earthquake of 1906
Methods : The Earthquake will not occur immediately, so you can put up some
Fire Departments ahead of time to expand the woefully inadequate
fire coverage. After the earthquake hits, try to bulldoze as much
debris as possible so the fires can not spread out too much. Then
you should restore power and roads/rails. Once you have done that,
work on creating a bustling city to draw back many of the people
you lost because of the turmoil.
Cheating: Set the game speed to sleeping to get all of your Fire Departments
into place before you set the game speed back in motion. That
way, you are already prepared for the impending disaster that is on
it's way.
o-----------------------------o
| Tokyo Monster Attack (1961) |
o-----------------------------o
Duration: 5 years.
Goal : Recover your city after a Bowser stomps through your town in search
of the Mario Brothers!
Methods : You start the scenario before Bowser takes his stroll, so set up a
slightly better fire coverage ratio (you may want to increase
police coverage as well due to high crime). After he comes, go to
work on containing the damage, and then proceed to recover your
losses before you move onto the expansion of Tokyo to finish the
scenario with a larger amount of people than you started with!
Cheating: Set the game speed to sleeping to get all of your Fire Departments
into place before you set the game speed back in motion. That
way, you are already prepared for the impending disaster that is on
it's way.
o---------------------o
| Bern Traffic (1965) |
o---------------------o
Duration: 10 years.
Goal : Relieve the heavily congested roads of Bern to become the National
Transportation Planner for all of Switzerland.
Methods : You should work on creating a more effective rail system to take
many cars off the road. Also, you should rid yourself of roads
that are the heaviest in congestion on traffic. If you are a
really good budgeter, you can replace ALL road with rail to create
a completely non-congested road ratio!
Cheating: No real way to do so here.
o----------------------o
| Detroit Crime (1972) |
o----------------------o
Duration: 10 years.
Goal : Lower crime and revive the sagging Industrial economy.
Methods : Your first goal is to lower the ghastly crime rate by putting as
many new Police Departments in the worst crime areas to expand your
coverage. Next, once the crime has been lowered sufficiently, your
next job is put Industry up where your population will not be
polluted by it, but they will still have easy access to it. Once
you have done that, work on lowering crime till it no longer
exists, and expand your city to increase the population.
Cheating: No real way to do so.
o--------------------------------o
| Boston Nuclear Meltdown (2010) |
o--------------------------------o
Duration: 5 years.
Goal : Isolate the contaminated areas of the city, and rebuild in new
areas to bring in new population.
Methods : The disaster occurs right at the start, so bulldoze all of the
areas affected by the Radioactive sections, isolate the fires, and
then start to rebuild your city. Be sure to keep pollution and
crime down as you work your way back up to a thriving city again,
and bulldoze the extra Sea Ports as one is all you need (the extra
ones cause unnecessary pollution for you).
Cheating: Although this is kind of a cheap way to win, you can hold the L
Button before you enter the scenario, and then you go bulldoze the
three Nuclear Power Plants as you continue to hold the L Button.
After the third one is knocked over, let go of the L Button, and
you will not have to deal with any radiation since there are NO
Nuclear Power Plants left to meltdown in the first place.
o----------------------------------------o
| Rio De Janeiro Coastal Flooding (2047) |
o----------------------------------------o
Duration: 10 years.
Goal : build up the waterfront properties to prevent the rising sea level
from flooding your city.
Methods : You have many years to work with here, so you have lots of time to
get the problems under control. The first set of floods are
particularly brutal, so try your best to contain any fires that
spring up as a result. After you get the floods under control,
start expanding your shoreline properties to help prevent flooding
(although this scenario will have floods happen multiple times).
After a few years, floods will lessen, and you will have a quicker
clean-up period. Expand your city once your shoreline is built up,
and you will finish this scenario with flying colours!
Cheating: This is another scenario where you can hold the L Button to delay
the disaster from happening. This time though, your job is to build
up the coast line so the flooding will be less than it would have
been otherwise.
After finishing off the first six scenarios, you gain access to two
Bonus Scenarios! They are outlined below...
o---------------------------------o
| Las Vegas U.F.O. Attacks (2096) |
o---------------------------------o
Duration: 10 years.
Goal : rebuild city after attacks to get it back to a thriving Metropolis.
Methods : The U.F.O. attacks will not occur immediately, so fix up your fire
coverage to assure that the U.F.O.'s damages will be lessened.
This is the only scenario to contain gifts already in it (multiple
Casino's, so build your commercial up around them). You will face
multiple invasions from the sky in the ten years covered here, but
the first is easily the longest (the ones following are about three
attacks long each, as opposed to the near twenty of the first one).
Just work on building your city up to a Metropolis, and be sure to
fix the woefully inadequate road system (supplement it with a
better rail system than the current one that jets straight through
the city).
Cheating: No real way to do so.
o-----------------o
| Freeland (1999) |
o-----------------o
Duration: However long you take
Goal : Build this water devoid land mass in the US Midwest to reach the
population of 500,000 to become a Megalopolis.
Methods : You would think that having NO rivers, lakes, or oceans would be
great, but you have no valuable waterfront property. On top of
that, you can not get any gifts either! You will have to make it
on pure building skills, and land development alone! Try to build
slowly so you do not over saturate the marketplace with property,
use the existing forest and parks to raise the value of the land,
thus attracting better buildings (more people) to a small area.
If done correctly, you will reach a Megalopolis easily!
Cheating: No real way to do so.
NOTE : This scenario never gets a check once you ac
|
