SimCity2000 FAQ v1.1 rev. 2/8/94 1.0 - SOLVING PROBLEMS 1.1 Nobody wants to live in my city 1.2 I'm not making any money 1.3 Pollution 1.4 Traffic 1.5 Crime 1.6 Unemployment 1.7 Education 1.8 Health 1.9 Disasters 2.0 TOOLS 2.1 Bulldozer 2.2 Landscape 2.3 Power 2.4 Water 2.5 Road + Rail 2.6 Ports + Connections 2.7 Residential Zones 2.8 Commercial Zones 2.9 Industrial Zones 2.10 Education Zones 2.11 Health and Safety Zones 2.12 Recreation Zones 3.0 BUDGET 3.1 Property Taxes 3.2 City Ordinances 3.3 Bond Payments 4.0 MISC 4.1 Bugs 4.2 Terrain Editor 4.3 Military Bases 4.4 Cheats, Bonuses, and other Secrets 4.5 Weather 4.6 Scenarios 1.0 - SOLVING PROBLEMS 1.1. Nobody wants to live in my city 1.1.1 Well, first you need a power plant. Then you need residential, commercial, and industrial zones. Each zone needs to be connected to the power plant by power lines and each zone needs to be within three spaces of a road. If you do all of this, people should start moving into your city. If you're beyond this stage, just look at the opinion polls and try to fix the problems that people are complaining about. Build zones that are in demand. 1.2 I'm not making any money 1.2.1 Don't listen to everything your people ask for. When you're starting out, only pay for as much police protection as you can afford. Don't build too many roads - infrastructure can wait. Only add things to your city that will increase your population. Be careful about raising taxes - a tax increase is not always the same as am increase in revenue. If you raise taxes too much, growth will be stifled. 1.3 Pollution 1.3.1 Pass Pollution Control ordinance 1.3.2 Increase tax rate on polluting industries 1.3.3 Build water treatment plants 1.3.4 Lower traffic 1.3.5 Use light industrial instead of heavy industrial 1.4 Traffic 1.4.1 Build more roads and highways 1.4.2 Build mass transit 1.4.3 Pass Parking Fines ordinance 1.4.4 Intersperse different zones (build R close to I, C) 1.5 Crime 1.5.1 Build police stations 1.5.2 Pass Anti-Drug Campaign ordinance 1.5.3 Pass Neighborhood Watch Campaign 1.5.4 Use more light zoning 1.6 Unemployment 1.6.1 Zone more industry and commercial zones 1.6.2 Remove Pollution Control ordinance, if in place 1.6.3 Lower industrial and commercial tax rates 1.7 Education 1.7.1 Build Schools, Colleges 1.7.2 Build Libraries, Museums 1.7.3 Pass Pro-Reading Campaign ordinance 1.8 Health 1.8.1 Build hospitals 1.8.2 Pass Public Smoking Ban ordinance 1.8.3 Pass Free Clinic ordinance 1.8.4 Pass Junior Sports ordinance 1.8.5 Pass CPR Training ordinance 1.9 Disasters 1.9.1 Q: How do I put out fires? 1.9.1 A: Use dispatch firefighters tool to place a fire icon next to a patch of fire. If there's a lot of fire, you can also build a fire station on top of it to put it out (you'll have to experiment with this.) 1.9.2 Q: How do I make the monster go away? 1.9.2 A: I don't think you can. 1.9.3 Q: What other disasters are there? 1.9.3 A: Meltdown, Microwave Oops, Pollution, Fire Storm, Mass Riots, Major Floods, Toxic Spill, Volcano. 2.0 TOOLS 2.1 Bulldozer 2.2 Landscape 2.2.1 Q: How do I make waterfalls? 2.2.1 A: Place water on a slope. 2.2.2.Q: What's the magic eraser? 2.2.2 A: Select the tree tool. Press the mouse button with the cursor on a blank tile. Keep holding down the button and press the shift key. The cursor will now erase any type of development. The effect is rather odd - when you query the tile that's been erased, the old structure appears to still be there. 2.3 Power 2.3.1 Q: Do undeveloped zones conduct power? 2.3.1 A: No. Only tiles that have immediate contact to power (either next to another building or next to a power line) will develop. 2.3.2 Q: What type of power plant should I use? 2.3.2 A: If you aren't concerned with money, fusion plants are the most efficient, and don't pollute or cause disasters - like nuclear and microwave. If you are concerned about money, then hydro is best. Hydro plants don't pollute and don't need to be replaced every 50 years. 2.3.3 Q: Isn't it kind of like cheating to use hydro power? 2.3.3 A: Well, first off, it's just a game, and you can do whatever you want with it. The most efficient use of hydro would be to use the raise terrain tool to make a little bump. Line the bump with waterfalls and then place hydro plants on the waterfalls. You could even surround the hydro pants with water pumps. This is the best, and most unrealistic use of hydro plants. A more realistic approach would be to make a map with a river, then raise the land on one end of the river, and draw the river back in, having it flow down the raised land. You could then build large dams on the slopes. 2.3.4 Q: My power plants seem to last forever. 2.3.4 A: If you have disasters off, your power plants will automatically be replaced when they are 50 years old. Their cost will also be deducted from your coffers. 2.3.5 Q: Why don't hydro plants and wind power have to be replaced every 50 years? 2.3.5 A: Well, you could say that this is bias on the part of Maxis to encourage the use of clean power. The real reason has to do with programming limitations - they'd have to keep track of the age of each plant. 2.3.6 Q: Why should I use wind power? 2.3.6 A: I don't know - appearance, maybe? If you have extra space on the top of a mountain, you could put windmills there. You could use a couple of wind power plants to sustain a small village in the middle of nowhere. 2.4 Water 2.4.1 Q: How effective is a water pump? 2.4.1 A: A water pump (not next to water) will service approximately 24 to 36 tiles, depending on the weather. An additional 12 tiles will be serviced for every water tile that the pump is adjacent to. For example: W W W L P L L L L where W = water, L = land, P = pump The above pump is next to 3 water tiles, therefore, it will provide 60 to 72 tiles with water. I think that each tile requires 600 gallons of water. 2.4.2 Q: Should I build water towers? 2.4.2 A: Each water tower will hold up to 40,000 gallons of water. They will only fill up when you have a surplus. It's probably easier to just build four more pumps in the space that a tower would take. 2.4.3 Q: What good is a water treatment plant? 2.4.3 A: The manual says that water treatment plants will help you prevent droughts by cleaning and recycling your water. However, the online help says that water treatment plants will reduce the overall pollution level of your city. I would tend to go with the latter. 2.4.4 Q: How effective is a desalination plant? 2.4.4 A: Desalination plants seem to have an effective radius, so there effectiveness is rather complicated. They can provide water to 200 - 500 tiles each, depending on how many seawater tiles are adjacent to the plant. 2.4.5 Q: What types of water will help a water pump? 2.4.5 A: Natural water and artificial water will improve the performance of a water pump, while salt water will not. Use the query tool to find out whether water is salty or fresh. Water pump performance will even be improved by a waterfall, or a waterfall with a hydro plant on it. 2.4.6 Q: I've built several pumps on the edge of my city, but all the water seems to be going to the center. 2.4.6 A: Well, SC2K figures out how much water you have, then it distributes it from the center of your city. The only way to keep the water at the edge would be to cut it off from the water system. 2.4.7 Q: Where do I need to build pipes? 2.4.7 A: Sims will automatically build pipes underneath buildings, so, all you need to do, is build pipes underneath roads. I like to place pipes underneath my power lines. 2.5 Road + Rail 2.5.1 Q: How much road do I need? 2.5.1 A: A zone (residential, commercial, or industrial) must be within 3 tiles (not counting diagonally) of a road in order to start growing. If you're really strapped for cash (say you start on the hard level) then you can get away with discontinuous roads. Just drop down 1 tile sections of road and build different zones around it: For example: R R R R R R R R R R r I I C C I I I C I I where r = road R = residential, C = commercial, I = industrial 2.5.2 Q: Why should I use rail instead of a subway? 2.5.2 A: Rail is cheaper, and, supposedly, has a greater positive impact on heavy industry. 2.5.3 Q: How do bus stations work? 2.5.3 A: Place bus stations at busy intersections to reduce traffic at that intersection. 2.5.4 Q: How do you build a reinforced girder bridge? 2.5.4 A: You will be asked if you want to build a reinforced bridge if you place a highway tile halfway over water: before: L L L W W W after L L L W W W L L L W W W L L H H W W L L L W W W L L H H W W L L L W W W L L L W W W where L = land, W = water, H = highway tile 2.5.5 Q: What's the difference between a highway bridge and a reinforced bridge? 2.5.5 A: Highway bridges don't allow ships to pass, but are cheaper. 2.5.6 Q: What's the difference between causeways, raising bridges, and suspension bridges? 2.5.6 A: Causeways do not allow ships to pass. Raising bridges and suspension bridges both allow ships to pass. Raising bridges are cheaper than suspension bridges, but can only be a maximum of eleven tiles long. 2.5.7 Q: How does my transportation system affect growth? 2.5.7 A: Residential zones must be properly connected to a commercial or industrial zone in order to start growing. Industrial or commercial zones must be connected to a residential zone in order to start growing. (When I say connected, I mean by a road. I don't think you can get away with building a city made entirely of mass transit.) 2.6 Ports + Connections 2.6.1 Q: I've zoned a port - why do they keep complaining? 2.6.1 A: They won't stop complaining until either a runway or pier has been built. 2.6.2 Q: What is the smallest size of zone for an airport? 2.6.2 A: An airport must be at least 1 X 5 tiles, in order for a runway to be built. 2.6.3 Q: Why won't my airport grow? 2.6.3 A: I don't know. Results seem to vary from person to person. Runways won't be built if you have an air force base. 2.6.4 Q: Why do I keep having air crashes? 2.6.4 A: You'll have air crashes if you have tall buildings in the immediate flight path. Generally, it's best to put your airport out of the way - perhaps on an island. 2.6.5 Q: What does it mean when connections are requested? 2.6.5 A: You must build connections to your neighbors. Run a road, rail, or highway to the edge of the map, and you will be asked if you want to build a connection to your neighbor. 2.6.6 Q: What does the number on the connection sign mean? 2.6.6 A: That's the distance to your neighbor. 2.6.7 Q: Why is it possible to build a connection to the ocean? 2.6.7 A: I don't know. 2.7 Residential Zones 2.7.1 Q: What kinds of residential zones are there? 2.7.1 A: Name size population Lower Class Homes 1 X 1 10 Middle Class Homes 1 X 1 10 Luxury Homes 1 X 1 10 Cheap Apartments 2 X 2 80 Apartments 2 X 2 80 Nice Apartments 2 X 2 80 Condominium 2 X 2 120 Condominium 3 X 3 360 Large Apt. Bldg 3 X 3 450 2.7.2 Q: What's the difference between light residential heavy residential? 2.7.2 A: Light residential is cheaper and will only allow 1 X 1 buildings. 2.7.2 Q: Why should I use light residential? 2.7.2 A: Aesthetics? Not everyone can live in high rise apartment buildings. Light residential requires less police protection than heavy residential. If your zoning an oddly shaped piece of land that wouldn't be able to form into a 2X2 or 3X3 building, you might want to use light instead of heavy. 2.7.3 Q: Why should I use heavy residential? 2.7.3 A: You will need to use heavy if you want your city to have a large population. The blank map looks large at the beginning, but you will quickly run out of space if you rely on light zoning. The larger buildings use the same amount of power, therefore, you use less power per person. In addition, you will get more tax revenue, for the same amount of space. 2.7.4 Q: How do I encourage my sims to build 3 X 3 buildings? 2.7.5 A: First the property values have to be pretty good. Second, a 3 X 3 piece of land must be adjacent to an intersection: R R R r C C C I I I C C C r R R R r C C C I I I C C C r R R R r C C C I I I C C C r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r where R= res, C = com, I = ind, r = road In the above example, the residential and commercial zones may become 3 X 3 buildings, however, the industrial zone will not. 2.8 Commercial Zones 2.8.1 Q: What kinds of commercial zones are there? 2.8.1 A: Name size population Cassidy's Toy Store 1 X 1 10 Bed & Breakfast Inn 1 X 1 10 Gas Station 1 X 1 10 Small Office Bldg 1 X 1 10 Convenience Store 1 X 1 10 Office Building 1 X 1 10 Warehouse 1 X 1 10 Office Building 2 X 2 80 Resort Hotel 2 X 2 80 Grocery Store 2 X 2 80 Office Building 2 X 2 120 Office/Retail 2 X 2 120 Shopping Center 2 X 2 ?? Theatre Square 3 X 3 360 Corporate HQ 3 X 3 360 Office Tower 3 X 3 450 Office Park 3 X 3 ?? Historic Office Bldg3 X 3 ?? Mini Mall 3 X 3 ?? Parking Lot 3 X 3 ?? Drive-In Theater 3 X 3 ?? 2.9 Industrial Zones 2.9.1 Q: What kinds of industrial zones are there? 2.9.1 A: Name size population Chemical Storage 1 X 1 10 Ind. Substation 1 X 1 10 Warehouse 1 X 1 10 Factory 2 X 2 80 Factory 2 X 2 120 Chemical Processing 3 X 3 360 Factory 3 X 3 360 Large Factory 3 X 3 ?? Warehouse 3 X 3 360 Large Warehouse 3 X 3 360 Ind. Thingamajig 3 X 3 360 2.10 Education Zones 2.10.1 Q: What are the relative effects of education zones? 2.10.1 A: If you have 1 school/15,000 people, EQ should eventually increase to 90. If you have 1 college/50,000 people, EQ should eventually increase to 140. Libraries and museums increase the EQ of all ages. Museums are more effective than libraries. 2.10.2 Q: Does it matter where I put educational zones? 2.10.2.A: No, educational zones do not need proper access to transportation to be effective. Educational zones do increase land value, though. 2.11 Health and Safety Zones 2.11.1 Q: Do police stations and fire stations need to be placed next to roads? 2.11.1 A: No, apparently, police and fire power is not effected by proximity to transportation. 2.11.2 Q: Do I need prisons? 2.11.2 A: I don't know. I usually just build lots of police stations. 2.11.3 Q: How many policemen or firefighters should I be able to dispatch? 2.11.3 A: I don't know - it has something to do with your police/fire power level, I think. 2.11.3 Q: Do hospitals need road access? 2.11.3 A: I don't think they do. 2.11.4 Q: How many hospitals do I need? 2.11.4 A: If you have 1 hospital/25,000 people, your LE should eventually increase to 85. 2.12 Recreation Zones 2.12.1 Q: What are all these things for? 2.12.1 A: Small parks and Large parks increase land value. Zoos, stadiums, and marinas increase residential demand and improve tourism. 2.12.2 Q: Can I build a marina in the middle of land? 2.12.2 A: Sure, just place a drop of water, then build the marina on top of it. The boats'll have trouble leaving though... 2.12.3 Q: Why do my sports teams always lose? 2.12.3 Q: Hmmm, bad coaching? 3.0 BUDGET 3.1 Property Taxes 3.1.1 Q: How much should I set property taxes at? 3.1.1 A: Well, 7% is pretty much standard. If you lower it, that will stimulate growth. If you raise it, that will stifle growth. 3.1.2 Q: How is property tax figured? 3.1.2 A: Well, use the following formula: Rpop * Rtax * 1.29 + Cpop * Ctax * 1.29 + Ipop * Itax * 1.29 where Rpop = residential population Rtax = residential tax rate (in decimal, i.e. 0.07) Cpop, Ipop = commercial, industrial population Ctax, Itax = commercial, industrial tax rate 3.1.3 Q: Does property value have anything to do with tax revenue? 3.1.3 A: No, not directly. High property values encourage growth and higher densities. A piece of land will have more tax revenue if it is of a higher density. 3.2 City Ordinances 3.2.1 Q: Why do ordinances get passed when I'm not looking? 3.2.1 A: Ordinances will get passed at random if you do not have disasters turned off. 3.3 Bond Payments 3.3.1 Q: I'm running out of money. Should I take out a bond? 3.3.1 A: Not if you can help it. If you can afford to spend $300-$700/year for interest, you can probably do without a bond. The only exception I can see is if a disaster destroys your only power plant. 4.0 MISC 4.1 Bugs 4.1.1 Q: What known bugs exist? 4.1.1 A: Well, I've only heard of a few. Airport bug - your airport will not make runways anymore once you've got an air force base. (I don't know if the same thing holds true for piers and naval bases.) Budget bug - various budget items increase to an enormous level. 4.1.2 Q: What's being done about the bugs? 4.1.2 A: Maxis knows about the above two bugs, and I think that they are planning some sort of updater to fix the problem. I believe that more info about this will probably be announced on comp.sys.mac.games. 4.1.3 Q: Why do some of my police stations tell me how many arrests have been made, while others don't? 4.1.3 A: Well, this is the microsimulation limit. Certain zones, like police stations, power plants, schools, etc., are called microsimulations, and each one has it's own data. There is a limit to these of 150. 4.2 Terrain Editor 4.2.1 Q: How do I get rid of trees? 4.2.1 A: With the tree or forest tool selected, press shift. 4.3 Military Bases 4.3.1 Q: When should I get a military base? 4.3.1 A: When your population reaches 60,000 4.3.2 Q: My population is more than 60,000, why haven't I been asked for a military base? 4.3.2 A: You won't be asked for a base if you use the ptga cheat. 4.3.3 Q: Why should I have a military base? 4.3.3 A: It has a provides customers and jobs. Certain bases may deter the monster. You may be able to deploy troops during an emergency. Military bases will increase crime and traffic, though. 4.3.4 Q: How big is a military base? 4.3.4 A: An air force base is 8 X 8 tiles. (I don't know for sure whether or not the others are this size.) 4.3.5 Q: Why does the military say they can't find a suitable site for a base? 4.3.5 A: Probably because there is flat piece of land that is large enough. 4.3.6 Q: Will the military ever ask me to grant land for a base again? 4.3.6 A: No. Only once. 4.4 Cheats, Bonuses, and other Secrets 4.4.1 Q: How do I get more money? 4.4.1 A: Well, the easiest way is to type porntipsguzzardo. This will give you $500,000 and allow all technologies and rewards to become available. It will also prevent the military from building a base. Once you've typed porntipsguzzardo, you can type ardo by itself to get additional $500,000s. 4.4.2 Q: Are there any other secret words? 4.4.2.A: FUND, CASS, JOKE. Typing cass, will give you $250 at the end of the month. If you type more than once during a month, you will incite a fire storm. 4.4.3 Q: Is there any other ways to get lots of money? 4.4.3 A: If you have the old Sim City, you can import an old city into Sim City 2000. One city (Big City) that came with the old Sim City has a large sum of money. You can use the old terrain editor to clear this map and then import it into SC2K. 4.4.4 Q: What is the Launch Arco secret? 4.4.4 A: Apparently, there is no secret. You can build as many launch arcos as you want, and nothing will happen. Reports are that it was nothing more than a bad joke. 4.4.5 Q: What are the city bonuses, and when do I get them? 4.4.5 A: Mayor's House 2,000 City Hall 10,000 Statue 30,000 Military Base 60,000 Braun Llama Dome 90,000 Arcologies 120,000 4.4.6 Q: There's something flying around my city, and it's not a helicopter or an airplane. 4.4.6 A: That's Captain Hero! He/She/It appears to take care of disasters (sometimes) if you don't have an other capacity for dealing with it. 4.4.7 Q: There's something swimming around in my ocean! 4.4.7 A: Well, that's a Nessie. 4.5 Weather 4.5.1 Q: Why should I care about the weather? 4.5.1 A: Weather affects the output of water pumps, solar plants, wind power, and influences the likelihood of riots and fires. 4.5.1 Q: The weather icon shows a tornado. Should I be worried? 4.5.1 A: The tornado shown on the weather icon is different than the tornado on the disaster menu. When the icon is showing a tornado, you can pretty much ignore it. 4.6 Scenarios 4.6.1 Q: How do I get more scenarios? 4.6.1 A: I would assume that Maxis intends to make more available at some later date, although no formal announcement has been made to my knowledge. 4.6.2 Q: How do I make my own scenarios? 4.6.2 A: Well, first, you'll need a copy of ResEdit. (which can be located at ftp.apple.com in /dts/mac/tools/resedit) Then, you'll have to learn how to use it. :) (not very hard) 1. Build a city to the point that you want the scenario to start at. 2. Make a copy of your city and use ResEdit to open it. 3. ResEdit will ask if you want to make a resource fork - say yes. 4. Use ResEdit to open one of the scenario files that came with SC2K. 5. Copy and paste each resource from the scenario file to your city. (There should be four - PICT, SCEN, TEXT, and TMPL) 6. Once you've got a copy of each resource in your city, you can edit them. PICT - This is the picture that goes with the Scenario selection screen. Delete the old picture and use a graphics program to make your own picture and paste it in. The PICT should have an ID=128. TMPL - You don't need to mess with this one. TEXT - There are two TEXT ID's 128 - This text describes the scenario on the Scenario selection screen. 129 - This text is used for the extended description that pops up just before the city begins. SCEN - This resource has all of the goal details. Disaster type - There are 16 different disasters. A 0 means no disasters. Disaster Xloc, ylox - these are the origin coordiantes - I'm not exactly sure how to make use of these. Time limit (months) - you must reach goal before this many months pass. City size, Ind, Res, Com Goal - build population to this size Cash Funds-Bonds - raise this much money. Land Value Goal - increase land value to this level. Pollution, Crime, Traffic limit - I haven't experimented with these yet. There are 4 more goals that I don't know what to do with. 7. Once you've edited the resources, you need to change the file type. Use Get Info to change the file type from CITY to SCEN. 8. Now just make sure that the city is in the same folder as SC2K and everything should work out. You might have to play with the PICT to make it fit right. and you will probably need to experiment with the goals to make your scenarios challenging, yet reachable. 9. The disasters are numbered as follows: 1 fire 9 meltdown 2 flood 10 microwave 3 riots 11 volcano 4 pollution 12 firestorm 5 air crash 13 mass riots 6 earthquake 14 major floods 7 tornado 15 chemical spill 8 monster 16 hurricane -- "Man knows that love is, but not what love is." - E. S. Distribution: Glenn M. Frazier 71045,2143