SimCity 2000 FAQ in this article

[David Michael Palsen]

SimCity2000 Technical Info v1.7 rev. 3/22/94
Maintained by: Dave Palsen
Please send corrections, additions, questions,
etc. to me at: dpa...@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu

*DISCLAIMER*
Under no circumstance including negligence, shall I (D.M.Palsen)
be liable for any incidental, special, or consequential damages
that result from the use of the information contained with this
file. So there.:P

New items to this version have a plus to the left.

INDEX
1.0 MISC I (General questions about the game)
2.0 TOOLS (Zoning, transportation, water, city services)
3.0 BUDGET + OTHER WINDOWS (Taxes, ordinances, etc.)
4.0 MISC II (Bugs, rewards, cheats)
A-1 Appendix 1 (Solving Problems)
A-2 Appendix 2 (Adjusting Difficulty)
A-3 Appendix 3 (Mac Technical Problems)
A-4 Appendix 4 (IBM Technical Problems)
A-5 Appendix 5 (How to Make a Boot Disk)
A-6 Appendix 6 (SC2K Suggestion List)
A-7 Appendix 7 (SC2K Description)

1.0 MISC I
1.1 Q: What's required to run SimCity2000?
1.1 A: (MAC) LC, Performa, II, Centris and Quadra series;
Color Classic, Powerbook 165c, 180c. Powerbook 160,
180, Duo 210, 230 with external 256-color monitor.
4MB RAM, hard disk, mouse, color monitor with 8-bit
(256 color) graphics, System 7.0 or higher.
1.1 A: (DOS) MS-DOS 3.3 or above, 4MB RAM, hard disk, mouse,
extended VGA (640x480 256 colors). A sound card is
optional.
+1.2 Q: Will SC2K run on a PowerPC Macintosh? What about
a native mode release?
+1.2 A: According to Chris Weiss, PowerMac versions are due out shortly.
Watch for an update on the mailing list.
1.3 Q: Where can I get the v1.1 updater?
1.3 A: (MAC) The updater is available at the following ftp sites:
spider.navsses.navy.mil in /Joe 240/pub/game/sc2k
netcom.com in /pub/maxis
sumex-aim.stanford.edu
mac.archive.umich.edu
If you are unable to ftp, drop me a line (dpa...@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu)
and I will e-mail you a copy.
+1.3 A: (IBM) It's currently to be found at:
ftp.netcom.com: /pub/maxis/SC211UPD.ZIP
If you are unable to ftp, drop me a line(dpa...@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu)
and i will e-mail you a copy.
1.4 Q: (MAC) What does the updater do?
1.4 A: *The budget should work properly now, transit figures
should be correct (and stay that way.)
*The Bulldoze Tool should always default to Bulldoze
instead of whatever tool was last used. This should
prevent accidental mass destruction caused by
forgetting that the last bulldoze tool being used was
Raise/Lower/Level Terrain.
*Airports should build correctly now (the ratio of
towers to runways should be better.)
*Several problems that show up with more than 7
stadiums/teams should be gone.
*Figures in the Analysis window (from the City Hall
query window) should stay correct.
*Sometimes, destroying bridges would leave an
un-usable shoreline tile. This should be fixed.
*Querying on certain tiles of the Forest Arcology in
certain situations would report bare land, this
should not happen.
*Arcologies that do not have micro-simulators attached
should now affect population (populations far greater
than 9.1 million should be attainable.)
*There is a new button when using the query tool on a
library.
*Placing highway and re-enforced bridges now charges
the user correctly.
*Schools should work properly at population levels
above 60,000.
*The date should now properly display above 9,999
years.
*The power graph should be more accurate.
1.4 A: *The Microsim bug is still not fixed. It should be fixed by the
time version 1.2 comes out, at least according to Maxis. NOTE:
This is inconsistent with the README.TXT file.
*The budget should work properly now, transit figures should be
correct(and stay that way)
*The Bulldoze tool should always default to Bulldoze instead of
whatever tool was last used.
*Airports should build correctly now, with a better ratio of towers
to runways.
*Several problems that show up with more than 7 stadiums/teams
should be gone.
*Figures in the Analysis window(City Hall query)should stay correct)
*Sometimes, destroying bridges would leave an un-usable shoreline
tile. This should be fixed.
*A new button is now available with the library.
*Schools should work properly at population levels above 60,000.
*The date should now properly display above 9999 years.
*The power graph should be more accurate.
1.5 Q: (MAC) I've installed the updater, but my old cities still
have the same bugs.
1.5 A: Cities that already have bugs can't be fixed by the
update. Only new cities that are created with the updated
version of SC2K will be bug-free (more or less.)
1.6 Q: I'm having trouble installing SC2K.
1.6 A: (DOS) See Appendix 4 and 5 at the bottom of this file.
1.6 A: (MAC) see Appendix 3 at the bottom of this file.
1.7 Q: Where's the SimCity2000 ftp site?
1.7 A: (MAC) spider.navsses.navy.mil in /Joe 240/pub/game/sc2k
1.7 A: (DOS) andyspc.rh.uchicago.edu in /pub/sc2k
Logon as anonup with password upload in order to upload.
1.8 Q: Why can't I get onto the spider site?
1.8 A: The proprietor occasionally has things more important
than SimCity2000 to occupy his computer's time with.
I can't imagine what. :)
1.9 Q: How do I get on the Sim mailing list?
1.9 A: There is a digest and non-digest version of the mailing
list. For the digest, send mail to majo...@cisco.com
with the following line in the body of the message:
subscribe simlist-digest
For the non-digest, use the following line
subscribe simlist
1.10 Q: Does Maxis have an E-Mail address?
1.10 A: You can reach e-mail technical support at
sup...@maxis.com
1.11 Q: Is there anybody from Maxis on the net?
1.11 A: Yes - Chris Weiss, cwe...@netcom.com
Also-s...@maxis.com for help.
1.12 Q: Where can I get a demo of SimCity2000?
1.12 A: Anonymous ftp to netcom.com. Look in the /pub/maxis
directory.
SC2KDEMO.ZIP is a slide show for DOS.
SC2KDEMO.SEA is a slide show for Mac.
1.13 Q: How do I log on to the Maxis BBS?
1.13 A: The phone number is (510) 254-3869. (8-N-1)
1.14 Q: What's a good price for SimCity2000?
1.14 A: Well, I paid $38.88 (with CUE discount) at Egghead.
1.15 Q: Can I upgrade from the old Sim City?
1.15 A: No, I don't think so. SC2K is, pretty much, a totally
different product.
1.16 Q: (MAC) Can I run SC2K on my black and white Mac?
1.16 A: No. SC2K is specifically designed to run in 256-colors.
1.17 Q: What newsgroups talk about SimCity2000?
1.17 A: comp.sys.mac.games, comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.misc,
and comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic.
1.18 Q: Is there an upper limit on population?
1.18 A: (MAC v1.0) Yes. Only arcologies that have are represented
by a microsimulator contribute to population - so, the
theoretical maximum is somewhere around 9.1 million.
1.18 A: (MAC v1.1) Well, if the arcos don't launch, you'd be
able to fill a map with 961 launch arcos, which equals
about 62.5 million. So that's just about the
theoretical maximum.
+1.18 A: (IBM v1.0 and v1.1)There currently is still a limit. This
should be fixed in the next version.
1.19 Q: Are there any books out about SimCity2000?
1.19 A: I've heard of three books scheduled for upcoming
release:
* Daniel A. Tauber and Brenda Kienan are finishing up
SimCity 2000 Stategies and Secrets to be published
by Sybex (300 pages,ISBN 0-7821-1518-7, $14.99.)
which should be in bookstores in May.
Dan and Brenda write:
"...we think our book is clear and useful
-- it's full of strategies for zoning, budgeting,
and making the most of every part of your SimCity.
We include a complete how-to section and full info
on installation. We also cover -- in depth --
dealing with disasters and winning the model
scenarios, as well as all the known Easter eggs."
* Nick Dargahi writes:
"Here's the latest scoop. I am a coauthor of the
SimCity Power, Politics, and Planning book that
Prima Publishing is releasing [in March], the other
author is Michael Bremer who, as you know, wrote
the manual that comes with the software. Our book
includes information that isn't available anywhere
else, since we had direct access to the programmers
and staff at Maxis.
Our book also includes color pictures of
interesting cities, including a city which has the
world population record for a SimCity of 9.3
million people.
Other topics include:
-The most comprehensive information resource guide
for all tools, buildings and object types in
SimCity.
-The Making of SimCity 2000: Interviews with the
designers, and background information on how
SimCity 2000 came into being.
-Greater detail on how the simulation works.
-How to beat the scenarios: tested methods to win
each scenario.
-Tips & Tricks Chapter: Includes how to hex edit
your city files to add more money or create new
scenarios of your own design. All Easter Eggs are
mentioned.
-The Economic model. Managing your money, and
employing different economic strategies.
-Plus an appendix that teaches you how to install
the DOS version of SimCity 2000 so that it will
run under Windows 3.1 (as a DOS application) or
under OS/2."
* Johnny L. Wilson is working on The Sim City 2000
Planning Commisioners Handbook, probably to be
published by McGraw Hill.
1.20 Q: What is this SimCity CD-ROM I've heard of?
1.20 A: Well, it's an expanded version of the old game, not
SimCity2000. And its put out by Interplay, not Maxis.
It is expected to be out in April or May.
Courtesy of Dave A. Lartigue:
SIMCITY ENHANCED (a/k/a SimCity on CD-ROM)
"You'll watch dramatic city news unfold through live
broadcasts in a full-motion video window. News that
will challenge you to make choices that could make
your metropolis thrive...or perish!" Ye-ikes!
- Incredible video and sound
- Hollywood's finest talent captured the intensity
of natural disasters, human drama, triumph, and
tragedy in 30 minutes of action-packed video
footage
- See how your citizens react to your decisions in
pop-up video windows
- Included on same disk - extra sets and terrain editor
+1.20 A: There is a version of SC2K available on CD, but it really isn't
much different from the disk version.
1.21 Q: How is the Australian version of SC2K different?
1.21 A: Chris Weiss writes:
"The Australian version has a few bug fixes in it
that are more or less transparent. I think the only
external way to tell is that instead of getting a
Braun Llama Dome at 90,000 people, you get the
Sydney Opera House. A patch for the Australian
version will be available shortly."

2.0 TOOLS
2.1 Bulldozer
+2.1.0 Q: Is there a good way to aviod mass destruction?
+2.1.0 A: Yes, the bulldoze tool in version 1.1 will default to
The bulldoze tool all the time, so some destruction caused
by using the wrong bulldoze tool can be avoided. Also,
Save Early, Save Often.
2.1.1 Q: Should I bulldoze abandoned buildings?
2.1.1 A: You can, but it's not necessary. Sims will build over
abandoned buildings, although, abandoned buildings
lower property values.
2.1.2 Q: Do I have to bulldoze rubble?
2.1.2 A: No. Sims will build over rubble.
2.1.3 Q: Is there any way to bulldoze large areas at a time?
2.1.3 A: No. Although you can destroy a few buildings at a time
using raise terrain tool.
2.1.4 Q: Is there a way to get rid of lots of rubble?
2.1.4 A: You can either build power lines over rubble, or you
could use the de-zone tool to get rid of the zoning
and the rubble.
2.1.5 Q: The sims complain when I try to bulldoze some forest.
Should I pay any attention to them?
2.1.5 A: I don't think it'll do you any harm to ignore them.
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.
2.2.3 Q: Can I make a deep river at higher elevations?
2.2.3 A: No, the only way to add water at elevations above
sea level is to use the water tool - and this only
makes water that is 50 feet deep.
2.2.4 Q: Does the water tool make fresh water or salt water?
2.2.4 A: (MAC) Fresh water.
2.2.4 A: (DOS) The water tool seems to make fresh water half
the time and salt water the other half.
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 be powered.
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.
Eff. Output Pollut.
(16 tiles) Level Comments
Fusion $16/MW 2500 80
Micro $17.5/MW 1600 0 Possible disaster
Hydro $20/MW 320 0 Doesn't need replacing
Coal $20/MW 200 3400
Wind $25/MW 64 0 Doesn't need replacing
Solar $26/MW 50 0 Weather dependent
Nuclear $30/MW 500 80 Possible disaster
Oil $30/MW 220 1680
Gas $40/MW 50 610
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.
2.3.7 Q: Do I have to use raised wires to run power across water?
2.3.7 A: No, there's a cheat you can use to get around this.
Chris Weiss writes:
"There's a little trick you can do to run power across
water without needing lines. First, you need 3 tiles of
water between where you'd run the line from and where
you'd run it to. Build a power line brige across that 3
tile space and bulldoze the power line between the two
"on-ramps" for the power bridge. Replace the flat land
tiles with water again and Voila! The power flows across
the no-longer-existent power bridge."
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 (approx.) 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: Why aren't the pipes under my towers filled with water?
2.4.3 A: The pipes turn blue when the tower fills with water.
For every 10,000 gallons, one pipe will turn blue.
2.4.4 Q: What good is a water treatment plant?
2.4.4 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. Experimentation has revealed that water
treatment plants do not really have anything to do with
the water supply. Adding one treatment plant (anywhere
on the map) will reduce the pollution level of your
city quite a bit. Additonal treatment plants have no
effect, though. So, build one, and only one
2.4.5 Q: How effective is a desalination plant?
2.4.5 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.
2.4.6 Q: What types of water will help a water pump?
2.4.6 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.
2.4.7 Q: I've built several pumps on the edge of my city,
but all the water seems to be going to the center.
2.4.7 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.
2.4.8 Q: Where do I need to build pipes?
2.4.8 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 - I I
C C I I I
C I I
where - = road R = residential, C = commercial,
I = industrial
Actually you don't really need any roads at all. If you
want, you can rely totally on mass transit. You won't
have any traffic, but growth will be less and
larger(3X3) buildings won't develop.
For example, sims will build given the following setup:
R I
R R R I I I
R R R R R I I I I I
R R R s R R R I I I s I I I
R R R R R I I I I I
R R R I I I
R I
where R = residential, I =industrial,
s = sub stations - connected underground by subway
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
+Also, be sure that the other side of the river is
clear and flat.
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. This connection can either be made by road
rail, or subway, however, growth will be best with
roads.
2.5.8 Q: Is there an annual charge for bus depots?
2.5.8 A: Yes, in fact, there are transportation charges for lots
of things. The chart below shows the various things that
have maintenance charges. The first column shows the
building cost. The other columns show how much is
charged, per year for each item in each category. (Some
items, like Sub/Rail, have split charges.)
Build Road Hwy Brid Rail Sub Tun
Road $10 0.10 -- -- -- -- --
Causeway $25 -- -- 0.22 -- -- --
Raising Bridge $50 -- -- 0.22 -- -- --
Suspension Bridge $75 -- -- 0.22 -- -- --
Highway $100 -- 0.80 -- -- -- --
Highway Bridge $200 -- 0.80 -- -- -- --
Reinforced Bridge $300 -- 0.80 1.00 -- -- --
Tunnel $150 -- -- -- -- -- 0.10
Tunnel Entrance $150 0.10 -- -- -- -- --
Onramp $25 0.10 -- -- -- -- --
Bus Depot $250 25.00 -- -- -- -- --
Rail $25 -- -- -- 0.40 -- --
Rail Bridge $75 -- -- 0.22 -- -- --
Subway $100 -- -- -- -- 0.40 --
Rail Depot $500 -- -- -- 1.60 -- --
Sub Station $250 -- -- -- -- 0.76 --
Sub/Rail $250 -- -- -- 0.40 0.40 --
Power Lines $2 -- -- -- -- -- --
Raised Wires $10 -- -- 0.20 -- -- --
2.5.9 Q: Will sims walk to a road, then drive to a sub station,
take the subway, drive from the sub station, and walk
from the road to work?
2.5.9 A: Well, I said yes before, but actually, work has to be
next to the road. (See next question.)
2.5.10 Q: Why do some zones develop away from a road, and others
don't?
2.5.10 A: te...@laue.biochem.ubc.ca writes:
"I recently posted my theory about the trip generator
by proposing four schemes. The question came up because
I was trying to explain how you can have properties
develop which are not connected to the road. The
schemes are as follows:
A. R - I
B. R -I
C. R- I
D. R-I
+After powering up, I found that neither property in
(A) developed and both properties in (D) did. This
is expected as the sims in (A) cannot seem to find
the road. However, The R in (B) and the I in (C),
the squares which DO NOT touch the road, DO
develop! And, the I in (B) and the R in (C), the
squares which DO touch the road, DO NOT develop!
Therefore, for roads, the trip generator works as
follows:
-assume you have a starting building X
-assume you need to reach a zone Y which is a zone
type different than that of X (ie: if X is an R
zone, Y will be an I or C zone)
-the trip generator starts from X and looks for the
nearest road segment Z within 3 squares of X
-the generator travels along the road searching
for Y
-if Y is touching the road and is within 25 squares
of the originating road segment Z, the trip is a
success
-otherwise, the trip is a failure and X will not
develop, or will be abandoned in short order if it
is already developed
Obviously, this does not take into account traffic
volumes. As stated in the manual, the trip
generator will try to avoid areas of high traffic.
It is also important to note that X is a whole
building, whether 1x1, 2x2 or 3x3, whereas Y is a
single square of a zone, developed or undeveloped.
2.5.10 Q: Do I need 2 or 4 onramps at each road-highway
intersection?
2.5.10 A: Well, really, you only need one. The only reason to
have more would be for realism, or to shorten some
trip distances.
2.5.11 Q: Why can't I build onramps?
2.5.11 A: You must build onramps in the following fashion:
H H
o H H o
- - - - H H - - - -
o H H o
H H
H H
where H = highway, - = road, o = onramp
2.5.12 Q: Why can't I put highways where I want them?
2.5.12 A: I assume that they only allow highways to placed on
every other tile, just so that there won't ever by a
time when highways mismatch:
H H
H H H H
H H
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.
+Since runways are 5 tiles long, you can keep force
them to only go in one direction by zoning a
4 X 10, 4 X 15, 4 X 20 etc. area for the airport.
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. Just keep trying to zone more airport
tiles. Sometimes Sims have difficulty building over
airport tiles that have power lines on them.
2.6.4 Q: Does my airport need to be connected to water pipes or
transportation in order to grow?
2.6.4 A: No. An airport only needs connection to power.
2.6.5 Q: Does my city have to be a certain size before an
airport can be built?
2.6.5 A: No. You could build a successful airport, even before
anybody moves into your city (of course, you won't have
any money left, but...)
2.6.6 Q: Why do I keep having air crashes?
2.6.6 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 or plateau.
2.6.7 Q: I've zoned a seaport, why won't piers develop?
2.6.7 A: Well, I think that a pier needs to be able to extend out
over water that's at least 150 feet deep.
2.6.8 Q: Exactly what effect do seaports and airports have,
anyway?
2.6.8 A: Unknown. They stop the sim's complaints. Airports
promote commerce and seaports promote industry. Beyond
that, who knows? It's a very hard factor to isolate.
2.6.9 Q: What does it mean when connections are requested?
2.6.9 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.
2.6.10 Q: What does the number on the connection sign mean?
2.6.10 A: That's the distance to your neighbor.
2.6.11 Q: Why is it possible to build a connection to the
ocean?
2.6.11 A: I don't know.
2.6.12 Q: I've built plenty of connections, but they keep asking
for more.
2.6.12 A: They may want you to build highway or rail connections.
2.6.13 Q: Just how useful are connections, anyway?
2.6.13 A: A connection acts as a stimulus point. Normally,
residential zones are stimulated by being connected to
job zones, and vice versa. A connection will act as a
stimulus to both residential and commercial/industrial.
2.7 Residential Zones
2.7.1 Q: What kinds of residential zones are there?
2.7.1 A: Name size population
Abandoned building 1 X 1 0
Construction 1 X 1 0
Lower Class Homes 1 X 1 10
Middle Class Homes 1 X 1 10
Luxury Homes 1 X 1 10
Abandoned building 2 X 2 0
Construction 2 X 2 0
Church 2 X 2 0 (dezones when built)
Cheap Apartments 2 X 2 80
Apartments 2 X 2 80
Nice Apartments 2 X 2 80
Condominium 2 X 2 120
Abandoned building 3 X 3 0
Construction 3 X 3 0
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 | C C C I I I C C C |
R R R | C C C I I I C C C |
R R R | C C C I I I C C C |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
where R = heavy residential, C = heavy commercial,
I = heavy industrial, | and - = road
In the above example, the residential and commercial
zones may become 3 X 3 buildings, however, the
industrial zone will not.
2.7.6 Q: Can I get rid of all these churches?
2.7.6 A: Dave Chaloux <cha...@mandolin.mitre.org> writes:
"You can't really get rid of the churchs but it can
be worthwhile moving them. Zone a 2x2 residential
where you want the church. Blow up the church
and do not rezone. The church will often move to the
2x2 you made for it. Then and only then rezone as
residential where the church was. The reason this is
worth it is because if you zoned for a 3x3, you are
only getting 50 pop around the church (5 1x1s). The 3x3
will give you 360."
Pat Traynor <tra...@bostech.com> writes:
"Hmmm... I wonder if you could build an industry
block 8x8, and leave the center 2x2 area empty.
Demolish a church in the main residential section
and then quickly zone the center of the industrial
section for residential. Perhaps the church would
pop up there."
This will work, but you have to build a road out to
the center:
- - - - - - - - - -
| I I I I | I I I |
| I I I I | I I I |
| I I I I | I I I |
| I I I R R I I I |
| I I I R R I I I |
| I I I I I I I I |
| I I I I I I I I |
| I I I I I I I I |
- - - - - - - - - -
where R = heavy residential, I = industrial,
| and - = road
Then, once you coerce the church into the middle, you
can bulldoze the road into the middle and replace it
with industrial.
2.8 Commercial Zones
2.8.1 Q: What kinds of commercial zones are there?
2.8.1 A: Name size population
Abandoned building 1 X 1 0
Construction 1 X 1 0
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
Abandoned building 2 X 2 0
Construction 2 X 2 0
Office Building 2 X 2 80
Resort Hotel 2 X 2 80
Grocery Store 2 X 2 80
Shopping Center 2 X 2 80
Office Building 2 X 2 120
Office/Retail 2 X 2 120
Abandoned building 3 X 3 0
Construction 3 X 3 0
Theatre Square 3 X 3 360
Corporate HQ 3 X 3 360
Parking Lot 3 X 3 360
Drive-In Theater 3 X 3 360
Office Park 3 X 3 360
Office Tower 3 X 3 360
Historic Office Bldg3 X 3 ??
Mini Mall 3 X 3 360
Office Tower 3 X 3 450
2.9 Industrial Zones
2.9.1 Q: What kinds of industrial zones are there?
2.9.1 A: Name size population
Abandoned building 1 X 1 0
Construction 1 X 1 0
Chemical Storage 1 X 1 10
Ind. Substation 1 X 1 10
Warehouse 1 X 1 10
Abandoned building 2 X 2 0
Construction 2 X 2 0
Factory 2 X 2 80
Factory 2 X 2 120
Abandoned building 3 X 3 0
Construction 3 X 3 0
Chemical Processing 3 X 3 360
Factory 3 X 3 360
Large Factory 3 X 3 360
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: The manual implies that you need 1 school for every
15,000 people in order to increase EQ to 90. This
does not seem right, however. Schools lose their A+
rating when student to teacher ratio goes above 12.
In other words, a half-full school gets about an A
and a full school gets an F.
Colleges have a capacity of 50,000, but, as with
schools, grade goes down as the number of students
approaches capacity.
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.
2.10.3 Q: What EQ is average?
2.10.3 A: The SimNation EQ average is 100. Although, the average
age of sims that move into your city is around 83.
2.10.4 Q: My EQ doesn't seem to ever go above 100.
2.10.4 A: High EQ seems to require more than top notch schools,
colleges, libraries, and museums. I've built a small
city with excessive amounts of all these items. Over a
span of 400 years, EQ never got above 100. I think the
other factor must be industry - there's probably some
sort of feedback effect from the high EQ industries.
(Petro, auto, aero, electronics, etc.)
2.10.5 Q: I just put in a school but it still says 0 student,
and 0 teachers. Why don't they use the school?
2.10.5 A: There seems to be quite a long lag time (maybe a year)
before students will shuffle around to new schools.
Chris Weiss writes:
"Micro-simulators do all their calculations in
January (well, most of them anyway). So if you
place one in June, then query on it in July,
everything will be zeros (or incorrect, at any
rate). Wait until after January, then things should
look A-OK."
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: Prisons increase police performance. If you still have
crime, even though you've just built a police station,
build a prison next to the police station to improve
the effectiveness of the police station at close range.
2.11.3 Q: Should I worry about the number of escapes from my
prison?
2.11.3 A: I believe that this is a symptom of overcrowding (high
inmate to guard ratio.) I would suspect that crime
might go up slightly around the prison.
2.11.4 Q: How many policemen or firefighters should I be able
to dispatch?
2.11.4 A: You should be able to dispatch 1 police icon for every
police station and 1 firefighter icon for every fire
station. The maximum number of emergency units you may
dispatch (including military) is 33.
2.11.5 Q: Do hospitals need road access?
2.11.5 A: I don't think they do.
2.11.6 Q: How many hospitals do I need?
2.11.6 A: The capacity of each hospital is 25,000, although, they
will have a higher grade at half capacity.
2.11.7 Q: Do I really need a high LE?
2.11.7 A: Logically, LE should have an effect on the available
work force. The lower your LE, the less people you
have working at any given population level. Well,
in theory, anyway.
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 A: Hmmm, bad coaching?
2.12.4 Q: Is there any value in having empty space?
2.12.4 A: Property that borders empty space seems to have
a higher property value.

3.0 BUDGET + OTHER WINDOWS
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 revenue figured?
3.1.2 A: Use the following formula:
Population * Propert tax rate * 1.29 = Tax Revenue
or, if you are taxing zones at different rates:
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. Actually, the help says:
"If you've been doing very well, the city counsellors
sometimes take it into their heads to begin beneficial
programs using public funds."
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+/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.
3.3.2 Q: How many outstanding bonds can I have?
3.3.2 A: There is a maximum of 50.
3.3.3 Q: What determines the interest rate of the bond?
3.3.3 A: The bond rate is determined by adding a percentage
to the current fed rate. The percentages are as follows:
Rating Added Percentage
AAA +1%
AA +2%
A +3%
B +4%
C +5%
D +6%
F +7%
3.3.4 Q: What determines my credit rating?
3.3.4 A: I believe that it's a combination of city value and
outstanding debt.
3.4 Map
3.5 Graphs
3.5.1 Q: How is traffic measured?
3.5.1 A: The number on the traffic graph is the average number
of cars/minute on all roads, highways, bridges. This
means that you can artificially lower your traffic
level by building lots of roads out in the middle of
nowhere.
3.5.2 Q: How is pollution measured?
3.5.2 A: In parts per million. Several different types of
buildings, most notably industrial and power plants,
give off a certain level of pollution. The pollution
value is a sum of all the pollution levels divided
by the amount of tiles occupied by development. Thus,
adding zones that don't pollute, such as a zoo, will
lower the value given in the pollution graph.
+Non-Polluters:
trees/water
hydro/wind/solar/micro power plants
water towers/desalination plants
Mayor's House/city hall/statue/Braun Llama Dome
schools/colleges/libraries/museums
police stations/fire stations/hospitals
small parks/big parks/zoos/marinas
airport-control tower/airport-radar
+Polluters: pollution level (approx)
coal plant 3400
oil plant 1680
Plymoth Arco 1630
Launch Arco 960
Darco 735
gas plant 610
prison 610
Forest Arco 610
stadium 240
airport-Runway 125
seaport-crane/pier 110
seaport-cargo yard 84
nuclear plant 80
fusion plant 80
airport-Hangar 35
airport-Tarmac 30
rail depot 15
airport-Parking lot 10
seaport-loading bay 10
bus depot 10
treatment plant 5
water pump 1
sub station 1
airport-Building 1
seaport-warehouse 1
Industrial(1X1-10) 3
Industrial(2X2-80) 150
Industrial(2X2-120) 250
Industrial(3X3-360) ?
traffic ?
3.5.3 Q: What do the power% and water% numbers mean?
3.5.3 A: This is an inverse percentage of usage - the amount
of power or water that you have surplus.
3.5.4 Q: How is unemployment figured?
3.5.4 A: The level of unemployment seems to be directly related
to declines in R, C, or I levels. Growth in these areas
will lower unemployment.
3.6 Population
3.7 City Industry
3.7.1 Q: Can I change all of the tax rates at once?
3.7.1 A: In the city industry window, you can change all of the
taxes rates at once by holding down the option key.
3.7.2 Q: Which industries need high EQ?
3.7.2 A: Very High EQ - Aerospace
Electronics
High EQ - Petrochemicals
Automotive
Good EQ - Finance
Media
3.7.3 Q: Which industries pollute?
3.7.3 A: Heavy Pollution - Steel/Mining
Textiles
Petrochemicals
Automotive
Mild Pollution - Food
Electronics
Tourism
3.8 Neighbors
3.8.1 Q: Can I change the names of my neighbors?
3.8.1 A: (MAC)Not easily, if at all. You would probably have to
alter your copy of SC2K with ResEdit.
3.8.2 Q: What other names are possible?
3.8.2 A: Oak Creek, Denmont, Fort Verdegris, Schwinton, Mill
Valley, Petaluma, PortVille, Ashland, Eubanks, Aurac,
Tent Pegs, Cherryton, Blake, Pioneers, Fortune,
Phippsville, Jeromi, Harpersville, Washers Grove,
Stars County, Villa, Serviland, Newton, Avon, Dexter,
Sinistrel, Jenna, Yestonia, New Boots, Hoek Creek,
Stimpleton, Little Rogue, Krighton, Cats Corner,
Rimmer, Lister.

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.
(MAC v1.0) 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.)
(MAC v1.0) Budget bug - various budget items increase to
an enormous level.
(MAC v1.0) Newspaper bug - newspaper stories are screwed
up. Try switching to 256 colors before starting SC2K.
4.1.2 Q: What's being done about the bugs?
+4.1.2 A: There is currently an updater for the mac version that
fixes the above bugs. There is also an IBM version that
fixes SOME of the bugs. A new version is still on the way.
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: (MAC) 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 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: Air force and army bases are 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 isn't an empty piece of land that
is large enough. There may be some randomness in this,
however. Try saving your game before you get to 60,000,
and then restart from your save point if they don't
find a suitable site.
4.3.6 Q: Will the military ever ask me to grant land for a
base again?
4.3.6 A: No. Only once.
4.3.7 Q: How do I get rid of a military base?
4.3.7 A: You'll either have to use the raise terrain or lower
terrain tool.
4.3.8 Q: Why does the air force dispatch tanks to disasters?
4.3.8 A: There's only one icon (a tank) for all military.
4.4 Disasters
4.4.1 Q: How do I put out fires?
4.4.1 A: Use dispatch firefighters tool to place a
firefighter 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.)
4.4.2 Q: How do I make the monster go away?
4.4.2 A: I don't think you can.
4.4.3 Q: What other disasters are there?
4.4.3 A: Meltdown, Microwave Oops, Pollution, Fire Storm,
Mass Riots, Major Floods, Toxic Spill, Volcano.
4.4.4 Q: Hey, why is the monster making wind generators?
4.4.4 A: Chris Weiss writes:
"The Monster is not neccesarily bad. He's an
elemental kind of guy. 50% of the time, he'll place
something bad (fire). The other 50%, he'll place
something good. If it's something good, there's a
33% chance of it being Windmills, Water, or Trees."
4.4.5 Q: What do I do about floods?
4.4.5 A: Besides dispatching emergency units, you can prepare
ahead be building dikes on your coastlines - use the
raise terrain tool to increase the land on the coast
one level.
4.5 Cheats, Bonuses, and other Secrets
4.5.1 Q: How do I get more money?
4.5.1 A: (MAC v1.0) 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.
4.5.1 A (MAC v1.1) Open the map window and type pirn. Click
on the status window (next to the weather) and then
type topsguzzardo. Subsequently typing ardo will
give additional money.
4.5.1 A: (DOS) Neither of the above mac cheats work on the DOS
version. There is a cheat, but it has not, as of yet,
been discovered.
4.5.2 Q: (MAC v1.1) Where did the new cheat come from?
4.5.2 A: Anne Peck (from Compuserve) writes:
"All credit goes to my husband, Darryl. He was
attending an SPA dinner in San Francisco a few days
ago, and he called me from the dinner to say
"goodnight" (my time.) He mentioned that he'd been
talking to Will Wright, and so _naturally_ I asked him
to pester Will about the cheat. Will didn't seem to
think it was a big deal and sent Darryl e-mail the next
day!"
4.5.3 Q: Why aren't all of the cheats the same?
4.5.3 A: Apparantly, the programmers have decided that users
enjoy looking for the cheat, thus they intend to
change it with each version.
4.5.4 Q: Are there any other secret words?
4.5.4.A: FUND, CASS, JOKE, VERS. 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.
4.5.4 A: (DOS) In addition to the above mac codes HECK,
DARN, DAMN, TEST, and MEMY work on the DOS version.
PORN does something, too.
4.5.5 Q: Is there any other ways to get lots of money?
4.5.5 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.
Mar...@ozonline.apana.org.au writes:
"You will need a calculator/program that can convert
Decimal to Hex, and Hex to Decimal and a code editor
like Norton.
*****Before you start this you should make a copy of
your game, just in case you make a mistake******
1. Save your game and note how many funds you have. If
you have less than 4095 then I recomend taking out a
bond, the reason will become clear later.
2. Open the game with your code editor
3. Convert the ammount of funds you have into Hex,
eg. 9379 = 24A3.
4. Now search for this number in the code, using a find.
5. When you have found it, change all the numbers into
"F"'s eg. 24A3 becomes FFFF. This is why you should
have more funds than 4095, otherwise there will only
be 3 digits in Hex, above that figure you will have 4
digits to change.
6. Quit the editor and remember save.
7. Open it with SC again and you should, if you changed
4 digits into FFFF, have 65535 funds.
8. Now, go take out a bond and quit & save again.
9. Open it with the editor again and change the new
number that's there (1270F) to...yep, you guesed it,
FFFFF. That should give you $1048575 funds! Now if
you are still more greedy you can repeat it from step
7."
4.5.6 Q: What is the Launch Arco secret?
4.5.6 A: (MAC v1.0) 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.
+(MAC v1.1) Well, now they launch. You've got to build
about 350 of them though. It really isn't as exciting
as you might think...
4.5.7 Q: What are the city bonuses, and when do I get them?
4.5.7 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
4.5.8 Q: There's something flying around my city, and it's
not a helicopter or an airplane.
4.5.8 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.
4.5.9 Q: There's something swimming around in my ocean!
4.5.9 A: Well, that's a Nessie. Nessie appears when you build
marinas. Apparently Nessie likes to eat sailboats.
4.5.10 Q: How do I shoot down the traffic helicopter?
4.5.10 A: Click on it with the centering tool.
4.5.11 Q: What's with all the llamas?
4.5.11 A: Maxis is obsessed with many things. Llamas don't
have copyright lawyers.
4.5.12 Q: Where can I get my picture taken on a llama?
4.5.12 A: At the Yakima Mall - Yakima, WA.
4.5.13 Q: Why are the number of bungee jumps and weddings the
same at the Braun Llama Dome?
4.5.13 A: Chriss Weiss writes:
"Uhm, sure. See, the chapel at the Llama Dome is owned
by the brother-in-law of the guy who runs the Bungee
jump center. Newlyweds get a coupon for a free jump as a
special gift from the chapel. In addition, those who
Bungee get a coupon for a free wedding! (I seem to
remember the top of the coupon reading 'You've taken
the plunge, now take the plunge!' :)"
4.5.14 Q: It seems like my statue is always made of bronze. Am I
doing something wrong?
4.5.14 A: No, the statue is always made of bronze.
4.6 Arcologies
4.6.1 Q: The newspaper just reported that some other city has
built an arcology. Why can't I?
4.6.1 A: Once arcologies have been invented, you must have a
population of 120,000 in order to build them.
4.6.2 Q: What do I need to do to improve the conditions of my
arcologies?
4.6.2 A: Place some parks nearby to increase property value,
build a police station, add water and power. This
ought to give you an A+ rating.
4.6.3 Q: Do I need to add water and power to launch arcos too?
4.6.3 A: Well, the online help says that they are self-contained,
however, this does not seem to be the case. I think it
may still work, but conditions will be D+ at best.
4.6.4 Q: What do conditions have to do with anything, anyway?
4.6.4 A: I would assume that arcos that have a higher grade
will grow faster.
4.6.5 Q: What do people do in these arcologies?
4.6.5 A: Well, look at the population of the arco. Half that
goes towards residential, 1/4 towards commercial, and
1/4 towards industrial. This is true for all arcos.
4.7 Weather
4.7.1 Q: Why should I care about the weather?
4.7.1 A: Weather affects the output of water pumps, solar
plants, wind power, and influences the likelihood
of riots and fires.
4.7.1 Q: The weather icon shows a tornado. Should I be
worried?
4.7.1 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.
4.8 Scenarios
4.8.1 Q: How do I beat these scenarios?
4.8.1 A: From the March 94 issue of Electronic Entertainment:
"Charleston - Pause the game. Build water pumps in the
swamps then rebuild the connections to other cities
and put more onramps on the freeway system. Then let
the simulation run, keeping taxes low while you create
dense zoning in areas damaged by the hurricane.
Dullsville - Pause the game. Lower taxes to zero until
the population is big enough to make you money. Then
build dense using 13-by-6-tile zoning. Take out a bond
if you have to.
Flint - Click on the book for property taxes and set
industrial taxes to zero. Find a good hangout and
wait.
Hollywood - Control the fires the monster sets and
after he leaves, lower the property taxes to zero.
The go see a movie.
Oakland - Control the fire using bulldozers to clear a
fire break and just ignore the Sims' complaints. Then
set taxes as low as you can and build dense in the
empty area by Lake Temescal."
4.8.2 Q: How do I get more scenarios?
+4.8.2 A: Maxis has released a Scenarios pack, available at
your local software store.
SIM CITY 2000 SCENARIOS VOLUME 1: GREAT DISASTERS
"...wrestle with 10 different cities on the brink
of destruction and tackle everything from an alien
invasion in Atlanta to a misplaced microwave beam
in the Silicon Valley."
- 10 challenging scenarios with explosions, fires,
volcanoes, and other good stuff
- Easy to install - Loads right into the SimCity
2000 Scenario menu, complete with pictures,
descriptions, and objectives.
- Includes real cities like Chicago, Atlanta, and
Portland
- Scenarios include:
A nuclear meltdown in Manhattan
Flooding in Des Moines
An earthquake in San Francisco
A Volcano in Portland
Pollution in Chicage
The SRP on this puppy is $19.95.
4.8.3 Q: How do I make my own scenarios?
4.8.3 A: (DOS) There doesn't seem to be any easy way to create
scenarios for the DOS version.
4.8.3 A: (MAC) 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

SimCity2000 Technical Info v1.7 rev. 11/6/94
Maintained by: Dave Palsen
Please send corrections, additions, questions,
etc. to me at: dpa...@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu

*DISCLAIMER*
Under no circumstance including negligence, shall I (D.M.Palsen)
be liable for any incidental, special, or consequential damages
that result from the use of the information contained with this
file. So there. B-}

New items to this version have a plus to the left.

INDEX
1.0 MISC I (General questions about the game)
2.0 TOOLS (Zoning, transportation, water, city services)
3.0 BUDGET + OTHER WINDOWS (Taxes, ordinances, etc.)
4.0 MISC II (Bugs, rewards, cheats)
A-1 Appendix 1 (Solving Problems)
A-2 Appendix 2 (Adjusting Difficulty)
A-3 Appendix 3 (Mac Technical Problems)
A-4 Appendix 4 (IBM Technical Problems)
A-5 Appendix 5 (How to Make a Boot Disk)
+A-6 Appendix 6 (SC2K Suggestion List)
+A-7 Appendix 7 (SC2K Description)

A-1 Appendix 1 (Solving Problems)
Growth
* Lower taxes
* Improve roads/transportation system
* Improve water system
* Intersperse zones
* Improve land values
* Build airports (Commercial)
* Build seaports (Industrial)
* Build connections
* Lower pollution/crime/traffic
* Improve education/health
* Pass Legalized Gambling ordinance (Commercial)
* Pass Tourist Advertising ordinance (Commercial)
* Pass Business Advertising ordinance (Industrial)
* Pass City Beautification ordinance (Tourism)
* Pass Annual Carnival ordinance (Tourism, Commercial)
* Pass Nuclear Free Zone ordinance (Residential)
* Remove Nuclear Free Zone ordinance (Industrial)
* Remove Parking Fines ordinance (Residential)
* Remove 1% Income Tax ordinance (Residential)
* Remove 1% Sales Tax ordinance (Commercial)
Land Value
* Build parks, trees, water
* Build recreational zones
* Build educational zones
* Build police, fire, hospitals
* Pass Pass City Beautification ordinance
* Pass Homeless Shelter ordinance
Pollution
* Pass Pollution Control ordinance
* Increase tax rate on polluting industries
* Build a water treatment plant
* Lower traffic
* Use light industrial instead of heavy industrial
* Use solar, hydro, wind, microwave, fusion power
* Move poluting buildings to edges of map
Traffic
* Build more roads and highways
* Build mass transit
* Pass Parking Fines ordinance
* Intersperse different zones (build R close to I, C)
Crime
* Build police stations
* Pass Anti-Drug Campaign ordinance
* Pass Neighborhood Watch Campaign
* Use more light zoning
* Build prisons
Unemployment
* Zone more industry and commercial zones
* Remove Pollution Control ordinance, if in place
* Lower industrial and commercial tax rates
Education
* Build Schools, Colleges
* Build Libraries, Museums
* Pass Pro-Reading Campaign ordinance
* Give tax breaks to high-EQ industries
Health
* Build hospitals
* Pass Public Smoking Ban ordinance
* Pass Free Clinic ordinance
* Pass Junior Sports ordinance
* Pass CPR Training ordinance

A-2 Appendix 2 (Adjusting Difficulty)
Money cheats
Using one of the previously mentioned methods for getting
more money is the simplest way to make things easier. You
don't have to worry about balancing the budget and you can
lower taxes to zero.
No disasters
Disasters can be quite, well, disasterous, for a young city.
It's not a good a to leave a city running overnight without
turning the disasters off. For one thing, even if you had
good fire coverage, you'd probably lose a lot of your city
to fire. In addition, most power plants need to be replaced
every 50 years, so, soon, everyone would be out of power.
Starting Level
Changing the starting difficulty level changes the amount of
money you start with, the frequency of disasters, and the
level of external demand for your manufactured products.
Starting Time
Later starting times are easier because of the increased
availability of inventions and the increase in external
demand.
Terrain Editing
It's much easier to build a city on flat ground - and you
can do all the flattening you want, at no cost, in the
terrain editor. You can also add waterfalls for use with
hydro power.
Riverless hyrdo plants
This source of power is not very realistic, however, it does
not pollute, is fairly efficient, and does not need to be
replaced every 50 years. Just place a drop of water on any
slope, and build a hydro plant there.
Artifically watered pumps
Water pump efficiency can be artificially improved by
placing drops of water next to them.
Disconnected roads - roadless city
By not building full road systems, it is possible to
keep traffic down, however, it's not very realisitic.
Heavy/Light Density Zoning
If you're interested in building a city with a large
population, you need to use mostly heavy zoning. A more
realistic city (N.Y. and Hong Kong excepted) would
have heavy to light zoning in a ratio of from 25/75 to
50/50.
+Arcologies
Don't use them. Or, limit yourself to one of each.

A-3 Appendix 3 (Mac Technical Problems) from 1.1 Updater
Restart With Extensions Off
SimCity 2000 has been tested with many, many extensions with
few or no problems - however, we cannot guarantee that there
will not be conflicts. It's possible that, if certain
extensions are loaded in a certain order, or in certain
configurations, SimCity 2000 might not work correctly. If
you do have problems running SimCity 2000, we suggest re-
starting with extensions off. To do this, select Restart
from the Special menu, and hold down the Shift key until you
see the "Welcome to Macintosh" screen with the text
"Extensions Off". When you are finished playing SimCity
2000, restart your machine again and your extensions will
load properly.
Make Sure You Are Running In 32-Bit Mode (If Possible)
In your Control Panel folder, select the Memory control
panel and make sure that 32-Bit Addressing is enabled. Some
machines will not have this option available. If this is the
case, 32-bit addressing is probably not the source of the
problem.
Upgrade To Sound Manager 3.0
We also recommend upgrading your system software with the
Sound Manager 3.0 extension available from many on-line
services (including the Maxis Technical Support BBS at 1-
510-254-3869) or directly from Apple Computer.
Switch To 256 Colors (660av Users Especially)
SimCity 2000 automatically switches your Macintosh to 256-
color mode if it is not already set, and returns it to the
original color depth when exiting. Some Macintoshes display
erratic behavior when this happens (e.g., the Newspaper
display draws pixels on the top area of your screen and
doesn't display newspaper articles when you click on
newspaper article headings). The solution is to manually
switch your Macintosh color depth to 256. This is done in
the Monitors control panel.
Beware Of Screen Savers
Certain windows in SimCity 2000ª may not re-draw after some
screen savers have cleared the screen. This will leave you with
a white window and no idea what to do with it. The buttons in
these windows are still active; just keep clicking around until
you hit something. In some situations, Delrina's Bill'n'Opus
screen saver may conflict. We recommend disabling the screen
saver while SimCity 2000 is running.

A-4 Appendix 4 (IBM Technical Problems) from the Maxis BBS
*****THE MAXIS EMERGENCY TOP TEN LIST FOR SIM CITY 2000*****
Technical Support is totally overwhelmed at the moment answering
SimCity 2000 questions. Here are the top ten questions we are
getting and the fixes for each one. Hope these help to get you
up and running!
Q. I loaded the program but when I go to run it (by typing
SC2000) it gives me a message that I don't have enough memory
even though I've got 4 megabytes of RAM on my system.
A. The problem happens because out of 4 megabytes of memory,
there isn't enough available to load the program. When your
computer starts up, it loads other programs into that memory.
The easiest way to get around this is to make a boot disk and
start your computer with it instead. See your SIMCITY 2000
ADDENDUM & QUICK START GUIDE pg. 6 and the "HOW TO MAKE A
BOOTDISK" section at the bottom of this document.
Q. I try to start the program and get a message, "Microsoft
compatible mouse not found".
A. The program requires that a mouse driver be loaded in memory.
If you do have a mouse driver loaded and the program still
doesn't find it, make sure that it is at least version 8 or
higher by the Microsoft version numbering system. If you have
an older version of a mouse driver, you will need to update
the driver version by contacting the manufacturer of the mouse
OR by contacting the store where the computer was purchased.
Q. I get a message, "The video card you've selected is not found.
Please re-install and verify that your video card is
supported."
A. Sim City 2000 needs a SVGA video card in order to display the
640 x 480 - 256 color video resolution. The video card needs
to have at least 512K of video memory. Some cards may need a
VESA driver to be loaded prior to running the program and
since there are many different video cards, there are many
different VESA drivers for each card. If you aren't sure
which video card you have, try loading the UNIVESA.EXE driver
as this driver supports a wide variety of video cards. You
can load this driver by typing,
"C:\SC2000\VESA\UNIVESA\UNIVESA " and pressing the "Enter"
key. This will load the VESA driver for the video card. If
this VESA driver isn't the correct one for your video card,
contact the manufacturer of the video card to determine what
the correct VESA driver is. To find out whether or not you
need to load a vesa driver for your video card, go to the
C:\SC2000 sub-directory and type " INFO " and press enter.
This will display information about your system. Press the
spacebar twice to get to the third page of the info program to
find out whether your card has a VESA driver loaded. If it
tells you that the following VESA modes are supported then you
won't to load one. If it says "Either your card does not
support VESA or there is no driver loaded", this means that
you have to load a vesa driver for the video card.
Q. I have a SOUND BLASTER type sound card and it fails when I try
to select it for sound effects. What's going on in Dodge?
A. The earlier SOUND BLASTER cards used an IRQ setting of 7. The
new ones, however, now use IRQ 5. We are looking for IRQ 7
and if your card fails you probably have it set differently.
Try running the install again and this time, when the sound
card fails initialization, click on the CHANGE SETTINGS button
and change the IRQ setting to the number 5. Then click on the
CONTINUE button and this should make the program accept the
sound card.
Q. I try to run Sim City 2000 and when I do I get some weird
UNEXPECTED INTERRUPT - ERROR 35 message. I'm really confused!
A. This means that you have an ATI video card. You must run a
program before starting Sim City 2000. Type " MW_ATIUP " and
press the "Enter" key from within the SC2000 sub-directory.
Once you do this it will return you to the C:\SC2000 prompt.
Now type SC2000 and the program will run fine.
Q. I have a DIAMOND VIPER video card and I can't get the program
to work with it.
A. All you have to do is type " VPRMODE VESA " and press enter.
This will load the vesa driver for your video card. If you
get a "Bad command or filename" message then you need to be in
your VIPER sub directory before you run the VPRMODE VESA
command. Also, make sure that Sim City 2000 is set up for
VESA Super VGA graphics. (You can check this by running the
INSTALL program from within the SC2000 sub-directory.)
Q. I run the installation program and when it gets to the type of
video card I have, the program locks up.
A. The installation program is trying to figure out what kind of
video card you have in your computer. Sometimes it conflicts
with a program and that will cause the installer to lock up.
If you have DOS version 6.X, you can do a clean boot by
pressing the F5 key when the "Starting MS-DOS" message
appears. This will bypass your configuration files and then
run the installer again. It will work fine now.
Q. I have OS/2 and I want to run Sim City under it. I tried
doing all of the memory stuff but still can't get enough free.
Please tell me it's possible. -Gooie
A. Dear Gooie....Yes! You can run it under OS/2. All you have to
do is select a DOS FULL-WINDOWS session. Once in DOS, go to
the SC2000 sub-directory and type " SC2000 NO_MEM_CHK " and
the program will run. You should only do this if you have at
least 6 - 8 Megabytes of memory though because with four you
won't have enough.
Q. I play the program and during a certain point, I get a "STACK
OVERFLOW" message and the system dies an ugly death.
A. Ouch! This is a little problem (or bug) that has surfaced on
some machines. We are currently working on a fix and believe
that the new version of the DOS Extender that we are using
will fix the problem. In the meantime, contact MAXIS technical
support and ask to have you name added to a list. We will
contact you when a solution is found. I hope it is really soon
because I know you are dying to play this wonderful product!
Q. I have a problem and it isn't listed in the list.
A. If you have any problems that aren't addressed in this list,
please post (to the Maxis BBS) a message with the type of
problem you are having and we'll be sure to add it to our
list! This list will be revised depending on the types of
problems you are experiencing.
This concludes the wonderful TOP TEN question and answer list.
Thanks for reading it!

A-4 Appendix 4 (How to Make a Boot Disk) also from the Maxis BBS
*****************HOW TO MAKE A BOOT DISK***************
If you are having problems making a boot disk, take the time to
browse over this stuff and see if it helps you any.
1. The BOOT DISK must be in your A: drive to work properly. A
boot disk in your B: drive just won't cut the cake; it has to
be in drive A:.
2. Make sure your mouse driver is copied onto the BOOT DISK. You
need to copy your mouse driver onto the boot disk and it must
be named either MOUSE.COM or MOUSE.EXE to work in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE. If it has a different name, simply type
the correct name in the autoexec.bat file in order to load the
driver. i.e. If your mouse is named AMOUSE.COM, then you need
to type AMOUSE on the mouse line of your autoexec.bat file.
3. From the C:\ prompt, type "SYS A:" and press the Enter key on
your keyboard. This will copy the system start-up files to
your floppy disk in the A: drive.
4. If you need a vesa driver for your video card, enter in the
name of the vesa driver into the autoexec.bat file. This is a
sample of what you need to type: IGNORE THE QUOTES! Don't type
them, they just surround what you need to type in.
A:>\"COPY CON AUTOEXEC.BAT" (type the line and then press
the ENTER key.)
Once you type this line it will drop you down to a flashing
cursor that is waiting for you to type commands. Type the
following commands that are in upper-case letters and press
the enter key to drop to the next line:
PROMPT $P$G
MOUSE
C:\SC2000\VESA\UNIVESA\UNIVESA
C:
CD\SC2000
SC2000
After typing the SC2000 line, press the F6 key on your
keyboard and then press the enter key. It should say "One
file(s) copied" when done.
Try to restart your computer with the BOOTDISK in drive A: and
it should boot up into the program. If it doesn't, see the
possible errors below to help trouble shoot.
1. While booting, it gets to MOUSE and says, "Bad command or file
name". This will happen if you don't have the mouse driver
(MOUSE.COM or MOUSE.EXE) copied onto your bootdisk or if the
mouse driver has a different name. Make sure the mouse driver
is on the bootdisk AND that it is named MOUSE.COM or
MOUSE.EXE. If it is named MSMOUSE.COM or something else,
rename the mouse file by typing "REN MSCMOUSE.COM MOUSE.COM"
at the A: prompt. This will rename the mouse from
mscmouse.com to mouse.com and it should now work.
2. If you use the bootdisk and you still get the "The video card
you have selected is not found. Please re-install......."
message, this means that you don't have the correct video card
VESA driver loaded. Please contact your video card
manufacturer to inquire as to the correct VESA driver to load
for your video card.
3. If you get a message "Non-system disk or disk error", remove
the floppy and press any key. This means that the system
(startup) files aren't on the floppy disk. Once you have
booted up, go to the DOS sub-directory by typing CD\DOS
<Enter>. Make sure you put the boot disk back in the A: drive
and then type, SYS A:. This will transfer the system to your
boot-disk and correct the problem.
Additional notes:
You only need to have a mouse driver loaded and, in some cases, a
vesa driver. You don't need any type of memory manager because
we use a dos extender.
If you have an IBM XGA or XGA2 video card it will switch the
program into sixteen colors. We are currently looking into a
solution that would prevent this from happening thus allowing the
program to run in 256 colors.
If you have a Texas Instruments Travel Mate 4000 and can't run
the program: We have been in contact with the good folks at Texas
Instruments and are currently working on a fix.
If you have a Packard Bell computer and are getting "mouse
trails" where the cursor moves on the screen - You need to
contact Packard Bell's technical support department. They have
found a solution to the problem and are also taking care of the
method in which to correct it. (I just wanna say that there
doing one heck of a good job too! Especially after going through
that major earthquake!) Kudos to the folks at Packard Bell!
The program makes some heavy demands on the system hardware.
There is very little out there in terms of standards and it makes
the development of a product such as this a tremendous job. Hang
in there and we'll get you going! Maxis Technical Support is open
from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. We experience HIGH
call volumes on MONDAYS and during the later hours of the day.
If you are having trouble reaching us by telephone, try to call
earlier in the day or during the middle of the week as this is
our lowest call volume time.

Thanks!

A-6 Appendix 6 (SC2K Suggestion List)
Last updated: 3-6-94

This is a list of ideas for improvements to the game
SimCity 2000 (SC2K) from Maxis. It is a compilation of
suggestions from people on CompuServe and the SC2K mailing
list (which is actually a list for all Maxis games) on the
Internet. I have included the names of the contributors and
their addresses. Please note that addresses are in Internet
form, including CompuServe addresses. For those CIS users
not familiar with this form, it is your CIS ID number with a
period instead of a comma, followed by "@compuserve.com".
F'rinstance, my CIS address of 72172,230 would be
7217...@compuserve.com.
Contributions to this list should be mailed to Dave Lartigue
at either of the following addresses:
Internet: lart...@firefly.prairienet.org
CompuServe: 72172,230
In the case of two people suggesting the same thing, I will
usually credit the first person, unless the second expresses
the idea more fully. If you wish to elaborate on another
person's suggestion, please note the number of the suggestion
on the list, and in future updates this will be noted.
Please note that the items collected here are suggestions,
not bug fixes.
This list will be regularly updated and distributed on
CompuServe (in the Gamers Forum under the "Other Games"
section) and on the Internet.
Anyone wishing to donate an FTP site for the list, please
contact me. For the moment, it is available on request at my
address above. I will post a general message on the Simlist
mailing list when a new update is available.
Thanks to all who have contributed, and thanks to Maxis for
providing such an entertaining game!

+----------------------------------------------------------+

1) Toll highways and bridges. Would provide extra income,
but at the expense of possible commercial development.
However, may help to decrease pollution and traffic by
encouraging carpooling.
(Dave Lartigue: lart...@firefly.prairienet.org /
7271...@compuserve.com)
2) Wildlife Preserves and Scenic Routes. You could designate
an area of land (or a highway) as a wildlife preserve/
scenic route. This would increase tourism and Sim-
happiness, but the designated land would be locked out of
development. Some encouragement for more aesthetic
cities, rather than slash-and-burn.
(Dave Lartigue)
3) Amusement Parks as Recreation objects. 5x5 squares?
(Dave Lartigue)
4) SimSuffrage: The Sims should be given the right to vote
every few years and if the ballot goes against you, you
are booted out of office. However, it's a SimElection --
you'd still run the city, but you'd have to pick a new
name. There would be no real penalty for losing, but it
would remind players that real-life mayors must listen to
the complaints and needs of their citizens.
(Alan Czarnek: 71401...@compuserve.com)
5) Power Brokerage. You should be able to sell off extra
power to neighboring cities for a certain amount per watt,
and likewise be able to buy power from neighboring cities.
(Peter Kasmir: 72420...@compuserve.com)
6) Advanced forms of transportation that appear after a
certain date, such as elevated trains, monorails (that go
from arcology to arcology), etc.
(Darin Gurney: 71620...@compuserve.com)
7) Ski Resorts on the slopes of mountains.
(Darin Gurney)
8) A floating Arcology that could be built on water.
(Darin Gurney)
9) Underground power lines, along with undersea power lines.
(Darin Gurney)
10) Highway and Rail Tunnels.
(Darin Gurney)
11) A wartime *mode* where you are trying to fortify your
city against invaders. That is, set up defenses
batteries, and provide shelters for your citizens while
still growing your population. There would be a
drain on your young male populations, of course!
(Darin Gurney)
12) Bridges that go over land, from one hill to another.
(Sushil Gupta: 70314...@compuserve.com)
13) More selections for highway bridges.
(Sushil Gupta)
14) Stadiums which look like the stadiums for the sport you
select. I.E., a football stadium with a gridiron,
baseball with a diamond, etc.
(Sushil Gupta)
15) Elevated trains. [Others had mentioned elevated trains,
but Sushil went into a little more detail.] Cheaper than
subway, more expensive than regular rail. 1x1 sized
stations, above ground, and able to connect to rail.
Effective as commuter rail.
(Sushil Gupta)
16) Special events like the Olympics. Will cost a lot, but
increase industry and commerce revenue, as well as
tourism. You must have at least two stadiums before you
are asked. Would create a heavy toll on traffic.
(Sushil Gupta)
17) SimFarm! Combine light residential and industrial.
(Sushil Gupta)
18) Instead of rebuilding power plants every 50 years,
simply pay maintenance costs for nukes and fuel gosts
for gas and coal.
(Sushil Gupta)
19) Highway Patrol. If you have enough miles of highway, you
could get a highway patrol office. Might reduce traffic.
(Sushil Gupta)
20) More rewards!
(Sushil Gupta)
21) More interesting military bases.
(Sushil Gupta)
22) The ability to edit terrain without losing the city.
(James Walker: 70007,46...@compuserve.com)
23) A mode that would allow you to select an icon (bus
stations, for example) and then would highlight all of
those structures on the map.
(James Walker)
24) A right-click property inspector.
(James Walker)
25) A true flat view, straight down, to help in placing
pipes, subways, etc.
(James Walker)
26) Expand the advisors into more areas [suggestions welcome
on which areas!] plus the ability to turn them off if
desired.
(James Walker)
27) Change the river icon in the terrain editor so that you
can point the direction of the river.
(James Walker)
28) The ability to turn off parts of the simulation that may
slow it down.
(IE, cars, planes and helicopters, animation).
(James Walker)
29) An UNDO!
(James Walker)
30) Go back to rating cities by population (town, city,
capitol, etc.). It is frustrating that nothing happens
when your population reaches 1 million. The last reward
you get is Arcologies, which allow you to dramatically
increase your population, but there doesn't seem to be
any reason to do so after that point.
(Dave Lartigue)
31) Have built-in hints in the form of "special research
studies". You could get hints on, say, reducing
pollution, by funding money towards a study that, after a
few years, would give ideas on reducing pollution.
(Dave Lartigue)
32) Malls as recreation items. Sure, malls spring up as a
commercial zone, but in every city I've ever been to,
malls are strategically positioned, usually next to the
interstate. Also, you'll notice that being close to a
big mall is often a selling point for homes in newspaper
classifieds.
(Dave Lartigue)
33) Extend the college concept and have a "university"
zoning construct. You could zone an area for this and it
would promote dense residential (student housing) and
light commercial zoning in its immediate
neighborhood, the effect depending on the size (small -->
virtually no effect, large --> very spread out effect).
As time progresses, you could get things like a "free"
hospital (med school) and sports stadium. Also,
as time goes by, if your university is doing well, it
would start demanding more space, which of course will
cause all kinds of problems for the neighbors. (I grew
up in Austin, TX, which has no shortage of friction
between the University of Texas and everyone else.)
(Steve Rodrigues: stev...@cs.berkeley.edu)
34) How about courthouses? Once you get to a certain size,
you can get one of these, maybe some government buildings
when you get bigger... It seems that lots of little
towns I have driven through have their courthouse (if
they're the county seat) very prominent in the center of
town.
(Steve Rodrigues)
35) Another "outside world" suggestion: be able to compete
with your neighbors for industries.
(Steve Rodrigues)
36) Other utilities, such as telephone, TV, and radio
stations.
(Steve Rodrigues)
37) The ability to save cities as .PCX, .BMP, or .GIF files.
(Fred Chang: fch...@delphi.com)
38) In addition to the terrain editing mode, an icon editor
that would allow you to design buildings and icons. Say,
a condo that looks like one in your area.
(Fred Chang)
39) Bookmarks. I'd like to be able to assign, say, five
bookmarks and jump directly to them.
(Dave Lartigue)
40) Track popularity on the graph so you'd know what was
going on at times when your popularity was up or down.
(Dave Lartigue)
41) Recycling Plants, which of course would help somewhat
with pollution and, in the future, Air Treatment Plants.
Expensive, but they cut through the smog.
(Dave Lartigue)
42) After, say, 2200, have a Spaceport in addition to Air-
and Sea-.
(Dave Lartigue)
43) Ferries as alternatives to bridges. You'd need one on
each bank, fairly close to each other.
(Dave Lartigue)
44) Underwater tunnels.
(Dave Lartigue)
45) A driving add-on which would allow you to drive (or fly!)
through your city.
(M.J. Bluett?: mj.b...@ic.ac.uk)
46) In real life electric (and telephone) wires run parallel
with roads. Why can't we have this? You would be able to
select a road, road with power, with water, or with power
and water. There is no need to take up two tile widths
for both out to the SimAirport, for example. Bridges and
tunnels should have this capability too. And while I'm at
it, subways and rail, too, should conduct power.
(Karen Todd: kt...@census.gov)
47) Until the aforementioned recycle plants become availble
in time, trash dumps should be considered. (I know,
pretty yucky idea, but it's realistic.)
(Karen Todd)
48) I miss the hot keys from SC classic. I know B for
bulldoze still works, but how about p==power, t==train,
s==subway, r==roads, w=water, etc.. Maybe even command-p
for power plants, command-t for train stations,
command-s for subway stations, etc. You get the idea.
(Karen Todd)
49) Why do Sims complain so much about polution and *have* to
live close to work? They should be smarter than that.
Maybe if the eq is high, Sims would live farther away and
take the subway, if the eq is low, they'd have to live
close and drive.
(Karen Todd)
50) One thing I've always wanted was an increase in the
problem of land competition -- especially agricultural/
suburban. So -- "Farm" zones that are *extremely* cheap
to build (or just pop up on their own), are extremely low
density, but something bad happens to you (popularity?
inflow of new residents falls? I dunno) when you get rid
of them. Or you have to pay extra to re-zone them
(bribery + eminent domain). I guess I like the early
stages of the game, and would be willing to see more
detail -- dirt roads, for example, or county courthouses,
and stuff that survives without electricity (like the
aforementioned farm zones) Or the chance to build a 21st
century agrarian community powered by windmills with
electric cars on dirt roads.....SimCommune!
(Stanley Chin: ch...@vrinet.com)
51) Golf Courses. I'm a golf addict and I want my Sims to
be able to play as well. I usually give my Big parks
names of famous golf courses but it would be nice to see
some bunkers and water surrounding freshly cut grass..
("Eagle": bl...@calvin.se.fit.edu)
52) Country Estates. Historically, rich folk are the ones on
the outskirts of the city (the enclaves may get swallowed
up, but that's another story). If you build/zone
residential stuff really far away from the center of
town, maybe we could have a step up from luxury homes and
have the estates of the "ultra-rich": huge, sprawling
things. Anyone who's ever visited River Oaks in Houston,
or Chappaqua in Westchester County, NY, or Heart
Castle in California, will have an idea what I'm talking
about. (This is the "filthy rich beyond imagining" type
of people.)
(Steve Rodrigues)
53) Post Offices as government buildings.
(Simon Leung: sngpit.dnet!le...@turtle.fisher.com)
54) Highways on the ground, instead of always in the air.
(Simon Leung)
55) Time flies when you're having fun! How about a Clock in
the Title Bar?
(Dave Lartigue)

A-7 Appendix 7 (SC2K Description)
This Text File was created by Sally Vandershaf, edited by
Peter Alau, with additions by Chrispy Squid and posted by the
dudes at Maxis.

SIMCITY 2000, THE ULTIMATE CITY SIMULATOR
Product Name: SimCity 2000, The Ultimate City Simulator.
Price: $69.95 SRP.
Availability: Fourth quarter 1993 for IBM/DOS and Macintosh
versions.
Company: Maxis
2 Theatre Square
Orinda, CA 94563
Main: 510/254-9700
Fax: 510/253-3736
Customer Service: 800/33-MAXIS
Tech Support: 510/253-3755
Preliminary IBM/DOS: 386 or above; MS-DOS 3.3 or
Requirements: above; 4MB RAM; hard disk; mouse;
extended VGA mode, 640 x 480 (256
colors). Supports AdLib, Ad Lib Gold,
Sound Blaster, Roland MT-32, Roland MPU
401, Pro Audio Spectrum and 100%
compatibles.
Macintosh: LC, Performa, II, Centris and Quadra
series; Color Classic; PowerBook (160,
165c, 180, 180c, Duo 210, (230); System
7.0; 4MB RAM (2.5MB RAM free); mouse;
hard disk; 256 color monitor.
Disk Size: IBM/DOS: 3 1/2" high-density with 5
1/4" high-density disks available from
Maxis.
Macintosh: 3 1/2" high-density.

WHAT IS SIMCITY 2000? Incorporating four years of customer
suggestions, SimCity 2000 combines dozens of new features and
stunning three-dimensional graphics with the intuitive
interface and engrossing gameplay that made the
original SimCity (which has been re-christened "SimCity
Classic-The Original City Simulator",) so successful. Current
SimCity Classic players will be able to start playing SimCity
2000 immediately, using just the features that are familiar
from the original game. As players learn the new features of
SimCity 2000, they will become more proficient mayors. Here's
a sample of what SimCity 2000 lets players do:

-Modify terrain with mountains, forests, rivers,
streams, waterfalls, and bays.
-Zoom into the city at three levels of magnification,
and rotate the three-dimensional model of the city
360 degrees for more realistic perspectives.
-Place new structures-schools, universities,
libraries, museums, zoos, hospitals, prisons,
marinas, freeways, bridges-as well as the original
SimCity services, with updated graphics.
-Dig underground tunnels and subways and lay pipe for
transporting water.
-Import cities from SimCity Classic into SimCity
2000.

Target Audience: SimCity 2000 is targeted to current owners
of SimCity Classic and other Maxis "Sim" games, as well as
high-end computer owners who may not already own a Maxis
game, but are interested in sophisticated, open-ended
entertainment software. SimCity Classic, which has been a
consistent best-seller since its introduction four years ago,
now includes a terrain editor and support for popular sound
cards. SimCity Classic's simplicity makes it a natural for
customers who are new to the computer game category, and want
an easy and fun introduction to gaming before advancing to
more intricate simulations.

Design philosophy: Like all "Sim" games, SimCity 2000
enables players to challenge themselves to meet their own
goals, rather than goals artificially imposed by the game's
design. Our purpose in designing SimCity 2000 was to make it
as easy to use as the original SimCity was, but at the same
time to incorporate user suggestions and many of the things
we had to leave out of the original SimCity because of
hardware constraints. For example, we added underground
infrastructure (subways, water pipes, tunnels) and a much
more detailed economic model. In essence, we tried to bring
SimCity 2000 a lot closer to reality, with 3-D graphics
that enhance the feeling that the city is real when you're
working with it.

--
-Peace, Man!
-Dave Palsen(dpa...@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu)
-Official Distributor of the Simcity 2000 FAQ