PC/CD Gamer UK 43/PCGAMER43.bin/walkthru/sc2000.txt

Text File | 1997-01-28 | 9KB | 144 lines

SimCity 2000 - PlayerÆs Guide

City building isnÆt as simple as it used to be in MaxisÆ enormously enhanced
version of SimCity 2000 - so here are a few choice hints and tips to help you
create a thriving metropolis with a happy populous...
Because of the open nature of SimCity 2000Æs gameplay, itÆs very hard to say
definitely whether something is ærightÆ or æwrongÆ - your own urban ambitions will
decide that. If you set out to create a huge, sprawling mass of pollution and crime
(inspired by the likes of Judge DreddÆs MegaCity One or the Gotham City of
Batman), for example, then your design will differ radically from a small
environmentally-friendly utopian set-up created by another player. With this in
mind, the following sections are an attempt to explain how the game works and to
help you achieve your goals, whatever they may be, and not someone elseÆs (who
wants to build anotherÆs urban nightmare?).


Zones
Not only is the placement of new zones the major part of city design in SimCity
2000, it also has the single biggest effect on the success (or failure) of your
community. Correct zoning takes a great deal of thought and foresight, so bear
these points in mind...

Getting Around - Sims (the inhabitants of your city) will only walk three tiles to
reach another form of transportation. Thus, the maximum width of any zone is six
tiles. You can build long strips six tiles wide, but they must have roads on either
side.

Density - Low-density zones have higher land values than high-density zones, but
contain less people. As tax income is based on both population and value, the tax
gained is largely the same, whatever zone type you opt for. ItÆs largely a matter of
taste.
The exception is industry. Certain industries prefer one density or another -
generally the preference is obvious, with heavy industries preferring high-density
zones and vice versa. Remember that dense industrial zones create more pollution
than light ones, though.

The NIMBY Syndrome - Be careful when placing residential zones, because they
suffer strongly from the Not In My Back Yard syndrome. While sims want and
need lots of different things from a city, rarely do they want to live right next door
to them. Then again, they donÆt like travelling very far to get what they want
either. You should always separate industrial zones from residential areas by at
least a couple of tiles, and preferably a bit more. Creating æbuffer zonesÆ of parks,
water or trees is a good way of doing this.

Ratios - As a rule of thumb, the number of tiles zoned for residential use should
equal the total number of tiles zoned for industrial and commercial use. Once you
have gained the City Hall reward, getting info on it will tell you exactly what
percentage of your city is given over to each type of zone, and keeping track of
the situation is made much simpler.
In addition, the ideal ratio of industrial to commercial zones varies with your
cityÆs population:

Population       Ratio
20,000 or less         3:1
60,000                       2:1
100,000                       1:1
150,000                       1:2
200,000 and above   1:3

Thus, when starting your city you need more industrial than commercial zones,
but as the city grows commerce becomes more important.


Transport
Along with zoning, providing adequate transport ranks as one of your most
important tasks. SimCity 2000Æs transport model is based on the idea that sims in
a given zone must be able to travel to each of the other two types of zone. People
in an industrial zone, for instance, must be able to reach a commercial zone and a
residential zone. If they canÆt, the zone simply wonÆt develop. As explained
earlier (See Zones - Getting Around), sims only walk three tiles to look for
transport, so any zoned tile more than three tiles away from a road (or other
means of transport) will not grow. And another thing, sims wonÆt walk from zone
to zone - even if the two zones are right next to each other. They have to use some
other mode of transportation.

Trips - To find out if a zone is near enough to other zones, SimCity 2000 uses a
routine called the trip generator. The computer simulates a simÆs journey from his
zone of origin, giving him a limited amount of æstepsÆ to find another type of
zone. If the sim can reach both other types of zone without running out of steps,
then his zone of origin will develop. For travel by road (either in a car or a bus),
the maximum distance you can count on a sim travelling in search of another type
of zone is about 24 tiles.

Roads Or Rail (Or Subways)? - Roads are the cheapest form of transport to build
and maintain.ThereÆs also a built-in weighting factor towards using them - sims
like to drive. Whenever a sim on a trip comes across another form of transport,
thereÆs only a 50/50 chance heÆll take it. Otherwise heÆll continue to drive. On top
of all this, any sim within three tiles of a road can use it, whereas he can only use
rail and subway transport by using stations or depots.
Of course, roads create their own problems - traffic and pollution. Too many sims
trying to use the same road leads to heavy traffic and eventually a gridlock.
Likewise, too many cars chuck out a lot of pollution.

Buses A Go-Go - The solution is the bus. Bus stations are cheap to build, use the
existing road network and sims can get off buses wherever they want. Even better,
traffic is reduced around them for about a ten tile radius, with the effect
decreasing the further away you get from the station. Although the other methods
of public transport may be more appealing aesthetically (at least in the short run),
buses are by far the most effective means of getting from A to B for your cityÆs
populous.

Off Map Links - Transportation links to the cities surrounding yours have a neat
side-effect - the trip generator assumes that all types of zone exist just off of the
map, which means that any zone near to an off-map link almost develops
automatically. You can use this to your advantage by placing all your heavy (and
therefore horribly dirty and environmentally unfriendly) industry at the edges of
the city, near to off-map links, and then creating a few light zones near the centre
so that your commercial and residential zones can still reach some industry (and
no-one has to go about town wearing a face mask and rubber gloves).


City Services
The third part of your job as a mayor is to provide your sims with city services, of
which there are a considerable number to choose from. Although some are
relatively simple, a few are often neglected, and many are more complex than first
meet the eye. This month, weÆre just going to deal with one of the least
understood areas: education.

Making The Grade - Education in SimCity 2000 is measured as an EQ rating,
with 90 being high school equivalency, 140 being a college graduate and 100
being the SimNation average. Providing your sims with a good quality education
is often the most underestimated area of the game, but has many important
benefits. Not only do sims like to move to a city that offers good education for
their children, but sims already living there take great pride in their æintelligence,Æ
and are less likely to emigrate. In addition to this, the more advanced industries
(i.e: the ones that become important in the later years of the game - such as the
media, finance, automotive, petrochemical, electronics and aerospace
industries...) all prosper in a city with a high average EQ.
A simÆs EQ is determined at birth, and is 20% of the parentsÆ average EQ. Going
to school adds 70 to this figure, and attending college multiplies this total by 1.5
to reach that simÆs maximum EQ. To increase your average EQ is therefore a long
and slow job, best initiated early on in the game, so that you can reap the benefits
later. DonÆt forget, though, that a simÆs EQ gradually falls as he or she grows
older. Libraries and museums serve to offset this loss, so itÆs a good idea to build
a few of these. You can check the efficiency of your education system by using
the inquiry tool on schools, colleges and libraries.
The grade given in the info box is a function of the number of teachers (or
whatever) compared to the number of students. As such, itÆs not actually the
average grade of the students, but it might as well be. The simple way to improve
your grades is to build more of a specific type of building, thus providing more
facilities. By the way, SimCity 2000 doesnÆt check where your education facilities
are, just that they exist, so youÆre free to place them virtually where you like.