User manual GAMES PC SIMCITY 4 - EDITION DELUXE

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION................................................................ 3 GETTING STARTED: TIPS FOR NEW MAYORS..................... 5 NEW IN TOWN? .....................................................................5 WHERE CAN YOU LEARN MORE? ...........................................7 REFERENCE GUIDE SIMCITY 4 DELUXE EDITION............... 8 REGIONS .......................................................................... 8 REGION BASICS.......................................................................8 REGION VIEW OPTIONS PANEL ..............................................9 CONNECT TO SIMCITY.COM.................................................. 11 QUIT ..................................................................................... 11 CITY PANEL ........................................................................... 11 PLAYING A CITY ............................................................. 14 UNIVERSAL CONTROL PANEL ............................................... 14 PRE-INCORPORATED CITY TOOLS .........................................20 INCORPORATING A CITY .......................................................28 POST INCORPORATED CITY TOOLS .......................................29 MAYOR MODE ................................................................ 31 LANDSCAPE TOOLS .............................................................. 31 ZONE TOOLS ........................................................................34 TRANSPORTATION TOOLS.....................................................37 UTILITIES TOOLS ...................................................................45 CONNECTING CITIES ............................................................48 CIVIC TOOLS .........................................................................49 MAYOR PANEL ......................................................................53 1 MY SIM MODE................................................................. 76 MICROPHONE TOOL............................................................. 76 U-DRIVE-IT ........................................................................... 76 MISSION CHART ....................................................................80 MY SIMS ................................................................................83 INTRODUCTION Is it time--to be Mayor? Do you have the empire-building skills to develop a metropolis of soaring skyscrapers or the aesthetic sensibilities to create a city that delights the eye? Do you enjoy tinkering with an entire world--widening a river bed there, increasing a tax rate here--to see the effects on the inhabitants under your sway? Or do you want to get down and dirty with The Sims in your streets, taking on missions that have you hurtling down highways in a tank? Whether you tend to the godlike or mortal, SimCityTM4 Deluxe Edition offers infinite opportunities for you to create (or destroy) the metropolis of your dreams! SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition gives you power that extends from the god-like creation of mountainscapes to the adjustment of funding levels at a local elementary school. You'd like a certain Sim to commute to work on a pogo stick? Thy will be done. You may create a mountain aerie of high-tech industry, or a bustling urban manufacturing center. With SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition, you can even interconnect the two cities to trade jobs, goods, and services. Whether you use your creativity to develop independent cities, or prefer to offer your Sims a larger view on life through interdependent communities, you must make your world a prosperous and desirable place for your citizens to live. It can be quite a challenge, but don't worry. If you get too frustrated with events, you can always unleash meteor showers upon your land. How will you know if you are succeeding as Mayor? You have a myriad of information at your fingertips. Your city statisticians work tirelessly to provide you with data, graphs, and reports that keep your finger on your city's pulse. You know in which corner of your city crime is at its worst, where the best-educated Sims live, and which roads are most congested. But that's not all. With SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition, your Sims can contact you directly with their thoughts and feelings about your administration. If you are a really outgoing Mayor, you can interview passing Sims on the streets to get their views. Not content with just passersby? Want even more impact on your Sims' lives? Import your favorite Sims from The SimsTM to live in your city! If you haven't created your own Sims, we've provided some individuals for you to direct and follow as they go about their lives. Choose what they drive, which routes they use to get to work, and where they live. Your Sims complain if you raise taxes. If they live near a source of unchecked pollution, they get sick. If they can't get a job, they move out of the city altogether! In the ideal city, your Sims work hard, die peacefully at a ripe old age, and pass the torch to the next generation. Ah, so you want even more direct contact with the lifeblood of your city? You are hard to please, Mayor, but the answer is here. You now have the ability to build increasingly complex and varied transportation networks--providing your city with arteries of commerce and productivity. Allow congestion to get out of hand, and watch the car wrecks pile up! And, Mayor, you may be causing some of those crashes. With SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition's all new U-Drive-It feature, you can accept missions for the betterment of your citizens, or cause mayhem in your city as you drive the streets, ply the waters, or fly through the clouds in vehicles you pilot. Will you get Jenny to the hospital in time for her heart transplant, or are you aiding the evil Dr. Vu in his plot to spill toxic green ooze in OPTIONS ........................................................................ 87 CAMERA MODE ....................................................................87 PHOTO ALBUM .....................................................................87 GRAPHIC OPTIONS ...............................................................88 AUDIO OPTIONS...................................................................90 PLAY OPTIONS ......................................................................90 ADDITIONAL CITY VIEW OPTIONS ........................................ 91 INDEX............................................................................. 92 NOTE TO BUYERS OF SIMCITY 4 RUSH HOUR EXPANSION PACK Already own SimCity 4? When you install the SimCity 4 Rush Hour Expansion Pack, the process will automatically reconfigure and update your version of SimCity 4 so that it offers the same gameplay as SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition. For those of you who are mathematically minded... SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition = SimCity 4 + SimCity 4 Rush Hour Expansion Pack So don't rush out and buy Rush Hour if you have SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition, and if you've already bought SimCity4 Rush Hour, don't buy the Deluxe Edition--you already have it! This manual is included with BOTH products. Features new to SimCity4 Rush Hour are designated in the manual. Have fun! 2 3 the middle of downtown? Complete your mission successfully, Mayor, and you will be rewarded. Be a hardworking saint of a Mayor, a corrupt Mayor, or a Mayor who inflicts all the evils of the world on your poor, unsuspecting Sims. Regardless of your priorities, every decision you make has lasting implications for the society you create. Learn the intricacies of Mayoring through new tutorials provided in the game, and select from among three levels of play difficulty. In no time at all, you will master the art of city building. From there, the only limit is your imagination. You've been elected, Mayor! Get to it! GETTING STARTED: TIPS FOR NEW MAYORS NEW IN TOWN? This section provides you with a quick introduction to the art of Mayoring. If you're new to the city's top post, this information can help you get on your mayoral feet. If you're an incumbent, review this information for a refresher course on leading your incipient city into a prosperous future. WHAT SHOULD YOU KNOW FROM THE GET-GO? These detailed steps will help you get your city up and running. SELECT AN AREA FOR YOUR CITY. Double click on an undeveloped square in the region that strikes your fancy. INCORPORATE YOUR CITY. Raise mountains and call forth the waters by terraforming your landscape, or just dive into your city. Click the Mayor Mode button when you're ready to incorporate your city. Enter your City and Mayor names and choose the EASY difficulty level. Then, click ESTABLISH CITY. PLUG IN. Select the Coal Power Plant from the Build Power Systems menu. Place it near the edge of your city so less pollution blows into town. The Coal Plant is a cost-effective but polluting power source. ADD INDUSTRY. Select Medium Density Industrial from the Zone Industrial menu. Drag out an industrial zone so it touches the power plant. Industrial buildings provide your Sims with jobs. BE A HOMEMAKER. Select Low Density Residential from the Zone Residential menu. Low density is less expensive than medium or high density, and higher density structures don't develop until your population can support them anyway. Drag out a residential zone a short distance away from the power plant and the industrial zone. It's smart to position houses away from the power plant and industries to minimize the effects of pollution. PUT YOUR SIMS ON THE ROAD. Select Roads from the Build Roads menu and drag a road from your R zone to your I zone so Sims have a way to get to and from work. Roads have a higher capacity and speed limit than the streets that are created automatically when you zone. 4 5 ADD COMMERCE. EDUCATE AND VACCINATE. Add an Elementary School and Health Clinic in or near your residential zones, and make sure they're funded appropriately for the population they serve. FIGHT FIRE WITH... Quickly add a Fire Station when your first fire breaks out. MAKE A CLEAN SWEEP. Placing a landfill (away from your R and C zones, of course) keeps your city streets tidy and your neatnik Sims smiling. Select Low Density Commercial from the Commercial Zone menu. Drag out a C zone between the I and R zones so that all the zones are connected. Power flows through zones, so all of your zones should now have power. Always remember to only zone what you need. Monitor your RCI Demand to gauge when it's time to zone more C. POLICE YOUR STREETS. Add a Police Station when your Public Safety Advisor complains about crime. NETWORK WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS. Make neighbor connections by dragging roads from your Industrial zones to the edge of the map. This stimulates industrial growth. WATCH YOUR BUDGET. Your main source of revenue is taxes. You need to increase your city's population and start making more Simoleons than you're spending within a few years of your city's "birth." You can play with tax rates, but raise them too much and you'll lower demand as folks are scared off by your moneygouging ways. REACH FOR THE SKIES. When you have a nice positive cash flow and a sizeable population (definitely more than 1,000), add higher density zones (R, C, and I) and a water system (pipes and pumps) to encourage the construction of larger, wealthier structures. MONITOR RCI DEMAND. The Residential, Commercial, and Industrial (RCI) meters indicate which type of zones to add to continue to grow your city. Click on the meters for more details about demand in your city. WHERE CAN YOU LEARN MORE? This should get you started. You'll also find strategy hints scattered throughout this manual. Remember though, every Mayor has his or her own style. As you become more familiar with building cities, you will develop your own strategies. The possibilities for experimentation are endless. As you refine your Mayoral skills, use these resources for further assistance: City Advisors These devoted minions give you plenty of feedback as you build your city. Heed their advice, but be careful! Advisors often have their own needs in mind and may fail to see the big picture. Tutorials Try the Getting Started, Terraforming, Making Money, Big City, and Rush Hour Tutorials to familiarize yourself with the basics and beyond of SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition. SimCity.com Always just a click away. Find helpful hints and tips and share your conundrums and discoveries with other Mayors. REVIEW THE DESIRABILITY DATA VIEW. This view helps you figure out which zones to place where. If you create a zone in an undesirable location, don't expect to see any structures spring up there. IMPROVE COMMUTE TIMES. If you're seeing car crashes, your Traffic Advisor is harping on gridlock, or your My Sims are griping about their miserable commutes, it's time to think about upgrading your traffic systems. Upgrade your streets to roads, roads to avenues, and avenues to highways. You might also want to consider building some mass transit options such as buses, subways, ferries, or rail. 6 7 REFERENCE GUIDE SIMCITY 4 DELUXE EDITION Some of you newly-elected Mayors may want to jump right in and grab the reins of your administration cold. Others might appreciate an introduction to the staff and resources that will support your tenure as Mayor. Read on for a complete rundown of the powers at your fingertips. Experienced Mayors may want to check out new features, or refresh themselves about certain aspects of the position. SAVING GAMES Before you begin to build a city, you need to decide upon a region for your new metropolis, as well as its location within that region. Once you've made this decision, whenever you save your city, you save its latest incarnation. If you play a city but choose not to save it, it reverts to the last saved version. Remember, since your cities can be interconnected, the location of a city relative to its neighbors is very important. You can move your city to a new location by using the Import Tool, but this can have a dramatic effect on the city's development--for better or worse. REGION VIEW OPTIONS PANEL REGIONS The Region View Options Panel allows you to load, create, and delete regions. You may also change the way a region appears. REGION BASICS A Region is a collection of cities that can be interconnected and interdependent. Your Sims can live in one city and work in another provided the two cities are adjacent and connected by road, rail, or highway. Also, cities can buy or sell resources from one another (power, water, or landfill space) as long as you have built the appropriate connections. A Region can be comprised of both incorporated and unincorporated cities. Incorporated cities are those that have been developed and saved. Unincorporated city tiles are waiting for you to bring them to life. You can choose to play a Region as a conglomerate of interconnected cities, or as isolated communities. Take over as Mayor in one of the existing cities, or begin building the community of your dreams from the ground up. Do you aim for a mountain eco-city that is a center of high-tech industry, or are you thinking more manufacturing megalopolis? Will your Sims be archipelagoans or citizens of the land-bound plains? Ah...decisions, decisions. What you do now will affect how your city can develop in the future. Create New Region Load Region Click here to create a new Region from scratch. You can choose to begin with an ocean or land terrain. Click here to access any of the pre-built (and sometimes familiar) Regions supplied with SimCity 4 Deluxe. The regions you create and save are also stored here. This option deletes the entire Region, along with every city in it. Bye-bye greater Bay Area. This function turns the display of City Names OFF and ON. Click to display or hide the grid showing the Boundaries of your cities. Delete Region Show City Names Show City Boundaries 8 9 Satellite View Transportation Map Satellite View gives you a bird's eye view of your entire region, with both incorporated and unincorporated cities. The Satellite View is your default view. In previous versions of the game, this was your only region view. You can now toggle between the Satellite View and Transportation Map to survey your domain. Any savvy Mayor needs to know where ALL roads lead. This new feature makes it easy. Select the Transportation Map view of your region, and you see the entire transportation infrastructure that connects your cities. A map legend is provided. CONNECT TO SIMCITY.COM Did you think Mayors work in a vacuum? Not for a minute. For all the latest information, updates, news, downloads, and customization tools related to SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition visit SimCity.com. Click this button, and you are there. You don't even need to close out of your city! Communicate with SimCity experts and other Mayors by posting and reading messages on our bulletin board service, or download free additions to SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition such as landmarks, wallpapers, and, yes, customization tools. Never fear, the latest news and information related to SimCity is always only a click away. QUIT Click here to quit SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition and return to your desktop. CITY PANEL Want to explore the cities in your Region? When you click on one of the city tiles, the City Panel appears. This panel looks different depending on whether a city is incorporated (named and saved) or unincorporated (a blank slate). UNINCORPORATED CITY PANEL VIEW NOTE: The transportation map only works for SimCity 4 Rush Hour and SimCity 4 Deluxe cities. For older cities, load and save them to view them with the new map. Your region includes some Unincorporated Cities. This means that the city does not yet have a Mayor, a Name, or any Residents or Businesses. In other words, you are starting from ground zero. When you click on an unincorporated city, this City Panel View appears. 10 11 INCORPORATED CITY PANEL VIEW IMPORT CITY If you want to replace an existing city tile with an already created and saved city from this or another region, or from the downloads folder, click the Import City button. This brings up the Import City Dialog. City Name Difficulty Level Mayor Rating Funds Mayor Name Residential Population Commercial Jobs Industrial Jobs This lists all of the regions currently available, as well as any city that can be imported to your chosen location. Cities come in three sizes--small, medium, and large. You can only replace cities with other cities of equal size. As much as you'd like to try it, you can't see what happens when you try to plop Los Angeles into an area the size of Pecanville, Arkansas (population 78). Sorry. Click to expand the Region folder to check out its available cities for Import. Click to contract the folder and hide the Region's contents. Ah, now you have something to work with. Incorporated Cities are no longer just a glint in some Mayor's eye, they've become living, breathing entities--created and saved by you or someone else. The Incorporated City Panel View displays valuable information about your city, from its name to the number of jobs in Industry it supports. The Difficulty Level of the city is indicated by the number of stars displayed below the Mayor Name. One star represents a beginner city, two stars indicates intermediate play, and a city with three stars is for Mayors who enjoy living lives full of complexity. REGION INFO DOWNLOADED CITIES So you've downloaded a bunch of cities from the SimCity.com web site? Clever Mayor. These are automatically placed in a special folder called Downloads found in the Region Import Dialog. You must first Import a downloaded city into a Region--any region--before it can be played. The Region Info Panel can be found at the bottom of the Region View. It displays the region's name and the combined population of ALL the cities in the region. DELETE CITY Click here to delete a city file. Deleted cities are permanently removed, so use caution. PLAY THIS CITY You're ready to break ground on your new city? Click on the Play City button and let the adventure begin. 12 13 PLAYING A CITY OVERHEAD MAP Navigation is a snap with your Overhead Map. Click anywhere on this aerial view of your city to center your City View on that location. DATE Ready to don your Mayor duds and even take on god-like powers? How will you juggle the often conflicting needs of your developing city? Will your Sims think you are doing a super job, or is everyone packing up for parts unknown? This is it--where the Mayoring really begins. This section gives you a breakdown of all the tools you can use as you build and demolish your dream cities when playing. This displays the current date experienced by the Sims in your city. Each city starts in the year "00" (it was a mighty good year), but regions can be comprised of cities from many different eras. Cities may have begun years ago, and may develop far into the future. The faster the Simulation Speed is set, the faster time passes. If you'd like to take a breather while you assess a certain situation, or ponder a weighty decision, just pause the simulation. Time stands still while you ruminate. By holding your cursor over the date, you can check what time it is for your Sims. UNIVERSAL CONTROL PANEL The time of day is independent from Simulation Speed and always runs at the same rate. The sun rises and sets in accordance with the 24 hour clock, and morning and evening rush hours really do happen at rush hour. QUERY TOOL This unassuming little tool can be one of the best ways for a Mayor to gather needed information about conditions around town. The Query Tool can be used to obtain information on any structure within your city. There are two types of query: Hover Query and Dialog Query. The Universal Control Panel (UCP) includes the ever-useful Overhead Map, Camera Controls, Date, Query Tool, Route Query Tool, Simulation Speed Controls, and your City Name (just so you know where you are). You also have the Hide Toolbars button here, if you want to get away from control panel clutter. 14 15 HOVER QUERY Click on the Query Tool and move your cursor over the structures in your city. As you scroll along, important information appears about each structure the cursor touches. DIALOG QUERY If you seek more detailed information on a certain building, the Query Tool is up to the task. Select the Query Tool, then click on the building that interests you. The Dialog Query window gives you customized information according to the type of building queried. For Residential, Commercial, and Industrial buildings you see the building name, the type of occupant, and the top three conditions that currently have the most dramatic impact on the desirability of the area. HINT: If you don't want to see a certain building fall prey to new development, click the Make Historical selection. If conditions warrant, the building may be abandoned and become distressed, but it won't be lost in redevelopment. This designation works only for zoned RCI buildings, not for civic structures. The Dialog Query for a house gives you information about its current occupancy, the wealth of the people living there, whether it is hooked up to your power and water systems, as well as details on the desirability factors of its neighborhood. What else would a Mayor need to know? When you query other types of buildings, you see the name of the structure along with information about its functional capacity. The five icons that are displayed in these Hover Queries indicate whether the building is under-funded or over-capacity (in a word, is it efficient?). If you have fewer than five full icons, then you may want to revisit your mayoral strategy. If conditions really deteriorate (your teachers are being asked to re-constitute chalk dust as a money-saving measure), you may be facing a strike. Query a power station and you receive information about its maximum capacity and current usage. The Dialog Query includes another extremely useful function-adjustment of Local Funding Levels. If you find the power plant is over-funded given current capacity, save a few bucks and ratchet the funding level down. Local Funding Levels can also be set in the Dialog Query window for schools, hospitals, police, and fire stations. HINT: When you build schools and hospitals make sure to adjust Whenever you wonder "What is that?" do a quick Hover Query. Even the smallest items in your city can be queried. the funding to match the number of attendees. In the query window for each school and hospital, lower the local funding until the capacity is slightly higher than the number of people using the facility. If the workers strike, don't worry. Just increase the local funding until they stop striking. 16 17 ROUTE QUERY The Route Query tool provides information about your Sims' commute and freight trips. As with the Query tool, choose the Route Query tool, then hold the cursor over buildings and click on buildings and roads. Hold the cursor over a building--see the number of trips to and from that building, as well as the way Sims are getting there. Click on the building--see the routes taken to and from the building. Hold the cursor over a transportation network--see the number of Sims that are passing through that network and their means of transport. You also see the routes for all of The Sims passing through that network. Click on a transportation network to see the routes for all of the Sims passing through that network. This powerful tool can help you diagnose your transportation issues. If no one is using a bus stop, you can Route Query the houses in the area to see how they are getting to work. By placing another bus stop near their destination you can encourage them to use mass transit. Cool. Because there are so many ways for your Sims to get around, a legend for the route lines is provided when you select the Route Query. CAMERA CONTROLS Want a change of scenery? Use these controls to change your City View. Rotate Camera Clockwise Rotates your camera clockwise. Rotate Camera Counterclockwise Zoom In Ummm. Zooms your City View in one level each click. There are six levels. Get a closer look at what your Sims are up to. You might be surprised. Zooms your City View out one level each click. You need the big picture to get a real sense of your city's progress. Zoom Out SIMULATION SPEED CONTROLS Control how quickly time passes in your city using the Simulation Speed Controls. Click on the single arrow to play at turtle speed. Click the pause button to stop time in its tracks. Click it a second time to restart the simulation at the previously set speed. Click the double arrow to play at rhino speed. You want cheetah speed? Click on (yikes!) the triple arrow. CITY NAME This is how you know whether you are dealing with Parisians or Grand Rapidians. Which might have an impact on your approach to mayoring. 18 19 HIDE TOOLBARS If you'd like an unobstructed view of your city, you can use the Hide Toolbars button to toggle the Universal Control Panel ON/OFF. You can still use the Hotkeys to get things done (for Hotkey reference, see the back cover). GOD MODE In the beginning, there are no roads, Mayors, solar energy plants, or populous Sims. Hear that wind blowing? It's just you and the land. Until you have incorporated your city, God Mode is the only mode you've got. This is not a bad thing. The pre-incorporated God Mode has a lot going for it. A listing of your powers follows. PLAY MODE The buttons that encircle the Universal Control Panel are your portals to different ways you can interact with your city. Each mode is described in detail below. God Mode Terraform, destroy, play with day and night cycles, and more. In an unincorporated city, God Mode is the only available play mode. Mayor Mode Administration central. You need to be in Mayor Mode to incorporate your city, build your city's infrastructure, adjust budgets, and make policy decisions. My Sim Mode Import Sims from The Sims, or create characters on the spot. You also access the U-Drive-It function from My Sim Mode, where you can drive special Mayoral Missions and meet your Sims on the streets. Use this mode to make decisions that have a more personal effect on some of your citizens. TERRAFORM TOOLS Your first charge in the creation of a new city is to shape its terrain. This is called terraforming. God Mode provides you with all the tools you need to become an accomplished landscape artist. Some Mayors may find themselves spending more time terraforming than building roads. Although each terraforming tool is unique, there are some universal functions. Zoom Level Use zoom levels to adjust size and strength of Terraforming Tools. The further out the zoom, the larger the area affected and the stronger the tool. Working at a closer zoom gives the terraformist increased precision to make subtle adjustments in the landscape. Another way to boost the size and strength of a Terraforming Tool's q effects is to hold the q key while using the tool. When you release the q key, the effects return to normal. Hold the Ç key while using a tool to reduce the size and strength of Ç its effects. Release the Ç key, and the effects return to normal. +1--0 The scope of each Terraforming Tool can be adjusted by using the q q key in combination with the number keys (1 through 0 ). Select a Terraforming Tool, press q-1 to make the tool's scope very small, or q-0 to make its scope very large. The q key pressed with any number in between allows you to adjust the scope of the tool to a variety of areas. Click on the Terraforming Tool again to return it to normal. +¡--º The strength of each Terraforming Tool can be adjusted by using the q Shift key in combination with the F keys (¡ through º). Select a Terraforming Tool, and press q-¡ to make the tool very weak, or press q-º to make the tool very strong. Press the q key with any F key in between to choose a variety of strengths. Click on the tool again to return it to normal. PRE-INCORPORATED CITY TOOLS You want to work with a pristine landscape? The artist in you calls for a blank slate? Then come. Enter the world of the unincorporated city--virgin territory. When you start from scratch in your city-building endeavors, the tools at your disposal are different than those available for an incorporated city. You can spend all the time you like making mountains or softening beaches-- molding the land that will serve as the foundation for the great metropolis to come. Best of all, it's free. Take advantage of your god-like powers to shape terrain now, because once your city is incorporated, being god-like costs a LOT of money. 20 21 MAKE MOUNTAINS Select the Make Mountains menu for the set of Terraforming Tools that allow you to raise everything from Andean peaks to what are referred to as hills in southern Illinois. Mountain Raise huge peaks. Crater Create craters. Click and hold the crater tool in one location for best results. Shallow Canyon Create shallow canyons with sloped edges. LEVEL TERRAIN Hill Raise soft rolling hills. This menu of Terraforming Tools allows you to level terrain for different effects. Erosion Click and drag over an area to create craggy mountains, coastlines, or plains. Gently level and smooth the terrain. Use this tool for a fast acting leveling effect. This tool levels all the terrain within the cursor radius to the elevation of the cursor point location. Smooth and soften the terrain for nice soft beaches or gentle rises. Create level plateaus and smooth the terrain. Mesa Create flat-topped mesas. Hold the mouse button in one location for best results. Create hills with a steep slope. Steep Hill Plains Quick Level Brush Soften Cliffs Create cliffs with sharp ridges. GOUGE VALLEYS This set of Terraforming Tools allows you to lower terrain. Would you like to have Bryce Canyon on the outskirts of town? If you want to see rivers, or create lakes, just use these tools to lower the terrain to below sea level. You can then shape bodies of water as you see fit. Valley Create large valleys. Plateau SEED FORESTS Be Johnny Appleseed. Click and drag this tool over to seed it with trees and watch forests grow! Steep Valley Create a valley with steep sides. CREATE FAUNA Now how many Mayors do you know who can, with the flick of the wrist, cause rhinos to appear? After you have seeded those forests, decide what sort of creatures you'd like your Sims to encounter while they hike the hills. Select an animal type and drag your cursor over your chosen habitat. Herds of your chosen fauna begin to gambol about. Drag your cursor over a wide area to get lots of critters. If you hold the cursor in place, you spawn few or no animals. Horses Create herds of wild horses. Canyon Create canyons lined with cliffs. Shallow Valley Create shallow valleys with gentle slopes. 22 23 Woodland Animals Wild Animals A doe, a deer, a female deer. And males. Create ungulates, mostly deer and moose. Create herds and flocks of wild animals. You want rhinos, you'll get rhinos. CREATE DISASTERS Had a bad day? You might do some yoga, or, heck...how about causing meteors to hail down upon your hapless Sims? There now. Feel better? This is definitely where your Mayoral powers might go a little to your head. You are able to cause Disasters both in unincorporated and incorporated cities. Perhaps you'd like a city built around ancient meteor scars and extinct volcanoes. Or maybe your day isn't really complete until you've had a little fun watching a giant robot stroll through town, wreaking havoc and smashing buildings. To add to the fun, you can direct your chosen devastation to any area in your city you desire. Joe Bob Sim been a little whiny lately? Aim a lightning bolt at his garage. Who said civic leaders had to be polite? Autosaurus Wrecks Click on a location in the City View to send a monstrous anthropomorphized collection of vehicles into your city. Once Autosaurus Wrecks appears, you can control its direction by clicking and dragging your mouse in the direction you want it to go. You'll never look at monster trucks the same way again. Since SimCity 4, Mayors have made some otherworldly connections. Your destructive urges now have space aliens to do their bidding. Select the UFO disaster and click in the City View to select a destination for the mother ship. Once mama arrives, it spawns smaller UFOs. The aliens will even let you drive. Click-drag the mouse to the desired location and the spawned UFOs will follow. UFOs are kind of complex machines, though, so earthlings sometimes have some trouble steering. Even Mayors. Click on the location in the City View where you want your volcano to form. Release the mouse button and let the lava flow. Like to play with matches? Choose Fire as your mode of destruction, and your cursor becomes a torch. Add a little heat to your city with a click, hold, and drag. The longer you hold down your mouse button, the larger the conflagration becomes. Like your fire to pack a little whollop? Try a meteor shower! You can control the direction of the meteor in flight by click-dragging the mouse in the direction you want the meteor to go. Once the meteor has achieved impact, you can load up another. Whee! TERRAIN EFFECTS Create wind-blown plains or make an adjustment to sea level. If you're in the market for a set of one-click global effects that change your entire city's terrain, we've got `em. Erode Smooth Raise Terrain Level Lower Terrain Level Click to set the winds of time loose across your entire terrain. Click again until you reach the result you want. Each click applies a smoothing effect across the entire landscape. Click until you reach the desired result. Each click uniformly raises the terrain elevation across the entire landscape. Each click uniformly lowers the terrain elevation across the entire landscape. UFO RECONCILE EDGES When you edit the terrain of a city, you may have forgotten to make your borders a perfect match with neighboring city landforms. Oops. Not to worry. The Reconcile Edges tool adjusts the elevation of the edges of the active city so that you can deal with that sudden three thousand foot elevation gain. Might make that connecting highway a bit of an engineering problem. When you click on the Reconcile Edges button, the areas that are affected are highlighted in red. Any development under the red highlight will be destroyed, so do be careful when using this tool in an incorporated, populated city. If you decide that the reconciliation process is just too painful, click Cancel in the confirmation dialog. If matching your neighbors' terrains is worth it, click the Accept button. Volcano Fire Meteor 24 25 Robot Attack Tornado Lightning Click on a location in the City View to send a ten-story metal monster on a devastating stroll through your city. This darling guy jet-packs into town. Once he lands, you can control his robotic direction by clicking and dragging your mouse in the direction you want him to go. Click on a spot in the City View to unleash a tornado. Once released you can control the direction of the tornado by click-dragging the mouse in the direction you desire. Tornados dissipate quickly over water, so click on land for maximum devastation. Let the sparks fly. Click anywhere in your city to let loose an electrifying jolt. CONTROL DAY AND NIGHT If you leave this alone, the sun sets and the moon rises according to the hours of the day. But you're the Mayor. You can use these tools to make sure the sun never shines, if you're a night owl. Day Only Want to try living in the land of eternal sun? Choose this option, and it's all sun, all the time. The 24 hour clock continues to run, but the sun shines even at midnight. You are a vampire Mayor, and permanent night makes ruling the city that much easier on your undead self. Daytime functions can be so pesky when you run the risk of being burned to cinders by a shaft of sunlight. The 24 hour clock continues to run, but the sun never shines. You just can't get up without a sunrise? Clicking this button allows day and night to occur right on schedule. Night Only Check out whether or not your buildings are up to code. Shake things up with an earthquake. Click and release anywhere in the City View for a tremor. The point where you click is the epicenter of the quake. If you click and hold the mouse button down, you increase the strength of the earthquake upon release. REMEMBER!!! Disasters are hard on city budgets. Rebuilding doesn't come cheap. Be sure you are ready to bear the consequences before you toss a few meteors into that burgeoning commercial district, even if its crime rate is high. Earthquake Day and Night Cycle HINT: Want the satisfaction of creating a disaster without the repercussions? It's easy. Save your city before you launch your desired form of mayhem. Watch as catastrophe occurs. Now exit the game without resaving your city. When you next visit this particular metropolis, it appears the disaster never even occurred. Guilt-free disasters! Who'd a thought it? 26 27 INCORPORATING A CITY Once you've sculpted your city's terrain so it's just the way you want it, you are ready to move on to the incorporation process. This is where things get serious. Click on the Mayor Mode button , and you enter the Establish City dialog. POST INCORPORATED CITY TOOLS Once you establish a city, your god-like powers to shape the land are gone forever (or at least until you obliterate the place). But hey! Now you can begin to design the layout and watch your city develop from an idea into reality. The following tools can help. GOD MODE Obliterate City Reconcile Edges Create Disasters Control Day and Night Commitment time! Enter the name of your city, the Mayor's name (your name, of course!), and choose the difficulty level for play. DIFFICULTY SETTING Mayors couldn't do this before. Now you can choose from three difficulty settings for city development. Easy You start with a ton of cash, see faster development, and will find that making money (tax revenue builds up fast!) is much less challenging than in other settings. You'll also receive frequent messages from your advisors warning you when you've taken a "wrong" turn, along with what you can do to remedy the situation. Medium Not quite as much money to start with, but still plenty. Development is a little more challenging, and keeping your budget balanced takes some mayoral maneuvering. Your advisors are still there to assist you, but might not be quite so helpful. Hard You need to be careful with your spending because your initial funds are pretty sparse. If you want a challenge, you've got it. Try to keep development going and your tax base growing. If you are successful, you know you have reached the highest levels of Mayordom. Be sure about the difficulty setting you've chosen before you establish the city. Once you accept it, there's no going back. (ohhhhhh nooooooo!) After a city has been incorporated, many of the Terraforming Tools previously available in your God Mode toolbox are just no longer within your grasp. You can, however, still reconcile the edges of the city to its neighboring cities, affect the day/night cycling, and unleash disasters on your unsuspecting Sims. If you really miss your former power, you can obliterate your city and start all over again. OBLITERATE CITY If you've managed to run your city into the ground and want to start over, this is the button for you. Obliterate City removes all vestiges of the city and its inhabitants, but maintains the underlying terrain. When obliteration is complete, the City and Mayor names are removed, and the city is returned to its unincorporated state. It's as if it never happened. All of your god-like Terraforming Tools are available again, so you can once again terraform to your heart's content. When using this tool, your city is automatically saved. So be careful, true to its name, obliteration cannot be reversed. RECONCILE EDGES Reconcile Edges works the same for an incorporated city as it does for one that's unincorporated. Because an incorporated city is likely to have buildings and other structures that can be demolished when terrain modifications are made, be careful when using this tool. Remember that anything located under the red highlight will be destroyed. Zap. 28 29 CREATE DISASTERS All of the disasters available to you in the unincorporated God Mode are also available to you in the incorporated God Mode, but they are way more fun when Sims are involved. For more information on these tools, see the Pre-Incorporated City Tools section. MAYOR MODE CONTROL DAY AND NIGHT Day and night control is available in incorporated cities. This tool works the same way it does when the city is unincorporated. For more information see the Pre-Incorporated City Tools section. Whether you've chosen to take the easy route or the barrier-strewn path, you are sure to find challenges galore as you inaugurate your administration. Your god-like terraforming powers may have dwindled, but the position of Mayor comes with plenty of muscle. Mayor mode affords you ample scope to exercise your megalomania, be it for good or evil. Build roads! Add cloverleafs to your highway system! Plop the Taj Mahal in your city center! Zone! Beautify! Spend! Destroy! This is where the action is. The real challenge of SimCity 4 Deluxe is to be a Mayor who keeps loyal citizens happy, healthy and prosperous. If you put your Sims first, budget wisely, and keep your ears and eyes open to all kinds of information about your city, you will be on your way to achieving hero status in your city. If you sought out the position of Mayor mostly to line your own pockets--how long can you keep the city on the brink of disaster while you milk it dry? As you build your city's infrastructure, you have a wealth of information available to keep tabs on your city--from your current Mayor rating to trend data on education levels. Never forget to seek out the Sim's-eye view of what's going on. You might stop a crime wave in its tracks if you listen to the man, woman, or child on the streets. This section takes you through the basic tools available to you as Mayor. Good luck! LANDSCAPE TOOLS Now that you've established your city, you can still grow mountains--at a cost. Gods can sculpt terra firma for free, but this sort of landscaping comes with a price tag for Mayors, which may limit your ambitions. The mortal world also greatly reduces the scale and effect of these tools, compared to their powers in God mode. But hey! All of the special universal functions available to you in the God Mode Terraforming Tools are available here (e.g., Ç and q keys, the q-1 through 0, etc.). You may plan to make your upscale neighborhood even more upscale with a nice ridge formation, but beware! If you landscape too close to development, you destroy buildings and other structures. The following tools allow you to modify your city's terrain: 30 31 Raise Terrain Gouge Valleys Level Terrain Plant Flora Create landscaped hills in your city. Create modest valleys. Level terrain within the coverage circle. Select from several species to place saplings throughout your city. Once you have planted the young trees, watch your canopy grow! For the map-minded Mayor, a new feature--create signposts throughout your city, or place labels on transportation networks, hills, valleys, and bodies of water. (For more details on Signs and Labels, see below.) PLACING LABELS When you drag a label onto a transportation network (road, avenue, rail, etc.), the label automatically aligns to the network and changes colors. Cool, eh? Immortalize yourself by naming mountains and lakes in your honor. When dragging the label into place, you can adjust its orientation by using the h (rotate clockwise) and u (rotate counterclockwise) keys on your keyboard. As you rotate the viewing angle, labels always orient to be right-side up, which means a few positions won't work. To edit a label, choose the Label Tool, and click on the label to change text or remove it entirely. BULLDOZE SIGNS & LABELS Went a little crazy naming stuff after yourself? A teensy bit embarrassed? This very special bulldozer removes signs and labels, but no other structures. Phew. Problem solved. Sign & Label Tools SIGNS & LABELS ON/OFF You like your signs and labels, but at times you want to view the city sans signage? The power is at your fingertips. Click on this button once. Poof, they are gone. Click again, they reappear. You are god-like and magic. SIGNS AND LABELS SIGN TOOL Click anywhere using your Sign Tool within your City View and type in the text you'd like to see on your newly created sign (The Mayor Slept Here). You can change what a sign says by choosing this tool and clicking on the sign's text to edit. Want to move a sign to a more visible location? Choose the Sign Tool and click-drag the sign to its new locale. LABEL TOOL Click on a location in the City View with the Label Tool. The Label Tool dialog appears. Type in the desired text for your label (e.g., Sea of Anxiety, Valley of the Valley Girls). Like what you've written? Click on Accept to place the label. Once your label has been placed, you can drag it to a new location, if you so desire. 32 33 ZONE TOOLS A city that is zoned well works well. Not only does zoning give your Sims room to grow, your zoning decisions dictate how they grow. So, Mayor, put on your city planner hat, and see how your strategies pan out. When you zone an area, you designate what kind of development can occur. Your Sims develop the appropriate buildings according to how you have zoned the land. Zone an area for residential structures and only Sim dwellings will be built there. Zone an area medium- or high-density industrial and watch the smelters move in. Density represents how many people you can pack into a building. By zoning lower density, you limit the size of the buildings that develop in your city. Zoning high density allows for skyscrapers, but is very expensive. Higher density buildings don't develop until you reach the following population thresholds: PLACING ZONES Choose your desired zone designation. Click and hold the mouse button down as you drag the mouse across tiles until you cover the area you wish to zone. You can zone a single tile with one click of the mouse button. Click and hold the mouse to fill areas between pre-existing roads with a zoned area. If there are no bounding roads, click and hold the mouse as you drag to create a zone of maximum size. Each lot created displays a little arrow indicating the front of the lot. Lot fronts must face a street or road to be connected to your transportation network. You can affect the orientation of the lots when you zone by pressing the a key while you zone. Streets are automatically built within zones to make sure your Sims have access in and out of neighborhoods to major routes. If pre-built streets interfere with your sense of control, you can send the autostreet function packing by holding the q key down while zoning and build your own streets. Eek! Have you zoned an area you were saving for landfill? Just press s before you let up on the mouse button. This cancels your zoning operation. Phew! DENSITY Low Medium High POPULATION 0 1,100 26,000 HINT: Try to zone in highly desirable locations. Use the Desirability Data View to determine what location is desirable to which group of Sims. Since this data is broken out by occupant type (see p. 55 for complete list of all occupant types), you can pick the ideal location for each group you wish to take up residence in your city. HINT: Don't zone high density residential or commercial early in the game. It is costly and you won't get high density development until your population exceeds 26,000. In other words, build out before you try to build up. Zoning density has no impact on the wealth of the residents or businesses that move into your city (If you build it, they will not necessarily come). A final note--never confuse zone type with occupant type. Low density residential (zone type) is not the same thing as low wealth residential (R§) (occupant type). Density specifies building capacity limits, the difference between single family dwellings and huge apartment buildings. Wealth specifies standard of living for the residents. Low density zoning can allow for low, medium, and high wealth residential development. Got that? So here's the rundown of zone types: Hey, you say, this is easy! Hold on, Mayor. You thought you were ALL powerful? Not exactly. What actually develops in your Residential, Commercial, and Industrial zones is up to your Sims. You are merely placing restrictions on types of buildings, kinds of businesses, and zone densities. If you zone an area for High Density Residential development, don't be surprised if the high-rises don't immediately appear. Zones don't develop to their peak capacity until you have created the conditions that spur demand for those zones. Use your RCI Demand Indicator and your Desirability Maps to let you know if your zoning decisions are in line with the needs and desires of your Sims. RESIDENTIAL Density choices are: Low Density Medium Density You see mostly single family homes being built. This zone allows for smaller apartment buildings and condominiums. We're talking huge tenements to massive luxury highrises. HINT: Your population is booming, and you've zoned for high density areas, but STILL no high rises? Check out your water supply situation. Water is an unnecessary money drain as your city is newly developing, but once you hit the big time, your Sims demand a nice, clean supply of H2O. High Density HINT: Zone for low density development when your city is in the early stages of growth. It's much easier on your pocketbook, and you won't see taller, bigger buildings until your city increases in size and population anyway. 34 35 COMMERCIAL And the density choices are: Low Density Medium Density High Density Watch mom and pop stores, gas stations, and other small businesses grow. This zone includes medium-sized office buildings and stores. Large office buildings, mega-stores, and skyscrapers. TRANSPORTATION TOOLS If your Sims can't get there, they won't go. If your Sims can't go, your city won't grow. No city can function without an adequate transportation infrastructure. Sims must be able to get to their jobs in a reasonable amount of time, and businesses need to export their wares to other parts of Sim Nation. As Mayor, it is your responsibility to create an efficient, flowing, interconnected web of roads, avenues, streets, highways, railways, subways, bus routes, bridges, and tunnels. Sounds easy, huh. It is a challenge, but you have some of the most skilled construction engineers in the world at your command. If you have the will, and the budget, you can build almost any kind of thoroughfare. Here are the tools you can use to build the transportation network that helps your city flow...or be slow. HINT: One word: rezone. Commercial kingpins showing an interest PLACING ROUTES To place a road or any other transportation route, click on an origination point and drag to form a line. When you release the mouse, your road appears. Transportation networks can follow straight or diagonal paths. To build an irregular or overall diagonal route, hold the q key down with your selected transportation network tool. This will build a length of connected straight and diagonal route sections so that you can follow the desired overall path for your network. If you don't provide street, road, or avenue access to the lots in your zones, then the No Car Zot is displayed. Eek! If your Sims' commute takes so much time they never get to work, then you see the No Work Zot. Ack! in the commercial district where Joe's Gas-n-Shave is the biggest concern going? You can rezone higher density zones of the same type over existing areas without destroying what's already there. When conditions are right, higher density buildings will develop alongside and over current structures. INDUSTRIAL The envelope please...Yes, and the density choices are: Agricultural Zone Farms and only farms. No planned communities, no encroaching subdivisions. Just tractors, barns, and crops. Moo. This zone includes medium sized factories, warehouses, manufacturing plants, and high-tech industry. Mega-industry. Large factories, incinerators, or, if you've planned well, gleaming high-tech industrial complexes. HINT: If your Sims don't immediately begin to trundle along on Medium Density High Density your newly built route, don't despair! It takes Sims about a month to discover new ways to get around. BUILD ROADS The bulk of your transportation needs are fulfilled with roads of one flavor or another. SimCity 4 Deluxe provides several options depending on your city's ever-changing requirements. Roads More expensive than Streets (some of which are built for you when you zone an area), Roads have the benefit of higher capacity and speed limit. If you notice crowding and gridlock on your Streets, you can upgrade them by building Roads right on top. Avenues are quite a bit more expensive than either Roads or Streets, and take up twice as much space, but they more than make up for it with even higher capacity and a higher speed limit. You may need to demolish some buildings to fit them in, but Avenues are a great 37 replacement for Roads that are jammed with traffic. HINT: Zone your industrial areas near the edges of your city map and make a road or rail neighbor connection to reduce the length of freight trips. Industrial barons need to get their products around town and exported beyond city boundaries or their companies won't grow. Access to efficient transportation makes a zone more desirable for these ambitious souls. DEZONE The Dezone Tool is available in any zoning type, after your density choices. Have you zoned and developed a certain area, but rethought your strategies? Use this tool to remove the zoned area, as well as the streets created when the original zoning went in. Avenues 36 HINT: Traffic accidents are a symptom of congestion. You may enjoy rubbernecking for a while, but if your city stays congested (ah-choo!), development stagnates, and your Sims may begin to look for greener pastures. One Way Roads have twice the capacity of regular roads but only in one direction. They also increase the efficiency of intersections, which can ease the burden of heavy traffic. Just make sure that you provide a way for your Sims to get both to and from work, or they won't go to work at all. Any excuse, that's all it takes. These are cheap, comparatively, but Streets have the lowest capacity and speed limits of all your road options. When zoning, Streets are automatically built in zones so that Sims can drive out of their parking lots and driveways. Ground Highway and Elevated Highway Cloverleafs One Way Roads When two highways cross, do you want your Sims to be able to go from one highway to the other? That's where the handy dandy Cloverleaf comes in. When you build intersecting highways, you are prompted to put in a Cloverleaf. If you balk at the price, you can always go back to the Transportation Tools menu and add one later. These structures take up lots of space, so make sure there's nothing underneath when you build. HINT: Know where you need to site a cloverleaf, T-intersection, Streets overpass onramp, or side onramp, but haven't had the time or funds to build the highway yet? You can now place these structures before you build a highway. If you have selected one of these structures, but aren't sure that this is the best option for your network, use the Home and End keys to cycle through your options. HINT: BUILD HIGHWAYS & RAMPS Highways are very expensive compared to Streets, Roads, and Avenues, and tend to take up a lot of space, but their capacity is HUGE, and their speed limits are high. Highways can be an important part of your planning as the population of your city inches towards the megalopolis category. Ground Level Highways Ground Level Highways might seem more cost effective than Elevated Highways at first, but building overpasses for roads that cross the highway can jack up the price fast in downtown areas. On the other hand, Ground Level Highways are a great choice for getting your citizens from their homes in the Burbs to the city center. Elevated Highways Just build `em on top! Elevated Highways are more expensive than Ground Level Highways, but the money you spend can be recouped as you can build the less expensive roads and streets underneath to bolster the efficiency of your network. If you have a lot of roads running perpendicular to your highway, such as in a downtown commercial district with a grid-like road network, Elevated Highways are often the way to go. Ground Highway T-Intersections are nifty little engineering feats cooked and Elevated up by your engineers and construction crews, Mayor. Highway T-Intersections These are three-way intersections where one Highway transitions into another Highway that runs perpendicular to the first. T-Intersections come in several flavors: ground-ground, elevated-elevated, and elevated-ground. Every Mayor can choose the T-Intersection that's right for them! Ground Highway You've built highways, but the only thing blowing by is and Elevated wind? Before Sims can drive onto a highway, they need a Highway Overpass way to get from the road to this transportation artery. Onramps For roads that run perpendicular to the highway, build an Overpass Onramp for access. If the road already exists when you build the highway, you are prompted to place an Onramp. Don't want or need one right now? You can go to the Transportation Tools menu to build one later. For Ground Level highways you have to manually place an overpass. Ground Highway and Need access from a road that runs parallel to the Elevated Highway Side highway? Build a Side Onramp. Your construction Onramps engineers don't prompt you on this one, Side Onramps are only placed manually. You knew you had to do something to earn that big, fat salary, didn't you? It is easier to build the Side Onramp first, and then connect the road. If the road is already in place, make sure that it's two tiles away from the highway and straight to get a working connection. 38 39 BUILD RAILS & DEPOTS When it comes to maintenance, Rail is cheaper than roads, and is significantly more efficient at getting hordes of people from one place to another. Industrial areas tend to thrive when there is access to railways for transporting freight out of town (with the added benefit of keeping pesky freight trucks off the roads). When it comes to building railways that get used, placement is everything. Be wise, and do not squander the iron. Rail Pound that Rail! Rail lines can be used for both commuter traffic and freight trips. For your Sims to use all these wonderful tracks, they need access. Don't forget to build Passenger and Freight Train Stations if you want to see your network utilized. Build your Stations near origination and destination points for both commuters and freight users. Sims hate to travel far to use mass transit. Passenger Train Station Passenger Train Stations are for your commuting Sims. Make sure to place stations in the center of your residential areas and in central locations of your business districts. Otherwise they won't get much use. Freight Train Station For industry to be successful, manufactured goods need to have a way to get out of town. If you rely on roads to satisfy this demand, freight trucks tend to compete with commuters for lane space--and nobody wins. Try this, place Freight Train Stations in the center of your industrial development and run Rail lines from the station to the edge of the map. As with Passenger Rail Stations, manufacturers won't use your rail network unless there is a Freight Train Station for access. You just might encourage your industries to use Rail as their main means of transport, which frees up the Roads for you and your Sims. Grand Railroad Station Ah, ain't life grand. If you have really invested in building up your Rail system, you might want to cap it off with a Grand Station. These stations have several times the passenger capacity of small Passenger Rail Stations, and on top of that, they increase desirability for commercial office development. Monorail Monorail and Monorail Stations can add some panache to your town. Monorail takes up as much space as surface rail, but doesn't interfere with traffic because it passes right over the top of roads. This stylish transportation option is costly to install and maintain, but 40 provides super high-speed travel. Whee! MISCELLANEOUS TRANSPORTATION Roads and rail won't necessarily be the only answer to your transportation needs. All large cities need to utilize mass transit options in one form or another. Bus Stop Build Bus Stops to get your Sims out of their cars and into the mode of mass transit, and add value to your Roads and Avenues. Be sure to strategically place your stations in both the heart of your residential neighborhoods and work districts (both commercial and industrial) to make your Sims' feel the walk to the stop is worth their while. HINT: Use the Route Query tool to help you place bus, subway, and elevated rail stations. These stations don't come with parking, so your Sims have to walk to use them unless you place a Public Parking Garage nearby. Sims willingly walk only so far, and you need to be sure to place the stations within walking distance (usually about 10 tiles, depending on how lengthy their commute). The Route Query tool shows you the major commute routes in your city. Click on different roads with the tool to locate clusters of Sims that live near each other and also work in close proximity. These locations are where you want mass transit stations, Mayor. Elevated Rail is actually an above-ground extension of your Subway network. Think of your connected Elevated Rail-Subway system as a single Rapid Transit system. Rapid Transit runs trains much more frequently, and is much more efficient at moving lots of Sims quickly over short distances than surface rail systems. This makes it a good choice for mass transit in and around your city. Elevated Rail is cheaper to build and maintain than Subways, but more expensive than surface rail. Like Monorail, Elevated Rail takes up the space of surface rail, but allows road traffic to pass uninterrupted below. Elevated Rail and Elevated Rail Station HINT: If you invest in an Elevated Rail-Subway system, you want to be sure that it is used to capacity. Sims walk to Elevated and Subway Stations, but putting a Bus Stop next door will encourage more distant Sims to use the system. If you build a Public Parking Garage next door to the station in a residential area, you might entice a lot of Sims to "park-andride." Now that's thinking, Mayor! 41 Subway-Elevated Rail Transfer Subway and Subway Station Public Parking Garage Subway and Elevated Rail run the same trains and schedules, but when building your system you may find locations where it is best for your Subway train to emerge from the depths or your Elevated train to go underground. Perhaps the terrain is too steep for the elevated rail and it's better to burrow below. That's where the Subway-Elevated Rail Transfer comes in. Build one of these babies to smoothly link your Subway line to your Elevated line. Get really skillful with this kind of stuff, and you may well be on your way to earning an award from the Sim Society of Engineers. You never know. Go tubing! Subways provide a great way for people to get to and from work, and since they are built below the earth's surface, they take almost no space away from development. Again, the placement of Subway Stations is critical. Subways are pricey, but if you are building a city to rival Tokyo or Mexico City, you'll probably need to go below for best flow. Mass Transit is a great alternative to driving, cutting down on traffic and pollution in your fair city. If you want your Sims to take greatest advantage of your beautiful mass transit system, though, you need to take into account that Sims just don't like to walk that far. Eureka! Public Parking Garages to the rescue! Build a Public Parking Garage next to a suburban mass transit station and serve a much larger area--and many more Sims--by letting them "park-and-ride." nothing to help solve your traffic problems. In fact, they might make things worse. Being told they now have to pay to travel on routes they previously used for free also gets your commuting Sims a little resentful. Was that your Mayor Rating? Did it just go down? BUILD AIRPORTS If you plan to have your commercial development go through the roof, then you need access to the skies. Without an Airport servicing your city, you won't see huge commercial districts develop. Make sure your Airport has good transportation access to your commercial zones, otherwise those white collar Sims won't be able to make their flights. Take into consideration that airports are large, noisy, and generate a lot of traffic and air pollution. Neighboring residential Sims might not be too happy with planes zooming low over their rooftops. Unless you're a wizard at managing your funds--and who is--you are better served to build the Airport that meets your city's current needs. Three different Airport types are provided for you to choose from--Landing Strip, Municipal Airport, and International Airport. Each may need to be expanded as your air traffic increases. Keep in touch with your Transportation Advisor--he requests necessary expansions when the time comes. WATER TRANSPORTATION If you have built a city on an ocean or large waterway, Water Transportation can serve the same purpose for commuter and freight transport as overland forms of travel do for landlocked communities. Passenger Ferry Building a bridge that spans a body of water can be very Terminal/Car & expensive. Constructing a Ferry System can often get Passenger Ferry you by until your city coffers can afford the more Terminal expensive alternatives. Place a Ferry Terminal on both sides of the water and connect them to a road system so that people can drive to and from the Ferry. There are two types of Ferries, one for pedestrian passengers only, and another for pedestrians and automobiles. Ferries of one type do not dock at a terminal for the other type, so be sure to set up your Ferry System with this in mind. Build at least two Ferry Terminals of the same type on the same body of water--or else no one takes the ferry. Ferry trips can take your citizens to adjacent cities that are built on the same body of water, making for very pleasurable commutes (according to Sim data sources)! Build Bus Stops and Public Parking Garages next to Passenger Ferry Terminals to encourage more use. HINT: Be sure to build your Public Parking Garages in residential areas, the place where your Sims will use their cars to get to and from the station. Building a Public Parking Garage in work districts is a waste of money. You still need to build plenty of stations in work districts, as this is where your Sims will be on foot. They parked and rode, remember! Got lots of traffic but not much money? Hey, here's an idea! Turn that congestion into cash by strategically building a few toll booths. Every trip that passes through a toll booth puts Simoleons into your city's budget. Select the Toll Booth tool to build your little money-maker on any Road, Street, Avenue, or Highway (straight segments only). You knew it couldn't be that good, didn't you Mayor? Every silver lining has its cloud--sigh. Toll Booths do Toll Booth 42 43 Seaports Marina Are you a Mayor who encourages mega-Industry? Hopefully, you've already built connections to your neighboring communities. Another way to help get your industrial goods out of town is to provide a Seaport or two. This might not work if your city is situated in Nebraska--but you can always try. Just make sure that you build Seaports near industrial zones and provide good roads leading to them so that freight trucks can get there lickity split. Marinas are not really about getting around, but more for your Sim's recreation. Building a Marina improves local residential desirability and--ta da!--provides you with new drivable water craft. Have fun, and don't forget your life-vest! TUNNELS Sometimes it's just easier to go under than over. And what's a good commute without a Tunnel or two to spice it up? When you attempt to build a transportation network over a hill, part of the preview line may turn green. If so, when you release the mouse button, that green section becomes a Tunnel. Tunnels can be created for Roads, Avenues, One-way Roads, Rail, Monorails, and both Ground and Elevated Highways. UTILITIES TOOLS Ah, the electrical hum of power lines, the echoing metallic "ping" of water starting to flow through underground pipes, the call of seagulls at the dump! As Mayor, you need to be sure your Sims are supplied with the bare necessities of life: power, water, and somewhere to throw that dirty tissue. Ewww. BRIDGES So you built your city on a bay, hmmm. It was pretty once, but now it is one big commuter headache. Luckily you have the finest engineers in the land at your command, and the building of Bridges is within your grasp. Your headache may be on its way out, if you have the cash on hand for the cure. To build a Bridge select a transportation network such a Highway, Road, Avenue, Rail, or Monorail and drag a line so that it extends completely across the body of water. You can not build a Bridge while laying down Streets or One-way Roads, or when building on a diagonal. Make sure that you extend the line onto plenty of land on each side of the water. If your engineers have made the correct calculations, the red line turns into a beautiful Bridge. When you release the mouse button, the Bridge Selection Window appears. BUILD POWER SYSTEMS No Mayor gets far without providing power. Abraham Lincoln may have read by candlelight, but your Sims are not too interested in life off the grid. You can't start a city without a power supply. Want to try anyway? Watch. See the No Power Zot show up over all your buildings and zones? You may enjoy seeing the little lightning bolts adorning your buildings, but your city will go nowhere fast. At first, your power options are limited. You can power up by building a Wind Power Plant, a Coal Power Plant, a Natural Gas Power Plant, or an Oil Power Plant. Each of these options has good stuff and bad stuff going for it. The Coal Power Plant may be the most cost effective, but it's also the biggest polluter. Wind Power is very clean, but doesn't have great capacity. Oil and Natural Gas fall in between as far as capacity and pollution go. HINT: Think about putting your pollution-generating power Choose from one of the available Bridges. If over water, use the Bridge Height slider to adjust the height of the bridge. Some Bridges have a minimum length requirement, so they may not appear on the selection menu. Be sure to provide enough room for ferries to pass under your new construct if they ply your waters. Click the OK button, and--VOILA! Maestro Mayor, you have a new Bridge. Bridges can also be built to span areas with large slope changes on land--over a gorge, for instance. plants, landfills, and even your dirty industry in another city (you can do this in region play). Don't forget to set up connections and neighbor deals so that you can access jobs and services. Pollution doesn't travel well between cities, so you are left to concentrate on building nice, clean, desirable residential and commercial districts. Nice work if you can get it. If you do keep the dirt in town, try playing on a larger map and setting up different sectors for polluting and nonpolluting development. As Mayor, two things help you decide which plant to place: your monthly costs and the desires of your Sims. If you go with a polluting power source, then try to keep it far from your commercial and residential zones. Connect the plant to your zoned areas with a power line. Remember, power flows both through power lines and zoned areas. Zones and powerlines need to be within four tiles 44 45 of another powered area to conduct electricity. Once you've built a plant, don't forget to use the Query Tool to check on the efficiency with which you are providing Sims power. As your city grows alternate power sources become available. These alternate sources are visible in the Power Systems menu but are grayed out until you have created the conditions in which they can be built. Take a look at the Tool-tips for these plants to determine what you need to do to earn the new power sources. WATER TREATMENT PLANTS Scum, germs, and industrial waste are major factors in the amount of water that the towers and pumps can distribute to your Sims. And mega-industry isn't the only culprit. Although nice and pastoral, farms are one of the biggest sources of water pollution around (think pesticides). If you place a tower or pump in an area of high water pollution, its output dramatically decreases or even shuts down. Technology to the rescue! Clean up your water by building a Water Treatment Plant in highly polluted areas. As with your Power Systems, options for water structures increase as the size and quality of your city improves. Take a look at the grayed out entries in the Water Systems menu to see what you need to do to make the new options a possibility. BUILD WATER SYSTEMS A look at the future? Demand for a public water supply is a sign of socio-economic growth, both for your city and your Sims. You don't need to build a Water Supply System early on in your city's development (Sims seem to be pretty handy at digging wells), but if you want Sims with simoleons to spare to take up residence, you need to make sure their showers run good and hot. High wealth businesses (commercial services CS$$$, commercial offices CO$$$, and Industry high tech (I-HT) also require water. Any medium to high density development requires water, so if you intend to build a thriving megalopolis, don't skimp on the wet stuff. BUILD SANITATION SYSTEMS Sims can be awfully messy folk, and if you don't provide a means of dealing with that mess, the trash can pile up quickly (peeuw!). Fortunately, there are several options at your--ahem-- disposal (sorry). You can zone a Landfill, build a Recycling Center, or construct a Waste to Energy Plant. The Waste to Energy Plant generates power as part of the bargain. Landfills may seem to be the most cost-effective choice, but monthly maintenance costs can be quite high. Only zone what you need. Landfills eat garbage even while they fill. Start small and get a feel for landfill capacity. Landfills are nasty polluters, so keep them away from your nice neighborhoods. Otherwise, watch desirability levels for these areas plummet. Don't forget to build roads to your Landfill, otherwise the Garbage Trucks can't get there! You wouldn't think so, but the Waste to Energy Plant is an even worse polluter. Energy ain't free, Mayor. The Recycling Center is a more environmentally-conscious alternative, but its effect on reducing garbage in the city is somewhat limited. With any Sanitation System, be sure that you have built road connections to your city. Sanitation workers balk at packing out your trash, so you'll be paying for services you aren't receiving. PROVIDING WATER First build a source--either a Water Tower or a Water Pump. Water Towers are cheaper but provide less water than the Water Pump. Back to the budget and city needs, Mayor! Which works best for you? Once you have a source, you need to build a delivery system. You have a crack team that can build Water Pipe in no time. You can even watch it being built in the nifty Underground View. Build pipe underneath the zones that need water. Water Pipes carry water six tiles beyond the pipe on either side. If your water supply runs short, the supply distance from the pipe shrinks and some Sims go without water until you rectify the problem. Do you really want Joe Bob Sim to go without a bath for that long? The No Water Zot shows up over any building that requires water but is not being supplied. HINT: Don't bother providing water to your Sims until you are ready to have high wealth residents or medium- and/or highdensity development move in. Contrary to what you may think, no one else needs it. If you find that you aren't getting high wealth or medium- and/or high-density development, check to see that you are providing water. 46 47 CONNECTING CITIES CIVIC TOOLS If you want your Sims to thrive in your Shangri-la, there are many things that you, as Mayor, need to provide. Are your citizens protected from criminals and fire? Are you providing a high quality educational system, adequate health care, recreational opportunities and other amenities found in the Civic Tools menu? Prudent placement of these services can have great impact on your city's demographics, as well as the desirability of its neighborhoods. In most cases, Civic Buildings have a radius of effect. For instance, when you build a fire station, you can see its coverage, or service area, indicated by the ring that surrounds the building. Any area that falls outside that radius receives no service. Want more coverage? You can usually enlarge a building's service area by increasing the funding for that building or city department. Or, for the construction-minded, just build another station or hospital to provide more service. Don't worry about destroying existing civic or utilities buildings; the game won't allow you to plop on top of those structures. But plop on top of RCI buildings and they will be destroyed. City Connections can be made with any transportation network, power lines, and water pipes. To make the connection, choose your desired transportation or utility tool and drag out a network to the edge of your city. When you let go you are presented with the Create a Connection dialog. HINT: Don't place parks, police stations, or fire stations before you can afford them. You won't need them early in your city's development. A good rule of thumb is to build your first fire station when a fire breaks out in your city (just build it quickly). BUILD POLICE STATIONS & JAILS Click Accept and--voila!--the connection is created. A yellow arrow appears on the network line to indicate that a neighbor connection exists. Go visit your neighbor. You should see the small nub of the network line on the edge of the city that abuts yours, with the yellow arrow indicating connection. Once each side of the connection is connected to the heart of your two cities, they will become intermingled, sharing jobs and residents. As you add amenities to one city, such as power plants, water pumps, and landfills, you can begin to sell those services to the neighboring cities through Neighbor Deals. Crime rates are dependent on several factors. Didn't know you would need to study law enforcement theory to be a Mayor, did you? If you have worked to improve living conditions, increase the average Sim salary, and provide ample educational opportunities for your Sims, your city's crime rate decreases. But happy, considerate citizens cannot quell criminal insurgence alone. That's where the police come in. The police help you maintain public order, and respond to various kinds of emergencies. If there is little or no blue-uniformed presence in town, watch the crooks move in. You may choose between several sizes of police stations to suit the law enforcement needs of your city. Each station varies in size, capacity, cost, and coverage area. Stations also come with a set number of squad cars that can be used for emergency dispatches. If your Sims get uppity, and start a riot, you want to be sure to have enough squad cars available for dispatch to quell the melee. As your police force apprehends criminals, they toss them in the jail cells provided with each station. The Police Kiosk alone does not have enough room to house criminals. If a police officer on duty apprehends a suspect, the potentially guilty party is taken to the jail cells at the nearest station. When the jails in your police stations are filled to capacity, it may be time to build a City Jail. Watch overcrowding in the jails, though--jail riots make everyone in town a little jumpy. If you are experiencing a crime wave, you better build more police stations. Check the Crime Data View to see if your efforts are having an effect. Don't lower station funding if crime is barely held in check. Lower funding of a police station significantly lessens officer efficiency in criminal apprehension. 49 48 BUILD FIRE STATIONS Sorry to say, buildings are inherently flammable (some more so than others--especially industrial buildings). To keep your city from being engulfed in flame, make sure that you have enough fire stations to cover the developed areas. Like police stations, fire stations have a radius of coverage within which they can subdue any fires that might break out even before they are reported to the Mayor's Mansion. Outside the coverage area, however, fires can spark up and spread throughout your city. This is where you need to be quick on the draw, Mayor. These fires are doused only if you send out a dispatch order to the fire trucks and planes that come with your stations. See the Emergency Tools section for more information on Dispatch. BUILD HOSPITALS & CLINICS Healthy Sims make for healthy workers. And when your city's health depends on the productivity of your citizens, wellness programs become vital to the big picture. When you improve the health of your Sims, you increase the number of citizens that can hold a job (Live longer, work longer!). This, in turn, increases the city's tax revenue and lures more businesses to your city. So, Mayor, you can see that it's in your best interest to provide proper health coverage for all of your Sims. Sims feel more secure if there is a health center near home, so build health facilities in residential zones, and don't bother putting them near businesses. Watch your population relative to the funding levels of your Health Centers. Health workers get riled up and may strike if they feel they are being asked to serve too many patients. HINT: Wait until a fire breaks out to build your first fire station, then build it near the conflagration. The firefighters go into action immediately. This way you save money by building fire stations only as you need them. BUILD LANDMARKS A favorite lunch spot in your downtown commercial district just happens to be at the feet of The Great Sphinx? Lucky city. Landmarks are expensive to buy and maintain, but add grace and distinction to your city. They also happen to greatly increase desirability for high end commercial businesses (which offer high paying jobs to your citizens). BUILD EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS A high quality Educational System is critical if you aim to develop your city beyond one dominated by low paying jobs and poor inhabitants. Educate your populace and your city can evolve into a thriving, sophisticated metropolis filled with prosperous Sims and high end jobs. Education also plays a part in reducing your city's crime rate. To fulfill your city's educational needs, you need to keep tabs on the age of your Sims. Younger Sims require elementary and high schools, while growing Sims need colleges and universities. Adult Sims prefer ongoing educational enrichment offered through libraries and museums. You probably won't be able to afford all of these educational institutions right off the bat, so you need to pick and choose what to build based on which age group predominates your city. For information about the age of your residents and their education levels look at the Education and Residential Average Age Data Views. Also helpful are the graphs for Education, Education by Age, and Population by Age Graphs. Schools also have a radius of effect, which is indicated when you build them or click on them for information. Make sure that the Sims that live within the school's service area meet the age criteria for the school. Place schools only in your residential neighborhoods. Schools in commercial and industrial areas will attract no students. It's a good idea to begin building your Educational System early. You can save money by adjusting their funding to match the population they serve. As your population increases, be sure to increase funding as well. Otherwise, you may have a strike on your hands when your overworked teachers complain about having too many students. BUILD REWARDS & BUSINESS DEALS You have to create certain civic conditions before you are able to add the buildings found in the Rewards & Business Deals menu. If you are successful in building your city, these Rewards become available. If you are having difficulties, particularly financial ones, Business Deals become available. Even though the buildings are Rewards, they sometimes cost money to build, and sometimes have a monthly maintenance price tag. Usually, though, they offer services and opportunities that greatly add to your city's overall quality of life. Business Deals cost nothing and provide monthly income, but--you guessed it--there are often hidden costs (Mayorville: Future Site of the World's Largest Toxic Waste Dump). Reward Buildings can often be found in multiple locations (the Hydrogen Plant is in both Rewards and Power Systems). Read the tool-tips for these buildings to determine what action you need to take to earn the Reward. You can earn Reward Buildings in one of two ways: you either reach a specified milestone or threshold in your city, such as a specific population level or mayor rating; or you successfully complete one or more U-Drive-It missions. When you have earned a Reward, or are deemed to be in the position to entertain a Business Deal, an Advisor presents the reward for your approval and site location. HINT: A note on education and pollution. Investment in a good 50 educational system and neighborhoods that are highly desirable for wealthy Sims attract low polluting, high salaried, high tech industries. Over time, dirty industry, manufacturing industry, and farms move elsewhere to make way for these new businesses. 51 BUILD PARKS Who doesn't want to shoot some hoops, or relax during lunch hour in a shady city plaza? If you wish to make an area desirable for residents, commercial businesses, or high tech industry, build a Park in the neighborhood. Parks have a small monthly cost for upkeep, but they are worth it. Sims tend to be happier when they have lots of greenery around. If you start to see your residential demand stagnate, you may just need to add a playground or two. MAYOR PANEL BULLDOZE Mayors may change their minds. And when only a hands-on approach to destruction can do the trick, the Bulldoze Tool is right at hand. Click on this tool and then click on the building or other structure that you'd like to see gone from your city. It's as simple as that. But beware! Bulldozing private development in your city--this means any zoned building--has extra "acquisition" costs. You have to buy it before you can destroy it. Think twice before bulldozing that skyscraper--it could be a budget buster! The Bulldoze Tool removes buildings, but not zones. Remove zoned areas by using the De-zone Tool in the Zoning Menu. If you are an observant sort of Mayor, you probably look to the City View to determine where your city's problems lie. At times, though, you will want an in-depth look at the city. The Mayor Panel is there for you, your administrative mightiness. The Mayor Panel includes information on your city's population, keeps track of how many Sims are clamoring to move to your city, lets you know how much money you have and where it's being spent, provides up-to-date historical data on a variety of subjects, and gives you access to your all-important City Advisors. MAYOR RATING EMERGENCY TOOLS You cannot sleep on this job. When your city faces a disaster, Mayor, you need to call your forces into action. Pronto! If a fire has broken out, then send a fire truck or plane to that location. If your Sims are rioting, then calm them down with the steadying influence of your police officers by dispatching a police car or helicopter to the scene. During a disaster the simulation pauses to give you a chance to get your bearings--you see a red border around your screen when this occurs. Unless you choose to disable Auto Go To Disaster function, the camera takes you right to the scene of the action. If you're having trouble zooming in on that five alarm blaze, click on the Go To Disaster button found in Emergency Tools menu. It takes you right to the heat. Be aware, you are unable to save your city when a disaster is in process. Sims like to see that you can deal with whatever emergency has occurred. So exit the game after the terrible event has run its course, otherwise you lose whatever development has occurred since your last save. What kind of Mayor doesn't want to keep Sims happy? Oh. Well, most Mayors truly care about the well-being and satisfaction of their citizens--for good reason. Different sectors of city governance have different approval ratings based on a variety of factors. For a quick peek at the city average of all these areas, look to the Mayor Rating bar. When the bar is to the left and red, then your Sims may be precariously near to a revolt against you. No one likes to see effigies of themselves burning in front of City Hall. If the bar is to the right and green, then your citizens are very pleased with your work. Congratulations. There are two types of factors that affect Mayor Rating, Long Term Factors and Short Term Factors. LONG TERM FACTORS: Pollution Indices (air, water, garbage, and radiation) Quality of Educational Systems Quality of Health Care Affordability of Housing Crime Rates Traffic Flow (specifically commute time and congestion) Quality of Park System If the pollution levels in town are high, your Mayor Rating takes a hit. If you have provided quality health care systems, your Mayor Rating looks brighter. 52 53 SHORT TERM FACTORS: The effects of these factors are more ephemeral. Time heals these wounds. These factors include: Tax Policy changes New Civic Structures City Beautification (specifically the planting of trees) Fires U-Drive-It Missions If you increase taxes, for a period of time your approval rating drops. Over time, though, your Sims become accustomed to the new policy and the effect on Mayor Rating fades. FUNDS One of the most common pitfalls for new Mayors is a tendency towards fiscal irresponsibility. At times, every mayor will be forced to see their budget dip into the red, but you can't keep it there for the long haul. Keep a vigilant eye on your money stores by checking the Funds section of the Mayor Panel. If you don't, your Finance Advisor won't let you forget it. To get a more detailed view of how demand breaks down for occupant type, click on the RCI Demand Bars. Here is a breakdown of occupant types: Occupant type Abbreviation RCI Low Wealth Residential R-$ R Medium Wealth Residential R-$$ R High Wealth Residential R-$$$ R Low Wealth Commercial Service CS-$ C Medium Wealth Commercial Service CS-$$ C High Wealth Commercial Service CS-$$$ C Medium Wealth Commercial Office CO-$$ C High Wealth Commercial Office CO-$$$ C Agriculture Industry I-AG I Dirty Industry I-D I Manufacturing Industry I-M I High Tech Industry I-HT I POPULATION One of the best indicators of your success at mayoring is pretty basic. How many people choose to live in your city? The Population Indicator in the Mayor Panel gives you an up-to-the-minute count of the souls in your city. HINT: Sometimes demand may be high for a certain sector, but you RCI DEMAND METER aren't seeing development. Check to see that you have zoned enough area for that sort of development, and make sure that the area zoned is also desirable for the occupant type. Finally, check that you have good transportation between your residents and businesses. Traffic congestion can have a dramatic impact on development. If people can't get to work, then development stagnates. Upgrade your transportation systems--streets to roads, roads to avenues, and avenues to highways--as needed. This can help keep your city in demand as a place for Sims to live and work. Invest in your schools and you start a nice cycle of better educated Sims, who want higher paying jobs, which bring in higher tax revenues and less pollution. And what kind of Sims want to live in an attractive, clean city with good schools and high paying jobs? Well, all kinds. But who can afford it? HINT: You'd like to attract high wealth Sims? Bank on education. Okay. Hands down this is the single most important indicator in the Mayor Panel. The RCI Demand Meter consists of three bars for Residential (R), Commercial (C), and Industrial (I) development. The bars indicate how many people and how many businesses want to move into your town. The higher the bars, the higher the demand for new construction of that zone type. When the bars are low (below the center bar--which indicates negative demand), you may begin to see abandoned buildings in your city. This is fine if you wanted to develop a ghost town. Use the RCI Demand Meter to determine if you should zone more areas for residential, commercial, or industrial development. 54 55 BUILDING STYLE CONTROL DATA VIEWS Being Mayor has always had its aesthetic side. You set the artistic tone of your city by choosing the style of architecture used in new construction (residential, commercial, and industrial). There are four styles of architecture to choose from: Chicago 1890 New York 1940 Houston 1990 Euro-Contemporary By selecting a style in the Building Style Control panel you dictate (ah, that's a nice word) the type of architecture for any new development. Existing development is not affected. Of course, if the former lack of artistry offends your aesthetic sensibilities--there is always that nice Bulldoze Tool. Or perhaps a strategically placed Volcano? If unity of architectural style leaves you cold, you can select multiple styles and have them cycle after any number of years that you specify. Click on the Change building style every X years option and adjust the spinner to set the cycle period. When you choose this setting, each newly developed part of town develops its own style, giving your city the feel of one that has developed over time. If you are a happy-go-lucky type, an eclectic kind of Mayor, you can have all styles develop simultaneously by selecting the "Build all styles at once" option. As Mayor, you need to keep your fingers on the pulse of your city. Knowing that there are problems is only the first step to being the best Mayor you can be. Before you can address any problem, you need to know the what and where of the situation. It isn't enough to know that your education system is poor. You need to know where the situation is worst, and what factors may be contributing. Statisticians are at your constant beck and call, Mayor. Data Views provide you with a slew of diagnostic tools to track current conditions. This data helps you identify where to focus your efforts so that you can improve all aspects of city management. Fire Hazard With any construction there are inherent risks of fire. Some buildings are more flammable than others. Abandoned buildings, in particular, are firetraps. Use the Fire Hazard data view to pinpoint areas where fire risk is greatest. This view also shows you all city fire stations with their coverage areas. The Fire Hazard data view is invaluable when deciding where to build additional fire stations. Crime If you have not provided your Sims with well paying jobs and a quality educational system, your crime rate is probably soaring. One way you can combat crime is by building a strong police force. The Crime data view shows you where criminal activity clusters, and can help you decide on the most strategic placement for your police stations. As in the Fire Hazard data view, existing stations are shown, along with their coverage areas. Education Education is truly one of the main building blocks for a successful city. If you want to attract businesses that provide the highest paying jobs for your Sims, you need to have an educated workforce. As noted earlier, a city with highly educated citizens tends to have lower crime rates. A lesson for us all, yes? The intelligence of your Sims is measured by Education Quotient, or E.Q. If you know the areas of your city that have the lowest E.Q., you can determine where to place schools, libraries, and other education structures for greatest effect. Existing educational structures are shown in this view along with their coverage 56 57 Desirability areas. Education Quotients take some time to improve, so don't be frustrated if your data view remains red even after you have built a new school. In a few years the effects begin to show. So you have a high demand for high wealth residential development? Doesn't mean diddly if you don't provide desirable locations for construction. Know which areas of your city are most desirable to help you determine where to zone next. Check out the section on the RCI Demand Meter for a breakdown of the 12 occupant types. Although you can't directly affect the types of occupants that develop in your city, you do have indirect control by affecting the desirability of the zoned areas of your city. The following actions can be taken to improve the desirability for each of these occupant types: Commercial Service CS-$ CS-$$ CS-$$$ Reduce Crime Increase Traffic Place Near R Place Landmarks Place Near CO CO-$$ CO-$$$ Reduce Garbage Reduce Crime Place Landmarks Increase Traffic Place Near CO I-Ag Reduce Air Pollution Reduce Garbage Reduce Traffic Lower Freight Trip Length Reduce Crime IDI-M Reduce Crime I-HT Reduce Air Pollution Reduce Crime Place Parks Lower Freight Trip Length Commercial Office Agricultural Industry Dirty & Manufacturing Industry High Tech Industry Traffic If you don't know it by now, provision of an adequate transportation infrastructure for your commuting Sims is critical to city development. If your system is a big, snarly mess, your Sims are unhappily stuck in congested traffic. Accidents, road rage, and perhaps even riots may occur. By using the Traffic Data View you can locate your areas of greatest congestion. Relieve the situation by upgrading streets to roads, roads to avenues, and avenues to highways. This map is also helpful in diagnosing problems with your mass transit systems. The Traffic Data View includes two views: Congestion vs. Volume, for morning or evening commute. Congestion vs. Volume The Congestion map tells you whether or not your transportation networks are near or over capacity. Use this map to determine where you need to beef up your transportation infrastructure. The Volume map tells you where the bulk of your traffic is routing itself. While the Congestion map indicates where you have capacity problems (read traffic jams, pile ups, standstill), the Volume map simply shows you the numbers of travelers using that route. For example, you could have a highway with very little congestion (which would show up green in the Congestion map), but very high volume (which would show up blue in the Volume map). The Volume map also allows you to see a breakdown of the different types of transportation in your city. Want to see the volume of car vs. bus traffic in your city? This data view is the one for you. Residential R-$ R-$$ R-$$$ Reduce Garbage Reduce Crime Place Schools Place Parks Place Hospitals Lower Commute Reduce Traffic Noise Reduce Air Pollution Reduce Garbage Lower Freight Trip Length Reduce Garbage Reduce Air Pollution Reduce Air Pollution NOTE: Actions are listed from most effective to least effective. For example, you can increase the desirability of a high wealth residential neighborhood by keeping the pollution down, among other things. Try locating pollution-generating buildings like the Coal Plant away from Residential and Commercial zones. Make sure trash isn't piling up by providing a landfill, and reduce crime by placing a police station in the neighborhood. Although water is not required to get your city started, development is limited to smaller buildings with low and medium wealth occupants if you don't eventually get H2O piped in. Once you are ready for high wealth or medium- and high-density development, you need to put in water for that development to occur. The Water data view shows you where your city is adequately supplied with water and where it is dry as a bone. Nothing in your city develops without power. Nada. Use the Power map to see where your city is on the grid, and where Sims are reading by candlelight. Water Power 58 59 Commute Time Sims don't always use the same route going inbound to work as they do on the way home. This is particularly the case when you have used oneway roads as a traffic control strategy in your city. For this reason, the Traffic map can look very different for the two main Commute Times. Switch between morning and evening commute in the Traffic Map to see the difference. Zones Sometimes it's valuable to see what type of Zones you have laid out in your city, particularly if you are growing your city and wish to see where your low vs. high density Zones are. The Zones map makes your buildings disappear to reveal the underlying zone types at any time. Land Value Land value can influence the wealth levels of Sims that move into your city. Low wealth folks often can't afford to live in areas of high land value. The Land Value data view shows where this influence is at its strongest. Mayor Rating The Mayor Rating bar in the Mayor Panel lets you check out your average approval rating for the whole city. If you want a more localized sense of how your citizens rate your performance, the Mayor Rating data view shows which districts like you the most (or which ones revile your very existence). Residential Average Age Different areas of your city attract different age groups of Sims. These patterns can dramatically impact the usefulness of your educational structures. Place an elementary school in a neighborhood of elderly residents, and you're paying for teachers and building maintenance that are not used to capacity. Check out the distribution of age groups in the Residential Average Age map to make intelligent decisions about where to build education structures. Be a role model, Mayor! Show those Sims that you can crunch the data with the best of them! Health Quality of health care is a major factor in residential desirability, and can have a dramatic impact on the number of working folks in your city. Healthy Sims mean longer living Sims--all of which translates to a larger workforce, which spurs a dramatic increase in the demand for new businesses. This is a somewhat dim view of the value of health, but as Mayor, you must always be interested in your bottom line. Welcome to politics. Use the Health data map to check out overall and local health levels. Build clinics and hospitals where they are most needed. The map shows your existing health care system, along with areas of coverage. Air Pollution No one likes to live in polluted areas, yet some types of businesses spew out gobs of noxious, smoggy pollution. Know where pollution is rampant, so you know where not to put your residential zones. HINT: Placing dirty business (I-D and I-M) in a neighboring city enables you to keep pollution away from your "clean" commercial and residential zones. Pollution tends to stay within city limits. You can even go a step further and put your power plants and landfills in the dirty city. This way you keep all your polluting buildings in one city. Just be sure to create good connections for services and jobs. High water pollution can dramatically decrease the output of your water supply structures. The Water Pollution data view helps you decide where to avoid construction of water towers and pumps. This view also facilitates siting of water treatment plants, which decrease water pollution in areas where it is high. If you aren't providing garbage removal services, stinky piles of refuse build up all over your city. Funny, but this tends to decrease desirability in those areas. The Garbage data view shows you where the buildup has reached Eiffel Tower proportions. Call in the sanitation workers, Mayor! Yup, radiation. Scary. Even the smallest amount of Geiger activation results in the absolute stalling of development. Sims tend to avoid Chernobyl-type situations. Check out the Radiation data view to see where to avoid zoning. Of course, if you have successfully avoided construction of a Toxic Waste Dump or a nasty little nuclear meltdown, you won't need this map. Water Pollution Garbage Radiation 60 61 ADVISOR PANEL HEADLINES ADVISOR PANEL Your Advisors provide you with expertise, timely tips, and alert you to impending events. Their feedback is invaluable in helping you understand where your governing attention is needed. Each Advisor has his or her own agenda, however, so you may sometimes get conflicting advice. This can lead to some difficult decisions, but this is what being Mayor is all about, right? If you have chosen to play at the "Easy" level, your advisors get in your face whenever there's a problem. If you chose to play at the "Hard" level, they appear only in the most dire of circumstances. City Planner The City Planner gives you tips on building your city, and guidance on how you can become a very popular mayor. He's also the lucky guy who gets to present your with your Rewards. Finance Advisor Your Finance Advisor keeps you up to date on spending vs. income. She gets very upset if it looks as if your city is heading into the red. If that happens, she tells you what Business Deals might get you out of the hole. Utilities Advisor Your Utilities Advisor gives you information on your water, power, and sanitation systems. He also lets you know when capacity problems are looming, and alerts you to Neighbor Deal opportunities. Public Safety Advisor Your Public Safety Advisor keeps you informed of issues regarding crime, police coverage, fire coverage, and disasters. Health & Education Advisor Your Health & Education Advisor updates you on issues concerning the health and educational demands of your citizens. Transportation Advisor Your Transportation Advisor gives you the lowdown on all of your transit systems. Environmental Advisor Your Environmental Advisor keeps you posted on pollution levels and demands for more greenery. Click on the head of one of your Advisors--you now see a list of headlines from that advisor. Sometimes this list can be veeerrry long. Advisors love to advise. Expand the view of the headlines by clicking the Expand button . To read the message body of a given headline, click on the headline or on the arrow next to the headline . If you are no longer interested in a message, click next to the headline to delete it. If you don't take care of a problem, though, you're likely to hear about it again. Nag nag nag.