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