===============================================================================
---- Table of Contents ----
===============================================================================
1. Introduction...............................................[1000]
2. FAQ........................................................[2000]
3. What's New?................................................[3000]
4. The Toolbar................................................[4000]
5. Roads and Highways.........................................[5000]
6. Zoning.....................................................[6000]
7. Garbage and Water..........................................[7000]
8. Setting up Education and Police/Fire Protection............[8000]
9. Landmark List..............................................[9000]
10. Ordinances List..........................................[10000]
11. Secrets and Codes........................................[11000]
12. Version History..........................................[12000]
13. Legal Disclaimers........................................[13000]
14. Credits and Closing......................................[14000]
To find a section quickly, press Ctrl-F and type in either the name
of the section along with its content number (ie. 1., 2., 3., etc.)
OR you can use the codes on the far right. Simply type in the
brackets with the code number to get a jump.
Maxis released SimCity 3000 a few years after their other smash hit, SimCity
2000. It was designed to have some new innovative features along with a great
set of graphics to match. Indeed it was a success. There are only a handful of
games that I can truly call masterpieces but I have to admit, SimCity 3000,
along with the previous games of the same serie, is definitely one of them.
I'm fairly surprised at the lack of FAQs for this game. SimCity 3000 is
definitely not a very easy game to learn about at first and even with the long
manual to boot, there are still many things that you should know before
starting your city. I hope you find this FAQ useful in the least and read on
for the meat of the guide.
The strategy part of this guide is done to the best of my ability. If after
reading through each section thoroughly and you are still confused, consult
the PDF file manual. One thing I do not like about this game is the lack of
a full tutorial.
[Q] Why do they keep complaining about taxes? I'm doing my best
to keep them at a good amount without losing money.
[A] The sims can indeed, be very, very annoying at times. Keep
in mind that as your city grows, your sims will be expecting
lower taxes and that does make sense. However, sometimes,
the amount they want actually LOSES you money. If you can't
comply with the taxes, that's fine. Nothing that bad will
happen unless you raise it to the highest mark of course.
[A] Apparently, Maxis really changed the way bridges and
tunnels are constructed. Let's do bridges first. To build
a bridge, stretch a piece of road all the way across the
body of water you're trying to build over. When you reach
the other side (still holding the mouse), move the cursor
around until it turns blue. To build a tunnel, you have to
have a large hill. You will be recommended to build a
tunnel meaning you can't do it on your own. :(
[Q] Does an earthquake have an affect on the actual land
itself?
[A] Yes. That's one of the more bigger things I noticed about
the disasters. Earthquakes actually leave lines of bumps
in the land. These bumps therefore destroy whatevers above
them resulting in the damage. Pretty cool. :D
[A] The dictionary describes it as a distinctive atmosphere
surrounding a given source but in SimCity, it has grown
to mean how happy the environment makes your sims. It
goes up with the creation of parks, police stations, fire
stations, schools, trees, and the sort. However, pollution,
garbage, etc. make it go down obviously.
[Q] Nuclear Power Plant has disappeared from the power plant listing.
What happened?
[A] You must've turned on the "Nuclear-Free Zone" ordinance. To gain
access once again, turn it off. However, be prepared for the
various protests against it. :P
Despite the relationships between the various SimCitys, there are a few
differences between 3000 and 2000. It's pretty important to understand the
differences before attempting to build a city.
Additions ~
---------
- Landmarks
- One New Disaster (UFO Strikes)
- Major Graphical Change
- Earthquakes have effects on land
- New Way of Building Bridges and Tunnels
- More Detailed Rewards & Opportunities
- Now THREE Levels of Each Zone (Light, Medium, Dense)
- No Need to Connect Water Pipes and Power Lines Everywhere
- The "Meet" Tab
- Trash Disposal
Removals ~
--------
- Certain Disasters Like Floods, Hurricanes, and Airplane Crashes
- Need for Power and Water line connection everywhere (power lines connect long
distances and water pipes don't need to touch everything)
- Arcos (basically giant housing complexes in SC 2000)
- Ability to Use Cities Out of Game (Cities could previously be used in
SimCopter, Streets of SimCity, etc.)
And that's basically it. Contact me if you have something else to say.
===============================================================================
---- 4. The Toolbar ---- [4000]
===============================================================================
The toolbar is the large bar on the right and along the bottom with all the
buttons on it. In fact, it's pretty noticeable and you might know what a few
of them do. However, if you can't understand, read on.
Remember that all costs assume you're building on flat land and not on a slope
as that will increase the cost.
=========
Landscape ~
=========
If you wish to change the land, you should go here. There are different options
and you could choose one to use depending on your intentions.
Plant Trees --- This should be pretty obvious. It gives you the ability to
plant as many trees as you wish. If you continue to hold down the mouse button,
you can put multiple trees on one tile. I have heard rumors that trees actually
lower the amount of pollution. Even if it is true, it does very little so I
wouldn't suggest going crazy with it.
Cost: $3 each
Create Surface Water --- Instead of lowering the land to get yourself water,
you can simply create a tile of shallow surface water instead. This is much
easier to use when you want to create water pumps or something as it can help
in organizing them.
Cost: $150 each
Lower Terrain --- You can lower land for a price. Keep in mind that lowering a
piece of land too much will result in water. After all, land can only be
dropped so much.
Cost: No definite amount
Raise Terrain --- If you can lower land, why wouldn't you be able to raise
terrain? Use it to your liking but keep in mind that it eats money quickly.
Cost: No definite amount
Level Terrain --- This is really the only land changing tool I ever really
use. You should use this tool to flatten land and make it easier to build
upon. Select a tile that is the "preferred" height you want your land to be
and drag it over however long a piece you'd like.
Cost: No definite amount
Demolish --- Pretty straightforward. It demolishes whatever you set it upon
lest it be a building, a tree, etc.
Cost: No definite amount
=====
Zones ~
=====
Zones are pretty important when building a city. How can you have development
without spreading residential, commercial, and industrial zones. There are many
other types as well.
Residential --- Your sims will find their new homes in this type of zone. Keep
in mind that you need a way to get to a zone so placing a plot in the middle of
nowhere without roads won't get you any development.
Cost: Light - $10 per tile
Medium - $20 per tile
Dense - $50 per tile
Commercial --- Office buildings, stores, and the sort reside in the commercial
zones. They can develop into anything from towering skyscrapers, ice cream
shops, gas stations, and the sort.
Cost: Light - $10 per tile
Medium - $20 per tile
Dense - $50 per tile
Industrial --- Businesses flock to the industrial areas where they can build
up whatever they want. At first, they will pollute the air like there is no
tommorow but if you are dedicated, you can throw out those polluting scumbags
and bring in the clean industry a.k.a. the nerds.
Cost: Light - $10 per tile
Medium - $20 per tile
Dense - $50 per tile
Landfill --- Yuck, the worst possible choice you can have as trash disposal.
If you can't afford the recycling centers, the landfill is really your only
option. It will fill up as time goes on as well as polluting the air and
driving away any chance of residence nearby.
Cost: $50 per tile
Seaport --- Yep, everyone wants that busy harbor in their fair city. Seaports
are expensive indeed but they can greatly boost your industry. Also, if there
is a neighbor across the ocean, the seaport serves as a connection between you
and them meaning you can make deals with them... although the only deal you
could make is really just trash matters (you can't send water and power on a
ship). If you had not already known, a seaport must be fairly large in order to
grow. Keep in mind that they generate lots of water pollution
Cost: $250 per tile
Airport --- They help industry as well as commercial zones by bringing in
tourists and workers. Like the seaport, it is really rather expensive and
require a certain size to develop. Also, they generate a lot of air pollution
so watch those residential zones and try not to place them too near.
Cost: $500 per tile
De-Zone --- This is only tool which actually allows you to undo those zones you
don't want to see any more. Remember, you can't de-zone if something has
already developed on top of it.
Cost: $2 per tile
Demolish --- Pretty straightforward. It demolishes whatever you set it upon
lest it be a building, a tree, etc.
Cost: No definite amount
==============
Transportation ~
==============
Despite the obvious roads, you can place many different types of transportation
including, rails, subways, etc.
Road --- The skeleton of any city. Roads allows your sims to move around the
city whether it be going to work or heading to the 90% off sale at Macy's.
Simply put, you need these for your city to be successful. For more insight,
check out the "Roads and Highways" section.
Cost: $10 per tile ($9 if "Tire Recycling" ordinance is enacted)
Highway --- As your city grows, you might see the need for a new transportation
source. Highways can really take the traffic off your roads if you use them
correctly. They are two units wide and pretty expensive for a larger road. You
will need on on-ramps to allow cars to get on the highway by the way.
Cost: Highway - $600 per tile long ($540 if "Tire Recycling" ordinance is
enacted)
On-Ramp - $75 per ramp ($68 if "Tire Recycling" ordinance is enacted)
Bus Stop --- Bus stops are probably the lowest form of mass transit as well as
being the cheapest. It's good for a city starting out but eventually, you'll
have to replace them. Also, you must place them by a road so the buses have
something to drive on. No roads, no transit.
Cost: $150 per station
Rail --- The SimRail systems work better than bus stops (no more buses messing
up traffic) but require some extra room for the rails and the rail stations.
A step up from the regular bus stop but you'll want to replace it later on.
Cost: Rail - $10 per tile
Train Station - $250
Subway --- Pretty simple to understand obviously. Subways are below the ground,
therefore making them the most efficient mass transportation type. However,
they are definitely the most expensive form of mass transit and the monthly
cost can be pretty hefty. However, most large cities almost _need_ an adequate
subway to develop more.
Cost: Subway Rail - $150 per tile
Subway Station - $500
Subway to Rail Connection --- Sadly enough, I never seem to use this. I'd
rather prefer to have all subway than half and half. This construct allows
already existing rail tracks to go below to the subway there. It can be useful
if you use it correctly.
Cost: $500 each
Demolish --- Pretty straightforward. It demolishes whatever you set it upon
lest it be a building, a tree, etc.
Cost: No definite amount
=========
Utilities ~
=========
Water, garbage disposal, power stations, all your mechanical and utility needs
are right here.
Power Lines --- The power line system of SimCity 2000 has changed. Now you only
need power lines to connect long distances instead of having to connect them
everywhere you go. The buildings are capable of giving power to any other
building within two tiles which makes life that much easier. :P
Cost: $5 per tile
Power Plants --- There are many different kinds and you'll have to choose which
one is best for you and your current city. These descriptions are taken from
the game.
1) Coal Power Plant (6,000 MW-h)
- Coal Plants are a common and economical source of electricity,
but generate large amounts of pollution. Site them as far as
possible from residential zones.
Cost: $5,000
2) Oil Power Plant (7,000 MW-h)
- Oil Power Plants are slightly cleaner than Coal Power Plants
and provide a little more power. They also cost a lot more.
Cost: $8,500
3) Gas Power Plant (3,000 MW-h)
- Natural gas is much cleaner than coal, but also much more
expensive. You will need two of these Gas Plants to produce
as much power as one Coal Plant.
Cost: $4,500
4) Nuclear Power Plant (16,000 MW-h)
- Nuclear power is clean and inexpensive, if you can afford the
initial investment. Unfortunately, there is always the risk of
a deadly meltdown. Keep an eye on power usage.
Cost: $20,000
5) Wind Mill (200 MW-h)
- Wind power is very clean, but you will need hundreds of them to
power even a small-sized city. They can only reach their
potential power output capacity when placed on the tops of
hills.
Cost: $250
6) Solar Power Collector (5,000 MW-h)
- Solar power is very clean, but on the expensive side. You will
need many of these plants to power a medium-size city.
(author's note: Don't use these. Solar plants are a great
example of a money waster)
Cost: $15,000
7) Microwave Power Plant (14,000 MW-h)
- Sattelites beam down concentrated solar radiation. Microwave
Power doesn't provide as much power as a Nuclear Plant, and is
much more expensive, but there is no danger of a meltdown.
Cost: $30,000
8) Fusion Power Plant (50,000 MW-h)
- Tapping the same energy the sun uses, Fusion Plants create
large amounts of energy with none of the radiation danger of
Nuclear Plants. However, they are the most expensive plant
available.
Cost: $50,000
Water Pipes --- I like the water pipes of SimCity 3000 better than those of
2000. Now, connecting pipes to every building is not required but the actual
pipe has a large radius of water which covers the area automatically.
Cost: $5 per tile
Water Structures --- There are a few different types of water structures
and you'll have to choose which one is best for you and your current city.
These descriptions are taken from the game.
1) Pumping Station (1,500 m3/month)
- Pumping Stations provide water to your thirsty Sims. These
stations must be place next to a source of fresh water to
function.
Cost: $300
2) Water Tower (600 m3/month)
- Water Towers are cheaper and smaller-capacity versions of
Pumping Stations. They pump the same amount of water no matter
where they're placed.
Cost: $150
3) Water Treatment Plant
- Water Treatment Plants purify polluted water. Make sure to
connect these plants to your pipe system.
Cost: $15,000
4) Desalinization Plant (5,000 m3/month)
- Desalinization Plants allow you to unusable sea water into
clean, drinkable fresh water. They do no good unless placed
right next to a body of salt water.
Cost: $1,500
Garbage Disposal --- Despite the obvious landfill, you have three different
choices of alternative ways of garbage disposal. These descriptions are taken
from the game.
1) Recycling Center
- Recycling Centers reduce the amount of garbage that must be
buried or incinerated. Despite their positive image and
function, they still handle garbage, so few Sims would like to
live next door.
Cost: $5,000
2) Incinerator (4,500 tons/month)
- Incinerators take care of large amounts of garbage, but much
of the trash they burn returns to the environment as air
pollution. Land values drop sharply in the vicinity of an
incinerator. They require road or rail access.
Cost: $7,500
3) Waste to Energy Incinerator (5250 tons/month)
- This modern trash-burning facility differs from older versions.
It disposes of much more trash and produces a bit less air
pollution. The energy released is converted to electric power
that can help to power the city.
Cost: $25,000
Demolish --- Pretty straightforward. It demolishes whatever you set it upon
lest it be a building, a tree, etc.
Cost: No definite amount
Police stations, fire stations, schools, etc. are all considered civic
buildings because the mayor funds it. Yep, that's you.
Police --- What would your city be without the men in blue? Well, there would
be crimes committed all over the place. Give your sims a little protection from
the professionals.
Cost: Police Station - $500
Jail - $2,500
Fire Station --- Fire stations are there to prevent fires. Sims want fire
protection everywhere they go so you might need quite a few. They become really
important in times of a real fire.
Cost: $500
Health and Education --- Health and education are very, very important to your
fair city. You'll need these buildings to bring about clean industries if you
were wondering.
1) Hospital
- Heals and cures sick people who are in need of it. It's good
to have many hospitals so your city's health rate would stay
high which also determines your city's overall rating.
Cost: $500
2) School
- From the elementary levels to high school, the regular schools
teach the kids of your city. The more schools you have, the
brighter your sims will become which leads to wondrous rewards
and clean industry.
Cost: $500
3) College
- Simply a step up from the regular schools. Colleges teach those
who want some extra education and younger adults so it isn't
demanded as much as schools but the amount of colleges you have
really determine if you will have hi-tech industry in the
future... along with all the rest.
Cost: $3,000
4) Library
- The game states that libraries help the older people of your
city stay sharp and they seem to help very much indeed. To bring
up the intelligence rating of your sims, libraries are needed
just as much as schools.
Cost: $1,000
5) Museum
- For a large city, you really only need 3-4 museums in all. Any
more would be kind of pushing it in my opinion. They have a
pretty expensive monthly cost so I wouldn't suggest too much
either.
Cost: $1,500
Parks and Recreation --- Like in the previous game, parks greatly bring up your
city's aura and land value overall. They give your sims something to do and
something to look forward to as well as being nice additions to a nice little
town.
1) Small Park
- Rather small parks. They still have a good effect on a city
and I suggest putting them in all those tight corners where you
have a tile or two free.
Cost: $100
2) Large Park
- The name says it all. It's basically a larger version of the
small park. It has more of an effect on the land value and aura
but takes up more room.
Cost: $1,000
3) Fountain
- It does best when placed in crowded areas and works well in
those little squares that industrial areas leave. A nice
fountain boosts the aura around those polluting factories as
well as being a nice sight.
Cost: $100
4) Pond
- Ponds are peaceful areas of nature. They look great next to
large/small parks and are basically, a relaxing place for a
tired sim to take a well deserved nap or a perfect area for a
college picnic.
Cost: $500
5) Playground
- The kids all need a place to frolic and play. Don't know about
you but the amount of benches used seems to increase
considerably when placed near a school.
Cost: $500
6) Marina
- Sims love recreation and boating seems to be one of their
favorite. Choose a nice location for this marina... in the
water of course. However, it's a bit on the expensive side
though.
Cost: $3,000
7) Zoo
- As your city grows, you should start spending your money on
more expensive recreation and parks. Not that the regular large
park is bad, but you might want to jam more aura and land value
into an area and that's exactly where the zoo comes in. It
raises the two considerably and works well when placed next to
each other.
Cost: $5,000
8) Ballpark
- Basically a nicely sized baseball field for whatever team is
is in the area. A good addition to any neighborhood. It is
strongly recommended you build these near residential zone to
use them to their potential.
Cost: $2,500
Landmarks --- Landmarks are a new addition to SimCity 3000. They are basically
buildings from the real world that you can build to give your city some extra
spoof although it doesn't do anything to help your city at all except waste
room. For a full list, check the "Landmark List" section.
Rewards and Opportunities --- Throughout your career as mayor, you will be
bombarded with requests, opportunities and rewards. You might be rewarded a new
house or requested to build a casino for a profit. You'll have to play a long
time to discover all of the possibilities.
Demolish --- Pretty straightforward. It demolishes whatever you set it upon
lest it be a building, a tree, etc.
Cost: No definite amount
=========
Emergency ~
=========
SimCity just wouldn't be complete without its fair share of deadly disasters.
All disaster related, all right here. Enjoy.
Go to Disaster --- If you have the "Go-To Disaster" option turned off in the
preferences, you might have to manually click this button to center in on the
area that's being affected. If there are multiple disasters, you'll have to
cycle through them. Keep in mind that this button can only be used in times of
an emergency.
Activate Warning Siren --- This is basically a giant alarm to alert your city
to the current disaster. The only disaster you really can use this for is
basically fires, tornadoes, and maybe riots (I don't know). For earthquakes,
you won't have enough time and what good would an alert do when aliens are
closing in on your location? Be careful with false alarms however, your sims
won't listen to you the next time you alert them... and it might even be a
real disaster.
Dispatch Police --- For certain (well, the police can only handle one)
disasters, you might want to police's help to control riots. Keep in mind that
the amount of police stations you have is the amount you can dispatch. This
button is only available in times of a disaster.
Dispatch Firefighters --- Basically the same thing as police except for the fact
that firemen take care of fires instead obviously. Keep in mind that the amount
of fire stations you have is the amount you can dispatch. This button is only
available in times of a disaster.
Start Disasters --- Haha, it's always fun to unleash doom on your city when
you're bored. I shouldn't need to tell you to remember to save before you waste
your city away. That should be instinct. :D
1) Fire
- The simplest disaster really. It starts a fire at a random
point on the map whether it be a building, a tree, or even a
fire station ironically. :P
2) Tornado
- Tornadoes destroy "almost" (sometimes, it leaves a few buildings
or roads standing even when it passes over them) in their
direct paths. Although they are deadly powerful, they only last
a short while before they disappear into the air.
3) Earthquake
- I have to admit, the shifting land faults gives an awesome
effect destroying whatever happens to be sitting on top of it.
A side effect of earthquakes are fires so get your firemen ready
when you get smacked by a unexpected shift.
4) Riot
- Rioters are annoying as they throw those red things (yeah, they
are throwing fire, pfft) that set any flammable buildings or
trees on fire. Easily taken care of by a few police dispatches.
5) UFO
- I was rather disappointed with the UFO Strike here. I expected
something a lot cooler looking than little flying saucers
flying around. UFOs are capable of abducting buildings (which
get destroyed of course) and firing these little green things
that don't too much damage.
====
Meet ~
====
Here you can meet with various advisors as well as civilian petitioners. You'll
get most of your building suggestions from here so check it out every once in a
while to see what's going on.
===============
Adjust & Review ~
===============
You can find a lot of technical information here including a map which portrays
different parts of your city, SimNation, Ordinances, and so on and so forth.
Budget --- How much money is your city losing or gaining? Check it all out
along with a lot of other useless financial information here. Change your
taxes, change your fundings, all here.
Neighbors --- You are surrounded by four cities even if one or two of them is
across the ocean. This screen shows your current deals and transactions with
them as well as the population of each and a giant national population which
includes every cities population.
Ordinances --- Ordinances can be turned off and turned on with some giving you
money and others costing money. For a full list, check the section that bears
the same name.
Query --- The query tool allows you to analyze any point on the map. Use this to
check land value, flammability of buildings, pollution, and all the other
technical information you might want to check out. A very useful tool and you
will be using it often.
View Data --- This is another unique that you'll use often for reference. It
contains a map of your city which can depict flammability, crime, aura, land
value, etc. as well as having some graphs which can help organize your city a
bit better and give you useful information overall.
=========================
Change Setting's and Exit ~
=========================
The name really says it all. Here's where you can save the game, change
preferences, and of course, exit.
1) Preferences
- This is the option screen where you can change a lot of
different features in your game.
2) Save City
- If you have already chosen a location to save your city, click
this to get a quickie save.
3) Save As
- Choose the location in which you want to save the city at. For
new cities, you have to do this.
4) Load
- Load up an already existing city here. Keep in mind that you
will be prompted to save.
5) New City
- Self explanatory. Start yourself a new city. Keep in mind that
you will be prompted to save.
6) Exit
- To exit the game, go here of course. Keep in mind that you will
be prompted to save.
===============================================================================
---- 5. Roads and Highways ---- [5000]
===============================================================================
As I might've stated before, roads and highways play an important part in
developing your city. Here are a few basic things you should know and a few
strategies on building.
=====
Roads ~
=====
When you first start your city, you might want to know where to start. However,
I always like to try something simple like the following:
____________________________
| _______ ____ _______ | Obviously the spaces will be
| | | | | | | | filled in with zones but I'll
| | | | | | | | go into more detail later on.
| |_______| |____| |_______| |
|____________________________|
___________________
| ________ ____ | A bit more complicated pattern
| | | | | | here. It seems to work better
| | | | | | in my opinion and it seems to
| |________| |____| | take up less room.
| _______________ |
| | | |
| |_______________| |
|___________________|
After getting your first road systems done, you will need to construct some
more. Now, the main cure for heavy traffic is a better or new mass transit
system. However, the placement of your roads can make a different. First of
all, try to avoid four way intersections. If you do need, try rearranging the
roads so they work the same but don't clog up the road:
Regular Intersection ~ Smart Intersection ~
-------------------- ------------------
The traffic will decrease
| | drastically due to | |
______| |______ the fact that there isn't ___| |________
______ ______ cars coming from all directions ________ ___
| | like a regular intersection | |
| | would cause | |
If traffic is really, really a problem in your city, why not just give them
more room to drive in. Add more roads and detours that could be used. They
don't have to be that frequent but they're useful.
Congested Area ~ Less-Congested Area ~
-------------- -------------------
| | | | By simply adding a few extra | |______ | |______
| | | | roads, you can decrease | _____ \| ____ |
___| |_______| |_____ traffic by providing more ___| |_____\ |____| |
_______ _______ _ room to drive. _____ _______ _
| | | | | |_____| | \______| |
| | | | |_______ |\_______ |
| | | | | | | |
Roads can be placed in avenues if you had already noticed that. If you build
two roads side by side, they will turn into an avenue with trees growing in the
center. They look really nice around landmarks and of course, the mayor's
house. A useless addition in gameplay but it's good knowledge.
To build a bridge, click and drag a line of roads across the body of water you
are attempting to cross. When you reach the other side and the line turns blue,
click to build. A screen will pop up asking you if you wish to build a bridge.
However, the road might need to shift the land a bit. If building the bridge
will affect any surrounding buildings, access to building will be denied with
a little notice. For more clarification, check this diagram.
__________
| |_ [*] * -- areas where bridge access would be denied.
| | / \ [*]
| Building |/ [*] \ Notice that the building is on a piece of land
|____________/ \ that's higher than ground level. A bridge will
| \ lower the land where the building is and cause
| Earth \ it to collapse obviously.
| [*]__________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________|
Unlike the previous SimCity, tunnels can not simply be built at your leisure,
you will need to be recommended to build one due to the steepness of whatever
you're trying to pass. Many people seem to mistake the height of an area to the
steepness of an area and wonder why they can't build a tunnel.
High Area But Not Steep ~ Low Area But Very Steep ~
----------------------- -----------------------
__/'. Not here __/`.,'\
,' '.__/\ |----->.' \
,' A tunnel `. A tunnel must .' `.
,' does not `. be build at |--->/ `.
,' have to `. these points --->/ `.
be built. '. |->/ \
___________________________\ ,'_______________________\
You should understand when to build tunnels now. Despite the fact that having
tunnels is fun, building them are usually expensive so try to work around a
large hill instead of wasting the money to construct a tunnel.
========
Highways ~
========
There isn't much to say about highways that hasn't already been explained but
you should already know that they should be straight turning when needed. In
my opinion, a large highway set like this stretched across the map is the best
way to go.
/\
/__\
||
|| This is basically a highway intersection.
|| Connect the two highway lines with
|| on-ramps. This allows your highways to
|| have access to every neighbor unless you
_|| have an ocean on one side or you're an
| -' island in which a highway system is
|| useless.
/|___________________________/||\____________________________________________|\
\|----------------------------'`---------------------------------------------|/
\||/
||
||
||
||
_||_
\ /
\/
On-ramp construction is another thing that many don't know anything about.
Unless you want congestion on your highways, you should follow a certain blue-
print.
Wrong ~ Correct ~
----- -------
___| |___ Desite the fact ___| | | |___
/ __ __ \ that it takes / __ | | __ \
______/ /__| |__\ \______ up more room, ___/ /__| |________________| |__\ \_
------------------------- it will greatly ------------------------------------
¯¯¯¯¯¯\ \¯¯| |¯¯/ /¯¯¯¯¯¯ reduce traffic. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |¯¯/ /¯¯¯¯¯¯\ \¯¯| |¯¯¯¯¯¯
\ ¯¯ ¯¯ / | ¯¯ / \ ¯¯ |
¯¯¯| |¯¯? | |¯¯? ¯¯¯| |
When you first start off, you will need lighter zones. Let's take that road
diagram from the previous section. Build either pattern and we'll continue...
Okay, now to fill in the areas with zones. The two larger sections should be
filled in with residential and industrial zones with the smallest square being
commercial. When your city first starts, you won't need too many commericial
zones but the demand will increase later on. Remember to connect a power source
to the zones and watch them develop. Continue to build zones this way while
keeping an eye on the demand meter for pointers.
What happens when your zones won't seem to develop? First of all, check the
demand meter to see if the demand for that particular zone is low. If it is,
you might want to consider de-zoning it and plotting later when the demand is
higher. For seaports and airports, the zone has to be fairly large to develop.
A single tile of seaport won't develop into anything. The last, main reason
would be roads. Are roads connected to all parts of the zone? Take this
extremely large plot right here with a road on its border.
_____________________________________________________________________________
| _________________________________________________________________________ |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| |_________________________________________________________________________| |
|_____________________________________________________________________________|
You should notice that the center will have no development and traffic will
increase greatly upon the roads bordering the zone. To comprehend with this,
add more means of transportation to the zone or the areas around it.
_____________________________________________________________________________
| _________________________________ _____________________________________ |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | B = Bus Station | |
| | | | _| |
| |_________________________________| |___________________________________|B| |
| ___________________________________ ___________________________________ |
| |S| | | | |
| |? | | | |
| | S = Subway Station | | | |
| | | | | |
| |___________________________________| |___________________________________| |
|_____________________________________________________________________________|
You get development in the center of the zone which is now covered by an
intersection. To continue to avoid heavy traffic, add a bus station and/or a
subway station. There, now you have a perfect zone plot.
There are different levels of residential, industrial, and commercial zones.
Dense, medium, and light. Obviously, you'll see the larger apartments in dense
zones but keep in mind that they also house more crime and have larger impacts
on the land. At first, you might want to build a few light plots of zone to
stay on track.
===============================================================================
---- 7. Garbage and Water --- [7000]
===============================================================================
A new addition to the SimCity series is garbage disposal. If you have played
the previous SimCity, you'll notice that the water system has changed.
=======
Garbage ~
=======
When you first start your city, you won't need landfills or garbage facilities
in such large numbers. At first, you might want to zone a 4x4 plot of landfill
or similar. Try to keep these away from residential and commercial zones.
Remember to connect roads or have some other form of transportation leading to
it to actually be effective. As your city grows, you will need more and more
plots of landfills and other garbage disposal buildings. Recycling centers can
help take away some of the stress over the landfills and incinerators burn
trash to get rid of them. Basically, all means of trash disposal should be
placed FAR away from residential and commercial regions for obvious reasons.
After all, who would want to live next to one of these.
=====
Water ~
=====
Let's face it, every city needs an adequate water supply to be successful.
However, the water system is different but surprisingly easier to use. Instead
of having to connect pipes, putting a watered pipe in a tile will provide
water to all surrounding tiles up to seven squares away on every side. Pretty
nice as now we won't have to kill ourselves watering everything.
However, the water pumps of SimCity 3000 now have to be placed near a fresh-
water source if you don't want to use the weak water towers. There are many
ways you can do this but I like to place them this way to organize them and
make them easier to keep track of:
That is by far, the easiest way to place pumps. Keep in mind that you don't
need to go through all that trouble of lowering land but you can simply place
pieces of surface water.
Water treatment plants are expensive but they are very useful when it comes to
polluted water. You won't need water treatment for small towns but when you
have the seaport releasing all that smoke and sludge into the water, a
treatment plant around there is almost neccessary. $15,000 is a lot so you
should only place one near your more prominent water producers.
===============================================================================
---- 8. Setting up Education and Police/Fire Protection ---- [8000]
===============================================================================
Civic buildings are buildings that require some funding from you to run.
Setting them up can use a few pointers.
====================
Health and Education ~
====================
The way you place police and fire departments are different from the way you
place schools and hospitals.
As your city grows, the demand for hospitals and education buildings will grow
and grow. To comprehend with these demands, you will need to build more the
demanded building. However, it won't be too easy. Hospitals and schools cost
money and have quite a hefty monthly fee. You will need to wise in the amount
you place as the wrong amount could get you bankrupt.
Unlike police/fire departments, you can place hospitals and the sort anywhere
you want depending on the demand for that particular building. When you want
to build a number of schools but you don't feel like going through the trouble
of spreading them out, you can simply put them together in a school cluster.
It won't affect anything and you still get the benefit. The same could be said
for hospitals, libraries, colleges, and museums.
You place police stations and fire departments due to demand just like the
previous however, placing them is different.
If you consult the "View Data" tab, you can view a map of the amount of crime
or flammability in your current city. The light blue circles are the coverage
that each station provides. You may not want to pay too much attention at first
but it is expected that you cover every part of your city with adequate
coverage even if it would drain your treasury. Remember to be careful with your
placement and avoid wasting too much money to build a station you won't even
need as another one is already covering the area.
===============================================================================
---- 9. Landmark List ---- [9000]
===============================================================================
One of SimCity's greater additions is the ability to build landmarks. Keep in
mind that building them won't do anything except waste space but they look
nice, nevertheless. You can have a total of 10 landmarks each city.
,-----------------------------------------------.
| 1. 700 Luisiana |
| Houston, Texas USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 2. Adler Planetarium |
| Chicago, Illinois USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 3. Alcatraz Complex East |
| San Francisco, California USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 4. Alcatraz Complex West |
| San Francisco, California USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 5. American Museum of Natural History |
| New York, New York USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 6. Arc de Triomphe |
| Paris, France |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 7. Art Institute of Chicago |
| Chicago, Illinois USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 8. Bank of America |
| San Franciso, California USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 9. Bank of China Tower |
| Hong Kong |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 10. Big Ben |
| London, England |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 11. Brandenburg Gate |
| Berlin, Germany |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 12. California Plaza |
| Walnut Creek, California USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 13. Capitol Records Bldg. |
| Los Angeles, California USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 14. Chartres Cathedral |
| Chartres, France |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 15. City Hall or Independence Hall |
| Philadelphia, Pensylvania USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 16. CN Tower |
| Toronto, Canada |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 17. Coit Tower |
| San Francisco, California USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 18. Columbia Seafirst Center |
| Seattle, Washington USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 19. Conciergerie |
| Paris, France |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 20. Congresshalle |
| Berlin, Germany |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 21. Dome of the Rock |
| Jerusalem |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 22. Eiffel Tower |
| Paris, France |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 23. Empire State Building |
| New York, New York USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 24. Fernsehturm 2 |
| Berlin, Germany |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 25. Gateway Arch |
| St. Louis, Missouri USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 26. Gedachtniskirche |
| Berlin, Germany |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 27. Grand Central Station |
| New York, New York USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 28. Great Pyramids |
| Giza, Egypt |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 29. Hagia Sophia |
| Istanbul, Turkey |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 30. Holsten Tor |
| Luebeck, Germany |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 31. Jefferson Memorial |
| Washington D.C. USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 32. La Tour Montparnasse |
| Paris, France |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 33. Lincoln Center |
| New York, New York USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 34. Lincoln Memorial |
| Washington D.C. USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 35. Maison de Radio France |
| Paris, France |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 36. Melbourne Cricket Ground |
| Melbourne, Australia |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 37. Notre Dame |
| Paris, France |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 38. Old North Church |
| Boston, Massachusetts USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 39. Old State House |
| Boston, Massachusetts USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 40. Palacio Real |
| Madrid, Spain |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 41. Parthenon |
| Athens, Greece |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 42. Peachtree Tower |
| Atlanta, Georgia USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 43. Petronas Twin Tower A |
| Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 44. Petronas Twin Tower B |
| Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 45. Pharos of Alexandria |
| Alexandria, Egypt |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 46. Place de la Concorde |
| Paris, France |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 47. Quincy Market/Faneuil |
| Boston, Massachusetts USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 48. Renaissance Center |
| Detroit, Michigan USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 49. Rockefeller Center |
| New York, New York USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 50. Rotes Rathaus |
| Berlin, Germany |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 51. San Francisco City Hall |
| San Francisco, California USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 52. Schloss Neuschwanstein |
| Fuessen, Germany |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 53. Schloss Schoenbrunn |
| Vienna, Austria |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 54. Shedd Aquarium |
| Chicago, Illinois USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 55. Smith Tower |
| Seattle, Washington USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 56. Smithsonian Castle |
| Washington D.C. USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 57. Sphinx |
| Giza, Egypt |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 58. St. Paul's Cathedral |
| London, England |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 59. St. Basil's Cathedral |
| Moscow, Russia |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 60. Statue of Liberty |
| New York, New York USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 61. Sydney Opera House |
| Sydney, Australia |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 62. Taj Mahal |
| Agra, India |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 63. Temple Expiatiori de la Sagrada Familia |
| Barcelona, Spain |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 64. The Alamo |
| San Antonio, Texas USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 65. Tokyo Tower |
| Tokyo, Japan |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 66. Tower of London |
| London, England |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 67. Trafalgar Square |
| London, England |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 68. United Nations |
| New York, New York USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 69. United States Capitol |
| Washington D.C. USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 70. Washington Monument |
| Washington D.C. USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 71. Westminster Abbey |
| London, England |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 72. White House |
| Washington D.C. USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 73. World Trade Centers A |
| New York, New York USA |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| 74. World Trade Centers B |
| New York, New York USA |
`-----------------------------------------------'
===============================================================================
---- 10. Ordinances List ---- [10000]
===============================================================================
Ordinances are various acts that give or take away certain functions of your
city. Some cost money and some give you money. For a more in-depth look at each
ordinance, go to the meet tab and click on one of your advisors. Go up to the
drop down menu and select ordinances.
Water Conservation --- This ordinance is meant to educate your sims on methods
of reducing water usage. As well as teaching your sims, it sets a restrictive
limit of water to businesses. The more people who live in your city, the more
expensive this ordinance becomes. Over time, businesses and petitioners might
complain.
Power Conservation --- This ordinance is meant to educate your sims on methods
of reducing power usage. As well as teach your sims, it sets a restrictive
limit of power to businesses. The more people who live in your city, the more
expensive this ordinance becomes. Over time, businesses and petitioners might
complain.
Stairwell Lighting --- If you enact this ordinance, every building will be
installed with a "minuterie" which turns on stairwell lights when they detect
motion. When no motion is detected, the "minuterie" will shut off. Stairwell
lighting reduces power consumption but when you have a lot of buildings in
your city, it can take a pretty hefty price.
Mandatory Water Meters --- With the activation of this ordinance, water meters
will be placed in every building throughout your city. Sims are charged
depending on how much water they use so they might be less motivated to waste
extra water. And of course, charging a fee to your sims will always get them to
complain.
==============================================
Health, Education, and Aura Advisor Ordinances ~
==============================================
Community CPR Training --- Activating this ordinances releases a horde of
medical vans across your city to educate your sims in cardio-pulmonary
resuscitation (aka CPR). This will improve your city's overall health rate but
the cost (which is based on population) gets expensive. And you might have a
complaint here or there.
Free Clinics --- Upon activation, your city will round up a group of low cost
and high efficiency clinics. Because of the fact that your city pays these
doctors, they can treat your sims for free. While everyone can get a treatment
from these free clinics, they are more partial to serving the lower classes
which wouldn't usually have enough money to treat their ailments. Thus, it
results in a higher overall health rating. However, as your city grows, the
toll on Free Clinics will increase greatly.
Junior Sports --- Here's a nice little ordinance for the kids. What junior
sports basically does is it organizes after-school sports teams for the youth.
Most of the equiptment is donated by various companies but you still have a
small fee to pay every year. However, Junior Sports is strongly suggested if
you have a lot of crime in your city.
Nuclear Free Zone --- This is an ordinance that every city should have
activated. What this ordinance does is not allowing you to build any Nuclear
Power Plants. It would have been easier to simply, not choose nuclear in the
first place. However, it raises aura (or so I'm told) and it's politically
funded so you won't waste a penny.
Pro-Reading --- The Pro-Reading ordinance encourages your city to read and
write through free tutors, special programs, and other learning resources.
All sims can take advantage of this ordinance but it focuses around kids mainly
who like to take extra-curricular activities and improve their reading and
writing knowledge. Of course, Pro-Reading has a fee which is based on the
amount of people living in your city.
Public Smoking Ban --- The Public Smoking Ban is meant to outlaw around all
public buildings. The game's description states that you need to pay money
each year to give local merchants plastic water buckets so they could dump
water on anyone who is breaking the rule. Kind of a stupid way to use your
money don't you think? The Public Smoking Ban is expensive and some will
complain but I use it due to its major impact on your city's health rates.
================================
Public Safety Advisor Ordinances ~
================================
Mandatory Smoke Detectors --- This ordinance requires that all buildings
within city limits be fitted with a smoke detector which works very well
obviously. Smoke detectors will lower flammability and the cost is based upon
the number of buildings in the city.
Neighborhood Watch --- This ordinance encourages sims to join crime-watch teams
in their vicinity and look around for any suspicious activity. Your sims will
patrol the streets and report any suspicious activity and overall, aid your
police. It has a fairly high price but the amount of crime that's lowered is
easily worth it.
Youth Curfew --- I greatly despise this ordinance. It has a giant fee and it
doesn't really help your city too much. What it does is ban all kids from the
streets after 10:00 pm. However, if your city doesn't have too much youth, than
this ordinance can't be too effective. Of course, extra money would have to be
used to hire more police officers to patrol the streets. Only use the expensive
Youth Curfew if you have no other choice.
Crossing Guards --- The Crossing Guard ordinance is fairly useful in its own
sense. These highly trained servants will direct traffic and help to avoid
accidents and death so your overall health rating will increase. However, they
will increase traffic at the busier intersections and it does carry a hefty
fee which is based upon population.
Leaf Burning Ban --- The best way to get rid of all those leaves in the autumn
is pretty unsurprisingly, burning them (although I haven't witnessed any in my
neighborhood). The Leaf Burning Ban teaches all sims to not burn leaves in
their backyards which lowers your flammability and air pollution. The cost is
nothing so there's no reason you wouldn't activate this one.
Landfill Gas Recovery --- There is a natural gas that is a by-product of
landfills. This ordinance will recover you that lost gas and use it to generate
power or whatever other role it can play. The result is more power production
and less air pollution. It doesn't have that large of a fee. The cost is based
on the amount of sims you have in your city.
Backyard Composting --- This ordinance will establish periodic neighborhood
workshops which would train sims to use their garbage waste for their own
fertilizer instead of letting that trash go to whatever garbage disposal you
have. The cost is based on population. The result is a reduce in garbage sent
away and more fetid backyards obviously.
Paper Reduction Act --- This ordinances acts by calling attention to the
amount of paper wasted in the course of running a business. It turns businesses
away as they would have to write a 50 page report on the sudden increase in
paper usage and many managers would not want to to do that. It helps to some
extent and the cost is based on population.
Trash Presort --- This ordinance will make sims separate their garbage to
recycling centers. Activating the Trash Presort ordinance will greatly increase
recycling center efficiency although it would be useless with any recycling
centers. Cost is based on population.
Lawn Chemical Ban --- The Lawn Chemical Ban forbids the use of any fertilizer
containing a chemical known as Triphenel-Bichloral-Monodioxide which would
contaminate the city's water sources. You need to pay to fund the research
which develops safer fertilizer to give to the various farmers who need it.
Cost based on population and water pollution will be lifted.
Clean Air --- The name should say it all already. This ordinance promotes
techniques to reduce air pollutions and industrial zones are usually pressed
to find some way to avoid getting that smog into the air. The cost is based
on city-wide population and it reduces air pollution overall. This can get
fairly expensive.
Industrial Waste Disposal Tax --- This ordinance doesn't help too much and
despite the name, it affects both commercial and industrial zones. All
companies will be forced to pay a small, flat tax. You get some of the revenue
but demand for commercial and industrial zones will decrease greatly and you'll
get some complaints.
Mandatory Car Smogging --- This ordinance will not allow any cars driven in
your roads without complying with a certain clean emission standard. This will
encourage your sims to use cleaner cars thus resulting in less air pollution to
boot. Air pollution drops although some sims might get angry at this ban. Cost
is based on population.
Tire Recycling --- This ordinance requires that all discarded tires be
pulverized into asphalt. This will reduce both garbage production and road and
highway cost (due to extra asphalt supply). The cost is fairly cheap and it's
based on sim's population. This is one of the most useful ordinances so you
better enact this!
=======================
City Planner Ordinances ~
=======================
Industrial Pollutant Impact Fee --- This fee will issue a tax to any polluting
in your city. You will get some profit out of it but many industries will pack
up and leave. Use this at your own risk.
Electronic Tax Incentive --- This ordinance will lower taxes for electronic
industry to attract new businesses and non-polluting industries. However, the
loss in taxes will greatly cost you. It is based on the number of non-polluting
industries in your city.
Homeless Shelters --- This ordinance pays for structures, soup lines, and basic
infrastructure to aid the homeless and get them off the streets. Your city's
overall land value will increase as doing the less fortunate a favor will lift
their spirits. The cost is based on your city's population. It isn't very
expensive so you should have this ordinance enacted.
Aerospace Tax Incentive --- Argh! Another tax incentive. Activating this rather
expensive ordinance will reduce the taxes for companies creating new aerospace
technology. This will attract new aerospace companies which will turn into
clean technology later on. The cost is based on the number of clean industries
in your city and it is a very, very hefty price. Again, if you're using your
dollars to wipe your butt, enact this incentive.
Tourist Promotion --- This rather expensive ordinance will advertise your city
and build welcome centers where guests can get the lowdown on your city and
pick up maps, brochures, and coupons to use throughout your city. This will
improve tourism and maybe even gain you some new residents and commercial
towers. However, tourisms leave you with traffic jams everywhere so make sure
you can handle a few extra cars. The expensive cost is based upon population.
Farmer's Market --- This ordinance will ask the city to allocate a strip of
land where farmers can sell their fresh fruit and vegetables. There are no
costs and enacting this ordinance will encourage more farms to come to your
city. All the effects are positive but if you don't have any farms, then the
purpose is kind of defeated? Still, checking off this ordinance is a must.
What do you have to lose?
Conservation Corps --- Upon enacting the Conservation Corps ordinance, your
city will release a squad of your own citizens to maintain the natural beauty
of your city. They will pick up trash along roads, highways, and the coast.
This ordinance will reduce crime by giving teenagers something to do, reduce
pollution, and attract clean industry. However, the cost is based on the number
of polluting industry you have and that cost goes up high at times.
Electronics Job Fair --- The Electronics Job Fair is an annual and city
sponsored job fair. Most clean industry find the Electronics Job Fair a nice
base for finding educated and dedicated employees and are more likely to come
to your city if you hold one every year. The cost is worth the results and it
depends on the city's population.
Earthquake Resistance and Retro-Fitting --- This ordinance will make new
building additions to your city to be fitted and designed to resist
earthquakes. Already existing buildings will be given retro-fitting to help
them withstand the full blast of a wobbler. It is useful in times of an
earthquake but if you have "No Disasters" enabled, then there's no point in
paying for this. The cost is based on the amount of buildings in your city
and can grow pretty expensive.
Public Access Cable --- Public Access Cable allows businesses to use the media
for free which results in new industry as well as clean industry where
telecommunication skills are more valued instead of pollution. The fee is based
on city population can very well, grow very high.
Clean Industry Association --- Activating this ordinance puts you in a
committee of cities that support clean industry and advertises to increase
clean industry for all cities that have joined the pact. More polluting
industries will leave but that's what we need. Cost is usually expensive keep
in mind.
Biotech Tax Incentive --- This is the final tax breaking incentive ordinance.
Biotechnology is another form of clean industry your city could use. With this
ordinance combined with the other two, your city is almost guaranteed to have
clean industry to some extent. Again, the cost is based on the number of non-
polluting industries and will grow very high.
Parking Fines --- This will give the city a small bit of money from parking
violators who don't really enjoy following the street rules. Your policemen
will patrol the streets and give tickets to any who violate your rules. Keep
in mind that all fees will leave sims annoyed and angry.
Carpool Incentive --- To encourage your sims to hitch a ride aboard a friend,
your city will issue rewards to cars having more than three passengers such as
free parking or the ability to pass toll plazas by. This will decrease traffic
but in the end, the cost (which is based on city population) will probably get
to you.
Shuttle Service --- This will release a squad of free shuttles to carry your
sims who would normally walk around the city to their preferred location or
mass transit stop. The result is a pretty major decrease in traffic but the
cost (which is based on population), will grow high.
Subsidized Mass Transit --- This ordinance will cut 50% of taxes on mass
transit thus encouraging more sims to forget about their cars and ride the
subway to their destination or something thus resulting in lower traffic. On
the ordinances screen, it appears as if this costs $0 and I wish that it did.
However, if you go to the budget window, you'll see that your mass transit
taxes are cut in half.
Alternate Day Driving --- This rather childish limitation asks sims to only
drive on certain days of the week. If you have an even number license plate,
you are only allowed to drive on even days and if you are an odd number, only
odd number days. It's not too hard to understand the cost isn't that high. I'm
surprised sims don't complain about it. I know I would.
Legalized Gambling --- Activating this ordinances will legalize gambling
throughout your streets. It will give you quite a bit of income but it results
in higher crime rates. If you can take advantage of the crime, by all means,
enact this ordinance and enjoy your extra few dollars.
===============================================================================
---- 11. Secrets and Codes ---- [12000]
===============================================================================
SimCity 3000 has a nice collection of cheats. There are many floating around
the internet however the following is all that I've heard about. If there are
more (which is highly unlikely), I would hope you'd contact me.
To bring up the cheat box, press Shift-Ctrl-Alt-C. Keep in mind that these
codes are case sensitive. Also, you will need to re-type certain codes again to
get their effect.
i am weak --- This code is the cheapest one out there obviously. What it does
is make everything you build free. However, keep in mind that
bulldozing still costs money and when you have negative money,
you can't build roads and certain other types of construction
even though they are free. You need to type this in every time
you enter and exit the game.
garbage in, garbage out --- This allows you to be able to construct all garbage
facilities negating whatever year you're in
currently.
water in the desert --- This allows you to be able to construct all water
facilities negating whatever year you're in currently.
power to the masses --- This allows you to be able to construct all power
plants negating whatever year you're in currently.
nerdz rool --- One of my favorite cheats as well. This cheat automatically
changes all already existing industries as well as future
industries into high-tech, non-polluting industries. Remember to
type this in every time you enter and exit the game.
UFO Swarm --- This code is awesome! Type this in the cheat box and start a UFO
disaster. Instead of the normal 5-7 UFOs you would see usually,
an entire swarm of flying saucers will crowd your city causing
massive destruction obviously. >:-)
The Birds --- A pretty pointless cheat in my opinion. It simply makes a flock
of white birds to fly over your city. If there's any hidden
meaning, please don't hesitate to contact me.
call cousin Vinnie --- Go to your meet tab and locate the "Local Fundraising
Event" that should have appeared there. Meet with Vinnie
and he'll offer you some money. You can take the
$100,000 if you want but if you decline the offer, you
can get the SimCity Castle. Read below...
zyxwvu --- Vinnie will come back and he'll offer you the SimCity Castle after
you type this in the cheat box. The castle is a very interesting
building indeed boosting land value, aura, and just looks great
especially on hills or something.
Type the following in to get the corresponding message to appear in the news
ticker (some are pretty funny):
1. bat - Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da BAT-Man!
2. scurk - If You Build It, They Will Come
3. llama - The Llama Is A Quadruped
4. sim - If You Lived Here, You'd Be A Sim
5. help - Dozens of Hidden News Tickers, Study Reveal; Sim Encouraged To
Collect Them All And Amaze Friends
6. will wright - What Will He Think Of Next?
7. electronic arts - Not Just Sports Games Anymore
8. erts - Investment Tip: Buy Low, Sell High
9. ticker - [city name] Picayune: The Finest In Scrolling Entertainment
10. moremoney - MOREMONEY Not Cheat Code, Research Confirms
11. hello - Greetings, Mayor, Your Sims Salute You
12. broccoli - Sorry. Money Doesn't Grow On Broccoli
13. porntipsguzzardo - Aha! We Have A Real Pro Here! Try BROCCOLI
14. easter egg - Duo Ragazzi's Easter Egg Palace: Old World Charm In A Post
Modern Setting
15. mayor - Mayor [your name] Brings [your city] To News Ticker Highlight
16. sc3k - Mayor Suspected In Attempting Embezzling: Ends In Failure
17. 1234 - Secret Number Combination Causes Announcement In News Ticker
18. maxis - Did You Know That MAXIS Spelled Backwards Is SIX AM?
19. advisor - Mayor Under Investigation for Possible Embezzlement
20. fund - FUND Not A Cheat Code, Do Not Type MOREMONEY, It Is Not A Cheat Code
Either
The following is not a cheat box cheat but sure is a useful thing to do...
especially if you want more SimCity Castles which is what I always do with
this. Remember to follow it exactly. :P
1. Open up the "Power Plants" menu and close it.
2. Open up the "Rewards & Opportunities" menu and close it.
3. Open up the "Garbage Disposal" menu and close it.
When you're done following those rather easy steps, go to the "Landmark Menu"
and you'll see it filled with every possible structure in SimCity. Build
whatever you'd like, it's all free.
===============================================================================
---- 12. Version History ---- [12000]
===============================================================================
Version 1.0 - Submitted this guide. Fully completed with all features. I might
considering doing some other stuff in the near future but for
now, it's complete! 92 KB
(Jan 28, 2003)
Version 1.1 - Added http://www.honestgamers.com to the site listings. 92 KB
(Feb 02, 2005)
This FAQ is the property of its author, Quan Jin. All rights reserved.
Any stealing, selling for profit or altering of this document without the
author's expressed consent is strictly prohibited. You may download this file
for personal and private use only.
SimCity 3000 is a registered trademark of Maxis. The author
(Quan Jin) is not affiliated with Maxis in any way or form. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
===============================================================================
---- 14. Credits and Closing ---- [14000]
===============================================================================
Hey, what do you know? The FAQ is officially over. There's not much here to say
except enjoy the rest of SimCity 3000 and of course, put the following in your
prayers and worship. Have a g'day!
Y.T.W.S.R. - Only a few selected people might know what I'm talking about here.
Since I'm not one to give it away, I would still like to thank
this group for their support and motivation throughout the
lifespan of this entire FAQ.
GameWinners - Where else could I have gotten my cheats? Props to them!
GameFAQs - The largest FAQ archive on the net. Thanks to CJayC for accepting
this piece of work.
The FCSB - They didn't help too much but what can I say, where would I be
without a few of them? Major props to these great board members who
are also prized FAQ writers. Some examples being; Crazyreyn, Psycho
Penguin, Gbness, Karpah, SinirothX, Meowthnum1, Guitarfreak86,
Joni Philips, War Doc, Merca, and last but definitely not least,
Gobicamel1. You all rock!
Maxis - Producing a great line of games (except for SimCopter & a few others
obviously).
