Games PC SIM CITY 3000 User Manual

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WARNING: TO OWNERS OF PROJECTION TELEVISIONS

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EPILEPSY WARNING

PLEASE READ BEFORE USING THIS GAME

OR ALLOWING YOUR CHILDREN TO USE IT.

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If you or anyone in your family has ever had symptoms related to epilepsy (seizures or loss of consciousness) when exposed to flashing lights, consult your doctor prior to playing.

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PRECAUTIONS TO TAKE DURING USE

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Rest for at least 10 to 15 minutes per hour while playing a video game.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

GREETINGS! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 TUTORIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

STEP 1: LAUNCH AND LOAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . .5

STEP 2: SELECTING AN AREA TO BUILD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . .5

STEP 3: BUILDING ROADS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . .6

STEP 4: ZONING RCI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . .6

STEP 5: POWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . .8

STEP 6: BRINGING YOUR CITY TO LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . .8

STEP 7: WATER AND WASTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . .9

STEP 8: PROTECTING YOUR CITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . .11

STEP 9: FINANCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . .12

STEP 10: DATA MAPS, CHARTS, AND GRAPHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . .13

STEP 11: AS YOU CAN BUILD, SO CAN YOU DESTROY . . . . . . . . . . .

. . .13

THE JOY OF MAYORING; A REFERENCE GUIDE

. .15

OPENING MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

MAIN TOOLBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

INFORMATION BAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

VIEW PANEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

ADVISORS, PETITIONERS, AND NEIGHBOURS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

MAPS, CHARTS, AND GRAPHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

CITY DEPARTMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 FINANCIAL/BUDGET DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . .38

MEET YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

BASICS OF THE FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

FINANCIAL ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . .44

MEET YOUR TRANSPORTATION ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

BASICS OF THE TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

TRANSPORTATION ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

CITY PLANNING DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . .

48

MEET YOUR CITY PLANNING ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.48

BASICS OF THE CITY PLANNING DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.48

CITY PLANNING ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.52

ENVIRONMENTAL DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . .

53

MEET YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

BASICS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . .

.57

MEET YOUR PUBLIC SAFETY ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.57

BASICS OF THE PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.58

PUBLIC SAFETY ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.62

HEALTH, EDUCATION AND AURA DEPARTMENT

.63

MEET YOUR HEA ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.63

BASICS OF THE HEA DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.63

HEA ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.65

UTILITIES DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

MEET YOUR UTILITIES ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

BASICS OF THE UTILITY DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

UTILITIES ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71

CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

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Games PC SIM CITY 3000 User Manual

GREETINGS!

Hello and welcome to SimCity 3000™! Congratulations on your election as Mayor of one of the finest SimCities in the entire SimNation. I’m sure you are eager to get your city started, but there are a few things you need to know before you dive in. As Mayor, your job is twofold. You are charged with creating a city that brings your dreams to life, but you also have to provide a good life for your Sims. “What’s a Sim?” you ask. All of the people that live in all of the little SimCities in that huge SimNation, they’re all Sims and you’re their new Mayor. But you’re so much more than just their Mayor. You control their destinies. Sure, they can do some things on their own, but it’s up to you to give them a nice place to live, to work, to raise their families, to pursue happiness, and all of those other things they should be allowed to do. Just remember—if you don’t give them what they’re looking for, there’s always some other Mayor out there who will and Sims can be quick to leave for greener pastures.

There are all kinds of cities that Sims are willing to live in. There are Sims who’d like to live in a metropolis, or maybe an industrial town is more their thing. Since you’re the Mayor, you can build anything you desire and you can count on there being some Sims that will want to move in. If you want, you can even put together a little island out in the middle of nowhere and, if you set up the place right, Sims will move to your city in their hundreds.

With the help of this guide and your Advisors, I’m sure you are going to make a great Mayor. Just remember—there are billions of Sims out there just itching to find their own urban paradise and you, you lucky dog, are the person who can give it to them.

TUTORIAL

This Tutorial walks you through the beginning stages of building a city. There are many types of cities you can build with SimCity 3000 and many ways to start; this Tutorial provides one example.

STEP 1: LAUNCH AND LOAD

This tutorial calls for the use of a specific saved game.

1.The first thing you need to do is launch SimCity 3000. If you need any help, please see the enclosed Reference Card.

2.When the opening menu appears, select Load City, then open the city TUTORIAL

Each time you start a new city or load a city, the simulation speed is set to PAUSE. Keep it that way for now so you can build in peace, without settling Sims making demands, until you are ready for them.

STEP 2: SELECTING AN AREA TO BUILD

 

 

City View

Main Toolbar

Landscape

News Ticker

 

RCI Demand Indicator

 

 

 

 

 

Zone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Build Transportation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Build Utilities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place Civic/Special Buildings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emergency

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adjust & Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change Settings & Exit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terrain Grid Toggle

Information Bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Navigation Map

Population

Date

 

 

 

 

 

Zoom Out

 

 

Layer View

 

 

Rotate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

City Name

Funds

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zoom In

 

 

 

 

 

Simulation Speed Control

Hide Toolbars button

 

 

 

 

 

Well, here it is! This is where the magic happens. Over on the right, you have all of the tools you’ll need to build any kind of city you can dream of. This is called the Main Toolbar. Across the bottom of the screen, you are given all of the information at a glance that you’ll need to make sure every gear is spinning like you want it to. This is your Information Bar.

The first step is to find a large open area to build your future metropolis - the bigger the area, the better.

To scroll freely around the City View, click and hold the right mouse button then move the mouse in the direction you wish to scroll….

…or centre the view on your cursor. A single-click of the left mouse button accomplishes this.

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When you start a new city the zoom level is set to the furthest zoom level. Zoom in one level using the ZOOM IN button in the View Panel.

STEP 3: BUILDING ROADS

Transportation is critical to the growth of your city. Start by building some roads.

1.Select the ROAD button from within the BUILD TRANSPORTATION button menu.

2.Move the cursor over to the City View.

You’ll notice that as you move the cursor into the City View window it will change appearance to indicate the selected tool. In this case, the cursor represents a transportation tool; roads, to be exact.

3.Click and drag the mouse where you wish to place your first road. Create a road that is ten tiles in length.

The line you’ve drawn represents where the road you’re creating will be placed; it is called the Drop Shadow. Upon releasing the mouse button, the Drop Shadow turns into road.

If you cannot place an item, the Drop Shadow will turn red to indicate that you need to select a different location.

If you start to place any item and change your mind about placement, you can cancel the action by making sure the SHIFT key is pressed before you release the mouse button.

4.Build a series of straight roads along the grid to end up with a square that is 10 tiles by 10 tiles.

5.Continue drawing roads until your map looks like the following picture.

1.Click on the ZONE button on the Main Toolbar. A menu of icons will pop up. Click and hold the RESIDENTIAL button.

The Residential icon contains a submenu of options. The active item from the submenu is designated by a checkmark. In the case of the Residential zone button, the default is for Light Residential. Once a different zone density has been selected in this submenu, it will become the new default.

Residential can be zoned in 3 different densities: Light, Medium, and Dense. This allows you precise control over what your Sims can build.

2.Move the cursor to highlight Medium Residential and release the mouse button.

3.Move the cursor to the City View and click on one of the corners of the 8x8 enclosed area, but do not release the mouse button.

4.Drag the Residential zone Drop Shadow until it covers the tiles within the 8x8 enclosed area.

5.Release the mouse button; the Drop Shadow will become a medium density Residential zone.

Don’t worry if you don’t fill in the square in one swipe. You can click to place individual zone tiles if you need to. Just do as many stretches or individual tiles of the zone as it takes to fill in the square.

In each of the two remaining rectangles, you want to provide an area where Sims will be able to work and shop.

6.Select Light Commercial from the Zone menu and fill one of the enclosed rectangles near your Residential zone.

7.Select Medium Industrial from the Zone menu and fill the remaining enclosed rectangle.

You should now have a layout that looks like the following image:

STEP 4: ZONING RCI

There are three zone types that the Sims need in order to have a functioning city: Residential, Commercial and Industrial. Residential zones are where your Sims live. Commercial zones contain shops and offices. The Industrial zones contain various factories, industries and warehouses. Sims need a lot of room to live, so inside the 10x10 neighbourhood you are going to zone for Residential.

As you build cities, you will find that you need enough Residential to support both the Commercial and Industrial districts. So don’t be surprised when the most prominent zone in your city is Residential.

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STEP 5: POWER

Sims need power, yet typically do not like living next to power plants. The farther you can place this plant from your Residential zone the better. However, for the sake of this tutorial, pick a location just slightly away from your zoned area.

1.Once you have an area selected, click on the POWER PLANTS button located within the BUILD UTILITIES button menu.

This brings up a window containing a selection of power plants. Because this city started in the year 1950, you have a very limited selection of power plants.

2.Select the coal plant and click the checkmark to close the window. Then move the cursor to the City View over the area you have chosen to locate your power

plant.

Notice that the Drop Shadow for the coal plant is 4x4.

3.Place the coal plant with a single-click of the left mouse button. Now you need to run wires from the power plant to the zones.

4.Select POWER LINES from within the BUILD UTILITIES button menu. Power lines can be drawn like roads; you can click and drag the Drop Shadow in a line.

5.Draw a line of wires that connects the coal plant to at least one point of any of your zones.

For more information on what your Sims’ power needs are, please see the Utilities Department section.

STEP 6: BRINGING YOUR CITY TO LIFE

Are you ready to see your city come to life? It’s time to see the first fruits of your labours.

1.Move the speed of the simulator from pause to full speed by clicking on the extreme right speed marker on the Simulation Speed Control located in the Information Bar. Then click the RUN SIMULATION arrow to turn the simulation on.

Let a few months tick by. Sims are starting to move into their new homes, and workplaces are being established. The types of buildings that are built reflect both the density and land value of that zone. For more information on the relationship between zones and land value, see the City Planning Department section.

You can see time pass by looking at the Date next to the Simulation Speed Control.

2.Look at the RCI Demand Indicator in the Information Bar. This tool provides feedback regarding what zone types are in demand in your city.

When the meter, or bar, for a zone type is up, that means the Sims could use more of that zone type. If the meter is down, then there is a surplus of that zone. It is possible to have the RCI Demand Indicator levels up even though you have a lot of that zone. See the City Planning Department section for more information.

3.Pause the game again by clicking on the PAUSE SIMULATION button on the Simulation Speed Control; it’s time for more additions to your city.

STEP 7: WATER AND WASTE

There are two more utilities that are absolutely essential to your Sims’ lives: Water and Waste (Garbage) Disposal.

Water

1. Click on the MEET button on the Main Toolbar.

This is where you’ll go to meet with an Advisor or Petitioner.

2.Select the Utilities Advisor and select BRIEFINGS from the drop down menu.

Briefings contain reference documents provided by SimNation.

3.Read through the briefing “Getting Water To Your Sims.”

4.When you’ve finished, close the Advisor window and select WATER STRUCTURES from within the BUILD UTILITIES button menu. This brings up a window containing a selection of Water Structures.

5.Select the water pumping station from the list of available buildings.

6.Move the cursor to a site near your zones in the City View window and place a water pumping station by clicking the mouse button. Water pumping stations must be built near a fresh water source to operate. If the location you have selected for your water pumping station is not within two tiles of fresh water, the pump will have no pumping capacity. The easy solution is to create surface water.

7.Water pumping stations require power. Select the POWER LINES button from within the BUILD UTILITIES button menu.

8.Draw a line of wires that connect the nearest powered zone or power plant to the water pumping station.

The water pumping station holds and pumps water to the thirsty Sims, but the water has to get to them first. You’ll need to connect the water pumping station to the zones with pipes as well as connect power to the pump.

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9.Select the WATER PIPES button from within the BUILD UTILITIES button menu on the Main Toolbar.

You are now looking at the Underground View of your city. This layer shows how your water pipes are laid out as well as all of the structures that are

providing water. The only building you currently see is the Underground View of your water pumping station

10.Click and drag a line of water pipes that connects the water pumping station to your developing zones.

All tiles within seven tiles of any part of the pipe will be watered as long as there is water running in the pipes.

11.Start the simulator by clicking on the fourth tick mark and then the RUN SIMULATION arrow on the SIMULATION SPEED CONTROL in the Information Bar.

Let a little time pass and watch as water begins to radiate from the pipes to the zones. Watered areas will appear in blue in the Underground View for pipes.

12.Now return to the above ground view from the City Layer Views window.

13.Click on the LAYER VIEWS button in the Information Toolbar

14.Click the DEFAULT VIEW button in the City Layer Views window and then click on the checkmark.

Rubbish

Since Sims are moving in and happily going about their daily lives, you should start seeing messages in the News Ticker letting you know what is going on in the city. The Sims may not be complaining about waste management yet, but trust me when I say, “Deal with rubbish early!”

1.Click on the MEET button and then select the Environmental Advisor.

2.Read through the Briefing, “Dealing with Garbage”, and then close the Advisor window.

3.Pause the simulator again so you can do some more work while the Sims “sleep.”

It’s time to start some waste disposal. To do so, you’re going to zone a landfill in your city. Usually you’d want to keep a landfill as far from your city centre as possible, but for this tutorial, you can put it relatively close.

4.Find some land near your zoned area and then select LANDFILL from within the ZONE button menu.

Landfill is a zone, so you can place it the same way you placed the Residential, Commercial, and Industrial zones.

5. Zone a landfill that is 4x4.

You don’t need to worry about powering a landfill, but you need to be sure there’s a way for the rubbish trucks to get there.

6.Build a road from the zones to the landfill.

7.Unpause the simulator again.

8.Zoom in using the ZOOM IN button in the View Panel and watch as dump trucks start taking rubbish to the dump.

Over time the landfill will show signs of use. This is just one of the many visual feedback systems you will come across. Always keep an eye on things in your city to see how well everything is doing.

STEP 8: PROTECTING YOUR CITIES

Safety is very important in your city. Without police and fire protection, how do you expect your Sims to sleep at night? You need to place a police station and a fire station to satisfy the security needs of your Sims.

1.Click on the PLACE CIVIC/SPECIAL BUILDINGS button menu. Here you will find the POLICE and FIRE STATION buttons.

The submenu in the POLICE button contains the POLICE STATION. The FIRE STATION has its own button next to POLICE.

2. Place one of each building along the road near your landfill.

If you place the buildings more than two tiles away from the zoned area (which has power), you need to run power lines to them from any powered building or zone.

3.Click the QUERY button from within the ADJUST & REVIEW button menu. Click on anything in your city with this tool to provide information on that item.

4.Click on the police and fire station. If they are not powered, you will need to run power lines to them (make sure that the simulation speed is unpaused).

5.When you are done looking at the Query window, click the checkmark in the lower, right corner to close it.

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Keep in mind that having a single police department and a single fire station will only be satisfactory if you never grow your city more than this. For more information on maintaining proper safety coverage, see the Public Safety Department section.

STEP 9: FINANCES

Practically everything you build has an annual maintenance cost. The monetary unit of the SimNation is the SIMOLEON.

1.Open the Budget window by clicking on the BUDGET button from within the ADJUST & REVIEW button menu.

This is where you monitor and control the way you spend your money. 2. Look at the Police Budget line item.

You adjust each budget by moving the pointer on the slider in front of each department. Each slider has a

marker. The marker represents what the Advisor for that department wants you to allocate.

3.Leave the Police and Fire Budgets to what the Public Safety Advisor’s asking for.

At the bottom of the window, you’re told whether you are projected to make or lose money at the end of the year.

If it looks like you’ll be losing money, you can try raising taxes.

4.Click on the INCOME button at the top of the Budget window

5.Adjust the taxes for Residential, Commercial or Industrial by clicking on the up or down arrow in the appropriate line to increase or decrease the tax rate.

Just remember that when you raise taxes, your Sims might not like it and may move away to another city.

6.Look through your Income and Expenditures.

7.Close the Budget window by clicking the checkmark in the lower right corner.

STEP 10: DATA MAPS, CHARTS, AND

GRAPHS

There are various Data Maps, Charts, and Graphs your advisors maintain for you. They give an overview of city happenings as well as historical data on various aspects of your city’s growth.

1.Click on the View Data button located within the Adjust & Review button menu on the Main Toolbar. Choose from a list of maps, charts, and graphs to see an overview of your city as it stands now.

2.When you are done looking at your city’s statistics, close any open windows by clicking on the X in the upper right corner.

Data Maps

STEP 11: AS YOU CAN BUILD, SO CAN

YOU DESTROY

Disasters happen all the time in the real world and SimCities are no exception. Before you unleash anything in your city, save the game.

1.Click on SAVE AS button found within the CHANGE SETTINGS & EXIT button menu; this opens the Save City window.

2.Name the file anything other than Tutorial.

3.You can change where you save your city, but leave this one in the default directory.

4.Click the checkmark to save the city.

Back to the game? Good. Time to destroy what you have created.

5.Press the START DISASTER button located within the EMERGENCY button menu on the Main Toolbar and select FIRE.

A fire will soon start in your city. The City View window will be automatically centred on the location of the fire as it breaks out. This is called the AUTO GO TO DISASTERS feature (this feature can be turned off in the Preferences window). During a disaster the Simulator runs at a very slow speed to allow you to deal with

it. The Simulation Speed Control is disabled until the disaster runs its course. Once the disaster is over, the simulation speed will return to the setting it was at prior to the disaster.

You have to hurry and get some firefighters out to the blaze before it reduces your city to rubble.

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6.Click on the DISPATCH FIREFIGHTERS button, located within the EMERGENCY button menu.

You could send police out to deal with the problem, but they won’t be nearly as effective as your firefighters. The reason you have firefighters to dispatch is because of the fire station you built. If you had neither police nor fire coverage, your Sims would rally a volunteer group to dispatch at your command.

7. Click on a tile near the fire.

This dispatches one of your two fire units, one from your fire station and one being your volunteer group. Each subsequent fire station will give you one additional dispatch unit.

By leaving the fire truck dispatched next to a fire for a long enough time, the fire will be put out.

8.Click on another tile near a fire to dispatch your second fire fighting unit.

9.If you click on yet another tile, it will move the first of your two dispatch units to this new location.

10.Continue to dispatch your fire fighting units to surround the blaze until you manage to put it out.

11.Once you have either put out all of the fires, or your city is burnt to the ground, click on the LOAD CITY button from within the CHANGE SETTINGS & EXIT button menu in the Main Toolbar.

12.You will be asked if you want to save your current city. Say NO, and then select your saved game when the Load screen comes up. Voila! Good as new!

As you continue to explore what you can create as a Mayor of a SimCity, Sims will continue to ask for more and more things (keep your eye on the News Ticker!) and it’s up to you to make their dreams, as well as your own, a reality. Feel free to continue building this city, or start a brand new one. The choice is yours!

THE JOY OF MAYORING; A REFERENCE GUIDE

This section provides a breakdown of every tool, button, and menu found in

SimCity 3000.

OPENING MENU

This is the first menu you see when you launch SimCity 3000. Your options from this menu are START NEW CITY, LOAD CITY, STARTER TOWN, REAL CITY TERRAIN, PREFERENCES, and EXIT. Each option is detailed below.

Start New City

When you choose to START NEW CITY, your first step is to determine your NEW CITY OPTIONS.

City Name – Anything that suits your fancy, up to a maximum of 50 characters.

Mayor Name – What your Sims will call you. Select any name under 50 characters. Last names work best, as your Sims will address you as “Mayor ‘MAYOR NAME’. ”

Difficulty Level – Choose an easy game, a hard game, or something in between. Easy games give you more money to start with.

Start Date – The year your city is established.

City Size – The number of tiles in your city. (Low end systems will have better game performance with smaller cities).

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Once your city options are set, click the checkmark and a city terrain is created.

Select ACCEPT THIS TERRAIN at the bottom of the Terrain Toolbar to

immediately start building your city using the terrain you see in the City View window.

Or…

Click RE-GENERATE TERRAIN to create a new random terrain based on the

same landscape profile. Or…

Elect to edit a terrain to suit your fancy by using the tools in the Terrain Toolbar as described below:

Map Edge

Map Centre

Mountain Slider

Water Slider

Tree Slider

Re-Generate Terrain

Accept This Terrain

Map Edge – Clicking on any of the four Map Edges cycles between a coast line and a neighbour border.

Map Centre – Clicking on the Map Centre cycles between dry land, rivers, lake and mountain.

Mountain Slider – Raising and lowering this slider will increase and reduce the amount of mountainous areas on your terrain.

Water Slider – Raising and lowering this slider will increase and reduce the amount of water on your terrain.

Tree Slider – Raising and lowering this slider will increase and reduce the amount of trees on your terrain.

Re-Generate Terrain – Any time you make adjustments in the Terrain Toolbar you must press this button for the changes to take effect on the actual map.

Accept This Terrain – Establishes your new city using the terrain depicted in the City View window.

Starter Town

Various “standard” designs, or templates, have been used for years by various mayors in various cities all across the world. These templates are available to you in the form of STARTER TOWNS. These are ready to go templates based on city planning theories through the ages. All of a city's basic needs are laid out, simply unpause the simulation and watch them build. Where these templates go from here is up to you.

Select the Starter Town you would like to use and click the checkmark.

The next step is to determine your NEW CITY OPTIONS, choose a Mayor Name, City Name, and the Difficulty Level you’d like to play at.

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Load City

The LOAD CITY button allows you to load both SimCity 3000 cities and SimCity 2000 cities.

• Select the city you’d like to continue playing and click the checkmark. That’s all there is to it!

Real City Terrain

SimCity 3000 comes with several starting terrains based on geographic data from real cities all over the world.

Select the terrain you would like to build on and click the checkmark to proceed to the NEW CITY OPTIONS window described above.

Preferences

Everyone likes to run their city a certain way. Setting the Game Preferences to fit your style will make you a happier Mayor.

Performance

These settings allow you to fine tune your game to suit the performance of your system. When you turn any of these settings OFF, SimCity 3000 will run at a faster rate.

Traffic Visible – This determines at which zoom levels you can see traffic at. Only turn this up to the highest level if you have a Recommended System (see the Reference Card for more information).

Sims Visible – This determines at which zoom levels you can see your Sims walking the streets.

Other Animations – This selection includes building animations and graphic effects that are not essential for game play.

Screen Resolution – This selection will allow you to set the screen resolution of your game window. The smaller the size, the faster the game will run. Changes in screen resolution will not take place without restarting SimCity 3000.

General Options

Allows you to toggle on or off the SimCity 3000 Start Up Tips.

Sound

Check boxes for these options turn the selection ON or OFF, and the sliders increase or decrease the volume.

Music – Control the volume or toggle on or off the selection of scores that will be played in random order throughout gameplay.

Ambient Sound – These are the sounds you hear when you zoom in and get close to the city.

Sound Effects – The noises you hear when you do action items in the game.

Enable 3D sound – This option will only be editable if the game has detected the necessary hardware.

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Landscape
Zone
Build Transportation
Build Utilities
Place Civic/Special Buildings
Emergency
Meet
Adjust & Review
Change Settings & Exit

Music Choices

Highlight a music selection and preview it by clicking the PLAY button below the list of selections. Check the selections that you want to play during gameplay. Those that are left unchecked will not be included in the random selection of music.

Exit

Just like it sounds, this button will exit the game.

MAIN TOOLBAR

The Main Toolbar contains buttons that can have up to two levels of tools within them. Clicking on a button on the Main Toolbar displays the tools that button menu offers. Some of those buttons have a submenu within them.

To activate the submenu, simply click and hold on the button. The active tool in the submenu is designated by a checkmark.

In order to aid the exact placement of every item in SimCity, everything you can place has a Drop Shadow. The Drop Shadow is a preview of what you are about to place. In general, if the Drop Shadow is blue, an item can be placed or built. If the Drop Shadow is red, it is not possible to build or place the selected item. Everything in SimCity is placed with a single-click of the mouse button. Items like transportation systems, pipes, wires, and zones can also be placed by clicking and dragging the cursor over an area and then releasing the mouse button.

The cost of construction is actively displayed as you place an item. This cost will be subtracted from your operating funds as you release the mouse button.

You can cancel the placement of any item by holding down the SHIFT key before releasing the mouse button.

Landscape

This is where you go for all of your terrain editing needs. When it comes to placing items like Trees or Surface Water, a single click or a click and drag of the mouse in the City View will place those items. The terrain modifying tools do not actually place anything on the map when used. Instead, they raise, lower or level a piece or section of terrain with each click or click and drag of the mouse.

Plant Trees: Click or click and drag on an undeveloped tile with this tool to plant trees. The more you click or click and drag, the more trees are placed on undeveloped tiles. The type of tree that is placed depends on the elevation.

Create Surface Water: Click or click and drag with this tool to place water on undeveloped tiles.

Lower Terrain: Clicking on any tile with this tool lowers the terrain by one level. As a tile is lowered it will lower the surrounding tiles as well. Be careful, this is an easy way to sink a city if you aren’t careful! You cannot lower terrain if it will affect existing buildings.

Raise Terrain: Clicking on any tile with this tool raises the terrain by one level. It can also raise up surrounding tiles, which will destroy buildings on those tiles. This is an easy way to demolish a city if you aren’t careful! You cannot raise terrain if it will affect existing buildings.

Level Terrain: Use this tool to create areas of flat terrain to build on. Click on a tile of terrain with the left mouse button and then drag the mouse with the button still held down. The selected area will level to the height of the first tile selected.

Demolish: Does just what it says; clicking on any Sim-made object (as well as trees) with this tool destroys or removes it. Click and drag over an area to demolish all objects in that entire area

Zone

This button menu houses all of the zoning tools. Zoning means you designate a zone, and the Sims will develop the appropriate buildings within that zone. All zones are placed by clicking and holding the mouse button and then moving the mouse to draw the desired zone shape. You can place a single tile of zone with a single-click of the mouse button. If you zone an area as Residential, then only Residential buildings will spring up there.

What actually builds in the Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Airport and Seaport zones is up to the Sims. You are merely placing restrictions on what type of buildings and how dense the zones can get. Keep in mind that just because you have zoned for a certain density, you won’t necessarily see that zone develop to its fullest until there is the necessary demand.

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RESIDENTIAL: From here you can decide what density of Residential you want to zone.

The density choices are:

Light – Includes: single family homes.

Medium – Includes: small apartment buildings.

Dense – Includes: large apartment buildings.

COMMERCIAL: This is where you decide what density of Commercial you want to zone.

The density choices are:

Light – Includes: local shops, petrol stations.

Medium – Includes: medium size office buildings and stores.

Dense – Includes: large office buildings and large stores.

INDUSTRIAL: Here’s where you can select what density of Industrial you want to zone.

The density choices are:

Light – Includes: agricultural areas, small factories and warehouses.

Medium – Includes: medium factories and warehouses.

Dense – Includes: large factories and warehouses.

LANDFILL: Landfills are the cheapest way (monetarily) to dispose of rubbish, but they destroy the land they are built on and ruin the land value of surrounding areas. Each tile of landfill can hold up to a certain amount of waste. As the landfill fills up you will notice piles of rubbish. Query a landfill tile to find out the disposal capacity system-wide. Landfills decompose rubbish at a slow rate over time. Landfills can not be demolished while waste is present, however, if you de-commission a landfill you can de-zone the area once all of the rubbish has decomposed.

SEAPORT: This zone helps industry and commercial zones to grow, as well as opening a powerful means of removing rubbish from your city. Seaports must have water access to a neighbour and be at least 2x6 tiles in order to develop. The edge of the seaport must be flat against the sea.

AIRPORT: Available in 1930, airports help the commercial districts to grow by blowing open the doors to travel. Airports need to be at least 3x5 tiles in order to develop.

DE-ZONE: The De-Zone tool removes any pre-existing zone. In order to DeZone an area, there can be no buildings over the target area, so you may have to demolish the area first.

DEMOLISH: Click on any Sim-made object to destroy or remove it. Click and drag over an area to demolish all objects in that entire area.

Build Transportation

Everything you need to create a functioning transportation system is here, from roads to subway.

Transportation networks are drawn very much like zones, except they can only be drawn in a line (straight or diagonal). Transit types include: road; highway; rail; and subway rail. To place a line of any of these items, click and hold the mouse button while moving the mouse where you want to place the object. As long as the Drop Shadow highlight is blue, the item will be successfully built. If the terrain or presence of surrounding buildings will prevent an item from being placed, the Drop Shadow will turn from blue to red. The selected transit type will not be built along the path of the red Drop Shadow. See the Transportation Department section for more information.

City engineers will jump to your assistance in building some transportation elements:

To make a connection to one of your neighbouring cities, simply draw a road, highway, rail or subway to the edge of your city terrain. The city engineers will ask if you wish to build a connection and let you know the cost. If you accept the cost, they will construct the connection.

To build a road, highway or rail bridge, drag the Drop Shadow for the selected transit type across a body of water (it must be perpendicular to the water and straight). The blue highlight will let you know when you have successfully crossed the water and the engineers are able to construct a bridge. The city engineers will let you know the cost of the span, and if you accept, will build an appropriate bridge.

A road or rail tunnel will be recommended by the city engineers when traversing mountainous terrain. Drag the transit Drop Shadow to the base of steep terrain. If the underground distance is sufficient for the tunnel to be constructed, six tiles minimum, the city engineers will ask if you wish to bore a tunnel and let you know the cost of this construction. If you accept, the cost of the tunnel construction will be deducted from your operating funds and the city engineers will place a tunnel entrance and exit and bore the tunnel for you.

Transportation Menu Items:

ROAD: Roads can be placed as a single tile, or clicked and dragged to be placed in a line, straight or diagonal.

HIGHWAY: Available in 1940, highways are elevated, high capacity roads. They allow traffic to travel more efficiently over greater distances.

Highway - To build a highway, select a location and drag the highway tool across the terrain, release the mouse button to place the highway.

On-Ramp - To place an on-ramp to a highway, you must first have a road to highway intersection or highway to highway intersection. Position the onramp tool in the tile adjacent to any corner of the intersection and singleclick. An on-ramp will be built.

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