Games PC SIMCITY 3000 UNLIMITED User Manual

4.5 (6)
Games PC SIMCITY 3000 UNLIMITED User Manual

TABLE OF CONTENTS

HAIL TO THE MAYOR .........................................................................

6

IMPORTANT: READ BEFORE YOUR INAUGURATION

 

(OR HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7

TUTORIAL.........................................................................................

9

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

10

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

11

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

12

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

13

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

14

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

15

STEP 7: WATER AND GARBAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16

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

19

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

20

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

21

STEP 11: DISASTER AND DESTRUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

22

SCENARIO TUTORIALS........................................................................

24

THE JOY OF MAYORING: A REFERENCE GUIDE......................................

27

OPENING MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

28

INFORMATION BAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

37

NAVIGATION PANEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

40

MAIN TOOLBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

43

CUSTOMIZE YOUR CITY: REPLACING BUILDINGS IN SIMNATION.............

72

Page 2

www.simcity.com

CITY CUSTOMIZATION CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

74

REPLACING INDIVIDUAL BUILDINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

74

REPLACING MULTIPLE BUILDINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

78

EDITING YOUR BUILDING LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

82

CITY DEPARTMENTS: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER...................................

85

FINANCIAL/BUDGET DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 CITY PLANNING DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 ENVIRONMENTAL DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND AURA DEPARTMENT (HEA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 UTILITIES DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

ADVISOR Q&A: CLUES ON SOME BASIC SIMCITY STRATEGIES.................

121

SIMCITY 3000

BUILDING ARCHITECT PLUS: BUILDING BASICS ..............

127

SIMCITY 3000 BUILDING ARCHITECT TUTORIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

129

SIMCITY 3000

BUILDING ARCHITECT REFERENCE GUIDE .......................

139

OPENING MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 THE BUILDING ARCHITECT WORKSPACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

CONTENTS OF TABLE 1

SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Page 3

SIMCITY 3000 SCENARIO CREATOR ....................................................

155

SCENARIO CREATOR TUTORIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

157

BECOMING A SCENARIO MASTER:

 

A REFERENCE GUIDE TO CREATING SCENARIOS ...................................

170

OPENING MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 NEW SCENARIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 SCENARIO CREATOR COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 PREPARING YOUR SCENARIO FOR LOADING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: EVEN MORE CLUES TO USING

THE SCENARIO CREATOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

SHARE YOUR WARES: SIMCITY EXCHANGE ..........................................

198

SIMLANGUAGE: A GLOSSARY FOR SIMNATION.....................................

201

INDEX .............................................................................................

212

CREDITS ..........................................................................................

216

WARRANTY ......................................................................................

219

This product has been rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. For information about the ESRB rating, or to comment about the appropriateness of the rating, please contact the ESRB at 1-800-771-3772.

Page 4

www.simcity.com

HAIL TO THE MAYOR

HAIL TO THE MAYOR!

Welcome to SimCity 3000Unlimited! Congratulations on your entry into the elite mayoral force of this growing SimNation. Whether you’ve cut your political teeth as mayor in other SimNations, or this is your first elected office, there are a few things you need to know before you begin making executive decisions.

As Mayor, your power may seem unlimited. You can build roads, or decide to create a city where no one needs a car. You may want to try your hand at building an industrial powerhouse, or an island paradise. Perhaps you’d like to have both the Eiffel Tower and

the Empire State Building in your city. Or maybe you are one of those artistic mayors who prefers to design their own buildings. You have the power to create cities, buildings, strategies, even city goals that other mayors must try to fulfill. And your cities are not limited to your own imagination; you can share your creations and gain insights in global meetings with other mayors all over the world.

Did we say your power was unlimited? Not entirely correct. See those little beings walking about in your city? They are Sims, the inhabitants of any SimNation. Remember, you are holding an elected office. Those little beings can unelect you if they are unhappy with your mayoral decisions. There’s a lot of leeway here, as Sims come with all sorts of needs and desires. Some Sims want to live where captains of industry roam the streets and skyscrapers abound. Others harbor dreams of operating a farm on the edge of town, or of living in an eco-friendly mountain community. As mayor, you will need to balance your visions of city growth with providing your Sims an attractive place to live. Every decision you make ripples from one end of SimCityto the other. If your Sims move to other communities, you are out of a job. If they are happy, your city will prosper. Of course, one never knows when disaster may hit. Unless, as mayor, you planned it all along.

So get creative and unlock that shady Machiavellian side of yourself that rarely gets to let loose. If you read this guide, give ear to your advisors, and learn from your fellow mayors; you will be orchestrating the operations of a megalopolis sooner than you think. After that, who knows where your political aspirations might lead?

Page 6

www.simcity.com

IMPORTANT: READ BEFORE YOUR INAUGURATION ! (OR HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL)

SimCity 3000 Unlimited is a game of strategy. If you follow the Tutorials and read the Resource Sections of this guide, you will become familiar with many of the tools and strategies needed to become a successful mayor. But there are endless ways to play SimCity–as many as there are individuals who try out their mayoral robes. The following suggestions will help you get the most out of this guide, as well as out of your experience as mayor of SimCity 3000 Unlimited:

Already been a mayor? There is a good deal of new information in this manual. Look for flagged new features, and use the index to look up references to aspects of the game you would like to know more about.

Start by going through the Tutorial, especially if you are new to the world of SimCity. The Tutorial will give you hands-on experience with the basic tools you’ll need to begin creating your own cities.

Use the Scenario Tutorials provided. These scenarios will introduce you to some more advanced building tools, and will help you become even more familiar with various aspects of SimCity 3000 Unlimited.

Read this manual. There is a ton of information in here, both pragmatic and strategic. The Reference Guide tells you about the functions and menus on the screen. It’s a good idea to take a look at this so you don’t miss out on some neat application you may not have known existed. The City Departments section is full of good information on how cities in SimNation work. A good manual-reading strategy is to read it once as a beginner, play a bunch, then read it again. Already been playing for a while? Read the manual anyway. You may find out something you didn’t know before. Whoever you are, you’ll be a better player if you read these instructions! We promise.

SimLanguage got you confused? There’s a glossary of terms in the appendices of this guide.

Play. Experiment. Fail. The best way to hone your mayoring skills is to practice them. As you play SimCity 3000 Unlimited, you’ll create your own strategies to accomplish your goals.

MAYOR THE TO HAIL 2

SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Page 7

In the middle of a game and forgot how to build a highway ramp? Use the index to help pinpoint the information you seek.

Want to know more? Use the SimCity website (www.simcity.com). There are all sorts of hints, how-to’s, and notes on strategies from the folks who created SimCity 3000 Unlimited; and from players like you. Also regularly check out the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on various aspects of the game. These are updated as new queries arise.

Share your skills. Use SimCity Exchange to expand your horizons. Talk to friends who have also been elected. There’s a whole community of politicos out there who may have developed a new twist for handling high pollution levels, or who think your architectural creations are worthy of Frank Lloyd Wright status. You’ll never know until you begin comparing notes!

Have fun! It’s a game!

Page 8

www.simcity.com

TUTORIAL

TUTORIAL

This Tutorial walks you through the beginning stages of building a city and familiarizes you with some of the basic tools of SimCity 3000 Unlimited. There are many types of cities you can build with SimCity 3000 Unlimited and many ways to begin construction. Here’s one way to go about it.

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 Unlimited. If you need any help, please see the Reference Card.

2.When the Opening Menu appears, select Load City, then open the city named

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 the demands of your incoming Sims. You’ll be ready for them soon.

Page 10

www.simcity.com

STEP 2: SELECTING AN AREA TO BUILD

City View

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Main Toolbar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Landscape

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Build Transportation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Build Utilities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place Civic/Special Buildings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emergency

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adjust & Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Information Bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change Settings & Exit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Layer Views

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zoom In

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Navigation Map

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zoom Out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hide Toolbars button

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

City Name

Funds Date

Query

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rotate

 

View Panel

 

 

Population

 

 

Demand Indicator

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simulation Speed Control

News Ticker

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 have at a glance all the information you’ll need to make sure every gear is spinning just the way you like it. This is your Information Bar.

Your first step is to find a large open area to build your future metropolis–the bigger the area, the better. When you start a new city, the city view is set to the furthest zoom level.

1.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.

2.To center the view on your cursor, single-click the left mouse button.

3.Zoom In one level using the Zoom In button in the View Panel.

TUTORIAL 3

SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Page 11

STEP 3: BUILDING ROADS

Transportation is critical to the growth of your city. Let’s build a few roads.

1.Click 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, the cursor 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 a road. If you cannot place an item, the Drop Shadow will turn red indicating 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.

Page 12

www.simcity.com

STEP 4: ZONING RCI

There are three zone types that 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 let’s zone the middle area you’ve created with your roads as residential.

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

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

2.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.

3.Drag the zoning Drop Shadow until it covers the tiles within the 8x8 enclosed area.

4.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 designate zoning by clicking on individual tiles if you need or wish to. For this tutorial, zone as many tiles as you need to fill in the square.

In the two remaining rectangles created by your roads, you want to provide an area where Sims will be able to work and shop.

5.Select Light Commercial from the Zone menu and fill one of the smaller enclosed rectangles.

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

TUTORIAL 3

SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Page 13

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

As you become more familiar with aspects of city zoning, you will find that you need plenty of residential areas to support the commercial and industrial districts of your city. Don’t be skimpy with providing your Sims with areas to live.

STEP 5: POWER

Sims need power, yet typically do not like living next to power plants. Usually, the more distance between power plants and residential zones the better. However, for the sake of this tutorial, pick a location just a short distance from your zoned area.

Ready to power your city? Click on the POWER PLANTS button located within the BUILD UTILITIES button menu on the MAIN TOOLBAR.

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.

1.Select the coal plant and click the Checkmark to signal your choice and 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.

2.Place the coal plant with a single-click of the left mouse button.

Now you need to run power lines from the power plant to the zones.

Select POWER LINES from within the BUILD UTILITIES button menu. Power lines are built just like roads; you can click and drag the DROP SHADOW in a line.

3.Draw a row of power lines that connects the coal plant to at least one point of any of your zones.

Page 14

www.simcity.com

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.

For more information on what your Sims’ power needs are, please refer to your

Utilities Department..

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 labor.

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.

You can see time pass by looking at the Date next to the Simulation Speed Control. So what else is happening in your city?

1.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 for more information.

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

TUTORIAL 3

SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Page 15

STEP 7: WATER AND GARBAGE

There are two more utilities that are absolutely essential to your Sims’ lives: Water and, yup, 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’re done, 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 supplying structures.

5.Select the Pumping Station from the list of available water structures.

6.Move the cursor to a site near your zones in the City View window and place a 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 (See the Landscape section of the Reference Section).

7.You need power to pump water to all of your Sims! Select the Power Lines button from within the Build Utilities button menu.

8.Draw a row of power lines that connects the nearest powered zone or power plant to the pumping station (Again, learn about power in your Utilities Department).

9.The pumping station holds and pumps water to the thirsty Sims, but we doubt they’ll come to the pumping station with buckets. You need to build a way for the water to travel to your Sims. You do this by connecting the water pumping station to the zones with pipes (but don’t forget that power!).

10.Select the Water Pipes button from within the Build Utilities button menu on the Main Toolbar. You’ll see this:

Page 16

www.simcity.com

Whoa! Don’t worry! 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. It also shows which tiles are watered by the pipes, and which ones are still out of reach. Notice the tiles change color from brown to blue within a few weeks of laying the water pipes. The tiles colored blue are watered. The only building you currently see is the Underground View of your water pumping station

11.Click and drag a line of water pipes that connects the water pumping station to your developing zones. Again, this is done just as if you are building a road.

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

13.Start the simulator by clicking on the fourth tick mark (African Swallow) and then the Run Simulation arrow on the Simulation Speed Control in the Information Bar.

14.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.

15.Now return to the above ground view by clicking on the View City Layers button at the top right of your Navigation Map.

16.Click on the Default View.

17.Now click on the Checkmark. You should be back in the land of clouds and sky.

18.Let’s pause the game again and deal with your city’s garbage.

TUTORIAL 3

SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Page 17

GARBAGE

Since Sims are moving in and happily going about their daily lives, you should start seeing messages in the News Ticker (the text scrolling along in the Information Bar) letting you know what is going on in your city. The Sims may not be complaining about waste management yet, but trust us–deal with garbage before you need to. An ounce of prevention here can save you from being overwhelmed by tons of trash later.

1.Click on the Meet button and then select the Environmental Advisor for a little talk.

2.Read through the Briefing on Dealing with Garbage, and then close the

Advisor window.

Pause the simulator again so you can do some more work while the Sims spend a little time in suspended animation. We’ve got to get to work on a landfill! Usually you’d want to keep a landfill as far from your city center as possible. For this tutorial, though, let’s put it relatively close in.

3. Find some land near your zoned area and then select Landfill from within the Zone button menu. Since landfills are a type of zone, you can place them in the same way you placed the residential, commercial, and industrial zones.

4. 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 garbage trucks to get there.

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

6.Unpause the simulator again.

7.Zoom in using the Zoom button (+) in the View Panel and watch as garbage trucks start taking trash to the dump.

Over time the landfill will show signs of use. This is just one example of how SimCity 3000 Unlimited gives you visual feedback to let you know the status of your city. Always keep an eye on various aspects of your city to see how well everything is doing. The query tool and the maps view will help you watch over your SimCity and your Sims. These tools are discussed later in the manual.

Page 18

www.simcity.com

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 under the Place Civic/Special Buildings button.

2.Place one of each building along the road near your landfill. If you place the buildings more than five tiles away from the zoned area (which has power), you need to run power lines to them from any powered building or zone. Not sure if they have power?

3.Click the Query button at the right side of the Information Bar. You can click on anything in your city with this tool and a window containing information about that particular item will appear on the screen.

4.Armed with your query tool, click on your newly built police and fire station. If they are not powered, you will need to run power lines to them.

TUTORIAL 3

SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Page 19

Anytime you provide your Sims with a new water or power connection, make sure you are not in Pause mode when checking to see if the connection is working. Time needs to pass for the power to travel and water to flow. You might want to build in Pause mode, then run the simulation for up to a month before checking to see if buildings or zones are provided with water and power.

5.Got your information? To close the Query Window, click the Checkmark in the lower, right corner.

Keep in mind that having a single police department and a single fire station is fine as long as your city remains small. As your city grows, and your population of Sims multiplies, you will need to build more police and fire stations to keep everyone safe and sound. For more information on maintaining proper safety coverage, see the Public Safety Department section in this manual.

STEP 9: FINANCES

Did you happen to notice that as you built your roads, power lines, and water pipes a number of increasing value followed your cursor about? Did you think water pipes were free? Ha! Practically anything you build in your city comes with a pricetag. The monetary unit of 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.

3.You can adjust each budget by moving the Percent Sign Slider that appears to the right of each department name. Each slider has a marker. The marker represents the percentage of your annual budget the Advisor for that department wants you to allocate (and, just as in real life, your advisors are somewhat biased). Leave the Police and Fire Budgets at the spending levels recommended by your Public Safety Advisor.

Page 20

www.simcity.com

4.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 projections show you will lose money, you can try raising taxes to increase your income.

5.Click on the Income button at the top of the Budget Window

6.Adjust the tax rates for Residential, Commercial or Industrial categories by clicking on the Up/Down Arrow in the appropriate line to increase or decrease the tax rate.

Raising and lowering taxes can have large consequences for your city. While taxes are key to your budget, tax rates are also a means by which you can attract or discourage certain kinds of development in your city. Low residential tax rates will attract Sims to move into your town. Decrease the industrial tax rates and watch new factories (and pollution) pour in. Other factors can have an effect here, but understanding tax rates will help you immensely as you plan your city’s future. Check with your Financial Advisor for more information.

7.Look through and familiarize yourself with your city’s Income and

Expenditures.

8.Close the Budget Window by clicking the Checkmark in the lower right corner.

STEP 10: DATA MAPS, CHARTS, AND GRAPHS

You are not limited to visual feedback for information about your city’s status quo. Your advisors provide you with up-to-date Data Maps, Charts, and Graphs to help you gain a better understanding of your city. You can get different overviews of the current state of your city, or you may choose to obtain 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 subject maps on the left to see an overview of your city as it stands now.

2.Now click on the Chart and Graphs buttons to review all the kinds of information you can access and compare. You’ll get more information on these in the Maps, Charts, and Graphs section of this manual.

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

TUTORIAL 3

SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Page 21

STEP 11: DISASTER AND DESTRUCTION

Disasters happen all the time in the real world and SimCities are no exception. In fact, it seems as if more and more disasters are occurring all the time. As mayor, you may have to deal with several unforeseen disastrous events. You might also decide that you want to see what happens when an earthquake rumbles through, or a plague of locusts descends. Before you unleash anything in your city, it’s a good idea to save the game.

1.Click on the 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 (otherwise you’ll save over this tutorial).

3.You can choose the location of the file in which you save your city, but let’s leave this one in the default directory.

4.Click the Checkmark to save.

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 will automatically center on the location of the fire as it breaks out.

You can choose to turn off the Auto Go To Disasters feature in the Preferences Window from the Opening menu. You may also open the Preferences Window during game play under the Change Settings & Exit menu in the Main Toolbar.

During a disaster the Simulator runs at a very slow speed so you have time to deal with the effects. The Simulation Speed Control is disabled until the disaster runs its course. Once the devastating event 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!

6.Click on the Dispatch Firefighters button, located within the Emergency button menu.

Page 22

www.simcity.com

You have firefighters to dispatch because you built a fire station. If you had no fire coverage, your Sims would rally a volunteer group to dispatch at your command. Click on a tile near the fire.

This dispatches one of your two fire units–one of professional firefighters from the fire station and one of volunteers. Each subsequent fire station you build will give you one additional dispatch unit. After leaving the fire dispatch unit next to a fire for a long enough time, the fire will be put out.

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

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

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

Ready to move on?

10.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.

11.You will be asked if you want to save your current city. Select No, and then click on your saved game when the Load City window comes up. Voila, good as new!

As you continue to explore what you can create as Mayor of a SimCity, Sims will continue to ask for more and more things (keep your eye on the News Ticker!). 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!

TUTORIAL 3

SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Page 23

SCENARIO TUTORIALS

SCENARIO TUTORIALS

Want a little more experience before you dive in? Scenarios are cities which require you, as mayor, to perform certain tasks and achieve specific goals in an already existing city. Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of help along the way. Just remember to read your News Tickers and any Pop-up Messages that appear. These messages will tell you what you need to do and how to do it. To access these tutorials, you need to open the Load Scenario window.

TUTORIALS SCENARIO 4

If you are at the Opening menu:

1.Click on Play Scenario.

2.Select one of the Tutorial Scenarios from the browse menu.

3.You’ll see a Thumbnail of the scenario town and a description of what you’ll learn on the left.

4.Found one that sounds interesting? Click on the Checkmark and SimCity 3000 Unlimited will get the tutorial ready for you.

5.Don’t feel like doing a tutorial right now? Click the X at the top right and you’ll return to the Opening menu.

SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Page 25

If you are playing a game:

1.Open the Change Settings & Exit menu on the Main Toolbar.

2.Click and hold the Load button, then select Scenario from the submenu.

3.You’ll see a window that asks if you want to save the current city. Make your selection.

4.After you’ve saved (or declined to save) your current city, the Load Scenario window will appear.

5.Follow the above procedures so that you can play one of the Tutorial Scenarios.

Page 26

www.simcity.com

THE JOY OF MAYORING: A REFERENCE GUIDE

THE JOY OF MAYORING:

A REFERENCE GUIDE

This section gives you a breakdown of the tools, buttons, and menus you’ll see in SimCity 3000 Unlimited.

OPENING MENU

After you launch SimCity 3000 Unlimited, the Opening Menu is the first place you’ll begin making decisions. You have seven options in this menu: Start New City, Load City, Starter Town, Real City Terrain, Play Scenario, Preferences, and Exit. Each option is detailed below.

START NEW CITY

NEW CITY OPTIONS WINDOW

When you click on Start New City, your first step is to determine your New City Options. You’ll need to fill in information or make selections in the following areas:

CITY NAME

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

MAYOR NAME This is how your Sims will address you. Select any name less than 50 characters. Those seeking your attention will address you as Mayor ‘MAYOR NAME’, so take this into consideration when choosing your name.

Page 28

www.simcity.com

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. The date you choose

 

here has an impact on immediately available structures

 

and utilities.

CITY SIZE

The number of tiles in your city. (Low end systems will

 

have better game performance with smaller cities).

DISASTERS

This button allows you to enable or disable disasters during

 

game play. Do you want to play it safe, or take your chances?

AUTO BUDGET

When this is checked, the financial advisor will maintain

 

status quo on each budget item. The Budget Window will

 

only appear at the end of the year if your city’s available

 

funds are negative (you are in the red).

 

 

 

 

GRAPHICS

Your first major creative decision. SimCity 3000 Unlimited

PREFERENCE

allows you to choose the overall look of your city. By

 

clicking on the different selections under each category,

 

you can choose the type of Landscape, Trees, and

 

Buildings for your city. The image at the right will show

 

you how your selections will appear. You may change

 

your city’s look anytime during the game under the City

 

Options window found in the Change Settings & Exit

 

menu of the Main Toolbar. If you save your city, your

 

selections will be saved as well.

 

 

 

 

USER-MADE

This button will open the window for the Building Replacement

BUILDINGS

Manager. From this window, you can choose to replace

 

individual buildings or entire building groups in your city

 

with available User-Made Buildings from your SimCity files.

 

See the section on Building Replacement: Customize Your

 

City for more information about this feature.

MAYORING OF JOY THE 5

SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Page 29

Loading...
+ 196 hidden pages