============================================================================== SIM CITY 4 GUIDE: VERSION 2, by thy451 ============================================================================== ______ _______ / | | | / | | ___| / | | | ________________ ________________ ___________________ | |__ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |_____| | __________| |_____ _____| | | __ | | | | | |\ /| | | | | | | | /|| ||\ / | | | | | |_________ | | / || || | | | | | | | | | | / || || | | | | | | | | | | / || || | | | | |__| |__________ | /| |/ || || | | | | _______ | | / | | || || | | | | |_ _| | | / | |_____|| || | | | | | | _________| | ____| |____ | || | | | | | | | | | | | || | | | | | | | |/| | | || | | | | |_| |_____________| |_______________| |___|| |___| |___| /\ /\ / | \ \_/ / /________________ | \ / | | | | | | | | |_________| |_| "If this is the best of all possible worlds, then what must the others be like?" Voltaire, Candide, Chapter 6. Ignoring the fact that the quote is taken out of context, my point is do not be afraid to create your own worlds and if you think of anything better, share it with me. ============================================================================== HTML / MS Doc Versions Check out the Simtropolis site, for the HTML version with pictures. Also this guide is in MS Doc version over there. I hope to improve upon the MS Doc version overtime by making it more user friendly. www.simtropolis.com www.simcity-4.net You can also find me and a whole bunch of other people who are truly experts at the game, at the Simtropolis Site. It is the best SimCity site and also the best, most active and friendly forum around with several thousand members and still growing by the day. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Version 2: Additions in this update Well, pretty much the entire guide is changed, added and improved. So to list the additions and changes here would be futile as that would mean listing the entire guide. But briefly: 2.00: Additions: (1) Expanded the Strategies to get you city into the millions and beyond. (2) Expanded Online Manual. (3) Improved the advanced tutorials to take you step by step to obtain your first skyscrapers in 16 years. (4) Whole host of game and other information added. (5) Huge format change. (6) Added quotes at the start of each part, much like the old SimCity manuals NOTE: For complete version history look at the conclusion, under End 2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------- BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS: ------------------------- Section A : Online Manual Section B : Strategy Guide PART 1 : General Strategies PART 2 : Layouts PART 3 : 0 - 40,000 (1st City + Dirty) PART 4 : 0 - 40,000 (2nd City + Manufacturing) PART 5 : 0 - 40,000 (Subsequent + High Tech) PART 6 : 40,000 - 100,000 PART 7 : 80,000 - Millions and beyond PART 8 : Specialised City, Multi million and Farms Section C : Advanced Tutorials (To Skyscrapers) Section D : Cheats and Loopholes Section E : Handy Reference Guides, Fun Stuff & Building Catalogue Conclusion: [Wave], Bye Bye --------------------------------- FULL TABLE OF CONTENTS and INDEX: --------------------------------- I have provided this full table for you so that you need not scroll through the entire guide when you are just searching for a single item. The * means that there is a substantial discussion of the topic in either an experiment format or a presentation of various competing logical theories. It may also mean that the results are inconclusive although that does not mean that I do not have my own personal opinion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | CHAPTER | CONTENTS | INDEX | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- . . . ------------------------------------------------------------. . | SECTION A: ONLINE MANUAL (OM) | 1 . ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | PART 1 | Basic Game Mechanics | 2 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A1.01 | Basics and Technical Issues | 3 | | A1.01.1 | Query the Hottest Keys | 4 | | A1.01.2 | Multiple Save Games and file locations | 5 | | A1.01.3 | Custom Tunes | 6 | | A1.01.4 | Technical Issues | 7 | | A1.01.5 | Registration | 8 | | A1.01.6 | Updates | 9 | | A1.01.7 | Online Play: SimCityScape | 10 | | A1.01.8 | Simtropolis Patch / Mod | 11 | | A1.01.9 | City Size | 12 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A1.02 | God Mode | 13 | | A1.02.1 | Terraform | 14 | | A1.02.2 | Changing region & city size | 15 | | A1.02.3 | Obliterate, Animals, Disasters and Trees | 16 | | A1.02.4 |*Treatise on God & Natural Trees and Pollution | 17 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A1.03 | Zones | 18 | | A1.03.1 | Options: Zone Types | 19 | | A1.03.2 | Density v Wealth | 20 | | A1.03.3 | Zoning desirability | 21 | | A1.03.4 | Road Zots and Flood Filling | 22 | | A1.03.5 | Agriculture | 23 | | A1.03.6 | Industrial Pollution | 24 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A1.04 | Transportation | 25 | | A1.04.1 | Options: Transport Types | 26 | | A1.04.2 | Highway, Cloverleaf and On ramps | 27 | | A1.04.3 | Tunnels and Underwater tunnels | 28 | | A1.04.4 | Bridges: Roads, Highways and Rails | 29 | | A1.04.5 | Trains, Turnings and Freight | 30 | | A1.04.6 | Junctions, Roundabouts, Diagonal and Subway bug | 31 | | A1.04.7 | Maintenance, Income and Distress | 32 | | A1.04.8 |*Coverage and Travelling Time | 33 | | A1.04.9 | Transit Mode | 34 | | A1.04.10 |*Transit Station | 35 | | A1.04.11 | Choice of Transportation | 36 | | A1.04.12 | Overcapacity | 37 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A1.05 | Utilities | 38 | | A1.05.1 | Options: Utilities Type | 39 | | A1.05.2 | Optimum Coverage | 40 | | A1.05.3 | Maintenance, Decay and Overcapacity | 41 | | A1.05.4 | Negative Environmental Degradation (NED) | 42 | | A1.05.5 |*Bio degradable landfills | 43 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A1.06 | Public Service Commission | 44 | | A1.06.1 | Options: Public Service Types | 45 | | A1.06.2 | Dispatch: Police and Fire | 46 | | A1.06.3 | Crime, Riots and Fire | 47 | | A1.06.4 | Maintenance: Striking Incompetence | 48 | | A1.06.5 | Overlap and Optimal Coverage | 49 | | A1.06.6 |*Hospital, Clinics and low health | 50 | | A1.06.7 | HQ and LE: Health Quotient and Life | 51 | | A1.06.8 | EQ: Educational (Emotional) Quotient | 52 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A1.07 | Landmarks, Rewards and Recreation | 53 | | A1.07.1 | Options: Landmark Types | 54 | | A1.07.2 | Options: Reward and Business Deal Types | 55 | | A1.07.3 | Options: Recreation Types | 56 | | A1.07.4 | Recreational Sports | 57 | | A1.07.5 | Disappearing Rewards | 58 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A1.08 | City Information | 59 | | A1.08.1 | Data View | 60 | | A1.08.2 | Chart View | 61 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A1.09 | Budget | 62 | | A1.09.1 | Options: Tax Rates | 63 | | A1.09.2 | Options: Ordinance Types | 64 | | A1.09.3 | Options: Neighbour Deals | 65 | | A1.09.4 | Options: Business Deals | 66 | | A1.09.5 | Options: Loans | 67 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A1.10 | My Sims | 68 | | A1.10.1 | Hi there, [wave], join me in my hot-tub? | 69 | | A1.10.2 | Special Agent: Mr Smith | 70 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | PART 2 | General Gameplay Concepts | 71 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A2.01 | Desirability | 72 | | A2.01.1 | Concept of Desire | 73 | | A2.01.2 | Desire v Demand/Land Value/Mayor Rating | 74 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A2.02 | Demand Caps | 75 | | A2.02.1 | Demand Caps and Busters concept | 76 | | A2.02.2 | Inherent capacity | 77 | | A2.02.3 | Residential Busters | 78 | | A2.02.4 | Commercial Office Busters | 79 | | A2.02.5 | Industrial Busters | 80 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A2.03 | Here comes the Skyscraper | 81 | | A2.03.1 | Proportionality Concept | 82 | | A2.03.2 | Residential and Commercial skyscrapers | 83 | | A2.03.3 | Industrial Mega Factory | 84 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A2.04 | Pollution | 85 | | A2.04.1 | Concept of Pollution | 86 | | A2.04.2 | Effects of Pollution | 87 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A2.05 | Theories of Growth | 88 | | A2.05.1 |*Globalization and Trade | 89 | | A2.05.2 | Perfect Mobility of Labour | 90 | | A2.05.3 | Job Matching and Hierarchy | 91 | | A2.05.4 | Demand and Supply | 92 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- . . . ------------------------------------------------------------. . | SECTION B: STRATEGY GUIDE | 93 . ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | PART 1 | Universal Strategic Doctrines (USD) | 94 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | B1.01 | Primeval Land: Forest, Mountains and Water | 95 | | B1.02 | Taxes | 96 | | B1.02.1 | Poor to subsidise the rich | 97 | | B1.02.2 | Neutral tax rate: Laffer Curve | 98 | | B1.02.3 | No supply side taxation economics | 99 | | B1.03 | Tight Fiscal Controls | 100 | | B1.04 | Utilities | 101 | | B1.04.1 | Power | 102 | | B1.04.2 | Water | 103 | | B1.04.3 | Landfills and Waste Power Plant | 104 | | B1.05 | Connections | 105 | | B1.06 | Animal Farm or Great leap forward | 106 | | B1.07 | Begone evil business deals and loans | 107 | | B1.08 | Pollution and Solutions | 108 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Part 2 | City Layout and Plans | 109 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | B2.01 | Basic RCI layout | 110 | | B2.01.1 | Death to the auto-roads | 111 | | B2.01.2 | Coverage: (FLB) and (VLB) systems | 112 | | B2.02 | Industrial zoning | 113 | | B2.02.1 | Green Belt | 114 | | B2.03 | Residential Superstructures (RS) | 115 | | B2.03.1 | Original Residential Superstructure (ORS) | 116 | | B2.03.2 | Local Effect Residential Superstructure (LERS) | 117 | | B2.03.3 | Sharr's Residential Superstructure (SRS) | 118 | | B2.04 | Commercial Zoning | 119 | | B2.05 | Plan for future development | 120 | | B2.06 | City Master-plans (CM) | 121 | | B2.06.1 | Grid Unlock City Master-plan (GUCM) | 122 | | B2.06.2 | McFadyen's Strip City Master-plan (MSCM) | 123 | | B2.06.3 | Sharr's City Master-plan (SCM) | 124 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | PART 3 | First city, a Slum for all: | 125 | | | 0 - 40,000 (1st City + Dirty) | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | B3.01 | Customised USD for Slum City | 126 | | B3.01.1 | Primeval Land | 127 | | B3.01.2 | Taxes | 128 | | B3.01.3 | Utilities | 129 | | B3.01.4 | Connections | 130 | | B3.01.5 | Farmer's Market | 131 | | B3.02 | Customised City Layout and Plans | 132 | | B3.02.1 | Industry and Green Belt | 133 | | B3.02.2 | Residential Superstructure | 134 | | B3.02.3 | Commercial Zoning | 135 | | B3.02.4 | Plan for future development | 136 | | B3.02.5 | City Master-plan | 137 | | B3.03 | Slum Town | 138 | | B3.04 | Density: Slum town expands outwards not upwards | 139 | | B3.05 | Jobs from industry | 140 | | B3.05.1 | Export oriented economy | 141 | | B3.06 | Amenities: When and What to build | 142 | | B3.06.1 | Societal Segmentation | 143 | | B3.07 | Commercial Development | 144 | | B3.08 | Budget | 145 | | B3.08.1 | Ordinance | 146 | | B3.08.2 | Rewards | 147 | | B3.9 | Future problems: Come what may... | 148 | | B3.9.1 | Potential Solutions: I will love you ... | 149 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | PART 4 | Second City, Manufacturing Growth | 150 | | | 0 - 40,000 (2nd City + Mfg.) | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | B4.01 | Customised USD for Mfg. City | 151 | | B4.01.1 | Taxes | 152 | | B4.01.2 | Utilities | 153 | | B4.01.3 | Connections | 154 | | B4.01.4 | Farmer's Market | 155 | | B4.02 | Customised City Layout and Plans | 156 | | B4.02.1 | Initial Setup | 157 | | B4.02.2 | City Master-plan | 158 | | B4.03 | A town in development | 159 | | B4.04 | Residential over industry | 160 | | B4.05 | Mid density to High density | 161 | | B4.06 | Amenities | 162 | | B4.07 | Commerce as a vehicle of transition | 163 | | B4.08.1 | Budget | 164 | | B4.08.2 | Ordinance | 165 | | B4.08.3 | Rewards | 166 | | B4.09 | Potential Problems and Solutions | 167 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | PART 5 | High Tech Arrives | 168 | | | 0 - 40,000 (Subsequent Cities + High Tech) | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | B5.01 | Expand (Method 1) | 169 | | B5.01.1 | Raise taxes again | 170 | | B5.01.2 | Placement at the free space | 171 | | B5.01.3 | To dump or not to dump the Dirty industry | 172 | | B5.02 | Reconstruction (Method 2) | 173 | | B5.02.1 | Raise taxes to crazy European levels | 174 | | B5.02.2 | Upgrading: Creative Destruction | 175 | | B5.02.3 | Pollution: Source, Effects and Solutions | 176 | | B5.03 | New city called patience (Method 3) | 177 | | B5.04 | Customised USD for High Tech City | 178 | | B5.04.1 | Taxes: Raise taxes with a vengeance | 179 | | B5.04.2 | Utilities: Plan for low pollution | 180 | | B5.05 | Customised City Layout and Plans | 181 | | B5.05.1 | Selection of Setups | 182 | | B5.05.2 | City Master-plan | 183 | | B5.06 | Commercial Expansion | 184 | | B5.07 | Amenities construction | 185 | | B5.08 | Be Patient ... Ohmmm | 186 | | B5.09 | Analysis of Methods | 187 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | PART 6 | Skyscrapers Beckons | 188 | | | 40,000 - 100,000 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | B6.01 | Tax Cuts or Status Quo | 189 | | B6.02 | Rezoning | 190 | | B6.03 | Utilitarian Approach: Neighbour deals | 191 | | B6.03.1 | Waste: Obliterate & Regional Dump | 192 | | B6.03.2 | Kantian Approach | 193 | | B6.04 | Multiplier Effect | 194 | | B6.04.1 | Prevent Contagion, Promote Growth | 195 | | B6.05 | Engine of growth: Population & Cities | 196 | | B6.05.1 | We are surrounded | 197 | | B6.06 | Amenities for All | 198 | | B6.06.1 | Education: Public, Private or Libraries | 199 | | B6.06.2 | Police State | 200 | | B6.06.3 | Rewards and Recreation | 201 | | B6.07 | Infrastructure Upgrade | 202 | | B6.08 | Apprehensive about Airports | 203 | | B6.08.1 | Sinking Seaports | 204 | | B6.09 | Abandoned, High Commute and No Development | 205 | | B6.09.1 | Mass Transit | 206 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | PART 7 | Metropolis | 207 | | | 80,000 - Millions and Beyond | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | B7.01 | Problems ahead | 208 | | B7.01.1 | Tax Surplus: Fiscal contraction recession | 209 | | B7.01.2 | Utilities: Decay and New Generation Plants | 210 | | B7.02 | Standard of Living | 211 | | B7.03 | Pollution | 212 | | B7.03.1 | Traffic Noise | 213 | | B7.04 | Industrial Hinterland | 214 | | B7.04.1 | Markets abroad | 215 | | B7.05 | Sinatra Doctrine: I'll do it my way... | 216 | | B7.05.1 | Shock and Awe Reconstruction | 217 | | B7.05.2 | Desirability Trap | 218 | | B7.06 | Commute Cycle of Death | 219 | | B7.06.1 | Black hole of Mass Transit | 220 | | B7.07 | Urban Renewal | 221 | | B7.08 | Too many cars, too little tar | 222 | | B7.08.1 | Multiple Lanes or Tracks | 223 | | B7.08.2 | Highways | 224 | | B7.08.3 | Paternalistic Approach to traffic | 225 | | B7.08.4 | Vehicle Commute Diagnostic Tool | 226 | | B7.09 | Innovations | 227 | | B7.09.1 | Mass transit Nexus | 228 | | B7.09.2 | Train stations as car parks | 229 | | B7.09.3 | Web of Subway Tracks | 230 | | B7.09.4 | Underground Roads | 231 | | B7.09.5 | Underground: Away with Junctions | 232 | | B7.09.6 | Freight: Shipping or trains | 233 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | PART 8 | Specialised Cities | 234 | | | Sardines and Apples | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | B8.01 | Sardines: Concept | 235 | | B8.01.1 | The Higher you go ... | 236 | | B8.01.2 | The Greater the fall | 237 | | B8.01.3 | Upwardly Mobile Poor | 238 | | B8.02 | Fresh farm produce, Nummy... | 239 | | B8.02.1 | Home Schooling | 240 | | B8.02.2 | Market for the produce | 241 | | B8.02.3 | Migrant Workforce | 242 | | B8.02.4 | Green Water Belt | 243 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- . . . ------------------------------------------------------------. . | SECTION C: Advanced Tutorials | 244 . ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | C.01 | General Points | 245 | | C.02 | Region & God Mode | 246 | | C.03 | Tutorial 1: D'Urberville, Year 0-11 | 247 | | C.04 | Tutorial 2: Aureliano, Year 0-10 | 248 | | C.05 | Tutorial 3: D'Urberville Revisited, Year 11-15 | 249 | | C.06 | Tutorial 4: Villa San Girolamo, Year 0-10 | 250 | | C.07 | Tutorial 5: D'Urberville's Skyscrapers Year 15-16 | 251 | | C.08 | Some Final Points | 252 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- . . . ------------------------------------------------------------. . | SECTION D: Exploits or 'cheats' | 253 . ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | D.01 | Ghost town money maker | 254 | | D.02 | Force Majeure | 255 | | D.03 | The Time Machine | 256 | | D.03.1 | Stasis Pod | 257 | | D.04 | Two in one reward | 258 | | D.05 | Garbage roundabouts | 259 | | D.06 | No Funding Landfill | 260 | | D.07 | Actual Cheats Codes | 261 | | D.07.1 | Multiple Rewards | 262 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- . . . ----------------------------------------------------- . ------------| SECTION E: Handy Reference Guides, |-------- | | Checklists, Fun Stuff & Building Catalogue | 263 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | E.01 | Fun things to do | 264 | | E.02 | Easter Eggs, Game Observations | 265 | | E.03 | Websites | 266 | | E.03.1 | thy451's HOT TUB AWARDS | 267 | | E.04 | Funny News Ticker Messages | 268 | | E.05 | rbchaffe's Prima Guide Review | 269 | | E.06 | Building Catalogue | 270 | | E.06.1 | Residential | 271 | | E.06.2 | Commercial | 272 | | E.06.3 | Industrial | 273 | | E.07 | Checklists | 274 | | E.08 | Handy Reference Guides | 275 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- . . . ----------------------------------------------------- . . | CONCLUSION | . ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | End 1 | Credits | 276 | | End 2 | Version History | 277 | | End 3 | Copyright | 278 | | End 4 | Information on posting this on your site | 279 | | End 5 | Mailing Info | 280 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________________________________1_____ \ SECTION A: ONLINE MANUAL / \______________________________/ If you are new to the game. I advice you to go to the strategy section and start playing your first city a bit then return here to read. It will be easier to read if you are somewhat familiar with the game. Perhaps a short glance at PART 2, General Gameplay Concept, should be done. However, there are also some very extensive and intensive discussions and debate in this area that you might not truly appreciate until you are more familiar with the game. These can mostly be found in those topics marked with the little star (*). This Online Manual (OM) was created because the one provided seems to be quite inadequate, at least in comparison with the previous SimCity series. _______________________________________________________________________2______ /\___/\ /\___/\ /() ()\ /() ()\ S~~| o |~~P SECTION A: ONLINE MANUAL S~~| o |~~P ~~~| START |~~~ PART 1: BASIC GAME MECHANICS ~~~| START |~~~ A~~\_____/~~1 A~~\_____/~~1 ______________________________________________________________________________ There is less strategies in PART 1, so if you are clear on how the game works, you can simply proceed on to the later sections in the guide. I will be dealing with the basic game play issues at this section. They will mostly relate to options available, technical game data and generally how things operate in the game. =======================================================================[3]==== A1.01: Basics and Technical Issues "One small step for Mayor, One giant leap for Sims-Kind." Sim Mayor. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[4]><>< A1.01.1: Query the Hottest Keys The query option is one of the most important tools in the game. Use it to determine a whole host of information. You can also use it to click on any building and then change the name of it. Although that does not make the building historical or unalterable. It can still be destroyed by the computer when redeveloping. And if you want to follow a MySims or a car or change the traffic lights, simply do this: [Query] + [shift] + [click on object] You can check out the list of hot keys at the back of the provided manual although most of them seem quite useless and superfluous to me and seems only to appear there to fill up the back of the manual. For example there is a hot key of obliterating the city. I do not know how you play your city but this is not C&C, there is little violence and you would definitely not need a hot key for obliteration. The following are the more useful hot keys, the hottest of the hot. 1) [Home or End] Turn the building around for placement. 2) [Shift] Turns off auto roads. Simply press shift after dragging the zone but before releasing the mouse button. Make sure that you have the patch installed. 3) [Alt] Switch the layout of the zoning before laying it. 4) [Esc] Undo, sort of. Cancels zones, roads, etc, only if you have not released the mouse button. 5) [G] Shows the grid. This is great for counting and planning. 6) [/] Query. Use it with bulldoze to prevent accidental demolition. 7) [B] Bulldoze / Demolish. 8) [Control] [F] Dispatch fire fighters. 9) [Control] [P] Dispatch police. 10) [Control] + [Shift] + [S] Takes a picture of your city as it is appearing on the screen at this moment. This is a very useful hot key as it allows pictures which may not be possible if you went through the clicking on all picture button process. 11) [Spacebar] Centre on Cursor. 12) [Control] + [Shift] + [C] Toggle terrain contours. 13) [Control] + [S] Save City. 14) [F12] Exit 15) [Control] + [Shift] + [Alt] + [R] This is to record a clip of your city. 16) [Control] + [Shift] + [O] Just in case you are wondering, this is the obliterate hotkey. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[5]><>< A1.01.2: Multiple City Save Games and file locations 1) Save Games For those of you who complain about the lack of save games slots, you could always just copy the region to another folder. Go to: MyDocuments > SimCity 4 > Regions This is also the place to put any cities you download. You have to place the city in the region in want it to be. 2) File locations A) Album: MyDocuments > SimCity 4 > Album B) Bug Report: MyDocuments > SimCity 4 > Exception Reports C) Recorded Animation: MyDocuments > SimCity 4 > Recorded Animation D) Original Regions: C:\(or wherever you installed the game) SimCity 4 > Regions This is for if you messed up the original regions and want the original back. E) Music for the game / Custom Tunes: SimCity 4> Radio > Stations > Region > Music SimCity 4> Radio > Stations > Mayor > Music <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[6]><>< A1.01.3: Custom Tunes & Animation 1) Tunes You can play your own music simply by placing the music (MP3) into this folder: For Region Music: SimCity 4> Radio > Stations > Region > Music For City Music: SimCity 4> Radio > Stations > Mayor > Music Then when you play the game open up the Audio Option and select the custom tunes. 2) Animation Simply hit [Control] + [Shift] + [O] to begin. Enter in the various information such as file name, rate, time, output and frame count. The clip will be stored in your Recorded Animation folder. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[7]><>< A1.01.4: Technical Issues Firstly, I should state that I am NOT a technical expert or even a technical person at all. However, these problems occurred frequent enough for me to pick some things up. 1) Game Requirements: You can easily check the requirements on the box although the game really requires a lot of power such that even if you are above the recommended your cities if they are huge may encounter lag. There is a good test program to test your computer systems vis-a-vis the game requirements. It is found in the game folder itself: SimCity4 > Support > SimCity 4_EZ.exe 2) GDriverWindow--DirectX Error (1) This is one of the most common problems I see. The error you will most probably see is "The configuration file (Graphics Rules.sgr) cannot be parsed using built-in rules." There are two plugin folders. The one I am talking about is the one in your MyDocuments folder. MyDocuments > SimCity 4 > Plugins Do not place any of the downloaded things into this folder if not the game will not start. I suggest that after installation of the game and the patch you go and check this folder out to see what should remain in there. Nothing. The reason why an uninstall does not work is because the game does not delete the SimCity 4 folder under MyDocuments unless you actively specify it. Delete what ever you have placed there. 3) GDriverWindow--DirectX Error (2) However, there is another more drastic method. Since I am not well-versed in computers, I am unsure as to whether is this message a generic type for multiple problems or not. If above solution does not work then you may attempt to try this but do it at your own risk and discretion. A) Uninstall SimCity 4 including the SimCity 4 folder in MyDocuments. B) Reinstall: After that do the following: i) Double-click on My Computer. ii) Double-click on C: drive (also labelled local disk) iii) Double-click on Program Files. iv) Double-click on Maxis. v) Double-click on Sim City 4. vi) Double-click on Apps. C) Open SimCity 4.ini file i) Right-click on the SimCity 4.ini file and a menu will appear. Select "open" and left-click to open the file. The found is found in: C:\(or wherever you installed the game) > Apps ii) You will now see notepad open the file up. It will look similar to this: [Directories] Data=..\ PlugIn=..\Plugins\ [Graphics Drivers] OpenGL =SimGLRef.dll, C4554841 Software=SimGLSoft.dll, 7ACA35C6 D3D7 =SimGLDx7.dll, BADB6906 [Current Graphics Driver] ;Driver = C4554841 ;OpenGL Hardware ;Driver = 7ACA35C6 ;GRPoly Software Driver = BADB6906 ;DX7 Hardware D) Editing You will need to make edits to the [Graphics Drivers] and [Current Graphics Driver] sections so that they appear as follows: [Directories] Data=..\ PlugIn=..\Plugins\ [Graphics Drivers] ;OpenGL =SimGLRef.dll, C4554841 Software=SimGLSoft.dll, 7ACA35C6 ;D3D7 =SimGLDx7.dll, BADB6906 [Current Graphics Driver] ;Driver = C4554841 ;OpenGL Hardware Driver = 7ACA35C6 ;GRPoly Software ;Driver = BADB6906 ;DX7 Hardware E) Hopefully that will help you but I make no promises. 4) Graphics options As usual there is a trade-off between speed of the game and quality of it. Patch 2 will automatically set the options rather low, at least in my opinion. So if the graphics look bad, simply change the quality and determine if you can stand the lag in the game. 5) EA Technical help If you have problem operating the game simply send them a message. It is under their technical support, Ask a question tab. You do not need actually need to know their address. This is their main support site. http://techsupport.ea.com Although it should be noted that, often your first reply will be an automated one but do not despair and persist. I did once think of sending in multiple mails just to determine the various sets of automated response and trigger words but I think that sort of would be frowned upon. 6) Permanent Green Highlight Bug If, you see your hospitals or education highlighted as green even if they are not selected, do not worry. Simply go to the data view, and select the respective health, education, etc view. Then after selected, click on the all off. They will no longer have the green glow. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[8]><>< A1.01.5: Registration The registration process I recalled was quite complicated. If I remember it correctly, this is the process: 1) Register once on your computer by filling up the form after installation, which will then send a signal to the main site. Or go to the Support folder and click on SimCity 4_eReg.exe to register. 2) Then you have to register a second time also with the same key, which is at the back of your CD case at their official site. 3) Failure to do the first registration before the second will give you a error or invalid key message 4) Enter your email correctly and make sure it does not get directed to your junk folder. Click on the activation and you are done. Again if you have problems send an message to them. They solved, my problem within hours. http://techsupport.ea.com This I must say is one of the most complicated registration process ever. However, it is a good effort against piracy. So if you see anyone or if anyone asks you for your key, do NOT give away your key. And also report all piracy regarding the game to this EA email address: piracy@ea.com For online piracy email contact: piracy2@ea.com <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[9]><>< A1.01.6: Updates 1) Check all files updated The patch update is problematic. Whether you patch automatically or do it manually, make sure you check that all the relevant files are indeed updated. The list of files can be found on the patch page. Although, I personally seem to have a problem with the 'dbghelp.dll' file as it not only did not take the 2003 stamp date but it seems to have taken a 2001 stamp date. 2) Patch Log You will have a patch log called: sc4_patchlog.txt It is found in the same folder as the patch file you downloaded if you used the automatic patch. Not too sure where it would be if it was done automatically. This lists what files were patched and whether was it successful at the patch. 3) Region Identification The second problem is for those who has problem with the automatic patch and have to do it manually. Make sure your region is correct. The problematic is the Asian edition. Just because, you live in Asia and bought the game there does not mean that the game is an Asian edition one. If it is English, there is a high chance that your edition could be the North America one. I do not think there is a way to actually determine your region by looking at the files or game itself. The things that could your is an American edition are: (i) Right hand drive and (ii) American spelling. However with regards to American spelling, I am unsure whether is it similar for all the English games. If it is not then look for words such as "harbor" v "harbour" or "color" v "colour." The spelling without the "u" is the American spelling. These words will sometimes appear as park of the message in the news ticker. 4) Failed patch Finally, if you game did not patch properly as in the files were not fully updated, the only way to resolve it is to reinstall everything. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[10]><> A1.01.7: Online Play: SimCityScape You can find more information at the site but this is a brief overview. This online gameplay is available at the official website: http://simcity.ea.com/scape/ http://simcity.ea.com/ 1) Requirements Microsoft's Internet Explorer version 6 or better. ActiveX Java Registered user Game updated with Patch 2 2) 9 Regions Available Amarica (Large City size: 20 Cities) Discovered in 2003, Amarica is the new world. Griffinland (Large City size: 42 Cities) In a world where water reigns, Griffinland springs to life. Dan's Grove (Small City Size: 43 Cities) Farmer Dan ran a pistachio orchard on this soil, until approached by a developer. The region has been growing ever since. Emlee Valley (Medium City Size: 18 Cities) Pioneered by Maxoids, additional settlers have been moving in ever since. Molon Island (Small City Size: 47 Cities) Islands rise from the oceans forming this vast archipelago. Sea Shaw (Medium City Size: 47 Cities) With recent development interest, Sea Shaw promises to undergo a real estate boom. Lake Lucky (Medium City Size: 41 Cities) Formed by a giant asteroid 3 million years ago, Lake Lucky is now a vacation haven. Big Ben Basi (Medium City Size: 47 Cities) The lands have been shifting beneath these shallow waters, making it prime realestate for developers. Wee Burg (Small City Size: 45 Cities) In the wee county of Wee Burg, little cities populate the quaint countryside. Cook County (Large City Size: 24 Cities) The wind sweeps across vast stretches of plains, as if whispering “develop me.” Templinton (Medium City Size: 18 Cities) Civilizations have always grown from the fertile river valleys, Templinton is no exception. Annarondacks (Large City Size: 15 Cities) Lakes, forests, and numerous winter sports resorts, attract many tourists, and was once the site of the 1964 Winter SimOlympics. Spider Mountain (Medium City Size: 38 Cities) Once inhabited by a spider so large, no one dared move into the area. Nowadays the spider has taken up a career in a travelling sideshow act, leaving the region spider free. 3) Game Play concept It is quite simple. You get to pick one region and you have up to 48 hours to play with it and to end your turn. You may upload it and make as many changes as you want. But after 48 hours or if you choose to end your turn early your turn is up then another person can take over. You may not play the same city consecutively although you may play a city multiple times. After certain amount of time, Maxis will reset the region and the good ones I suppose will get into their hall of fame. 3) Download Region You can download their "premade region configuration folder" and place it at My Documents\SimCity 4\Regions\ to extract and create your city. It is a 2k zip file. Yes, 2k I did not have a typing error. It is small. This is not required for playing the online game and download it only if you want to duplicate their region for your own play. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[11]><> A1.01.8: Simtropolis Patch This is not an official patch at all. It is put together by fans of the game. It is located at the Simtropolis site: Www.simtropolis.com The following is one of the official words by Maxis on it: 'Users install, run and download those "mods" from Simtropolis completely at their own risk. Maxis is NOT responsible for ANY errors, crashes, problems or any other issue that you may have if you have downloaded and applied any unofficially supported mod files to your game. Nor is Maxis required to help anyone who has altered their game with any patches/mods/downloads that are not from Maxis themself. Players should also expect that any future patches and/or expansion packs and SimCityscape "may" NOT function properly with the game if you have downloaded any unofficial mods/patches/files and applied them to your game.' <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[12]><> A1.01.9: City Size There are three city size that you can select. And each tile is 16 by 16 metres. A) Small: 64 by 64 tiles = 1024 metres / 1Km

B) Medium: 128 by 128 tiles = 2048 metres / 2Km C) Large: 256 by 256 tiles = 4096 metres / 4km =======================================================================[13]=== A1.02: God Mode "God created the world, except Netherlands which we had to create ourselves." Popular Dutch Saying. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[14]><> A1.02.1: Terraform 1) Automatic Reconcile: I recommend that you turn off the reconcile option. Use it only in a city that has yet to build anything, unless you wish to lose your buildings at the edge. 2) Map Creation: Personally, I prefer creating maps one by one rather than doing the entire region. Firstly, it is so much easier and you get to start playing the game faster. Gives you greater flexibility to get the terrain to suit the cities that are sprouting up. Of course even if you do the entire region you can still change the landscape of the city. But from my experience, you would be extremely reluctant to do so. And furthermore if the changes are huge it may impact other maps. Even if that is not so, you will have wasted time altering the map twice. 3) Size and intensity of terra forming: Shift F1 - F10: Intensity from less (F1) to most (F10) Shift 1 > 2 > ... > 9 > 0: Size of brush from small (1) to large (0). The size of the circle remains the same whatever zoom you are at. So zoom in to the maximum zoom if you wish to have a smaller effect. 4) Reconcile Once in a while I hear people complain bitterly that the reconcile destroys their city. The answer is simple. If it destroys your city then just do not hit the reconcile button. Go to the options and turn it off. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[15]><> A1.02.2: Changing region & city size A) Introduction to Items: Program: MS Paint I used this but believe that any graphics program can be used. File: Config.bmp Location: My Documents\SimCity4\Regions\(Any original region. Such as Berlin or Maxisland) Note: I mentioned the file so for you to get an idea about it. It does NOT mean that you use this files for your map. Please create a new bitmap. B) Region Size: The pixels of the bitmap determine the size of the region. For Example Maxisland is 16 x 16 pixels C) City Size Colour Coding: 1x1: Red : Small city. 2x2: Green: Medium city. 4x4: Blue : Large city. The colour's value must be 255. And in the event that you are unfamiliar with MS paint, here is a step-by-step guide. 1) Select "Colours" then "Edit Colours." 2) Press "Define Custom Colours." 3) Make sure the value of the colour is 255. - Colour Red : Red 255 / Green 0 / Blue 0 - Colour Green: Red 0 / Green 255 / Blue 0 - Colour Blue : Red 0 / Green 0 / Blue 255 D) Steps: 1) Create new region. (In the game, obviously but just in case) 2) Create bitmap in MS Paint. (Out of the game) For those who do not know: - Ctrl E / Or Under "Image", Select "Attributes..." - Set the width and height. Units are to be in Pixels. Select Colours. - Remember create a new picture do not use any of the pictures that are provided in the other regions 3) Based on the colour coding as stated above, create your desired region. - Do a maximum zoom for easier viewing. 4) Save as Config.bmp and place it in the folder of the new region that you created in step (1). 5) Congratulations, you now have your very own map. E) Further Illustration If you wish to make a 6 x 4 small region here is an example. Each letter, S, M, or L represents one pixel. Diagram A1.02.2 S: Small M: Medium L: Large 1234 1MMSS 2MMSS 3LLLL 4LLLL 5LLLL 6LLLL Therefore in this map you will have 1 large city, 1 medium city and 4 small cities. If for example your bit map is only 4 x 4 and you attempt this 1234 1MMSS 2MMSS 3LLLL 4LLLL Then it will result in only the medium and small city appearing. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[16]><> A1.02.3: Obliterate, Animals, Disasters and Trees 1) Obliterate Using obliterate auto-saves thus there is no reload. 2) Disappearing Animals They need forest cover to survive and further, it is more of a gimmick than anything. Do not be too perturbed by the mass suicides. 3) Disasters Fire disaster cannot be turned off. The rest of the disasters do not occur randomly and requires you to actively use them. The only exception is the riot disaster which occurs under certain circumstances. REFER: A1.06.3 for how to create a riot These are the list of disasters. A) Tornado B) Earthquake C) Fire D) Lightning E) Servo the Robot Attack. From the Sims. 4) Trees type and growth Each tree costs $3. How fast the trees grow depends on whether is it suitable for the climate. Climate is determined by the height of the city. It should be noted that the trees even of the same type planted in the same location do not have the same growth rate although their growth rate in general is similar. Table A1.02.3 GR: This is the growth rate rankings based on the default ground level. The earliest two started reaching its maximum size within 2 years while the longer ones took up to 3 over years. ------------------------- | Tree Type | GR | ------------------------- | Blue Spruce Pine | 3 | | Noble Fir Pine | 1 | | Maple | 1 | | Palm | 4 | | Oak | 2 | ------------------------- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[17]><> A1.02.4: * Treatise on God & Natural Trees and Pollution There is a debate as to whether is there a difference with respect to effect on pollution between natural trees, those planted after the city was founded and God mode trees, those planted before the city was founded. Let me deal with the easy part. Both type of trees do actually remove pollution. An experiment that you could try is this. A) Simply start a new city with thickly planted God mode trees. B) Then build a coal power plant in the midst of the trees. C) Observe the level of pollution through the data map. D) Start demolishing the trees and you would see the pollution expanding Therefore one can conclude that God mode tree do also remove pollution. However, pollution can seep through if the pollution itself is very strong and that the tree cover is not thick enough. An experiment which I tried and which shows that there is no difference at least after Patch 2 is this: A) Start a city and plant God Mode trees B) Establish the City and plant Natural trees C) Wait for the natural trees to mature D) Place a coal power plant in each of the different forests, making sure that they line up E) Start demolishing roll by roll of trees and see in which area the pollution first seeps through. It is my conclusion that they both seep through at around the same area. Therefore at least with Patch 2, there is no difference between God mode trees and Natural trees. And even if there is a difference it is minute and insignificant. =======================================================================[18]=== A1.03: Zones "I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble." Caesar Augustus. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[19]><> A1.03.1: Options: Zone Types The cost is similar for the zones with the same type of density. Also agriculture is low density industry. Commerce incorporates both services and offices thus there is no way to actively just select one for construction. You can select from residential, commercial and industrial zoning. Table A1.03.1: Zones and costs ---------------------- Density |Low|Med|High| ---------------------- Cost |$10|$20|$50 | ---------------------- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[20]><> A1.03.2: Density v Wealth Density is separate and distinct from the wealth and type of zones. In other words low density housing does not mean low wealth residence. The only exception, to a certain extent is low density industry, which should really be called agriculture. The following table gives an explanation of density and types wealth levels since this is the part that some are confused about. Table A1.03.2 L: Low density zoning M: Medium Density zoning H: HIgh density zoning The key is the abbreviation used by the games in the game charts. ----------------------------------------------- Residential / Key | Tax | Zone Density | ----------------------------------------------- Poor (R$) | $ | L / M / H | Middle Class (R$$) | $$ | L / M / H | Rich (R$$$) | $$$ | L / M / H | ----------------------------------------------- Commercial | | ----------------------------------------------- Services (Cs$/$$/$$$) |$/$$/$$$| L / M / H | Offices (Co$$/$$$) |$$/$$$ | L / M / H | ----------------------------------------------- Industrial | | ----------------------------------------------- Farms (I-Ag | No Tax | L | Dirty (I-D) | $ | M / H | Manufacturing (I-M) | $$ | M / H | High Tech (I-HT) | $$$ | M / H | ----------------------------------------------- Changing density: Even after buildings are constructed, you can zone a denser zone without destroying the buildings that are built. If you are zoning a lower density zone than the building, then a smaller density building will soon take the place of its former higher density counterpart. There should be no use of the demolition button when changing zone density. It is only when the demand is satisfied after the denser zoning that the new denser buildings will appear. Thus you may have to wait quite a bit before seeing the effects of the denser zoning. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[21]><> A1.03.3: Zoning desirability The following table simply reflects what is required for construction of the various zones. I have not included all the factors. I have heard that the gradient of the land, location with relation to other zones also play a part but personally I find actually using them in the game to be quite difficult unless of course you have in your mind the layout of the entire city right at the start. Table A1.03.3 R : Residential CO : Commercial Offices CS : Commercial Services IA : Agriculture ID : Dirty Industry IM : Manufacturing IH : High-tech Industry ----------------------- H : High A : Average L : Low / Short --------------------------------------------- Factors | R | CO| CS| IA| ID| IM| IH| --------------------------------------------- Air pollution | L | L | L | L | | | L | Crime | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | Garbage | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | Land Value | | | | L | L | A | H | --------------------------------------------- Specific | | --------------------------------------------- Commute | L | | | | | | | Education | H | | | | | | | Health | H | | | | | | | Freight | | | | L | L | L | L | Traffic Noise | L | | | | | | | Customer # | | H | H | | | | | --------------------------------------------- Radiation: Radiation is not tolerated by anything. While I have yet to experience a meltdown, I did try using the toxic waste dump and the area that was irradiated was quickly abandoned. Customer and Traffic Volume: #: If you view the building you will see on information called customer. This translates to traffic volume or traffic congestion. Looking at the data map, I realised that the areas of commercial with red traffic has high customers. However, customers are also created by having more Sims in your city and region and also in having rich Sims. This is simply because the richer they are the more they can purchase. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[22]><> A1.03.4: Road Zots and Flood Filling 1) Actual Lack of connections Each building needs to have road access. Thus make sure that the arrows (<) in the lots face the roads, if not you will get the no connection sign. If a particular lot is not facing the road then you should zone in parts rather than zoning the entire area with one click and drag, thus making sure all of the (<) also face the roads. Alternatively, you could hit the [alt] key to change the layout of the lots. 2) Transitional lack of connection Sometimes when the area is being redeveloped, a no road zot will appear. It should usually disappear within a few months if not you may for to de-zone and rezone those affected tiles. 3) Flood filling To flood-fill, create the roads surrounding the zones, select the desired zone then click and hold it at one tile and the zone will fill up. Best used for irregular shaped zones. But because of the problem in (1), I not really recommend flood filling an area. After all you can easily fill up an irregular shaped area by doing it over different phases. 4) Undeveloped interior Sometimes even with auto roads on the interior does not get developed. This is especially so for industry which can easily zone up to 7x7 without auto-roads appearing. The reason for it being undeveloped is that the tiles touching the road develops small-single tile buildings leaving the interior without roads. The interior will only develop later in the game when either (i) huge multi-tile buildings appear or (2) when the single-tile industry expands into the interior. I do not really recommend huge zones especially for industries. While everything might work out in the long run, as John Maynard Keynes once said, "In the long run we are all dead." <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[23]><> A1.03.5: Agriculture 1) Amount of jobs Even if you see that the barn stating that there is only two jobs, that is under-reflective of the amount of jobs at that farm. I believe that is per tile. This is because I got a farmers market with only two large farms. After creating a large farm, pause your game and wait until about 5pm then you will see many cars leaving the farm and going home. Therefore logically the farm must employ more than just those few persons at the barn. 2) No farming taxes Farms only bring in jobs and do not add to your taxes. By the way if you are wandering why agriculture does not produce taxes, think of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, and also countries like the US, Canada or Japan. You should be happy that the farms in your city do not demand massive subsidies from you or create inter-regional tensions by asking you to tax other farm goods to protect them. 3) Connections required Only roads and electricity is needed. Water is not needed. You should not even connect your pipes even if you wanted too unless you do not mind your Sims suffering from the indignity of drinking kiwi chocolate colour looking water. 4) Agriculture and pollution. While agriculture abhors pollution air pollution, it is nonchalant with regards to water pollution since they too produces water pollution. Of course this is not realistic as there are many types of water pollution. I mean I would not want to eat vegetables coming from a farm next to a LED factory that dumps its arsenic waste into the water table. 5) Reasons for agriculture There are several reasons for although I do not find them convincing in terms of actual benefits. (A) It is more for atmosphere rather than a means to make money. (B) It generates jobs, which bring in people and the demand for agriculture unlike other sectors is usually very high. But I prefer using non-agricultural industries to generate jobs at the start. (C) However, while agriculture does pollute the water it does have less air pollution as compared to the dirty industry. (D) The best argument from a beneficial point of view is so as to be able to build the farmer's market. However, since keeping them around is not necessary after you get the farm this means that agriculture is only good at the start of the game and should not be a permanent feature of the city unless you wish to keep the 'farming look' in your city. 6) Unable to convert land back to farms. Once the city begins getting quite developed, it is very unlikely that farms will be rebuilt on previously zoned land even if there is no pollution. One reason is because of the negative demand cap. This is since the more industries you have the demand cap of the farm becomes lower. REFER: A2.02: Demand Caps <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[24]><> A1.03.6 : Industrial Pollution 1) Industrial pollution The following table is a ROUGH guide to the length of the extension of the pollution. With the exception of the farms, which relates to water pollution the rest refers to air pollution. The figures refer to the total number of tiles the pollution extends. The level of pollution decreases as you move further. But I have included all level of pollution into the one figure. All these figures operate on the assumption that you have no trees or anything reducing pollution. Table A1.03.6 ---------------------------- Industry | Air | Water| ---------------------------- Farms | 0 | 12 | Dirty | 22 | 27 | Manufacturing | 8 | 14 | Hi-tech | 0 | 0 | ---------------------------- 3) Abandoned buildings These still produce pollution and on top of that attract crime and are prone to fires. Therefore even if your entire dirty industry is abandoned and all the buildings lie vacant, the air pollution will still be as bad as ever. =======================================================================[25]=== A1.04: Transportation <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[26]><> A1.04.1: Options: Transport Types 1) Road Vehicle Transport: Streets, Road and Highway This is the most basic form of transportation around. Streets have a very much smaller capacity about a tenth than roads while highway offers about four times more capacity than a road. They too have differing speeds with the streets being the lowest and the highway being the highest. Even buses add to the traffic of the roads. You can build diagonal roads but no diagonal streets. I have simply no idea why this is so. Because of the possibility of potholes you have the ability to repair it by building roads on top of it. But if you do lay a road over an existing one and even if the road is in perfect condition it will cost money. So do not waste money by laying roads over existing roads when you are happy dragging the road tool. Also if what the MySims state is correct, people do not like to live next to one of them. 2) Train Transport: Trains and Subway Both rails and subway have about the same capacity, the difference being that one operates underground and the other do not. The less obvious difference is that rails have the capacity for transporting factory goods. 3) Ports: Airport and Seaport These are primarily demand cap busters. The seaport serves the industry while the airport serves the commercial areas. It is often asked as to whether are the effects of an airport city wide or region wide. Its effect is only city wide. However, there is an indirect effect on the region. This is because after placement it will improve the demand, growth and economy of that city and as a result of that, the better city will have a stronger positive effect on neighbouring cities and such. Remember, these ports must be connected to the thing they serve, commercial areas for airports and industry for ports. And with relation to the airport, they can be upgraded. When your usage is close to the maximum, an offer of an upgrade will be made. An upgraded airport still takes up the small amount of space. REFER: A2.02: Demand Caps 4) Cost and Capacity Table A1.04.2: Transport $C: Cost to build / In the case of medium and large airports, this figure represents the upgrade cost. $M: Monthly maintenance cost CA: Capacity P: Passenger G: Goods in tons %: Treat this as a percentage when contrasted with the rest in that category -------------------------------------- Structure | $C | $M | CA | -------------------------------------- Cars | | -------------------------------------- Roads | 10 | 0.10|100% | Streets | 5 | 0.05|1000% | Bus Stops | 150 | 5 |1000P | High way | 600 | 1 |4000% | Cloverleaf | 3000| 26 |4000% | -------------------------------------- Trains | | -------------------------------------- Railway track | 8 | 0.03|3000% | Passenger Sta. | 100 | 10 |2000P | Freight Sta. | 100 | 10 |2000G | Subway | 156 | 0.30|3000% | Subway Sta. | 500 | 20 |2000P | -------------------------------------- Airports | | -------------------------------------- Small Strip |20000| 700 |10200P| Med. Strip | 5700| 900 |13100P| Large Strip | 5700| 1100|16000P| -------------------------------------- Small Municipal |35000| 900 |28800P| Med. Municipal | 6400| 1450|34100P| Large Municipal | 7200| 1700|40000P| -------------------------------------- Small Int. |50000| 1225|70000P| Med. Int. | 6400| 1450|80000P| Large Int. | 7200| 1700|90000P| -------------------------------------- Seaports | | -------------------------------------- Ports |10000| 500 |4000G | -------------------------------------- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[27]><> A1.04.2: Highway, Cloverleaf and On ramps There are two methods of creating a cloverleaf. The first is when you drag the highway across another highway. The other is by placing a cloverleaf on an ALREADY EXISTING highway crossing. While diagonal highways are possible diagonal highways cannot create cloverleaf or even cross each other. The following is a diagram of a cloverleaf and on ramp. Please note the minimum length required for its placements Cloverleaf Requirements: A) Excluding the middle intersection there must at least be 6 tiles. Therefore the total length of each side must at least be 14 tiles. B) When using the cloverleaf option instead of the auto cloverleaf, there must already be an existing highway that satisfies requirement (A). Onramp Requirements A) Length of the on ramp is 6 tiles. Thus the highway must have 6 free tiles. B) If there is a intersection whether do you have a cloverleaf built there or not, you need to have at least a minimum distance of 6 tiles. C) The on ramp cannot be placed at the last tile of a highway. There must be at least one tile of highway free at the end of the highway that will not be used when you place the on ramp. Diagram A1.04.2 C: Cloverleaf M: Middle of the cloverleaf O: On ramp H: Normal highway 1 2 12345678901234567890123 1 HH 2 CC 3 CC 4 CC 5 CC 6 CC 7 CC 8HCCCCCCMMCCCCCCHOOOOOOH 9HCCCCCCMMCCCCCCHOOOOOOH 10 CC 1 CC 2 CC 3 CC 4 CC 5 CC 6 HH <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[28]><> A1.04.3: Tunnels and Underwater tunnels 1) Tunnels To create a tunnel simply drag the transport tool, be it a road, highway or rail across the hill. If it is possible the tunnel option will appear. Often for smaller size hills, it is the gradient that determines whether a tunnel option will appear. The steeper it is at the point of entry and exit the higher the chance of getting the tunnel option. 2) Underwater tunnels This seems to be a bug of sorts. The cost of building an underwater tunnel far outweighs any actual benefit if any. The steps are: A) Take a piece of land without water. B) Build a tunnel across. If the land to too flat, either raise all the land or just lower the entrance and exit. C) Now lower the land in between the entrance and the exit. D) Hey presto, the tunnel is still there yet there is nothing in between. A physical matter teleportation device? This also means that you can have a tunnel functioning even if the hill is removed and there is only land that is lower in between. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[29]><> A1.04.4: Bridges: Roads, Highways and Rails 1) Construction Just simply select the road or highway option and drag it across the water or if you have a steep chasm a bridge is also possible. Just drag until the bridge appears. If a bridge still does not appear try to move the starting point a bit further back away from the gap. If it still does not appear, then you may have to do some terrain adjustment at either the start or end point. It is impossible to build a bridge where the start and end points are very steep. 2) Golden Gate This appears if you use the highway as the basis of the bridge. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[30]><> A1.04.5: Trains, Turnings and Freight 1) Rail Turnings The tracks cannot turn 90 degrees and must be turned gradually over three tiles. The following diagram illustrates a 4 way crossing. You cannot place a road through any gradual railway turns. Diagram A1.04.5i R: Railway tracks. No road placement C: Railway tracks. Only at these areas can you build a road across like a rail crossing. 1234567 1 C 2 R 3 RRR 4CRRRRRC 5 RRR 6 R 7 C 2) Freight Stations Freight trains serve one purpose, that is to send industrial goods out of the city. Since they only send industrial goods, there is no need to connect rails that have only freight stations and are not transporting passengers to either a residential area or a commercial area. Secondly you need to connect the train tracks to a connection. Think of freight as a different kind of Sim. Instead of going from residential to his work, freight goes from industrial to a neighbour connection. Freight stations are somewhat like a transfer or transit point like a Sim walking to a subway and then taking the subway to work. There are two methods of sending goods out on track: A) Direct: If your train track runs through an industrial zone, it will automatically pick up goods even if there is no station B) Indirect: Freight station is used where goods are send by road to the station who then take it away. Therefore if all your industry already has a short freight trip there is no need to construct a freight station. Other than being superfluous the trucks going to your freight station will add to the road traffic. 3) No trains: Low passenger usage Personally I prefer using rails for inter rather than intra city travel. But that is just my preference and that rails can perfectly well be used for intra city travel. If you are unable to see the train it means that either you have a bad rail line which is not properly linked up. Or that since the trains like the cars are a mere representation of the usage of the transport, the usage could be so low that trains do not even appear. If you see a train, just follow it and if the usage is not too high it will disappear somewhere along the line. You can see trains appearing out of nowhere like a ghost train. Like a road, just because you do not see cars there does not mean that the road is faulty. Furthermore, this reflects the usage on the tracks not the station. It measures track congestion and usage. 4) Rail-Station placement It has been suggested that you should place the track at the back of the train station. However, I do have success in placing the tracks at the side of the train station. Make sure that there a road linking to it also. Diagram A1.04.5ii >: Train Station and direction of the arrow. Thus it is point away to the back of the station. =: Rail -: Road === --- =>>>- >>> >>> ->>>= =>>>- >>> >>> ->>>= --- === (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) I have had success with all of the above formations. As long as the road also touches the station it is perfectly fine to put it on any side. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[31]><> A1.04.6: Junctions, Roundabouts, Diagonal and Subway bug 1) Junctions and traffic Traffic increases at each junction not simply because more people arrive there but also because the amount of cars it can take is much less than normal roads. So try not to build too much junctions 2) Streets are not Solution A street is not a solution to heavy traffic. Using a street to resolve traffic jams is somewhat like a person stating that the way to reduce traffic is to narrow the road. And then stating it is a success because there are less cars on that road now. Of course there are less cars, since one had reduce the capacity of the road. But that does not mean that the traffic situation had improved. One may claim that as a result of it the junction is question is now green thus stating that it is a success. But the reason it is green is because all the traffic is stuck behind the street. The street acts as a filter allowing some to pass but all needs to pass. Hence a green junction does not necessarily mean that your experiment with streets is working. Therefore do not build a street on the tile leading up to a junction so that the traffic lights will not appear. Traffic lights are not prima facie bad. Also if your roundabout is based on this street design it will not work to ease traffic. 3) Roundabouts One may not create a proper roundabout without any traffic unless one goes through a whole host of building and demolishing or using a street. The effect is that a proper roundabout cannot be created. Thus they are merely eye candy and do not really serve to ease your traffic. Note that my definition of a roundabout is a road junctions type that has no traffic lights. 4) Diagonal Roads and highway As stated earlier, there is no diagonal streets. For the most part diagonal construction just add to the variety of your city. It however does have several detriments: A) Diagonal highways cannot have cloverleaf B) It waste space. C) It constricts the buildings around it. 5) Subway infinite loop bug Patch 2 resolved this problem. But for those without the patch for some reason or other. this here is the problem Setting up a subway network as in the diagram simply loops the passengers through each station without actually sending them anywhere. Therefore while it may be profitable the subway system is not working. Diagram A1.04.6 -: Subway Tracks S: Subway Station - - - - ---S----S----S---S- - - - - - - - - ---S----S----S---S- - - - - - - - - ---S----S----S---S- - - - - Therefore do not create junctions under your subway stations. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[32]><> A1.04.7: Maintenance, Income and Distress 1) Potholes You have reduced your funding for the roads, which you should not have done. You have to replace the roads rather than raising funding and waiting for repairs which will not be done automatically. Make sure you do not build roads on roads that are in good condition as that will cost you money too. 2) Income You can make money from your mass transit. The best case scenario would be for it not just to fund itself but also provide you with an income. You can check your income under the budget. 3) Ports under distress Often I hear of people complaining that their ports seem to be distressed even if they had a full maintenance. This I believe was resolved in Patch 2. It is stated in the fix list that they have "Addressed issue for airports and seaports initially showing up distressed." <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[33]><> A1.04.8: * Coverage and Travelling Time 1) Station "Coverage" It was stated in an official Sim City 4 article, 'Tips & Tricks - Transportation' that "your Sims are USUALLY only willing to walk about 6 to 8 tiles to and from bus stops." I have added to capitalization by myself. Therefore what many people as the “range” or “coverage” of a station commonly actually refers to the distance that people can walk and travel before the time runs out. Before interpreting that sentence it is best to clearly define and explain some basic concepts and terms i) Trip The basis of calculation. The time one takes to go from one's residence to one's place of work. ii) Walking Time This refers to the time one takes to walk to and from the mass transit. iii) Mass Travel Time This refers to the time taken to move by mass transit from one place to another. iv) Transfer Time The time taken to change modes of transport REFER: A1.04.9: Transit Mode v) Total Trip Time = Walking + Mass + Transfer vi) Maximum Trip Time > Total Trip Time The maximum trip time I believe is 150 minutes. This is the time one must reach one's work place. vii) Actual maximum trip time It is my opinion that while 150 minutes is the cut off, not all class of residence will have 150 minutes. As commute time is a huge part of determining desirability, it means that for the richer Sims they do not like a high commute. Thus they may move out of their house even before reaching 150 minutes. The effect is thus that the house will be downgraded. Thus 150 minutes is the time limit for poor ($) Sims but not the richer Sims. A) Restrictive Interpretation This interpretation operates restrictively downwards such that 8 tiles is the maximum range one would walk. It means that Sims will only use the mass transit if it is in within an 8 tile radius. The basis of this is that walking, as compared to other modes of transport takes a lot of time. Therefore people who walked 8 tiles to the station will have less time left in his total trip time hence they will not be able to walk another 8 tiles to their workplace. Therefore the result of this interpretation means that you should not space out your stations too much if you want an effective mass transit system. In fact the proponents of this interpretation believe that 6 tiles is the optimum range. B) Liberal Interpretation This interpretation operates liberally upwards such that 6 to 8 is just the mean range. And as such you can travel more than 8 tiles to and from a station and there is no cap on the distance one is from a station. All that matters is that the total trip time is less than the maximum trip time. The basis of this is based on the later part of the sentence "... 8 tiles to and from bus stops." That suggests that people can walk further than 8 tiles but that generally they only walk 8 tiles to a station. In other words like the restrictive interpretation it focuses on the total trip time but gives a more liberal interpretation such that one could perhaps walk 12 tiles to the station and then walk another 1 tile after alighting to reach the office. Therefore the result of this interpretation means that you can space your stations further apart although placing more closer together would still always be a boost. C) Combined Interpretation This interpretation takes into account the fact that walking do indeed take a large part of the travelling time but it also acknowledges that there is no cap on the number of tiles one would walk. Therefore the result of this interpretation is that while you can space the stations further apart as your city expands and there is more strain on traffic, the mass transit time will become longer thereby reducing the amount of time remaining for the walking time. In other words while the liberal approach is right theoretically, practically one must adopt the closer station placement supported by the restrictive approach. 2) Single maximum trip time theory Central to the discussion relating to station coverage is the assumption that people can indeed walk more than 8 tiles and that all that matters is that the total trip time does not exceed the maximum trip time. There are multiple experiments you can do to test this out. One of them is: A) Start a new city. B) Build a Residential and an Industrial zone separated from each other without any road connections between them. C) Build a subway station in each of the zones and connect them up but make no road connections. D) Make the distance from your residential area to the subway more than 8 tiles and make the subway directly in the midst of the industrial zone. E) The length of the subway should be short, one tile. F) As long as ANY one of the people reaches work it will show that people can walk more than 8 tiles in general and in using a mass transit I stated ANY because even if only one building has work it is proof that people can transfer. Because if it is impossible all will have no work. The rest of the people without work can thus be attributed to this particular bad transport network and not the impossibility of Sims being able to transfer to stations side by side. The conclusion is that people can indeed walk more than 8 tiles. 3) Travelling Time and the Heuristic coefficient Somebody called "the7trumpets" at Simtropolis found out and determined how travel time is actually specifically calculated taking into account traffic and other things. But it is really complicated and extremely mathematical with the use of the Heuristic coefficient. Suffice to say I am not posting it here as this is a SimCity 4 FAQ not a mathematical text. If you are interested simply go to the site and search for it. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[34]><> A1.04.9: Transit Mode People can change their mode of transportation such as from walking to bus. But not all types of transportation are mutually compatible with another. Table A1.04.9 W : Walking. This is only on roads and streets. No walking allowed on highway and tunnels. B : Bus. This building has negative residential effect. T : Trains / Railway S : Subway Y/N: Yes / No WA : This means that connection to this mode of transport is possible but it is done indirectly through the use of walking again. Thus for example a bus passenger connects to a train by walking out of the bus station and into the train station. ------------------------- Type of |Connects To: | Movement |W |C |B |T |S | ------------------------- Walking |--|N |Y |Y |Y | Car |N |--|N |Y |N | Bus |Y |N |--|WA|WA| Trains |Y |Y |WA|--|WA| Subway |Y |N |WA|WA|--| ------------------------- For indirect walking connection, simply place both the stations side by side. Take note that walking takes up the longest time so try not to have that many connections. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[35]><> A1.04.10: * Transit Station The big debate in this is whether does one need to leave a tile in between two stations for the Sims to switch transport mode. Thus it means having a bus stop beside a train station. This is because in the Prima Guide it is stated that "To change transportation modes, there must be at least one tile of road between the stations." However, if you look at the official Sim City site under the 'About > Inside Scope' you will see an article call "Building a better Transit System" by Alex Peck, Software Engineer. Look at the second page of the article: http://simcity.ea.com/about/inside_scoop/transit2.php Figure 4 shows a Train station connected to a Bus station. This thus means that there is a conflicting reports from two official sources. It is my opinion that the latter argument at the website is the correct one. It should be noted that the Prima Guide was done months before the release of the game and there are multiple errors in it that have been confirmed. But I will prove it to you with an experiment. 1) Experiment This experiment is done in a similar fashion to the Single maximum trip time theory experiment in (A1.04.8). A) Simply create a residential and a work place in a new city that is only connected by rail or subway. B) Stop the rail or subway before the work zone and place another station such as the bus stop right next to the rail/subway. See if they manage to get to work. C) Make sure that you place a tunnel between the station and the work place because Sims cannot walk into a tunnel. This is to prevent people from walking to work. Thus their only option is to take the bus. D) As long as ANY one of the people reaches work it will show that people can transfer even if the stations are beside each other. I stated ANY because even if only one building has work it is proof that people can transfer. Because if it is impossible all will have no work. The rest of the people without work can thus be attributed to this particular bad transport network and not the impossibility of Sims being able to transfer to stations side by side. 2) Graphics and Tunnel Central to this argument is the one that Sims cannot walk through a tunnel. It was stated by the makers that the graphics are mere representation of the simulation and are not exactly accurate. If you look closely at the tunnel you may see people walking into or out of the tunnel. However, it is my opinion that this is just a graphic. It does not actually represent people moving in and out of the tunnel. Think of the situation where we put in one reward type building in a city with 0 population (Industrial cities) yet there are people cheering it. Alternatively you can see people walking about in a large plaza and yet there is no people in the city. If you are not convinced, you could perhaps lengthen the distance between the bus station and the industrial zone. 3) Combination Argument It is possible that both arguments are correct. Let us at the prima guide statement again. "To change transportation modes, there must be at least one tile of road BETWEEN the stations." (My emphasis) To interpret this, we have to give a liberal reading to the word 'between.' Between does not simply mean sandwiched and in the middle. The prima guide could simply be stating that there must be a road leading from one station to the other. The idea they are trying to convey is that while the stations may be built side by side, unlike actual transit hubs they are not linked internally and thus the people have to exit it and walk on the roads and then re-enter the other station. 4) Directional explanations Since Sims travel in the direction to their destination and would not deviate too much to take advantage of a mass transit or a less congested road the reason for the seeming failure of these transit stations, if you do have a failure, can be attributed to them. This is because, If the Sim exit the station and his work place is to the south but the bus station is to the north, then he will not use the bus station as moving there means moving further away from his destination. 5) Entrance / Exit explanations Prior to placement you can see the (<) of the station. Make sure that it faces the road and also the road that the other station faces. If they are pointing in opposite directions, it may account for the failure of these transit stations, if you do have a failure. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[36]><> A1.04.11: Choice of Transportation While everyone in your city has the ability to take all the types of transportation, whether do they actually take it is dependant on how rich they are. Classified broadly there are three means people get around the city. They are, public, private or flexible. Flexible means that the people will have no qualms about using either public mass transit or private cars to get around as long as they reach their destination in the shortest possible time. Table A1.04.11 LW : Low wealth residents MW : Medium wealth residents HW : High wealth residents PR : Private PU : Public FS : Flexible short approach * : Least desire ** : Moderate desire ***: Greatest desire --------------------- Type | PR | FS | PU | --------------------- HW |*** |* |* | MW |* |*** |** | LW |** |* |*** | --------------------- What this means is that even if you have the best mass transit system any

mayor can offer if the rich populate your city then very few people will use the mass transit. This is even if taking their cars to work will be longer or even to the extent that they cannot reach their work place. Therefore the only means to deal with them is to do build your road network such that it forces them to use the type of transport you want them to use. This is especially so when building a highway since Sims always use the "shortest" possible route to work even if that route is completely congested. REFER: B7.08.3: Paternalistic Approach to traffic <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[37]><> A1.04.12: Overcapacity 1) Theory The effect of overcapacity is simple. It reduces speed. Overcapacity does not only apply to roads but also to subway tracks and train tracks. This is different from station efficiency and capacity when you query the station. -- I will quote an email Chris McFadyen sent me for it explains the capacity of tracks excellently. I have changed edited some of the wording and the illustration but the words are still his: Traffic at stations are cumulative. Say we have 5 stations: A >>>>> B >>>>> C >>>>> D >>>>> E If we have a 1000 people each at A, B, C and D that want to get to E. Train leaves Station 'A' with 1000 passengers, gets to 'B' and picks up another 1000, gets to 'C', etc... When they get to E they would be dropping off 4000 passengers. Adding more subway stops between, such as: A >>>>> B >>>>> C >> F >> D >>>>> E Station 'F' would not increase the capacity of the tracks if nobody got off at 'F'. Therefore all 'F' does is to add to the capacity if nobody or if less people got off then those who got on. End Quote. Thanks to Chris McFadyen. -- You should note that just because when you place station 'F' the usage of C and D falls, it does not mean that this does not hold true. Usage at the station is different from usage at the tracks. An analogy may help you to better understand. Let us say there is a huge train station which can handle hundreds of trains at any given time. But if there is only one single track leading out of that station, it means that all hundred of trains will have to use that one single line. Therefore the solution is not to build bigger train stations but to build more lines. 2) Effect The effect of overcapacity is simple. You will have a jam and the speed will slow down. You can slow down up to 70% of the optimum travelling speed in the tiles that are overcapacity. 3) Distinguishing Track and Station overcapacity As stated above these track and station have different overcapacity levels. However the method to determine track overcapacity is useful only for rails. Track Overcapacity: Look at the rail line. The longer or the more number of train the more congested the line. Station Overcapacity: Query the station, to see its usage. =======================================================================[38]=== A1.05: Utilities "There once was a nightclub called Jaks, Where people went in their stacks. They queued out the door, To get on the floor, All dressed in their coats and their hats. But, on this one fateful night, Our crew, they had quite a fright. They were getting on down, To Lee’s funky sounds, When someone looked up and said “shite!” The crew all stopped and looked up, Someone shrieked as it dripped in their cup. The roof made a rumble, The pipe took a tumble, The crowd were all covered in muck! How strange were the looks on their faces, All covered in paper and wastage. One girl, she threw up, Her boyfriend did duck, As he knelt down to tie his shoelaces. Lee and the crew were in shock, It was barely past ten O’clock. People were wailing, Cleaning methods were failing. When would the sewage flow stop? The bouncers all knew what to do, But first they shut off the loo! The crowd, they went mad, For they all smelled so bad! So they called for our heroes, two. The crowd were assembled outside, In the LeisureWorld foyer so wide. They all left their drinks, Exclaiming “This stinks!” But Shaun took it all in his stride. Teamed up with his deputy Dom, They needed to right this wrong. For such a huge task, They never would ask. But, for their crew, they had to be strong. There seemed so much to do, Luminar concerned that people may sue. The plumbers were called, New pipes were installed And soon the place was like new. So Jaks, they made the front pages Their best publicity in ages. With the clean-up complete, And profits now sweet, The crew all deserved higher wages! But what did we learn from this night? ... that things don’t always go right! Try as hard as we may, You just have to say. That sometimes reality does bite. Back at Jaks, beer was again flowing, The crowd was positively growing. So, back in his place, With that look on his face, No chance of Lee’s music now slowing. So this brings an end to our tale, Of music, heartache and ale. Of his crew, Shaun should be proud, For no others could have handled that crowd. They proved to the rest, That they were surely the best, And all lived to make another sale!" Samantha, "Music, Heartache & Ale." <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[39]><> A1.05.1: Options: Utilities Type 1) Electricity They obviously produce electricity for your city, without which the city will not grow and Yogi bear and Keiko the whale from Free willy will roam the area in peace. A) Wind Power: Very clean but very pathetic. The most inefficient of all power. B) Natural Gas: It does pollute but it is quite little and you can easily use this for your clean city. C) Coal: The most efficient of the lot but generates the most pollution. D) Oil: In between a natural gas and a coal plant. E) Solar: Clean and expensive. F) Nuclear: Clean with the possibility of a catastrophic disaster. G) Hydrogen: Generates the most power but is actually quite inefficient. 2) Water Very important but your city can still grow without it but not much. It is just that they will be very dirty and flammable. But do not worry their collective body odour will not contribute to air pollution. A water pump is so much more efficient than a water tower. 3) Waste disposals Unless you like living in your filth, this becomes very necessary. Landfill requires there to be at least some population for it to be effective. Waste to energy is your best bet but it generates copious amount of pollution. 4) Utility Tables Table A1.05.1: Utilities $C: Cost to build $M: Monthly maintenance cost E : Efficiency rate. The amount of power $1 generates MW: Power capacity in MWh per month LS: Life span of the plant P : Pollution description AP: Air pollution extent in tiles. The number in (bracket) represents the extent of the strongest pollution. WP: Water pollution extent in tiles. The number in (bracket) represents the extent of the strongest pollution. P : Population. If not further clarified it means city size HW: High wealth residence IH: Hi tech industrial population ED: Energy demands including deals. It is in the 1000s (K) CU: Water capacity in Cu m in one month The figures for pollution assume that there are no surrounding trees or anything that can help reduce pollution. Power ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Structure | $C | $M | E | MWH |LS | P | AP | WP | P |MR| ED| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Power Line | 2 | 0.10| | | | | 0 | 0 | | | | Wind | 500 | 50 | 4 | 200 |100| Clean | 0 | 0 | | | | Nat. Gas | 9000 | 400 | 7.5| 3000 | 60|Moderate| 0 | 0 | | | | Coal | 10000| 250 |24 | 6000 | 75|Heaviest|22(13)|18(6) | | | | Oil | 17000| 600 |11.6| 7000 | 75| Heavy |16(6) |8 Min.| | | | Solar | 30000| 1000| 5 | 5000 |100| Clean | 0 | 0 |3000HW|55| | Nuclear | 40000| 3000| 5.3|16000 | 60|Meltdown| 0 | 0 |85000 | |25K| Hydrogen |100000|10000| 5 |50000 | 50| Clean | 0 | 0 |4000IH| |30K| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Waste | 25000| 1000| 5 | 5000 | 80| Heavy |29(19)|25(15)| | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Note: For oil power plant while there is water pollution it is quite little. Unlike the rest of the polluters it does not have any dark yellow pollution. Water --------------------------------------- Structure | $C | $M | CU | --------------------------------------- Pipes | 11 | 0.10| | Water Tower | 150 | 50 | 2400 | Water Pump | 1400 | 250 | 20000 | Treat. Plt. | 15000| 350 | 2400 Treats| --------------------------------------- Waste --------------------------------------------------------------------- Structure | $C | $M | Notes | --------------------------------------------------------------------- Landfill | 50 | 10 | Min zone is 4 tiles | Recycling | 5000 | 350 | 1) Reduce garbage 20% 2) Serve 20000 pop | Waste power | 25000| 1000| 1) 5000MHz 2) Heavy Pollution | --------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: For waste to power plant look at the table on power structured for more a detailed information. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[40]><> A1.05.2: Optimum Coverage Both water and electricity can extend past their pipes and poles respectively. The water coverage extends 6 tiles. So you should have 12 tiles between pipes and 6 to the edge of the map. Electrical coverage extends to 4 tiles. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[41]><> A1.05.3: Maintenance, Decay and Overcapacity If your pipes are leaking, your poles are sparking then your funding is too low. Raise them and replace the broken pipes. 1) Life span Even if you fully fund your utilities, after a certain amount of years they will be moribund. Also as your utility reaches its end life, its capacity falls drastically such that it is more cost efficient to replace the utility in question. 2) Rate of decay The rate of decay or deterioration increases both when you are operating close to capacity. Therefore keep it at 70% capacity for the power plants. But leave the water funding alone as lowering it does not save that much and it will cause even greater problems with burst pipes and damaged property. However I recommend reduce power as you can save quite a bit of money and can avoid sparking poles which increase the probability of fire. The rate of decay also increase when you lower funding from the 100%. And it increase greatly if funding is below 50%. 3) Sparking Poles Changing the individual power station funding affects the global funding. Therefore it might be impossible to prevent sparking lines short of keeping funding full, which I do not recommend. Furthermore if too much power is channelled through one line, it too will spark. Hence try to arrange you city such that you do not need that much electricity lines. Since electricity can be transferred four tiles, you can zone one tile every four tiles to prevent the use of poles. Sometimes for some odd reason, the electricity does not travel 4 tiles in one area. To search for the break in the chain, simply place the query button over the tiles to see which one has power or not. Just place another zone in between the area of the break. Diagram: A1.05.3 P: Power Plant Z: Zones. It can be residential, commercial or industrial .: Empty tiles P....Z....Z....Z Because deterioration occurs much faster when global funding is below 50%, I recommend that you should not build a new power plant until the present one is close to full capacity. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[42]><> A1.05.4: Negative Environmental Degradation (NED) Yes, I do know I am using a double negative in this title. But NED sounds good to me. 1) Water Pollution This has the effect if it is high enough to cause a shut down of your water pumping system. To reduce that probability simply build the pumps and towers away from polluted water areas. And also to refrain from making connections to landfills or agricultural areas. 2) Water treatment By right you should not need to use this building. This is required if the water pollution is so bad that your water pumps cannot work. Place at the source of the water although there is an argument out there that one should place it at the source of the pollution. As long as your water pump does not stop for reason of pollution, I do not think this is needed even if your "city is full of filth" and that your Sims are drinking chocolate kiwi coloured water. 3) Landfill Connection Bug All landfill requires connection even if you new landfill is connected to your old landfill that has road connections. There is a bug that has yet to be completely resolved by Patch 2. It is stated in the patch that they: "Addressed landfills to combine easier if drawn adjacent to each other. Still problematical if drawn between two landfills, so try adding them one at a time." Remember that the roads must not only just touch one point of the landfill but must at least cover the entire one side of a landfill. 4) Recycling Centre The 20% is not cumulative. This due to its costs can only have a limited impact on garbage disposal. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[43]><> A1.05.5: * Bio degradable landfills Landfills decompose over time in this game. Of course this does not make much sense unless everything in SimWorld is bio degradable. 1) Decommission Only if you actually removed road access can it be possible to determine whether is a landfill actually decommissioned. A landfill not connected would display a no road zot sign. Also if you look at the garbage chart you will see a drop in the total garbage capacity. 2) Rate of decay The formula for the rate of decay is simple. Trash degrades at 7% a month, however, the upper limit is set at 15 tons. Thus even if 7% of your total trash is more than 15 tons, only 15 tons will decay that month. There are thus two time frame of decay. the (1) being the time when 15 tons are being degraded each month. The (2) is when less than 15 tons are degraded each month. In my opinion the turning point occurs when you have about 215 tons of trash left. It is because after that, the 7% rate would only yield less than 15 tons. Therefore to calculate the rate of decay of the first phase, all you have to do is this: A) Base - 215 Time 1 = __________ 15 Base: Current amount of waste in the landfill B) log (Y / Base) Time 2 = ______________ log 0.93 Y: Amount waste must decompose to for all to disappear Base: Current amount of waste left in the landfill (215) log 0.93: Rate of decay at 7% C) Amount of time to decompose in months = Time 1 + Time 2 The landfill total is simply calculated by counting the number of tiles in that landfill and multiplying it with the capacity of each tile, which is 300 tons. Alternatively, you could cut off road access and then check the garbage chart to see how much total capacity has fallen. That amount would thus be that landfill's capacity. Obviously this operates on the assumption that the landfill is filled to capacity. Generally a 4x3 landfill will take 10 years 11 months to decay. A 2x2 landfill will take 14 years 4 months. 2) Rate of decay cannot be increased Until I did the experiment on landfills, I was operating under the notion that a waste to power plant, exporting or trees help increase the rate of decomposition. There is a belief that if you have a road connected from your landfill to your waste to power plant, the garbage will be transferred to the waste to power plant. Therefore increasing the rate of decay. A similar argument is also made when you have a neighbour deal. Also there is a belief albeit held less widely that planting trees around a landfill will increase the rate of decay. Let me show that after an experiment, all the above hypothesis no longer holds true. This is the experiment: A) Build three landfills of equal sizes apart from each other. B) Wait for all of them to fill up. Check your garbage chart to make sure that total garbage exceeds total garbage capacity such that the Sims are wallowing in there own filth. C) Pause the game. D) Build a waste to power plant beside one landfill. E) Demolish the roads leading to the other two landfills. F) Select one landfill without the road connections and surround it completely and utterly with trees. G) Make sure that the waste to power plant can sufficiently handle all the trash in your city. H) Take note of the date, unpause and wait for the landfill to be cleared. The conclusion is that both those landfills without road connections was cleared at the same time. Hence trees have no effect. Secondly, the landfill that was connected took a bit longer, about a month. Therefore a waste to power plant does help increase the rate of decay. You can try the same experiment with an export deal. However, because the difference between the decommissioned landfill and the one that is still linked up to the road, I believe that there really is no need to demolish the road leading up to it. By the way if you are interested it took 14 years 4 months to clear a 4 tile landfill. =======================================================================[44]=== A1.06: Public Service Commission "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[45]><> A1.06.1: Options: Public Service Types 1) Police Without any superheroes, you need them to reduce crime and suppress the Sims as you rig the elections to become Mayor for life. There is also a city jail if the cells in your police station is overwhelmed. But hold off on it until you at least witness a jail break. It is quite a sight. 2) Fire Not everything is as indestructible as garbage. Build these to prevent and stop fires. 3) Education Unless you want your Sims to be flipping burgers for life, build some education facilities. A high school is not a larger version of an elementary school thus it is not a counterpart to the smaller-larger police and fire stations. The library and museum ensures that your Sims do not loss too much education as they grow older. 4) Health Good wealth is good health. Build them to raise life expectancy from third world average of 40. 5) PSC list Table A1.06.1: Civil Buildings $C : Cost to build $MT : Monthly total maintenance cost. MTM : Monthly max funding total maintenance cost $MC : Monthly coverage cost (bus / ambulance cost) MCM : Monthly max funding coverage $MF : Monthly service cost MFM : Monthly max funding service cost (excluding bus / ambulance cost) CV : Default Coverage in tiles CV0 : Zero funding coverage CVM : Max funding coverage CA : Default capacity CAM : Max funding capacity ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Structure | $C | $MT|MTM |$MC|MCM| $MF| MFM|CV|CVO|CVM| CA | CAM | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Police | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Small Police | 250| 125| 150| | | | |23| 0 | 26| 2 Cars | Large Police | 800| 250| 300| | | | |34| 0 | 38| 4 Cars | City Jail |2500| 450| | | | | | | | |1000 Inmate| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fire | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Small Fire | 250| 125| 150| | | | |24| 0 | 26| 1 Engine | Large Fire | 800| 450| 300| | | | |35| 0 | 38| 2 Engines| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Education | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elementary | 300| 400| 480|100|120| 300| 360|23| 10| 25| 500 | 550 | Library |1000| 250| 300| | | | |30| | |30000|33000| High School |1050| 750| 900|100|120| 650| 780|30| 14| 33| 750 | 825 | City Museum |1500| 450| 540| | | | | | | | 30 | 33 | City college |3000|1000|1200| | | | | | | | 7000| 7700| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Health | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Small clinic | 400| 400| 480|100|120| 300| 360|23| 11| 23| 500 | 550 | Large Medical |1100|1200|1440|200|240|1000|1200|34| 17| 34| 3000| 3300| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><[46]><> A1.06.2: Dispatch: Police a