kreme@nyx.UUCP (Harvey Leech) (10/01/90)
I've been playing SimCity off and on for about a month now and I have discovered something very annoying about the game: I'm not getting any better. I can usually win in Tokyo and Bern, but I have yet to be able to build a decent city without cheating. The farthest I have gotten is having them demand a stadium, a port, but never an airport. I don't understand why sometimes areas grow and sometimes they don't. I guess I just haven't develped any sort of "winning" stategy. I try to isolate residentail areas a little from Industrials by buffering them with parks and/or commercial areas. I use a minimum of roads and lay down lots of rails. The cities LOOK NICE, but I always running out of money and the population is always whining about something. I do manage to keep my popularity at astonomically inflacted values (85-100%). Perhaps I am placing too much weight on the "What are the most serious problems" area. Could anyone who has played this game much give me a few pointers? Is there any reason to attempt to upgrade from version 1.0 besides Multifinder? I've heard the latest version is 1.2 with an obnoxious manual based protection scheme.
firth@sei.cmu.edu (Robert Firth) (10/01/90)
In article <2192@nyx.UUCP> kreme@nyx.UUCP (Harvey Leech) writes: >I've been playing SimCity off and on for about a month now and I have >discovered something very annoying about the game: > > I'm not getting any better. Well, I've managed to build cities of over 250k (without cheating), so maybe the following thoughts will be useful. First, as the manual says, "grow slowly". Keep some funds in reserve for the big builds, otherwise you'll get brownouts or demands for stadia &c at the wrong time, and have to stand still for eight years or so while you build up funds. You should probably plan on having a small budget surplus each year, so that funds build up between the big builds. This means keeping the tax rate fairly high - about 7% or 8% - which also helps keep growth fairly slow. Don't worry overmuch about popularity - I'm now able to stay above 70% most of the time, but used to get below 60% when learning the game. The manual reminds you that anything over 55% is adequate. Pay attention to the complaints, but don't go overboard. In my experience, the one to care most about is 'housing shortage' - if that comes onto the list, growth is going to stop. So keep lots of underdeveloped residential zones. Also, try to keep crime under control by strategically sited police stations. Pollution is another nasty one - I find it best to mix commercial and industrial zones, but segregate residential zones. Build parks on every spare cell. They are cheap, and they soon pay for themselves in added land value. After several bad experiences with roads, I now tend to build rail only cities. This actually turns out cheaper, since, while rails are more expensive to maintain, you need a lot fewer of them. Once you're over about 50000 you can reduce the tax rate a bit and grow a little faster. But to fill the entire map - which I've done several times - be prepared to take 70 years or more. Scenarios: Tokyo is a fun one, play it for laughs. Boston and Rio can be won if you simply wait for the disaster to happen and then clean up and rebuild slowly and methodically. Bern is easy - just watch where the traffic is heavy, rip out the roads, and build rails. Start by erasing all the unused roads - including the access roads - to save on maintenance. I find it too painful to watch cities being bombed (a holdover from having lived in one, perhaps) so haven't played that scenario. Good luck!
rawdon@rex.cs.tulane.edu (Michael Rawdon) (10/02/90)
In article <2192@nyx.UUCP> kreme@nyx.UUCP (Harvey Leech) writes: >I've been playing SimCity off and on for about a month now and I have >discovered something very annoying about the game: > I'm not getting any better. > I can usually win in Tokyo and Bern, but I have yet to be able >to build a decent city without cheating. The farthest I have gotten is >having them demand a stadium, a port, but never an airport. > I don't understand why sometimes areas grow and sometimes they >don't. I guess I just haven't develped any sort of "winning" stategy. >I try to isolate residentail areas a little from Industrials by buffering >them with parks and/or commercial areas. I use a minimum of roads and >lay down lots of rails. The cities LOOK NICE, but I always running out >of money and the population is always whining about something. I do manage >to keep my popularity at astonomically inflacted values (85-100%). Perhaps >I am placing too much weight on the "What are the most serious problems" >area. There is one sort of "built-in" way of "cheating" which nonetheless is entirely legal: Keep your taxes at 0% all year, and then jack them up to 20% in December. After you get your budget report, put them back at 0%. I don't know why it works, but it gets you lots of money. I actually kind of figure it's a bug of some sort. Has anyone else noticed this in their copies? My cities are usually pretty organic because I end up placing things wherever the heck I want that does what I want it to do. -- Michael Rawdon Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Internet: rawdon@rex.cs.tulane.edu | "I trusted him like a brother; that is Usenet: rex!rawdon.uucp | to say, not at all." Bitnet: CS6FECU@TCSVM | - Roger Zelazny ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Opinions mine, typos and grammar errors someone else's.
jason@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Jason Watts) (10/04/90)
dlinder@eagle.wesleyan.edu writes: >Here's a tip for those who don't mind "bending the rules" a bit in Sim City. >You may already know about Bonzai taxing (keeping the tax rate at 0% all year >and then raising it to 20% in January. I here it doesn't work on some >versions.) But there is also a way to embezzele funds. Simply type "FUNDS" >and your cash will increase by $10,000. So far, I have discovered no adverse >effects. Good Luck! I think the Bonzai taxing strategy is to raise taxes to 20% in *December* and then set it back to 0% (or some low value) when the annual budget report appears in January. If you set taxes high at any other time of the year, the Sims that remain will complain vehemently. I suppose "FUNDS" is sufficient, but "FUND" is all that is required (at least on my version). -- | | |====================| | | | Jason Watts | \ |\ |\ \ | (jazzin@uiuc.edu) | \| \| \|\|====================|