Simcity 2000 FAQ
By Ed the Moogle
Version 1.0
Copyright 1999 Ed the Moogle
Don't copy or alter this FAQ in any way without permission. I am not
responsible for any damage done with this FAQ or it's contents. Do not
alter this FAQ in any way. This FAQ's latest version is available at
http://www.gamefaqs.com. Check the latest version before emailing me with
questions.
This was written using the Windows version but should be applicable to
all versions.
The Toolbar
Getting your city started
Windows Version Cheats
Disasters
Secrets and Tricks
Other Stuff
Toolbar
Bulldozer
Demolish/Clear: $1: You click on something and it blows up! Useful for
getting rid of unwanted buildings or roads.
Level Terrain: $25: Allows you to level out a part of terrain with
another section of land. Each square costs $25, though, and that can add
up quickly.
Raise Terrain: $25: Raises a single square of terrain up 50 feet (1
square on the grid). Useful for creating roads or tunnels. It blows up
any buildings in the way, though, so be careful where you use it.
Lower Terrain: $25: The exact opposite of Raise Terrain. But it also
destroys buildings. Use it carefully.
De-Zone: $1: De-zones a "Zoned" square. I don't think it's very useful,
because you can just put a new zone directly over the old one (and thus
replace it and save a few bucks.)
Tree/River
Trees: $3: Plants a single tree on the square you click. Sims like trees,
and they slightly reduce pollution.
Water: $100: Fills a single square with water. Sims like to build houses
near water, but this feature is expensive.
Siren: This only is available when disasters strike. You can deploy the
Military, Police Station or Fire Department, provided you have the right
buildings.
Police: Useful for stopping riots.
Firemen: Good for stopping fires (obviously) and chemical spills.
Military: Useful against monsters.
I'll go more into details about the disasters later.
Lightning
Power Lines: $2 per square. Lets you connect powered areas with unpowered
areas. Sims won't build without power. You can also raise the wires to
make them go over water. The cost will vary depending on the length.
Power Plant: You can build one of several types of power plants.
Coal: $4000 The most basic Power Plant. It pollutes a lot but gives a
good amount of power.
Hydro Electric: $400: It has the advantage of never breaking down. But
you need to build on waterfalls and have lots of these to power a city.
Oil Power- $6600: It gives off slightly more power than Coal, and is also
cleaner.
Gas Power- $2000: It's cheap to build, but expensive to maintain. It also
doesn't give off as much power or pollute as much as Oil or Coal.
Nuclear-$15000: This is a very efficient power source, but you run the
risk of having a meltdown.
Wind Power- $100: They're weak but expensive. Put them on top of hills to
get maximum power from them.
Solar Power- $1300: This is a fairly cheap power plant, but don't rely on
it to power an entire city. During the winter months, these will do you
little good.
Microwave- $28,000: These are also a very good energy source, but very
expensive. You may also have a Microwave disaster.
Fusion- $40,000- The ultimate power plant. It will never start a disaster
and a single one is powerful enough to run an entire city. But they break
down every 50 years and are very expensive to build.
Faucet
Pipes: $3- Unlike the original Simcity, you have to supply water to your
Sims. Connect Water Towers and Water Pumps with these. You can even make
them go under lakes and mountains.
Water Pump: $100- Build these next to water to increase the water they
supply. I like to build them in straight rows, then put water down with
the Water tool.
Water Tower: $250- These are used during the Summer, when water shortages
are prone to happen. Build two or three of these.
Water Treatment: $500- These reduce pollution in your city, making for
happier sims.
Desalinization: $1000- If you have salt water in your city, this gets rid
of it. It's very expensive to maintain these, though.
Town Hall
This is where you recieve Rewards. Rewards are free and will be rebuilt
for free if they get destroyed (except Arcos).
Mayor's House- This is where you live. Put it near your city to improve
land value nearby. You'll get this when you gain 2,000 citizens.
Town Hall- It's quite self explanatory. No city is complete without one.
You need to have 7,500 citizens first, though.
Statue- A statue of...you! You'll have to have 15,000 citizens first,
though (I think, I'm not sure)
Braun Llama Dome- A big building that provides a lot of entertainment.
You need to have 30,000 citizens (I think).
Military Base- You'll need 60,000 Sims to get one of these. They'll help
defend your city against Monsters if you allow them to build in your
city.
Arcologies- You need to have over 100,000 Sims to get one. They're hella
expensive, but they bring in the sims like nothing else. They tend to
lower land value and increase crime though, so build Parks and Police
Stations nearby.
Plymouth Arco: $100,000- This one holds up to 55,000 Sims, but creates a
lot of pollution.
Forest Arco: $130,000- This one holds up to 30,000 Sims and pollutes much
less than the Plymouth Arco, but requires you to provide more
entertainment (the description explains why).
Darco: $150,000- This Arco carries 45,000 Sims, but creates a good amount
of pollution. Not as much as a Plymouth Arco, though.
Launch Arco: $200,000- This is the most expensive Arco, but it barely
pollutes and carries up to 65,000 Sims. If you build a LOT (like over
350), they'll launch.
Road
Road: $10- Well, your Sims can get around much easier with these. Keep in
mind that Sims never build more than three squares away from Roads.
Highway: $100- It can carry much more traffic than a normal road, but
costs more and it's useless without an Onramp. Create onramps on either
end of the highway. These are also good for connecting to other cities
when normal roads won't cut it.
Tunnel: $150- Instead of going over a mountain, you go through it. These
are pretty expensive, and you may not be able to build them if the
terrain is unstable at the exit.
Onramp: $25- You build these to get onto highways. To build them, create
a road leading to the Highway, then click a space left or right of the
road to create an Onramp. If it doesn't work, try extending the road one
more square or building somewhere else.
Bus Depot: $250- The Sims like these. they reduce traffic. I like to
build them between two Onramps leading onto the highway.
Railroad
Rail: $25- This is a good way for Sims to get around when traffic is
heavy. Just be sure you build a Rail depot at each end of the track,
otherwise they'll be useless.
Subway: $100- Yes, you can build Subway tunnels. You can even make them
go underwater. This is useful when you have barely any room left in your
city and you still need ways to get around (they also provide a cheap way
to get between islands). Be sure you have a Subway tunnel at each end.
Rail Depot: $500- This is where they send out trains. Put tracks leading
into these.
Sub Station: $250- This is where the subways make stops. Put subway
tunnels leading into these.
Sub<-->Rail: $250- You can connect Railroad to Subway with these. Put
these around if you need to go under buildings or mountains (or water).
Boat/Plane
This allows you to zone Air and Seaports. Airports cost $250 per square
and Seaports cost $150 per square. Airports are good for increasing
population and Seaports are good for industry.
House
This allows you to zone Residential areas. Light residential costs $5 per
square and Heavy residential costs $10 per square. Build when Residential
is in demand (the green bar on the RCI bar is above the RCI bar).
Building
This allows you to build Commercial zones. They too can be put in Light
and Heavy zones at the cost of $5 per light square and $10 for each heavy
square. Build this when the blue bar is above the RCI bar.
Factory
Similar to the two above. These provide work for your sims, but they also
pollute. $5 per Light square, $10 per Heavy square.
Hat Thingie
School $250- This makes your young Sims smarter. Put them near
Residential zones.
College $1000- These make your Sims smarter too. Put them near Commercial
and Residental zones.
Library $500- Umm...same as above.
Museum $1000- Ditto.
Badge
Police $500- Allows you to send out Police units. Plant them in the
middle of high crime areas to drastically reduce crime.
Fire Department $500- Allows you to send out Firefighter units. Keeps
your Sims happy.
Hospital $500- Increases health in the city.
Prison $3000- Helps keep crime down. Build them next to a police station
for best results.
Balloons
Small Park $20- They improve land value a little.
Big Park $150- They drastically improve land value. Put them near
Residential or Arcos.
Zoo $3000- These provide entertainment for your sims, but may lower land
value. Surround them with Small Parks to prevent this.
Stadium $5000- Provides entertainment for your Sims. You can even choose
the team sport and name!
Marina $1000- Yet another way of entertaining the Sims.
Getting your city started.
First, pick a nice flat section of land (hopefully near water). First of
all, build a power plant. If there's waterfalls nearby, build some Hydro
Electric. If there isn't, just use Coal for now. Build a road and a good
6x3 square (remember, Sims don't build more than 3 squares away from
roads) of Industrial. Then wait until they build some buildings, then
zone out a 3x3 of Commercial and a 8x3 of Residential (make your road
longer if you need to). Be sure to provide power to the zones, and then
build some Water pumps near the water (if there's no water nearby,
they'll still work, but not as well). This is a good start. Expand the
zones as you need to and build when the citizens request you build.
Disasters- You can start these using the Disasters window.
Fire- A small fire breaks out in your city. Send out the Fire Department.
Flood- Water floods your city and destroys your buildings. Build farther
away from the coast line to prevent this (or just build on higher
ground).
Air Crash- A plane crash. Send in the Fire Department to stop the fires
it starts.
Monster- A big monster. It may start buildings on fire, make small spots
of water, or create Windmills (!). Send in the military to get rid of
them.
Riot- They randomly start fires and blow up buildings. Send in the Police
to stop them.
Tornado- It rips through town and blows up buildings. You can't do much
about it except hope that it doesn't blow down anything expensive.
Hurricane- It floods and blows up buildings. You can't do much to stop
it, though.
Earthquake- This is pretty bad. It starts fires and makes buildings blow
apart. Send in the Fire department to stop the fires.
REALLY bad disasters (luckily, they rarely happen)
Nuclear Meltdown- The worst possible disaster. Tons of fires and toxic
clouds appear, and toxic waste areas appear all over the place (and you
can't build them or get rid of them). You'd better surround the fires as
quickly as possible and send in the Fire Department.
Toxic Spill- Big clouds of toxic gas destroy your buildings. Send in the
Fire department to stop them.
Microwave Beam- This occurs only when you have a Microwave power plant. A
solar beam misses the collection dish and starts fires. Send in the Fire
Department to clean it up.
Fire Storm- This is similar to a fire, only MUCH bigger. Create a bunch
of rubble around the fire if possible to keep it from spreading (knock
down some buildings), and then send in the Fire Department.
Volcano- The terrain raises greatly and knocks out a bunch of buildings,
and then a bunch of toxic gas and fires start everywhere. Hope you have a
lot of Fire Departments.
Mass Riot- Like a Riot but much worse. Send in the Military and Police to
stop those goons!
Major Flood- It's like a flood but worse. You can't do much to stop it
except to build your city higher up (or raise the terrain near the
water).
Graph Kludge- Your ratings start dropping drastically. If you're a really
crappy mayor, you might get this.
Windows Version Cheats
Bond- A bond at 25% interest will be issued.
Iamacheat-$500,000 and all Rewards and Buildings available.
Priscilla- An extra menu appears that lets you set off the REALLY bad
disasters or get more money or all Rewards/buildings or more money.
Secrets and Tricks
Send in the Military to deal with riots and you'll become more popular
with the sims.
Keep Taxes at 7%. Any less and you'll lose money, any more and the sims
will complain.
Create a map with lots of waterfalls, and then create lots of Hydro Power
plants to power your city.
Islands tend to be much more manageable than a huge city.
If you want to reduce pollution and you don't have enough money to use an
Ordinance, then try increasing Industry taxes as a temporary fix.
Be careful with Bonds. Don't spend too much after you issue one, or
they'll bury you in debt.
Don't bother with Light zones. Heavy zones may be more expensive, but
they do twice the job of Light zones (including Crime and Pollution).
Overall, Heavy Zones=Better.
Other Stuff
Questions/Comments/Corrections? E-mail brunerp@juno.com or
edthemoogle@geocities.com
check out my page at http://www.angelfire.com/az2/edmoogle
