Sim City 2000

"Responding to nearly four years worth of suggestions from its cult-like following SimCity 2000 is the next generation of City planning. SimCity 2000 combines dozens of new features and stunning realistic three-dimensionsal graphics with the intuitive interface and engrossing gameplay that made the original SimCity so engrossing."

"SimCity, which has been a steady best-seller since its introduction in 1989, has been re-christened SimCity Classic, The Original City Simulator, and now includes a terrain editor and support for popular sound cards. SimCity Classic's simplicity makes it a natural for people who are new to simulations."

SimCity 2000 Scenarios Vol. 1: Great Disasters provides 10 challenging scenarios with explosions, fores, volcanoes, riots and more!

SimCity 2000 runs on Macs, DOS, OS/2 and Windows. There are a couple of UNIX versions of SimCity Classic.

Patches and updates

ftp.netcom.com Is usually very busy - you will probably have to retry to get in.

Maxis has an area on America OnLine, and a Web server at http://www.maxis.com/

The Maxis BBS can be reached at (510) 254-3869. Use 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, up to 14.4K baud.

City collections

ClubOpolis Home Page

Mailing lists

The SimCity mailing list is simlist@cisco.com. To be added to the list, send mail to majordomo@cisco.com, with the contents subscribe simlist-digest. Questions about the list should be sent to simlist-owner@cisco.com.

Here's a pointer to the simlist-digest archive.

Books

SimCity 2000 - Power, Politics and Planning by Nick Dargahi and Michael Bremer. 421 pages. Library of Congress Catalog number 94-65409, ISBN 1-55958-192-1. Prima Publishing. P.O. Box 1260BK, Rocklin, CA 95677 (916) 786-0426. Includes chapters on: hidden secrets, cheats and Easter eggs; beating the scenarios and making your own; lifestyles of the rich and simulated; and how the inner model works - plus a bonus section on the making of SimCity 2000.

The Official SimCity Classic: Planning Commission Handbook by Johnny Wilson Originally the SimCity Planning Commission Handbook, this is the updated and re-released version that gives the latest up-to-the-minute information on SimCity Classic.

The Official SimCity 2000: Planning Commission Handbook by Peter Spear and Johnny Wilson Explores the strategies of how to be successful in SimCity 2000. Fascinating accounts of the problems facing real urban planners-today and in the future.

Sim City 2000 - Strategies and Secrets by Danile A. Tauber and Brenda Kienan. Sybex Publishing. ISBN 0-7821-1518-7. I have only scanned this book, but it looks equivilant to the Darghi and Bremer book. List price is $14.95 U.S.

Known bugs and Easter Eggs

On a new city, type "fund", say yes to a $25,000 bond, repeat this step. Then from the budget window issue a bond. It will ask if you want a bond a ".%" interest. Say Yes! Now you will be paid interest for the life of the city.

Other arcana

There is no major cheat code in the DOS versions. It was removed because someone was doing something with it that displeased someone.

If you use the 'lower terrain' tool on a square with radioactive waste (or a square adjacent to one), a small lake will be formed, and the waste will be gone, even when you level the terrain again.

Due out soon will be a utilities package for SC2K (it's not finished quite yet) that will allow for more fun. It will include such things as a program that lets you redesign the buildings, print your cities and other such goodies.

Launch arcos DO NOT launch in version 1.0. However in version 1.1, they do. The requirements to launch them is only to have about 9 to 10 million residents.