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SimCity Guide

Okay, now that you know everything you can put in your city, let's take a look at how you can put everything in your city. First, let's take a look at different ways to form your city. Second, let's take a look at a few tricks.

The most basic thing you have to deal with is the pattern of which your zones will be aligned with each other. Down below are several of these patterns.

RR \| CC RR \| CC CC \| RR CC \| RR	Checkerboard Method -- Good method, but you use up too much space with roads and railroads.
RRR \| CCC RPR \| CPC RRR \| CCC	Donut Method -- Better than the checkerboard method. You should put a "good land value"-maker in the middle, like amusement parks, libraries, zoos, or just parks.
RRRRRR CCCCCC RRRRRR CCCCCC	Stripe Method -- Yep, just like the stripes on the American flag. This one is a good one to use if you want to get you population density up quickly.
	KEY -- R = Residential Zone, C = Commercial Zone, P = Present (Zoo, Amusement Park, Railroad Station, etc.)

Okay, those were just a few general methods. If you don't like them, try your own method. Experiment a little. Be creative.

Next, let's take a look at the overall pattern of your city.

IIIIIIIIII

ICCCCI

ICRRCI

ICCCCI

IIIIIIIIII

Box Method -- This keeps residential and commercial zones close to each other.

KEY -- R = Residential Zone, C = Commercial Zone, I = Industrial Zone

The box method is really the only type of pattern that is only large-scale. The stripe method and checkerboard method can also be large-scale. Just extend them to the boundries of your "landform".

Okay, now I'll give you some important pointers. You don't have to do what I say, but if you do I will guarantee that your cities will be much more populated.

When Choosing A Landform, Don't Pick An Island. You get less land on an island than on the other landforms. Only pick an island if you want to make SimCity more difficult for you.
Use Nuclear Power Plants. The chance of having a nuclear meltdown is very very low. (I'm not going to say that it can't happen, because in one of my cities there was a nuclear meltdown.) Using nuclear power plants will cut down pollution, which means that the overall land value will go up and more people will move in.
Use Railroads, Not Roads. I know that they're more expensive, but railroads mean NO TRAFFIC, and also NO POLLUTION. Land value will be higher and more people will move in.
Put All Industries Along The Edge Of Your Landform. This will keep pollution out of the center of your city, and half the pollution will be in your city and the other half will be outside of it (in the black area).
Put Seaports and Airports Along The Edge Of Your Landform, Also. Seaports don't need to be by the water. You can put both the seaports and airports along the edge of your city. Same reasons as above.
When 100,000 People Or Over, Keep Trans Fund Down To 98%, Police Fund Down To 95%, And Fire Fund Down To 95%. You don't have to have all of your funding up to 100%. You can save a little extra money and still maintain high police and fire department coverage.
Don't Choose A Casino. I know it gives you more money, but it attracts more crime, which is no good for your city. Pick the Amusement Park, instead.
Keep All Presents Towards The Outside Of Your City. When you use up all of your land, all of the great land value is in the center of your city. And, all of the bad land value is near the edge. Presents will help these low- and mid-class zones turn into upper- and high-class zones.
Don't Bulldoze Forests. Forests are a natural "good land value"-makers. They give better land value than parks. Keep them up as much as possible, because once you bulldoze them you can never get them back.
Put Park In Unused Spaces. If there isn't enough room for a zone, fill it up with park. This will make the land value a little higher. But anything is good.
Don't Waste Powerlines. Powerlines consume electricity, just like everything else. Don't waste them. Try to conserve power.

Here's some tricks/cheats that you can use in SimCity.

A Million Dollars	Begin by spending all of your money, making sure to build at least one police or fire department. Then go to the budget screen, lower all of your funding and tax rate to zero percent, then exit the screen. At the end of the year, when the tax screen pops up, hold the L Button and exit the screen. While still holding the L Button, press the X Button twice to make the month January. Go back to the budget screen and raise all funding to 100%, but keep the tax rate at 0%. Exit the screen and release the L Button. You'll have $999,999!
1,000 Bonus Landforms	Start a new city, but don't build anything. Wait for 15 seconds, then go to the Load/Save screen and the select the Go To Menu option, but don't save your game. Now start a new city. When the Map Select screen appears, the map number displayed will be the same as the one you chose previously, but the landform will be different.
Extra Money	This probably isn't as fantastic as the Million Dollar trick, but it still gives you money. At the end of the year, when the tax screen pops up, lower all funding to zero percent. Then exit the screen and hit the X Button twice to make the month January. Then go to the Load/Save screen and the select the Go To Menu option. Save your game. Then go back to the Saved Cities screen and load your city. You'll have as much money as it takes to pay for your funding 100%. Of course, the more funding you have, the higher the amount will be.
Clear Data	To clear all saved cities and reset all the scenerios, press L, R, Select, Start, and B simultaneously (all at once) on the title screen.
A Change Of Class	If you just put a present (a zoo, city park, etc.) next to a bunch of lows (or maybe mids) and they fail to move up to upper- or high-class buildings, here's an easy way of making them do so. Just bulldoze any road or railroad that is next to that zone. It will go down a level, but it will go up at least one class. Then put back the road or railroad. This is a lot cheaper than bulldozing the whole zone, then setting down a new one.

Now, go to PART 3 to see a special edition of KNP Mailbag, with questions concerning SimCity.

Have any questions? Send email to me at kylenin@angelfire.com.