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Tips of the Week

For April 24, 1997

Tips of the Week Index
View last weeks tips of the week: Part One, Starting off a City: The Groundbreaking
This Week's Tips of The Week

Part Two, Starting Off A City: Growth Spurt

Welcome back, brave lads. Now that you have a nice little town running smoothly, now it's time to think about expanding and beginning to build the "city of your dreams". Today, we'll talk about expansion and what Sim's like in their cities.

First of all, expansion. This is of course building more zones, so that more people can move in (that effects dozens of things, but I'll just talk about one). This gives you a solid budget tax base, which allows you to make your city better to live in, which makes more people move in, well, you get the picture.

When you are first expanding, you should only be thinking about Residential and Industrial zones. Those are the ones the Sims are going to jump at first. And so, may I introduce, the demand bar!
The Demand Bar will look something like this (except a lot smaller), depending on what type of computer you are using. It's located near the middle of the toolbar. It tells what your city needs as far as zones go, and what they don't need. The higher the bar for each zone, the more of that type of zone is needed. The colors mean these:

• Green - Residential
• Blue - Commercial
• Yellow - Industrial

Now to expand, let's start by building a residential zone above the town square. Drag out $70 dollars worth this time out from each of the upper corners, connect the 2 roads together. Now fill the rectangle in with dense or light residential. Connect power to the zone.

The Sims will begin to move in.

City Issues:
City issues are the things all mayors (real or simulated) dread about. How can you keep citizens happy but still have a good budget? Let's take a look inside SimCity 2000's "issue simulator".

You probably notice a message appearing in the toolbar: Citizens Demand Police, by now. Believe it or not, the Sims will move out if they don't get the police stations, or fire stations or schools for that matter. We need to build them some of these. But first you need to do something. Go into the Budget window, and check to make sure you're earning at least $200 a year. If you aren't, build some more residential and industrial zones. Leave $1,000 left over.

Now that you have a good budget, let's make that worth our while. Build a police station by clicking on the badge on the toolbar. Place it near the residential and industrial zones.

Now another message has come up: Fire Protection Demanded. Build a fire station by clicking and holding on the badge until a menu comes up. Choose Fire Station and place it near the police station.

Well, that's all you need for now. It might be wise to put up some schools or parks to help the residential areas grow.

And overall, be creative.