SIMCITY

CHEATS

At any time, hold down the 'SHIFT' key and type "FUND". This gives you an extra $10,000. It also causes an earthquake every tenth time you do it, so do it before you start your city. In some versions this only works when on the title screen and not during the game.

Another cheat is to set the citizen's taxes to 0%. Then just before tax collection (December or November if playing at fast speed) quickly set the taxes up to 20%. Then after you collect taxes, put it back down to 0%. This way the citizens think they are not paying any taxes.

You can build land on water. Find a straight (horizontal or vertical), stretch of coastline and string a powerline along it. Next, move one square over, out into the water and string another powerline parallel to the first. Repeat as many times as you want. Then just bulldoze all the excess powerlines and you can build on the new land. To make land you simply make a 3 lane highway across any water source. When you make a road by putting 3 sections of road on top of three section of road on top of three sections of road (3 by 3) you make 1 section of land in the middle.

Here's a cheat for owners of Sim City Deluxe only. Load up Sim Editor and then load up Big City from the More Cities drawer. Now go to clear Unnatural Objects and clear all of the buildings away. Then edit the terrain to your liking, but don't select Clear Map. If it runs smoothly save and when you load it up you will have $1,138,000,000.

TIPS

PLANNING

There are two routes that you can take with your city, fast and unstable or slow growth and a healthy economy. A fast growth city leads to all sorts of problems: overcrowding, pollution, high crime and empty coffers in the treasury, like a computer version of Detroit. Personally I like to create a huge urban jungle, totally environmentally unfriendly with a crime rate that runs off the chart; it gives you more to play around with.

On the other side of the coin, a slowly built city, if correctly planned, will contain average sized buildings and an economy that will be running in the black. Careful planning at the start of the game is the key to a successful city. Bad planning leads to transport problems, pollution, power stations in built up areas and, ultimately, a massive redevelopment project.

Start with the power station. If you're aiming to build a big city fast go for a nuclear station; it's expensive but the amount of time my city suffered brownouts is unbelievable. Next step is to zone the residential areas. Start with two adjoining each other, and make them a healthy distance away from the power station. Next zone two industrial areas, away from the residential areas. A commercial zone should be placed near to these particular places. Link all the separate areas by roads then hook them up to the power grid.

ENLARGING A CITY

In order to expand a city you need two things, an increasing population and a profitable economy. Otherwise concentrate on improvements tied into civic demands. Increase the amount of residential zones by two. If all the industrial zones are full, zone some more away from the previous ones. The same applies to the commercial areas.

If you think your city is big enough with a strong economy build a port; this increases trade with the city. It also has added bonuses of increasing land value in the surrounding area making it perfect for industrial zoning. Make sure that new residential areas are built when the existing ones are full. If you don't it will give the Sims something to moan about.

MAINTENANCE

In order to keep a city running smoothly you'll need to respond to the demands of the Sims (when they say jump, you hit the ceiling).

It is also worth while remembering that every city will go through a period without growth. At times like these it may be worth increasing taxes for basic improvements, then lowering them the following year.

SOS

If you're city looks like it's sliding down the toilet you'll really have to work overtime. Start by concentrating all your efforts on the residential zones, because once people start leaving on a large scale your city is technically dying. Increase the tax rate by a percent, and cut the transport budgets by ten percent, so at the end of the year you have some money to spend. Invest in park and land around the residential zones; this increases land value and makes the area nicer for Sims to live in. Follow that up in the next year by dealing with the problem which is receiving the most civic attention; but if it proves too expensive deal with a problem you can afford. Make a two percent tax cut for one year. The low tax rate should attract people and promote industrial growth. On the whole try to deal with the problems the Sims are moaning about, followed up by a tax cut. Never try to make money by putting the tax rate above ten percent. Unless you have a perfect city you'll be committing political suicide.

MODERNISING YOUR CITY

Airports and sea ports are the key to bringing your city in line with the times, and will make you some cash in the process. Experiment with more park land, not just to increase land value but to make the place look good.

Probably the most dangerous move you can take with the city is replacing the roads with railways. This is a useful move as it reduces traffic congestion, but it also soaks up more maintenance money. Don't be afraid to experiment - if you think that it's a good idea for every residential zone to have a power station or industrial zone, try it. You never know - it might be very successful.