No Fragments Archive 10: Diskmags/nf_archive_10.iso/MAGS/STINK/STINK_1.MSA/TEXT_USER1.SIM

Text File | 1990-08-07 | 28KB | 699 lines

                                USER REFERENCE
                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                                    MENUS

FILE MENU

ABOUT brings up a screen giving fascinating and vital information
about SimCity and Maxis.

START NEW CITY generates a new, empty terrain. Clears existing
city (if any) from memory. You will first be asked if you wish to
"GENERATE A NEW GROUND MAP AND LOSE THE CURRENT ONE?" and gives
the option to go ahead or cancel. You will next be given a chance
to set the GAME PLAY LEVEL, and then name your city.
PICK SCENARIO brings up a menu of available SCENARIOS to load and
run.

LOAD CITY brings up the standard "File Loading Screen", allowing
you to load a previously saved city.

SAVE CITY brings up the standard Amiga "File Saving Screen"
allowing you to save the scenario or city-in-progress for later
use. Once you have loaded a secnario, it can be saved and
reloaded, like any city, without the impending disaster.

PRlNT ClTY brings up a window giving you the choice of printing
out your city on a single page, or on a multi-page poster. You
may also cancel the print function.

QUIT OUT! ends SimCity.

EDIT MENU
UNDO cancels the last operation you performed.

OPTIONS MENU
The options in this window stay with the simulation, not with the
city.

AUTO BUDGET keeps your budget at the same percentage setings
without asking for approval every year.

AUTO BULLDOZER allows you to place zones, roadways, etc.,
directly on top of trees and shoreline without manually
bulldozing first.  You will be charged the same as for manual
bulldozing.

AUTO GOTO EVENT automatically transports you to the scene of a
disaster or major event.

SOUNDS ON toggles the city sounds on and off. Defaults to the
"on" position. The simulation runs slightly faster with the sound
off.

GAME SPEED brings up a sub-menu allowing you to set the
simulation speed. FAST sets city time to maximum speed. MEDIUM is
the default setting, about three times slower than FAST. SLOW
sets the speed about seven times slower than FAST. PAUSED stops
time. Zoning and building are possible in paused time.

POWER BOLTS toggle on and off the presence of the flashing power
sign in unpowered zones.

                               DISASTERS MENU

The DISASTERS MENU allows you to set natural disasters loose in
your city. Use these disasters to test your ability to deal with
emergencies in your city or just to release some aggression. More
information on disasters, their causes, and dealing with them is
presented later.

**WARNING**
          It is a good idea to save your city to disk before you
          set a disaster loose - just in case.

FIRE starts a fire somewhere within the city limits.

FLOOD causes a flood to occur near the water.

AlR DISASTER causes a plane to crash. If there are no planes in
the air, one will be generated.

TORNADO causes a tornado to appear within the city limits.

EARTHQUAKE causes a MAJOR earthquake.

MONSTER sets a monster loose in your city.

                                WINDOWS MENU

BUDGET brings up the BUDGET WINDOW.

EVAL brings up the EVALUATION WINDOW.

MAP&GRAPH brings the MAPS/GRAPH WlNDOW.


                            THE EDITOR WINDOW
This is where all actual zoning and building takes place.

TERRAIN
There are three types of terrain in the EDITOR WINDOW.

The brown area is open land, where you can zone and build.

The green areas are trees and forests. You cannot zone or build
on green areas. You may BULLDOZE trees and forests to turn it
into clear land. While some bulldozing is necessary, clearing
away too much green area will result in lower property values.

The blue area is water. You cannot zone or build on water. You
must bulldoze coastlines to create landfills before you can build
or zone there.

Roads and power lines can be laid across water, with no turns or
intersections.



                        EDITOR WINDOW GADGETS


TITLE BAR displays city name. Clicking and dragging the Title Bar
allows you to relocate the EDIT WINDOW.

NOTE: The EDITOR WINDOW must be all the way to the top of the
      screen for the scrolling to work properly.


At the right of the Title Bar are the standard Amiga gadgets for
moving the window to the top and bottom of the stack. Behind the
Title Bar is the Menu Bar.

The MESSAGE BAR, located directly below the Title Bar displays
status messages to you from the simulator and demand messages
from the Sims themselves.

GOTO BUTTON (the eye) takes you to the scene of a disaster or
major event mentioned in the Message Bar.

ICONS along the right are for the editing functions.

The ICON TITLE BOX, located just above the Iocns gives the name
and cost of the selected icon.

EDITOR WINDOW CONTROLS

The MOUSE is used to activate Icons. Moving the Mouse pointer to
the sides or corners of the screen causes the terrain to scroll
below the EDITOR WINDOW.

The LEFT mouse button is used to select icons, and place items.

The RIGHT mouse button performs the Bulldozer function,
regardless of the active icon.

The CURSOR KEYS will also cause scrolling.

Z and X cycle active icons in opposite directions.

Q - (Query) - Hold down the "Q" key while clicking on parts of
your city to bring up a status box identifying the spot (zone,
road, terrain, etc.), and giving information on Population
Density, Land Value, Crime Rate, Pollution and Growth.

B, R, T and P are shortcut keys. No matter which icon is
selected, if you Push and hold down the "B" key, you will be in
active Bulldozer mode. Release the "B" key to return control to
the selected icon. The "R" key activtes Roadbuilding mode in the
same way. The "T" key activates Transit line building, and the
"P" key puts you in Power line mode.


EDITOR WINDOW ICONS

Active Icons are highlighted. Ghosted Icons are unavailable due
to lack of funds. When an Icon is selected a rectangle will
accompany the pointer to indicate the size and area of land that
will be affected.

BULLDOZER clears trees and forests, creates landfill along the
water, levels developed, existing zones and clears rubble caused
by disasters. The Auto-Bulldozer option only works on natural
terrain, not developed land.

NOTE:Bulldozing the center of a zone will destroy the entire zone.

Bulldozing one section of land costs $1.

ROADS connect developed ares. lntersections and turns are
automatically created. Lay continuous roads by clicking and
dragging your pointer. Be careful - if you accidentally lay a
road in the wrong place you will have to pay for bulldozing and
rebuilding.

Roads may not be placed over zoned areas. They may be placed over
trees, shrubbery, and shoreline only after bulldozing or
activating the Auto-Bulldozer. Roads can cross over power lines
and transit lines only at right angles.  Laying roads across
water creates a bridge. Bridges can only be built in a straight
line - no curves, turns or intersections. Shorelines must be
bulldozed prior to building a bridge.

Roadways are maintained by the transit budget, and wear out if
there is a lack of funding. The amount of yearly funding
requested by the transportation department is $1 for each section
of road, $4 for each section of bridge.

It costs $10 to lay one section of road and $50 to lay one
section of bridge.

TRANSIT LINES create a railway system for intra-city mass
transit.  Place tracks in heavily trafficked areas to help
alleviate congestion.

Intersections and turns are created automatically. Lay continuous
transit lines by clicking and dragging your pointer. Tracks laid
under rivers will appear as dashed lines. These underwater
tunnels must be vertical or horizon-tal - no turns, curves or
intersections.

Transit lines are maintained by the transit budget. The level of
funding affects the efficiency of the system. The amount of
yearly funding requested by the transportation department is $4
for each section of rail, and $10 for each section of tunnel.

It costs $20 per section of track on land, $100 per section under
water.

POWER LINES carry power from power planlts to zoned land and
between zones. All developed land needs power to function.

Power lines cannot cross zoned land. They can be built over
trees, shrubbery, and shoreline only after bulldozing, or
activating the Auto-Bulldoze function from the Options Window.

Power is conducted through adjacent zones. Unpowered zones
display the flashing power symbol. There is a delay between the
time you power up a zone and when the flashing symbol disappears.
The delay grows longer as the city grows larger.

Junctions and corners are automatically created. Lay continuous
power lines by clicking and dragging your pointer. Power lines
across a river must be horizontal or vertical - no turns, curves
or intersections. Shorelines must be bulldozed before placing
power lines. Power lines consume some power due to transmission
inefficiencies.

It costs $5 to lay one piece of power line on land, $25 on water.

PARKS can be placed on clear land. Parks, like forests and water,
raise the land value of surrounding zones. Parks can be bulldozed
as fire breaks or reserve space for later mass transit expansion.

It costs $10 to zone one park.

RESIDENTIAL ZONES are where the Sims build houses, apartments and
community facilities such as schools and churches.

Residential zones develop into one of four values: slums, lower
middle class, upper middle class, and upper class. They can range
in population density from single-family homes to high-rise
apartments and condominiums.

Factors influencing residential value and growth are pollution,
traffic density, population density, surrounding terrain, roadway
access, parks and utilities.

It costs $100 to zone one plot of land as Residential.

Residential zones are bordered in green to aid in distinguishing
them from other zones.


COMMERClAL ZONES are used for many things, including retail
stores, office buildings, parking garages, and gas stations.
There are four values for commercial property and five levels of
growth from the small general store to tall skyscrapers. Factors
influencing the value and growth of commercial areas include
internal markets, pollution, traffic density, residential access,
labor supply, airports, crime rates, transit access, and
utilities.

It costs $100 to zone one plot of land as Commercial.

Commercial zones are bordered in blue to aid in distinguishing
them from other zones.

INDUSTRIAL ZONES are for heavy manufacturing and industrial
services. There are four levels of industrial growth from small
pumping stations and warehouses to large factories.

Factors influencing the growth of industrial areas are external
markets, seaports, transit access, residential access, labor
supply, and utilities.

It costs $100 to zone one plot of land as Industrial.

FIRE DEPARTMENTS make surrounding areas less susceptible to
fires. When fires do occur, they are put out sooner and do less
damage if a station is near. The effectiveness of fire
containment depends on the Ievel of fire department funding.

It costs $500 to build a fire station. Full yearly maintenance of
each Fire Station is $100.

POLICE DEPARTMENTS lower the crime rate in the surrounding area.
This in turn raises property values. Place these in high-density
crime areas as defined by your Crime Rate map. The efficiency of
a station depends on the level of police department funding.

It costs $500 to build a police station. Full yearly maintenance
of each Police Station is $100.

POWER PLANTS can be coal or nuclear, chosen from a sub-menu
provided when you click and hold on the icon. The nuclear plant
is more powerful but carries a slight risk of meltdown. The coal
plant is less expensive, but less powerful and it pollutes.

All zoned land needs power to develop and grow. When developed
land loses power, it will degenerate to barren ground unless
power is restored. Connecting too many zones to a Power Plant
causes brownouts.

Coal power plants cost $3000 to build, and supply enough
electricity for about 50 zones. Nuclear power plants cost $5000
and supply electricity for about 150 zones.

STADIUMS encourage residential growth. The message window will
indicate when the city wants a stadium. You may build a stadium
in your city prior to this request without negative effect.
Stadiums indirectly generate a lot of revenue, but create a lot
of traffic. Properly maintaining a stad-ium requires a good road
and transit network.

It costs $3000 to build a stadium.


AIRPORTS increase the growth potential of your commercial
markets. Once a city starts geting large, commercial growth will
level off without an airport.
Airports are large and expensive and should not be built unless
your city can afford one. Position airports to keep flight paths
over water whenever possible lessening the impact of air
disasters.

Once you build an airport you will see airplanes flying above
your city to and from the airport. There is also a traffic
helicopter which alerts you to heavy traffic areas.

It costs $10,000 to zone land for use as an airport.

SEA PORTS incrcease the potential for industrial growth. They
have little effect in a small city, but contribute a lot to
industrialization in a large city.  Sea Ports should be placed on
a shoreline. The shoreline must be bulldozed prior to zoning a
seaport.  Once the port is operational, you may see ships in the
water.

It costs $5000 to zone land for use as a Sea Port.

                                THE BUDGET WINDOW

When your first taxes are collected in a new city, and each year
after, the BUDGET WINDOW will appear (unless you select the Auto-
Budget function). You will be asked to set the funding levels for
the fire, police, and trans-portation departments, and to set the
property tax rate.

You can raise and lower budget levels by clicking on the little
arrows that correspond to each category. A percentage indicator
will display the level of funding that will be maintained if you
turn on the Auto-Budget function. You may adjust your tax rate by
clicking on the arrows next to the tax rate indicator. Click on
"GO WITH THESE FIGURES" to exit the BUDGET WINDOW.

TAX RATE
The maximum tax rate you can set is 20%.

The miniumu tax rate you can set is 0%.

The optimum tax rate for fast growth is between 5% and 7%.

To slow city growth without actually shrinking set the tax rate
to 9%.

The taxes collected from each zone is based on the following
formula: Tax = Population * Land Value * Tax Rate * a Scaling
Constant. The scaling constant changes with the difficulty level
of the game.

The level of yearly funding requested for the fire and police
departments is $100 per station that you have placed. Until you
actually build fire or police stations, you cannot fund them. You
cannot allocate more than 100% of the requested funding for fire
and police departments - SimCity police officers and fire
inspectors are honest and will not accept your bribes.

Allocating less than the requested amount will decrease the
effective coverage of the police or fire station.

The amount of yearly funding requested for the transportation
department is $1 for each section of road, $4 for each section of
bridge (roads over water), $4 for each section of rail, and $10
for each section of tunnel (underwater rails). You cannot
allocate more than 100% of the requested funds.

Transportation maintenance funding slightly below 100% will cause
slow, minor deterioration of the transit system - an occasional
pothole or bad track section. Funding between 90 and 75% will
cause noticeable damage -and rail will be unsafe. Funding below
75% will cause rapid deterioration of your transit system.

CASH FLOW
Cash Flow = Taxes Collected - Total Allocated Funds. It will be a
negative number if your yearly maintenance costs are greater than
your yearly tax intake.

A major difference between SimCity and a real city is that
SimCity does not allow budget deficits. If you don't have the
money, you can't spend it. Try not to let your city run with a
negative cash flow.

An hourglass icon is displayed at the top left of the budget
window. It indicates the time remaining to enter the budget
information.  When the hourglass empties, the budget that is set
is accepted. If you need more time, click in the BUDGET WINDOW to
reset the hourglass.


                        MAPS/GRAPHS WINDOW

The MAPS/GRAPHS WINDOW supplies the city planner with vital
information on his city. Click on the "RETURN TO EDITOR" button
when you wish to leave the MAPS/GRAPHS WINDOW and return to the
EDITOR WINDOW.

MAPS
The left side of the MAP/GRAPH window supplies you with maps
showing various overviews of your city.

On the map is a red box, indicating the area of the map that will
be visible in the edit window. The box can be moved around the
map by placing the pointer where you want the center of the box
to be and clicking the left mouse button. You can also hold down
the buttonb and drag the box around the map.

For demographic maps that show density, rate or comparative
levels, a Color Key will be shown to the left of the map.

You may also notice yellow letters on the map. These are markers
to let you know where moveable objects are. An "S" marks the
location of a ship. An "R" marks the location of a railroad
train. An "H" marks the location of a helicopter. An "A" marks
the location of an airplane. An "M" marks the location of a
Monster, and a "T" marks the location of a Tornado.

The ClTY FORM MAP shows the physical shape of your city,
demarking developed and non-developed areas. Zones are shown in
dark grey, roads in black, and rails in light grey. Use this map
to plan city expansion.

The POWER GRID MAP shows you the power network of your city.
Powered zones are shown with a yellow dot in their middle.
Unpowered zones have a black dot. Power lines on land are shown
in black. Power lines over water are shown in yellow. Use this
map to locate unpowered zones and breaks in the power lines.

The TRANSIT MAP is a road and rail map of the city. Roads are
shown in grey. Rails are shown in black. Use this view to examine
your city's access to specific areas and to plan future expansion
of the network.

The ZONES MAP shows and distinguishes all zones and developed
areas in the city. Residential zones are shown in green.
Commercial zones are blue.
Industrial zones are yellow. Other developed areas, such as Power
Plants, Airports, and Sea Ports are shown in black.

The POPULATION DENSITY MAP displays the average number of people
occupying an area each day. Use this map to locate under-utilized
areas and overpopulated areas.

The TRAFFIC DENSITY MAP shows the amount of traffic on the roads.
Spot traffic problems and determine where new roadways are
needed.

The CRIME RATE MAP shows the level and location of crime in your
city. Crime is calculated from population density land value and
proximity of police stations.

The POLLUTION INDEX MAP shows levels of pollution throughout your
city. Pollution is generated primarily by industry, traffic, and
coal Power Plants.

The LAND VALUE map shows the relative value of land within the
city limits. Land values are used to establish the amount of
revenue generated in taxes.

The GROWTH RATE MAP shows the most recent growth (positive or
negative) of your city, and where it is occurring.

The FIRE PROTECTION MAP displays the effective radius of Fire
Stations based on their location, power, and funding levels.

The POLICE INFLUENCE MAP displays the effective radius of Police
Stations based on their location, power, and funding level.


USING THE MAPS
The MAP WINDOW should be constantly referred to in all stages of
city planning, building and managing.

BEFORE YOU BUILD
Use the map before beginning a new city to plan:
        where you want your city center,
        where you want the high class waterfront residential areas,
        where you will cross water with bridges, power lines, and
                       tunnels,
        where to place power plants,
        where to place large industrial sections away from the
                       residential sections,
        the general layout of the city.

Printing the map and sketching in your plan with pencil or pen
will save a lot of bulldozing and re-zoning and rebuilding.

DURING CITY GROWTH
Use the map to guide your city's growth around forest areas, to
preserve the trees and improve property values.

Use the transportation map along with the traffic density map to
plan traffic control and expansion.


Use the city maps to make sure you have the proper ratio of
residential to commercial to industrial zones.

Use the pollution map to detect problem areas, and disperse the
industrial zones and/or replace roads with rails.

Printing out the map in various stages of development and doing
some preliminary expansion planning with pencil can be useful.
Printouts can also be used for historical records.

DURING CITY MAINTENANCE
Coal power plants will only supply approximately 50 zones with
power and nuclear plants will supply about 150. Overloading power
plants can cause brownouts and blackouts. Use the power grid map
to locate zones that have lost power.

Use the city services maps to evaluate the effective coverage of
your police and fire departments.

Use the crime rate map to locate problem areas that need more
police protection.

Use the pollution map to locate problem areas.

Use the transportation and traffic density maps to determine
where to replace roads with rails.

Use the land value map to locate depressed areas for improvement
or replacement.

Use the city maps to maintain the proper ratio of residential to
commercial to industrial zones.

GRAPHS
The right side of the MAPS/GRAPHS WINDOW gives you time-based
graphs of various city data. You may view graphs for time periods
of either the last ten years or the last 120 years by clicking on
the "10 YEAR/120 YEAR" button.

The RESIDENTIAL POPULATION graph shows the total population in
residential zones.

The COMMERClAL POPULATlON graph shows the total population in
commercial zones.

The INDUSTRIAL POPULATION graph shows the total population in
industrial zones.

The CRIME RATE chart shows the overall crime rate of the entire
city.

The CASH FLOW graph shows your city's cash flow: money collected
in taxes last year minus money it took to maintain your city.

Note: Cash flow has little to do with your current funds, or how
much you spend in building (except that city expansion will
increase both taxes collected and maintenance costs).

The line in the center of the Cash Flow graph represents a cash
flow of zero. Do not build more infrastructure (roads, rail,
police departments, fire stations) than you can support with tax
revenues.

The POLLUTlON graph shows the overall pollution reading of the
entire city.

USING THE GRAPHS
The Graphs give information on many of the same factors as the
Maps, but show the information over time. Graphs are for locating
trends in city life that won't be noticeable in a map. If you
look at a map, for example the crime rate map, every year, a very
slight rise in the crime rate will not be noticeable. But on a
graph, you would easily locate the upward trend in crime because
you will be viewing the levels for a number of years at the same
time.

Residential, commercial and industrial population growth and/or
declines can be tracked and displayed. If you notice a downward
trend in any of these, refer to the User Reference Card to locate
potential problems and solutions.

Crime rate can be displayed, revealing slight but consistent
upward or downward trends.

Use the cash flow graph to track your city's efficiency as it
grows. If your maintenance costs are higher than your tax
revenues, you will have a negative cash flow.

Use the pollution graph to catch rising levels of pollution
before they reach a problem level.



                        THE EVALUATION WINDOW

The EVALUATION WINDOW gives you a performance rating. You can
access it through the WINDOWS MENU.

PUBLIC OPINION is presentcd in poll form, rating your overall job
as mayor and listing what the public regards as the city's most
pressing problems. You are advised to keep your residents happy
or they might migrate away, and you will be left with a "ghost
town."

In general, if more than 55% of the populace thinks you are doing
a good job, then you can feel secure about keeping your job.

If 10% or less of the people think something is a problem, then
it's not too bad.

These are the problems that citizens complain about, and how to
correct them:

    TRAFFIC--replace dense sections of roads with rails.
    CRIME--Build more police departments, or try to raise land values.
    POLLUTION--Replace roads with rails, disperse industrial zones.
    HOUSING--Zone more residences.
    HOUSING COSTS--Zone more residences in low property value areas.
    FIRES--Build more fire departments.
    TAXES--Lower taxes (if you can).
    UNEMPLOYMENT--Build more industrial and commercial zones.

STATISTICS on POPULATION, NET MIGRATION, and ASSESSED VALUE are
displayed, along with the city's GAME LEVEL and the OVERALL CITY
SCORE. This data is calculated once a year at budget time.

POPULATION is the number of residents in your city.

The NET MIGRATION statistic provides a rating of the desirability
of your city. If people are leaving in droves, you know something
is rotten in SimCity.

The ASSESSED VALUE is the combined value of all city-owned
property:
roads, rails, power plants, police and fire stations, airports,
sea ports, parks, etc. Does not include residential, commercial
and industrial zones.

The CATEGORIES  are defined by population as follows:
        VILLAGE                 0 to 1,999
        TOWN                    2,000 to 9,999
        CITY                    10,000 to 49,999
        CAPITAL                 50,000 to 99,999
        METROPOLIS              100,000 to 499,999
        MEGALOPOLIS             500,000 and above.

The OVERALL CITY SCORE is a composite score based on the
following factors (some positive, some negative):

MAJOR FACTORS--Crime, pollution, housing costs, taxes, traffic,
unemployment, fire protection, unpowered zones, city growth rate.

MINOR FACTORS--Stadium needed (but not built), sea port needed
(but not built), airport needed (but not built), road funding,
police funding, fire department funding, and fires.

A large population is not necessarily a sign of a successful
city. Population size does not affect the overall city score,
since low population could indicate a new or growing city.

Since city growth rate does affect the overall city score, a city
in which growth has been intentionally stopped for environmental
or aesthetic reasons will have a slightly lower score.