Questionnaire: What is your skill level? Description of levels: Answer the following questions to determine what your skill level is rated: How many times have you played SimCity 2000? Beginner : played around 5 times Novice : played around 20 times Average : played around 50 times Expert : played around 100 times Pro : played so many times I can't keep track anymore What's the highest population you've reached: Beginner : don't know. How do I find that out? Novice : about 10 thousand, I think. Average : about 100 thousand Expert : about 1 million Pro : about 10 million What type of power station do you use? Beginner : coal Novice : coal, gas, oil and hydro Average : wind, solar, microwave Expert : Fusion, nuclear Pro : It depends on what my goals are What types of population-rewards have you gotten? Beginner : what's a reward? Novice : Mayor's House, City-Hall, Statue Average : Military Base, Braun Llama dome Expert : Arcos Pro : Whatever ... Beginner - you are new to SimCity 2000. You have built a few small cities. You usually use Coal Power. You can't seem to get beyond that small city. You keep running out of money and get thrown you out of office. Novice - You've started to get rewards like a Mayor's House, City Hall and a statue. You've finally started to figured out the Budget window and have adjusted taxes to stimulate growth. Average - You've gotten a Llama dome and a Military as well as a few Arcologies. You've built air-ports, sea-ports, and have played with the Terrain Editor extensively to create some cool terrains. You're just starting to learn the different ways you can cheat to get money. Expert - You've gotten cities with populations in the millions, covered with Launch Arcos. You know alot of ways to cheat. You have played SimCity for 5 hours straight sometimes. It takes you a couple of days to put together a cool city. Pro - You're sick of Arcos. You're sick of trying to get the highest population. You've been there, done that. You've read every book on SimCity 2000 and frequent SimCity BB's on various on-line services. You have entered SimCity 2000 contests and done well. You can create a great city in less than 10 hours which you do in one sitting. You know all about easter eggs, magic-erasers and phantom-water pumps. You're getting bored and looking for a real challenge. Scoring chart - Try to answer the questions below. Give yourself 1 point for each question you think you can answer "yes" to. Each line that starts with the characters ">>" is worth 1 point. Check the answer files for the answer. Beginner 0 - 25 Novice 25 - 50 Average 50 - 75 Expert 75 - 100 Pro over 100 * DO YOU KNOW ... * WHAT ... >> what color a sim car is? >> what is playing at the sim drive-in? >> what an Arcology is? >> what a Llama dome is? >> what the MAXIS mascot is? >> what auto-budget does? >> what a Cellular Automata is? >> what the HEX numbers 00 02 4E 20 stand for? >> what is the minimum tile-size for an airport? >> what a desalinization plant does? >> what a water towers does? >> what an industrial thingamajig is? >> what a microsim is? >> what disasters are not in the disasters window? >> What the most expensive Arcology is? >> what a church does to a zone? >> what EQ stands for? >> what monster sticks its head out of the water? >> what Nessie eats? >> what the different types of Military bases there are? >> what super-sim is? >> what the highest value for health is? >> what the maximum number of microsims is? >> what the maximum number of arcologies that count towards population is? >> what the highest value for education is? >> what a phantom water pumps is? >> what an easter eggs is? >> what the magic eraser is? >> what the cheat cass stands for? >> what does an airport help nurture? >> what does a seaport help nurture? >> what rewards become available? >> what building takes up 5x5 tiles? * what bridges let ships pass? (1 point each) >> highway bridge >> highway reinforced girder bridge >> raising bridges >> suspension bridges >> causeway * what disaster happens to a ... (1 point each) >> Nuclear Plant? >> Microwave Plant? >> Fusion Plant? >> Hydro Plant? * what year these become available? (1 point each) >> Coal Plant >> Hydro Plant >> Bus Depot >> Fusion Plant >> Wind Power >> Highway >> Subway >> Military Base >> Arcologies * what population these become available? (1 point each) >> Arcologies >> Military >> City Hall >> Statue >> Llama Dome * WHEN ... >> when ordinances get passed automatically? >> when your power plants will blow up? * HOW .... >> how to make a subway neighbor connection? >> how to set ordinaces? >> how to float a bond? >> how to find out your citizen approval rating? >> how to get the key to the city? >> how to embezzle money? >> how to make the launch arco launch? >> how to hear the call of the Bull Moose? >> how to put out a fire? >> how to create a sign? >> how to build a Military Base? >> how to choose where a Military Base goes? >> how to find out what percentage of your city is residential? >> how to make a helicopter crash? >> how to adjust taxes for each industry? >> how to set your funding? >> how to make a water pump pump more water? >> how to find out how many passengers are riding your subway each day? >> how many different types of Arcologies are there? >> how many tiles does an Arcology take up? >> how many different types of military bases there are? >> how many tiles the largest building takes up in a high density zone? >> how many tiles the largest building takes up in a low density zone? >> how many tiles the largest building takes up? >> how many military bases you can have? >> how many different kinds of disasters there are? >> how much a Military Base costs? >> how much a reward costs? >> how salt water affects a water pump? * how far a sim can travel by ... (1 point each) >> a road >> a highway >> a rail road >> a subway >> walking * how to build ... (1 point each) >> highway on-ramps >> Military base >> Llama dome >> Sydney Opera House >> Neighbor connections >> subway * IF ... >> if you can build a connection to your neighbor across an ocean? >> if the textile industry prefers light or dense zones? >> if the automotive industry is light or heavy polluting? >> if the finance industry requires high or low EQ? >> if you need police stations with disasters off? >> if you need fire stations with disasters off? >> if 9% tax will stifle or stimulate your economies growth? >> if it's OK to take out 10 bonds? >> if you need roads connecting your ports? * if the following will increase or decrease land value (1 point each) >> park >> zoo >> marina >> prison >> stadium * if it matters where your ... (1 point each) >> police stations go? >> fire stations go? >> hospitals go? >> colleges go? * if the following things are built by you, sims or don't exist (1 point each) >> Police Station >> Parking Garage >> Circus Tent >> Historical Building >> Velodrome >> Hospital >> Parking Lot >> Drive-In Theatre >> Golf Course >> Library >> Industrial Thing-a-majig >> Satellite dish >> dirt road >> forest ************************************************** ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS: * DO YOU KNOW ... * WHAT ... >> what color a sim car is? blue >> what is playing at the sim drive-in? SimAnt, another simulation game from MAXIS >> what an Arcology is? Is the largest Residential building there is. >> what a Llama dome is? A large tower you get when you get 80,000 population. >> what the MAXIS mascot is? the Llama >> what auto-budget does? Prevents the Budget window from popping up each year. >> what a Cellular Automata is? A method of computation for simulations. Each tile contains many CA's. One for each variable. These variables are affected by the variables of the neighboring tiles. Examples of variables are crime, population, pollution and value. The effects for all tiles are calcuated for each time cycle. >> what the HEX numbers 00 02 4E 20 stand for? This is how $20,000 is stored in the SC2 file. If you used a Binary HEX editor to edit a city with $20,000, you would find these four HEX numbers. >> what is the minimum tile-size for an airport? 2x5 although 2x6 is recommended >> what a desalinization plant does? pumps water from salty water while removing the salt. >> what a water towers does? stores water to be used during a drought >> what an industrial thingamajig is? one of the many buildings in an industrial zone. >> what a microsim is? little simulations. they track local statistics. >> what disasters are not in the disasters window? Nuclear Meltdown, Chemical Spill, Pollution Disaster, Microwave Beam Disasters, Volcanoes, Helicopter crash, Major Flood, Mass riots, Firestorm. >> What the most expensive Arcology is? Launch Arco. >> what a church does to a zone? De-zones >> what EQ stands for? Educational Quotient. >> what monster sticks its head out of the water? The Loch Ness Monster >> what Nessie (Loch Ness Monster) eats? Boats from Marinas. >> what the different types of Military bases there are? Navy, Airforce, Army, Missle-Silo >> what super-sim is? A super-hero that will help you fight disasters if you don't have military base to help you. super-sim appears randomly and rarely. >> what the highest value for health is? 150 >> what the maximum number of microsims is? 120 >> what the maximum number of arcologies that count towards population is? 120 >> what the highest value for education is? 150 >> what a phantom water pumps is? A water pump that is the only pump in your city. It is powered, but has not pipes connected to it. It tricks the graph-window into thinking there is 100% water. There is some controversy whether it actually fools the simulation or not. >> what an easter eggs is? An un-documented hidden feature put in the program by the programmer for their own amusement. Example: while playing SimCity 2000 1.0 DOS/IBM and you type FUND, you get a $10,000 bond at 25% interest. while playing SimCity 2000 on the Mac, typing PORNTIPSGUZZARDO gives you $500,000 and all of the rewards become available. >> what the magic eraser is? An un-documented hidden feature in the trees/landscape tool which allows you to erase buildings but not their effects (like population). Erasing an Arcology will still yield the population of an Arcology, but the Arcology will be gone. Select the tree-tool, hold down the mouse, then hold down the shift key. Now you can erase buildings. >> what the cheat cass stands for? "cass" is short for Cassandra which is is the name of Will Wright's daughter. Will Wright is the guy who invented SimCity. >> what does an airport help nurture? Commerce >> what does a seaport help nurture? Industry >> what rewards become available? Mayor's House, City-Hall, Statue, Llama dome, Arcologies, Military >> what building takes up 5x5 tiles? There are no buildings that large. The largest is 4x4 like a prison, Llama dome, or Fusion Plant. * what bridges let ships pass? (1 point each) >> highway bridge no >> highway reinforced girder bridge yes >> raising bridges yes >> suspension bridges yes >> causeway no * what disaster happens to a ... (1 point each) >> Nuclear Plant? melt down >> Microwave Plant? microwave fire >> Fusion Plant? none >> Hydro Plant? none * what year these become available? (1 point each) >> Coal Plant 1900 >> Hydro Plant 1900 >> Bus Depot 1920 >> Fusion Plant 2050 >> Wind Power 1980 >> Highway 1930 >> Subway 1910 >> Military Base 1900 >> Arcologies Plymouth 2000 Forest 2050 Darco 2100 Launch 2150 * what population these become available? (1 point each) >> Arcologies 120,000 >> Military 60,000 >> City Hall 10,000 >> Statue 30,000 >> Llama Dome 80,000 * WHEN ... >> when ordinances get passed automatically? when Disasters is on. >> when your power plants will blow up? Certain power plants need to get replaced every 50 years. If you don't have enough funds to replace the plant, it blows up. Hydro and Wind powered plants never need to be replaced. * HOW .... >> how to make a subway neighbor connection? you can't. You can only make neighbor connections with road, rail or highway. You can't make a tunnel-neighbor connection either. >> how to set ordinaces? To bring up the ordinance window, click on the book-icon in the budget window for ordinaces. >> how to float a bond? Select the "issue Bond" button in the Bonds-window. This Bonds-window can be accessed by pressing the book-icon in the budget window for Bond Payments. >> how to find out your citizen approval rating? From the one of the Newspapers. >> how to get the key to the city? Complete the goal of a scenerio. >> how to embezzle money? In short, there are many ways: 1. use an easter egg 2. use a binary editor to edit the SC2 file 3. use an embezzle cheat program >> how to make the launch arco launch? it doesn't launch if you have version 1.0 of DOS. The newer versions have Launch Arcos that launch when the population reaches a certain level. You are compensated well for each Arco launched. >> how to hear the call of the Bull Moose? Use the bulldozer to plow down a lot of trees. If you keep on doing it the citizens will complain a few times and then you will be asked if you'd like to thear the call of the Bull Moose. >> how to put out a fire? When there is a fire, the Emergency button (upper right) gets un-ghosted in the city tool-bar. Holding it down will get you two buttons: "dispatch police" (if you have police stations) "dispatch firefighters" (if you have fire stations) "dispatch military" (if you have a military) Select one. Clicking on a tile that is right next to a tile-on-fire will diplay a pole with either a "fire hydrant", "police badge" or "tank" depending on what you selected. These poles will help extinguish the fire. The more poles surrounding a tile-on-fire, the faster the fire will go out. >> how to create a sign? Select the sign-button in the city-toolbar, click on a tile, enter text for sign. >> how to build a Military Base? You don't. The military builds it. They ask you for permission when your population reaches 60,000. >> how to choose where a Military Base goes? You don't. The military decides. >> how to find out what percentage of your city is residential? Use the query tool on the city hall. >> how to make a helicopter crash? Click on it with the centering tool >> how to adjust taxes for each industry? >> how to set your funding? >> how to make a water pump pump more water? Surround the pump with water on 1 or more sides. The more sides are water, the more water it pumps. >> how to find out how many passengers are riding your subway each day? Query tool >> how many different types of Arcologies are there? four >> how many tiles does an Arcology take up? Sixteen (4x4) >> how many different types of military bases there are? four >> how many tiles the largest building takes up in a high density zone? sixteen (4x4) >> how many tiles the largest building takes up in a low density zone? one (1x1) >> how many tiles the largest building takes up? sixteen (4x4) >> how many military bases you can have? one >> how many different kinds of disasters there are? fifteen >> how much a Military Base costs? nothing. It's free IF you want it, and you reach 60,000 in population, and the Military can find a location to build it. >> how much a reward costs? nothing. Rewards are free. >> how salt water affects a water pump? Salt water reduces the amount of water a water pump can pump. * how far a sim can travel by ... (1 point each) >> a road 33 tiles >> a highway 50 tiles >> a rail road 50 tiles >> a subway 50 tiles >> walking 3 tiles * how to build ... (1 point each) >> highway on-ramps The year must be atleast 1930. There must be a road running perpendicular to the highway. The on-ramps must go on a tile next to the road and next to the highway. They won't appear if you click on the road or the highway. >> Military base you don't build this. The military asks you if they can build it when your population reaches 60,000. >> Llama dome This is a reward that appears when your population reaches 80,000. >> Sydney Opera House You can't, unless you own the Austrailian version of SimCity 2000. Select from the rewards-button menu on the city toolbar. >> Neighbor connections Click on an empty tile next to a neighbor with either the road-tool, the rail-tool or the highway-tool >> subway The year must be atleast 1910. Select the rails button menu in the city toolbar. The view will be switched to the under-ground view. Laying sub-way tubes is tricky because the tubes are under a tile. You must click on the tile you want it to be under, not the location you want the tube. Subway stations should be next to the tube, not on top of it. * IF ... >> if you can build a connection to your neighbor across an ocean? Yes. Although there is no neighbor there, a neighbor sign will appear with the name "ocean" for the city. >> if the textile industry prefers light or dense zones? dense >> if the automotive industry is light or heavy polluting? heavy >> if the finance industry requires high or low EQ? high >> if you need police stations with disasters off? yes >> if you need fire stations with disasters off? no >> if 9% tax will stifle or stimulate your economies growth? stifle >> if it's OK to take out 10 bonds? no. It would be impossible to pay-off the interest. It's a good idea to float no more than 2 bonds at a time. The interest is a killer! >> if you need roads connecting your ports? no. Your ports will develop and nurture your industrial zones even though they are not connected to anything by any mode of transportation. The simulation just checks to see if they exist, and what size they are. A larger industry demands a larger sea-port. A larger commerce demands a large air-port. * if the following will increase or decrease land value (1 point each) >> park increase >> zoo decrease >> marina increase >> prison decrease >> stadium decrease * if it matters where your ... (1 point each) >> police stations go? yes >> fire stations go? no >> hospitals go? no >> colleges go? no * if the following things are built by you, sims, don't exist or other (1 point each) >> Police Station you >> Parking Garage sims >> Circus Tent does not exist >> Historical Building sims >> Velodrome does not exist >> Hospital you >> Parking Lot does not exist >> Drive-In Theatre sims >> Golf Course does not exist >> Library you >> Industrial Thing-a-majig sims >> Satellite dish does not exist >> dirt road does not exist >> forest you and other: trees grow by them selves too.