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SNES SimCity Elitist (Optimized) FAQ
Version 1.2
4/05/2014
Email:sfrickinc@hotmail.com
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Contents:
I. Pretext
(i). Version History
II. Elitist Terms
III. Getting Started
(i). Choosing A Map
(ii). Basic Building Methods
(iii). Advanced Building Methods
(iv). Things to Look For
IV. Maintaining Growth
(i). Addressing City Issues
(ii). Disasters
V. Obtaining All Gifts
VI. Totals and Ratios
VII. Cheats/Secrets
(i). The Money Cheat
(ii). Free Funding
(iii). The Startup Bug
(iv). Alternate Starting Maps
(v). Zone Stacking
(vi). Game Genie Codes
(vii). Debug Menu
VIII. FAQ
IX. Credits
X. Legal
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I. Pretext
Well this will be my 2nd FAQ for this great game! So far I have seen
several other great FAQ/guides for this old game, but none address the
issues I will cover here, as this FAQ is the most recent and most up to
date on the classic that is SNES Sim City. Motivation for this 2nd FAQ
comes from my recent attempts and success at a console world record
population, plus, I also rarely see anybody discussing this game anymore,
but with its re-release for the Wii virtual console I am hopeful it will
regain some popularity. Please remember that this guide is not 100
percent accurate, nor is it completed so there will be plenty of updates
to come.
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(i). Version History
Version 1.0, 4/3/2014 FAQ was rejected on grounds of being incomplete?
Version 1.1, 4/4/2014 Completed FAQ section, cleaned up spelling and
format.
Version 1.2, 4/5/2014 FAQ was rejected on grounds of admin not knowing
what "Elitist" means. All Elitist means is the best of the best, the
most optimal setup and layout.
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II. Elitist Terms
If you are going to become an elitist SimCity player, you must first
come to learn the elitist terms to fully understand the mechanics of the
game.
Game Tiles:
R: Residential Zone
C: Commercial Zone
I: Industrial Zone
St: Stadium
Pw: Nuclear Power Plant
Sp: Seaport
Ai: Airport
PD: Police Department
PDHQ: Police Department HeadQuarters (Gift)
FD: Fire Department
FDHQ: Fire Department HeadQuarters (Gift)
Gi: Any Gift Zone
T: Train Tracks
P: Power Lines
Pk: Park
Other:
Donut: This is a block of 8 zones placed in a square/cube shaped manner,
this allows for maximum zone growth when a gift is placed in the center
of the donut.
Tops: These are 2 zones that have formed into one, you can only get top
zones with residential or commercial zones. Ideally you want most all
of the zones you place to become tops, or "top out" as I like to say.
This way you get the maximum number of people living within the zones,
and also maintain a stable radius of land value.
LVC: This is the Land Value Cross. When you have built a city that is
covering the entire map, the game assigns a "diamond" shape centered
land value. Zones that are near or on this invisible cross will have
more potential and slightly higher land value than other areas of the
map. You can see the map I have linked in the credits section for a
good visual example of this.
DZ: These are Dead Zones, meaning zones that are not developing, or
have glitched out. These are rare however they can happen and must be
dealt with accordingly if you wish for an elitist scale city.
800k: This is the goal of an elitist SimCity player for the console
version of the game. If your city does not reach 800k population, then
it is not considered an elitist city! If playing on an emulator, the
current world record is 951k, and it will take near perfection to even
match that total.
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III. Getting Started
To begin, you must first learn what you do not want to happen. If you
are playing the game on an actual console like the SNES, then you must
be very careful when you begin and plan ahead. The game features an
unfortunate glitch where if you save a file, and then reload it, you
will end up losing anywhere between 5-20k population, and this loss can
never be recovered from. The reason for this is when the game reloads,
it takes a moment for it to "remember" and load up the city. In this
brief moment, the city loses power and the crime rate skyrockets for
some reason. If you have an emulator then you do not have to worry as
it allows for save states, and the games RAM does not have to be reset.
So it is very important that you remain committed if you really want to
build an elitist scale city, as you will most likely be doing so in one
marathon style sitting, which may take many hours, my average build time
from start to finish for these elitist types of cities ranges from 8-12
hours. It is a very long and tedious process, and even one minor error
can result in having to start over completely.
So make sure that if you decide to save the game, and reload it, that
you save EARLY, I would say no more than 15-20 k population. Anything
after this, if reloaded, will only result in lost potential, something
that has no place in elitist SimCity! I would also be SURE you have
correctly placed everything before you save, as there is a certain way
and process that must be done before hand, for an elitist scale city.
This method I will cover step by step. Unless you have a high degree
of patience, and I mean really high, as this game already requires a
very high level, you will want to exploit the games money cheat. This
way you can build the entire city at once, instead of having to wait
year after year during the games progression for more income from taxes
to fund your build. Elitist SimCity requries that you follow an exact
process before you begin to build. This process is as follows.
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(i). Choosing A Map
There are about 2000 maps you can choose from to start building your
city, most of them are not well suited for building a Megalopolis sized
city, due to the amount and layout of the water. I will list the top
2 maps for buidling a huge city. They are map number 061 and 137. For
more information on maps you can check Webgraphics excellent Best Map
FAQ here at gamefaqs. Those 2 are the best bar none though. Keep in
mind that you want a map with a good chunk of land in the center of the
map. Maps with large amounts of water in the middle are going to hurt
the higher population density normally found there. Do not choose one
of the island maps. While you do have the entire center of the map to
work with, you will never have enough room to reach an elitist scale
city, so choose map 061 or map 137 to begin.
Next, you want to activate the debug code cheat and turn on the no
disasters option, the valve max option, and the water reclaim option.
Also be sure that the memory is reading "SET" and not "CLS", so the
game will retain the options in the debug menu. For a step by step
process on how to activate the debug code, please see the cheats
section of this FAQ/Guide.
Once you have activated the debug code, you are ready to begin your
elitist build. What you must first do is obtain the first two gifts
for your city, which are the Mayors House and the Bank. To do this,
you will need to build a city with 10k population and spend all of the
funds you have available. So once you have chosen your map and named
your city, choose the "Easy" option to start with 20k in your funds.
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(ii). Basic Building Methods
First of all, once you are on the map and ready to build, go to the top
left of the screen and turn the speed all the way down to the "sleep"
option. Then, go to your Tax menu and set your taxes to 0 percent, dont
worry, money will soon be no issue!
Begin the actual build with a Nuclear Power Plant (Pw) in one of the 4
corners of the map. You always want Nuclear over Coal power, as it is
more efficient and does not cause any pollution. Next, you want to
build a Stadium (St), directly above/below or next to the (Pw). Then,
build no more than 6 Industrial (I) zones all against the edge of the
map and touching each other and the (St) and (Pw). You want it to look
something like this, and also remember that you only need one single
tile of train track to touch each I zone for it to work.
Key:
/=Edge of Map
Pw=Nuclear Power Plant
St=Stadium
I=Industrial Zones
////////////
/PwStIIII
/I
/I
/I
/I
/
Now, build a pattern of Donut blocks something like this on the map:
Key:
/=Edge of Map
Pw=Nuclear Power Plant
St=Stadium
I=Industrial Zones
C=Commercial Zones
R=Residential Zones
P=Police Department
T=Train Tracks
////////////
/PwStIIII
/I
/I TTTTT
/I TCCRT
/I TRPRT
/I TRCCT
/ TTTTT
You want to be sure that there are at least 1-2 single tile spaces
between your I zones and your Donut blocks, so the pollution caused by
the I zones does not affect the high land value of the Donut block zones.
Placement of parks as a barrier between your I zones and other zones can
also help this with this effect. The PD in the middle of the Donut will
later be replaced with a gift zone, to maximize the land value.
Now you want to build 2 or 3 more of these Donut block zones next to the
inital one. There is a certain spacing that I will cover in the next
subsection for maxiumum efficiency, however for now we are only setting
up for what will be the final build, this is only a test to obtain the
first two gifts, find the correct placement, and activate the money
cheat. Once this is done, place a few more PD zones, and at least one
FD zone, then make sure they all have power and transportation tiles that
are touching all of the zones. At this point you should have spent most
of your funding, and should have no more than 200 dollars left to ensure
zones are powered up and to fix any minor errors you may have overlooked.
The next step is to turn the game speed back up to its highest setting,
and then watch and wait for the city to begin developing. You should hit
2k population by no later than May, and 10k by no later than November.
Make sure you do NOT place the mayors house or bank gifts right away.
First, you must activate the money cheat. So by December when you are
prompted to the tax screen, you must have at least 10k population, and
both of those gifts. Now perform the money cheat by holding down the L
button and leaving the tax menu, and then, while still holding L, return
to the tax menu and increase all your funding for police, fire and
transportation to 100 percent. Make sure your holding down the L button
the entire time you do this, then exit the tax menu. Once back on the
main screen, release the L button and you should have the maximum funds
available to spend. Now at this point you want to perform your first
SAVE of the game. For more information on how to perform the money cheat
please see the cheats section of the FAQ/Guide.
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(iii). Advanced Building Methods
First of all, Industrial zones are NOT required. The only time you need
to build them is after the map has been completely filled, and finding
the spots that C or R zones are not developing well near the edges or
corners of the map. Replace those areas with a limited amount of I zones
so that they will develop. R zones and C zones will not develop very
well near the edges of the map once it is full, but I zones will develop
anywhere, however they produce pollution and an increased crime rate as
oppposed to C ard R zones. They are useful to boost up that last bit of
population needed to reach the elitist goal of 800k.
Now this is where the game is going to get very interesting and require
you to begin thinking and paying closer attention. You have your first
two gifts and a small city to begin, with nearly unlimited funding. So,
what do you do now? The next step is to find out where to place your
gifts for the maximum potential. The game assigns a unique value for
every single tile on the map. If you place your gift in a Donut block
zone that is on one of the correct tiles of the map, then its radius of
land value becomes maximized. If you do not place it in one of these
correct tiles, then it will never reach its full radius and potential.
When you place the gift, you must first be certain your Donut block was
built correctly. The correct method is:
Key:
R=Residential Zones
C=Commercial Zones
G=Gift Zone
RRC
CGC
CRR
By building the Donut block in this way, you can be sure that each of the
zones will top out accordingly. Make sure that all of your Donut blocks
are built in this pattern, you can rotate the zones but they must always
be lined up in this pattern.
So the next step is to bulldoze that PD in the center of your first Donut
block and then replace it with the gift zone. Once you have done this,
go to the land value map and wait for it to update. Once it does, look
closely at the area you placed the gift in. If you have placed it in the
correct place, it should appear as an orange or red square, 3x3 zones wide
and long, and all of the zones around the gift should eventually top out.
If this was not placed correctly, the land value map will only show a
partial red or orange line or square, 1x1 or 1x3 zones wide. The mayors
house gift is a bit different in that its inital placement may only show
a smaller area of increased land value at first, but will eventually hit
the same radius as your other Donut block gift zones.
This is why the save was important earlier. If your current placement of
the gift was not correct, then you will have to reload your save and begin
over. There is not one gift that is wasted in elitist SimCity, each one
absolutely MUST reach its full potential, or all is lost. If you do have
to reload and start over, then you may also have to bulldoze your entire
city and rebuild to find the correct pattern for gift placement. This can
not only be frustrating, but also very time consuming. Once you have been
able to find the correct pattern however, you can be sure that each one of
your Donut block zones will top out, as long as you follow the set pattern
without any mistakes.
Now, assuming you have found the correct pattern, the next thing you must
do is establish this pattern around the "frame" of the map, and also find
the correct spacing between your Donut blocks to keep this pattern going.
This is very important, and even if you are off by so much as one small
tile of space, it will ruin the pattern. There are 2 different patterns
that you can establish for maximum Donut block zone potential. I will
show you them here and you can also view my world record picture gallery
for a more detailed view of the more efficient pattern of the 2. See the
credits section for more.
Key:
R=Residential Zones
C=Commercial Zones
G=Gift Zone
T=Train Tracks
P= Police Station
Pattern One:
This pattern enables more spacing but is a bit less efficient than the
second pattern I will show you here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TTTTTTTTTTTTT~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TRRCTRRCTRRCT~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCGCTCPCTCGCT~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCRRTCRRTCRRT~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TTTTTTTTTTTTT~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TRRCT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCPCT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCRRT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TTTTT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TRRCT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCGCT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCRRT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TTTTT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As you can see, every other Donut block of zones is the one with the gift
and each block of zones in between has a PD in it. This pattern allows
you to space out land value and maintain a clean, balanced and evenly
built city. However, those rows of Donut block zones without gifts are
eventually going to see a drastic decline in land value as the spacing is
simply too far apart. A good pattern for the elitist newbies to learn
from and experiment with.
Pattern Two:
This is the preferred SimCity elitist pattern of Donut blocks. It can
be a bit more confusing and does not look as clean as the first pattern,
however it is far more efficient and the results will bring you a higher
population. Displaying it in text is difficult as the spacing cannot be
accurately displayed, please see the link to my image gallery for more
details in the credits section.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TTTTTTTTTTTT~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TRRCCRRCCRRT~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCGCCCGCCGCT~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCRR RRC RRT~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCC TTTTTTTT~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TRRCT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCGCT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCRRT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCC T~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TRRCT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCGCT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TCRRT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~TTTTT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This pattern has only one zone of spacing in between each Donut block,
which allows for maximum potential for not only the block itself, but
also the zones in between the blocks. The build itself looks cramped
and a bit messy, and there are points where you are going to have to
get very clever with your train track placement to make sure each zone
is touching some track, however it saves more space and is far more
efficient for an elitist scale city. Again please see the credits
section for images and clearer details on this pattern.
Now that you have chosen your pattern of building, you must begin to set
this pattern along the edge of the map. Remember that you can only get
28 gifts in total, and that you must place each one in the ideal spot for
the elitist scale city. The pattern I use usually can cover the entire
outer frame of the map with only a zone or two space away from the edges.
The best way to place your gifts can be found in my images gallery, see
the credits section. You want 2 corners of the map to be open, and also
you want the 4 points of the Land Value Cross (LVC), to be the only open
Donut blocks without gifts.
Building the outer frame of the map takes a long time, and you want to
build it before your city gets too big in population. What I like to do
here is to measure out the exact placements of each Donut block by sets
of train tracks to guide. Doing this ensures you will not make any
spacing mistakes or errors, and it also works toward getting your two
train station gifts. Make sure that the entire frame is spaced, built,
and powered up accordingly before turning the game speed back to its
highest level.
At this point, you are going to want to go about obtaining all of the
gifts that you can, please see section V for the best methods to go
about obtaining all the gifts, then return here once you have gotten
most or all of them.
When placing gifts in Donut blocks, you want to fill out the corners of
the map first, and then work inward from there, so fill up your corners
of Donut blocks first, for maximum potential and overall growth.
Once you have all of your Donut blocks completed and tracked up along
the frame of the map, the next step is to fill in the outer edges of
the map. Build C and R zones touching the outer parts of your Donuts
and make sure you space them close together, but not so close that rail
service is cut off from your Donut block or it will not end up topping
out. Later, when you have filled the center of the map, scan these
outer edges for zones that are not developing well and replace them
with Industrial (I) zones sparingly. Residential (R) zones that are
close to the edges or corners of the map often do not develop as well
as Commercial (C) zones do in these areas. So it is a good idea to use
C zones as a buffer between I and R zones, or as a low land value
buffer.
While water can increase land value, its only temporary as with the
water reclaim debug, you will be able to create land from water, and
eventually will have no water at all on the map. Park is the same way
it can be used to temporarily raise land value of zones into a TOP.
Now that you have the entire edge and outer frame of the map completed
the next step is to power it up and let it develop for awhile. During
this time you also will want to go about getting as many gifts as you
can and placing them. This will take some amount of time, so the city
should develop accordingly by the time you get as much as possible
before the next step. Let the game run until your population reaches
a point where it no longer increases and stablizes. At this point, it
is time to begin filling the center of the map.
The pattern for the center of the map is completely different than the
Donut block pattern. Instead of worrying so much about land value and
how to spread it, the main concern becomes efficiency and spacing, as
the center of the map naturally has a higher land value. The most
efficient pattern is known as the "Lateral Shift", or "Dragon Shift",
as some call it. Please see the credits section for images on this
pattern and I will try to display it here the best I can.
Lateral Shift Pattern:
Key:
C=Commercial Zone
T=Train Tracks
P=Park
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~PCP~~~~~~~~
~~~~PCP~~PCTP~~~~~~~
~~~~PCTP~~PCP~~~~~~~
~~~~~PCP~~PCTP~~~~~~
~~~~~PCTP~~PCP~~~~~~
~~~~~~PCP~~PCTP~~~~~
~~~~~~PCTP~~PCP~~~~~
~~~~~~~PCP~~PCTP~~~~
~~~~~~~PCTP~~PCP~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seen here, the pattern is simply 2 C zones on top of one another, with a
single tile spacing to the right as they are built downward every two
zones. Two tiles of train tracks are then set above each second C zone.
Also, each vertical row of C zones is completely surrounded by park.
This allows for maximum land value near the center of the map, and most
of these C zones are going to top out. Fill the entire center of the map
with this pattern of only C zones, from the edges of your Donut block
frame. Then let all of these C zones develop completely, they should be
spaced so that some will top out, and in between each row where the park
is filled in, will later be filled in with R zones in the same, shifted
pattern. There should only be 2 spaces of train track between each row
of C and R zones, again please reference the credits section for my in
game images.
What this method of building does, is maximizes land value, giving you
C zone Tops where they normally would not develop to be, and then it
gives you a perfect high demand for R zones, after all those C zones
in the middle of the map have developed. You can then place all of your
R zones perfectly in between the already high land value C zones, and
reach maximum growth and potential for them as well! If done correctly,
your city should eventually reach 800k population, but you must make
absolutely certain everything was built correctly.
Lastly, make sure you are getting a decent Police Radius and placing the
PD zones efficiently. Crime rate does not affect land value very much,
but it does none the less. While a high crime rate is okay near the
center of the map, in the corners where the lower land value is found, it
will be much more important to make sure there is no crime, or your R
zones will not develop properly. A good place for your PDHQ gifts is
in the 3 center most donut blocks of the outer frame, as they not only
increase land value, but also offer an increased police radius.
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(iv). Things to Look For
Elitist SimCity has no margin for error, at all. Everything must be
placed with perfection, efficiently yet also cramped. You want to fill
in as many zones as possible on the map, so every single tile of space
becomes important. Some things to avoid and keep an observant eye out
for are as follows.
* When your map begins to get full, and you find yourself re-zoning a
few differnt parts of the map, you might run into some unexpected power
grid problems. Check the power grid map often to locate areas where
brownouts are happening, and begin to place power lines in and around
the zones experiencing issues.
* You should need no more than 9 Nuclear Power Plants by the time your
map is full. If you are still getting brownouts, place more power lines
in those areas and make sure your grid is inter-connected and efficient.
* Getting all the gifts is a long and tedious process. You will often
be building zones or other things simply to obtain the gift required
from them. Save some parts of your map for "testing areas", such as the
long stretch of roads required for the Amusement Park and Casino gifts.
* Getting all three Library gifts can be a pain, as they require that
you build a certain amount of R zones that develop into schools. What
I usually do is assign an area for construction, and then destruction,
of R zones to obtain the 3 Library gifts. Once I have them all, I bull-
doze the remaining R zones that are not needed.
* Hospitals and Schools are an elitists worst nightmare. Once you have
the 3 Library gifts, they are no longer required, they are simply dead
zones, that offer no population. Scan your map constantly for schools
or hospitals that will show up, bulldoze them and build a new R zone in
their place, and watch it closely to make sure it does not become one
or the other.
* A Fire Department is required to begin a city, however once you have
all 3 FDHQ gifts, they are no longer required unless you encounter a
fire within the city. Bulldoze them and replace them with zones that can
develop population.
* Pick a spot in the corners of the map for your Airport and Seaport, and
make sure you do NOT power up the Airport. It serves its desired effect
without power. If you do power it up, then it will not only cause quite
a bit of pollution, it will also result in plane crashes, and those are
very very bad in elitist SimCity and should never, ever happen.
* Keep an eye out for zones that are not developing due to missing train
tracks. These often pop up while building the city by human error. I
always seem to find a few zones I forgot to power up or hook up to rail
service when building.
* Often times, when you place a gift in a Donut block that has already
developed, the game takes forever to realize the increased land value.
This is bad because you want every single Donut block of zones except
for 3-4 of them to top out. So do yourself a favor and as soon as you
place the gift in the already developed Donut block, bulldoze the R
zones and replace them with new R zones, so they will develop and the
game will not forget. C zones are an exception, they often develop
quickly so do not worry so much about them.
* Pollution warnings will be frequent, even if you have little to no
pollution at all. Its just an overlooked coding error in the game I
think.
* Keep a close eye on your maps and voice menus. Never go too long
without taking a look at them.
* If you are hit with a bad disaster, like Earthquake or Tornado, you
might just want to restart your last save, as the damage done is almost
always unrecoverable. With the Debug code however, this should never
become an issue.
* Rarely, you might find an R zone with a strange icon in it, that is
different from the standard house icons that appear when it begins to
develop. This means the R zone has become glitched, and will never go
on to develop further. Bulldoze it and replace it with another R or C
zone.
* Check your totals menu often for zones that are undeveloped. If you
see any there, scan your map to find them and find out why they are not
developing.
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IV. Maintaining Growth
Building alone is not enough in elitist SimCity, you must also pay very
close attention to the demands of the citizens and be prepared to solve
city issues that may arise. The voice menu will highlight the citizens
complaints, let the highest ones take priority and take steps to solve.
Here is a list of the most common city issues and fixes, along with the
disaster scenarios that should never be an issue in elitist SimCity.
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(i). Addressing City Issues
~Crime~
Crime is not difficult to fix. Just scan your crime rate map for the
problem areas in yellow or orange color and place police departments in
these areas. Also balance out your police departments, and remember that
the PDHQ gift will cover nearly twice the radius of a normal PD zone.
~Housing Costs~
This is possibly the most common complaint from the citizens. Fixing it
can be somewhat tricky, the games counsel, Dr. Wright will tell you that
you need to build I and C zones closer to your R zones and try to keep
your higher land value zones limited. I disagree with that last part of
advice he gives, you can never have enough high land value zones if you
ask me. Building more C zones is how I fix the housing cost issue. This
is not a major problem that will hurt growth, but it will most likely be
constant.
~Taxes~
This is an easy one, unless you are not using the money cheat. The game
starts you off with a default tax rate of 7 percent. Over time, the
citizens are going to start to complain about this, so if you are having
problems getting growth, lower the tax rate by about 2 or 3 percent until
they start to complain about it again. If you are going to use the money
cheat then just lower it all the way to 0 percent.
~Unemployment~
Another very common problem, this one is also pretty easy to fix. Just
build more C zones, and I zones to a lesser extent. If your map is full,
then you are going to have to re-zone some of your R zones that are not
doing very well. While the initial loss might worry you, once the new
zones start to develop there and unemployment decreases, your population
mark is going to climb.
~Pollution~
Possibly the most common problem, also one of the toughest ones to fix.
You must balance the unemployment and pollution issues carefully. The
industrial zones arent very important but you must have a tiny amount of
them to keep unemployment down. However they are going to pollute and
spreading them out, as our Dr. Wright suggests is not going to be easy.
For the most part, keeping the I zones at the edge of the map will cut
down on the total amount of pollution. Adding parks around the I zones
can also cut down on it. There is not an easy fix to the pollution and
the complaints for it, bulldozing those I zones is going to hurt your
population mark any way you slice it. All you can really do here is scan
for the highest areas of pollution and bulldoze I zones in those areas.
Do not bulldoze too many, only the ones that will cut down on pollution
the most in that area, then rebuild those zones into C zones. Also, you
should try to build new I zones in areas of the map that are not develop-
ing well.
~Traffic~
This should never be an issue. Simply do not use roads at all, unless it
is time to go for the 3 Amusement Park gifts. Once you get the gifts you
should bulldoze all the roads you used right away.
~Fire~
If this is your main problem, you are in big trouble. There is a fire
raging somewhere in your city, find it and take care of it ASAP.
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(ii). Disasters
While disasters should never be an issue in elitist SimCity, as you will
have enabled the debug code, I shall address them none the less just in
case.
~Fire~
Fires tend to start in high land value commercial zones. If you have one
break out, quickly bulldoze ALL the surronding zones, and debris left
behind by the zones close to the fire. Get fire departments put up very
quickly around the fire and power them up. If the fire spreads to the
center of a zone, the whole zone will explode into flames, not good. If
you are hit with a fire and a gift zone has become damaged or destroyed,
I suggest restarting to your last save, as the gifts are the most valued
zones you can have. Other disasters will most likely start fires, but
there is a chance of a random one breaking out.
~Flooding~
Flooding occurs in areas along the coastline. The floodwaters will take
out any zones or other stuff in their path, causing fires or lost zones.
Again, if you lose gifts to the flooding reset to your last save. The
best way to recover from flooding is the same way with fires, bulldoze
away the zones in danger, then rebuild after the water recedes. Place-
ment of parks around the flooding MIGHT slow its progress, but this has
not been confirmed.
~Tornado~
Tornadoes are one of the more dangerous disasters. Early in the game it
is not that big of a worry, as the tornado is unlikely to hit your small
city. Once you start running out of room though, the tornado is going
to carve a path of destruction through the city. If the funnel cloud
hits the center of a zone, its going to explode and fuel the path of fire
that the tornado has already carved out. Recovery from a tornado isnt
going to be easy, consider reseting if you were hit badly or lost gifts
in the storm. Try to guess where the tornado is heading, and bulldoze
a clear path for it before the fires start if you want to try and rebuild
the affected areas.
~Plane Crash/Shipwreck~
These disasters are quite frequent, but not as bad as most of the other
ones. A plane crash can be severe depending on where it crashes at. If
it crashes into the center of a zone, or in a crowded block of your city
then act quickly to put out fires. If a gift is lost, reset. The ship-
wreck is not a big threat usually. It will hit along the coastline or in
crowded areas of tracks or powerlines in the sea. Be sure to repair any
lost tracks or powerlines. Sometimes, if the shipwreck is close to land
a fire may start on the coastline, take care of it quickly.
~Monster Attack~
This disaster is similar to the tornado but is a bit worse and lasts much
longer. Bowser will appear in your city and start carving out a path of
destruction, starting fires. It will be quite awhile before the attack
ends, so bulldoze ahead of him like with the tornado. Once again, if any
gifts are lost, or extensive damage has occured, reset to your last save.
~Nuclear Meltdown~
This disaster will happen around your nuclear power plants. What happens
is that you will see several radiation icons in the affected area. These
icons kill land value and growth completely, meaning this area of the map
cannot be used for rebuilding until 5 years after the disaster occured. A
rare but serious disaster, recovery depends on how much of the map you
have used already. If the map is full, you must wait until the icons are
all gone to rebuild there.
~Earthquake~
This is by far the worst disaster you can have. Depending on how severe
the richter scale reads the quake, (see the history menu) will determine
the amount of destruction. The screen will shake and you will hear that
sound of zones being destroyed/start to see random fires all over the
map. This is the only disaster that is not limited to a certain area.
Any part of the city is vulnerable to the quake. Recovery from this
disaster is very difficult, as you must scan the map to find affected
areas, which takes time while other fires are raging. Anytime I am hit
with this disaster the damage done is pretty much un-recoverable and I
reset to my last save.
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V. Obtaining All Gifts
This is perhaps the most tedious part of elitist SimCity. You must make
certain you get all 28 of them, and place them correctly. This process
can make you want to pull your hair out, so I will cover the easiest way
of getting all the gifts. The second Train Station and 3 Library gifts
are often the most annoying to obtain.
* Amusement Park
Requirements
300 roads (30.0 km)
400 roads (40.0 km)
500 roads (50.0 km)
6 Schools and Hospitals (total)
10 Schools and Hospitals (total)
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
$200 yearly income
You are given a choice between this or Casino
* Bank
Requirements
10,000 population (City) and have 0 to 1,999 funds remaining
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
Allows withdrawing a $10000 loan, paying back $500 per year for 21 years
* Casino
Requirements
300 roads (30.0 km)
400 roads (40.0 km)
500 roads (50.0 km)
6 Schools and Hospitals (total)
10 Schools and Hospitals (total)
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
$300 yearly income
+1 Crime across the entire map (one color change takes +32)
You are given a choice between this or Amusement Park
* Expo
Requirements
10,000 population (City), at least 1 Airport, and at least 1 Seaport.
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
$100 yearly income
* Fire Headquarters
Requirements
6 Fire Departments
12 Fire Departments
18 Fire Departments
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
As good as two Fire Departments
$100 yearly maintenance for fire funding
* Fountain
Requirements
50 years pass (January 1950)
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
$100 yearly income
* Large Park
Requirements
300 Parks
600 Parks
900 Parks
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
* Library
Requirements
3 schools
6 schools
9 schools
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
$100 yearly income
* Mario Statue
Requirements
500,000 population (Megalopolis)
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
* Police Headquarters
Requirements
6 Police Departments
12 Police Departments
18 Police Departments
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
As good as two Police Departments
$100 yearly maintenance for police funding
* Train Station
Requirements
500 Mass Transit (50.0km of rails)
2000 Mass Transit (200.00km of rails)
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
$100 yearly income
* Windmill
Requirements
150 developed zones
500 developed zones
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
$100 yearly income
* Your House
Requirements
2,000 population (Town)
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
Looks fancier after every city growth message
The first "stage" doesn't give Land Value with its top three and mid-left
tiles. The later stages give Land Value with every tile, like with other
gifts. This matters for the invisible 4x4 grid used for Land Value.
* Zoo
Requirements
2,000 population (Town) and 1 Stadium
2,000 population (Town) and 3 Stadiums
Effects:
Sharply raises Land Value of local areas
$100 yearly income
Awarded a few months after requirements are met
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VI. Totals and Ratios
When all is said and done, and your city is completely developed, all
that will matter is your totals and ratios. For an elitist scale city,
these totals will probably be around the same for each one. Please see
the credits section for the totals and ratios of my console world record
city for a good idea on how this will turn out.
A good total for developed zones is around 1050-1080, this should be the
goal you set when the map is full and all zones have been placed.
The average number of Police Stations is between 45-55, though you could
theoretically bring that down to 30 or even less with an extremely
efficient spacing method.
Your totals should have 0 Schools and Hospitals when all zones have been
developed. Your FDs should also only total 3, which are the FDHQ gifts
that you placed.
9 Power Plants is ideal, and should power 1100 zones or more.
A 1.5:1 ratio is ideal for your Commercial to Residential zones, this will
keep unemployment down and strikes a good balance. 400-480 R zones and
550-600 C zones should be your totals, however these numbers are a bit
variable and can be switched around a bit.
The total of your Industrial zones should never be greater than 60.
You should have only 1 Stadium, 1 Airport, and 1 Seaport.
Rails should total around 100-110km.
Powerline should total between 18 and 21km.
Park area should total 360-420.
The ideal spacing between PDs is 4-5 zones, possibly 6 or 7 depending.
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VII. Cheats
This section will review various methods of cheating to obtain lots of
money early on, various secrets that can help your city, and the method
of zone stacking. Also included is the Game Genie code for faster game-
play.
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(i). The Money Cheat
This can save you a LOT of time when trying to build a Megalopolis sized
city. It is quite simple but can be confusing if you do not read carefu-
lly. The first thing you want to do, considering you are just starting a
new game is build up about 5 PD stations, some train tracks and a FD.
This is so you will have to pay funding for them at the end of the year.
Next, review section V if you are actually trying to build a good city.
If you just want to try the code or mess around then set your taxes to 0
percent and quickly spend all your cash. Now wait until you budget menu
comes up at the end of December. BEFORE you exit this screen by select-
ing "go with the figures", make sure you are holding the L button and set
all your funding to 0 percent, then exit. Still holding the L button,
you should now be at the main map screen, wait for about 2 seconds and
while still holding the L button, enter the budget menu again. Now set
all your funding back to 100 percent, while still holding the L button,
then exit. Finally, when you return to the main map screen, release the
L button and you should then have the maximum amount of cash! Be sure
to save before trying this cheat.
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(ii). Free Funding
First of all, turn OFF the Auto-Budget option if you have it enabled.
When the budget screen appears at the end of December, set all funding to
0 percent, then exit and quickly save the game. When you reload the game
you should be in January, without having paid a cent for those funds,
which are now set to 100 percent as if nothing happened. Beware of the
starup bug when doing this cheat though.
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(iii). The Startup Bug
When you reload an already saved city on the SNES console, the game is
going to start out with a huge crime rate and power loss to the entire
city. There is no way to avoid this, and it will hurt your population
mark by as much as 5000 or more. The good news is that it recovers at
a quick rate, but you will still lose potential no matter what. There is
only one way to avoid the bug, which is to build the entire city in one
sitting, or use an emulator.
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(iv). 999 Alternate Starting Maps
Choose a map to start, then when you are ready to begin building, select
the go to menu and start new city. When the map loads, still on the same
number, it will be a completely different map! This only works for the
single map number you choose before entering the go to menu. You can
check out the Best Map FAQ posted here at Gamefaqs to see which are the
overall best.
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(v). Zone Stacking
This is a method of play that can double the population of a normal, non
stacked Megalopolis sized city. It is a very long, tedious process if
you are going to try it, but the results for your population and pop
density are amazing. Here is how to do it.
First, build a residential zone, power it up and wait for the small icon
houses to start forming around the R in the center of the zone. These
small icons can be bulldozed away, but still leaving the R zone in tact.
So by bulldozing each icon around the R, you are allowed to place another
zone which overlaps what would have been the edge of the R zone. With
extreme abuse of this method, you can cram in nearly triple the amount
of zones as opposed to the donut building or other types of development.
Any kind of building can be stacked by first bulldozing the small icons
of the R zone away, then building that type of zone directly next to the
bulldozed area of the R zone and finally bulldozing the entire R zone by
clicking on the R. The resulting explosion will take out a chunk of the
zone/building you placed next to it, allowing for more space. You can
also triple stack the zones. Here is a link of a city made by The Cynic
of the gamefaqs SNES Simcity message board, which uses zone stacking to
the extreme.
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Lair/3439/stuff/millioncity2.html
As you can see, the population is HUGE. He also used hacks for this one
though he only used the infinite gift code and spent a great deal of his
time and effort on this city no doubt.
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(vi). Game Genie Codes
I only have the enhance game speed code available at this time. Look
for more codes in a future update.
Enhance Game Speed:
DD67-DFAA
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(vii). Debug Menu
When you start the game, load a saved city or start a new city (it
doesn't matter). As soon as the game loads your city, go to "Save/Load"
and select "End". Then when you are at the screen that says "See you
soon! Goodbye!", input the following code on THE 2ND CONTROLLER (it will
not work on the 1st controller):
Left, A, Right, Y, Up, B, Down, X, Select, Start, Start, Select, R
(twice), L (twice).
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VIII.
FAQ. Here I will provide answers to the most frequency asked questions
concerning the game.
Q: I am just getting started, what do you suggest I do first?
A: If you are new to the world of elitist SimCity, you mist first begin
small. Learn the basics of the city by completeing the practice session
and try out a few scenarios. Once your a bit more attuned to the overall
feel and learning curve of the game, try building your own city and play
around with the money cheat. Once you are able to build a city with a
population of 500k, you are ready for elitist SimCity.
Q: When you say, "Elitist SimCity", what exactly do you mean by that?
A: Elitist SimCity simply means competitive. Actively seeking to break
current world records for population totals. By elitist, I refer to the
best of the best.
Q: What is the correct way to connect train tracks to your R and C zones?
A: There was a lot of confusion on this topic for a long time. However
we now have confirmed the most efficient method. I zones require only a
single tile of train tracks touching them to develop, and this is also
true for C zones. R zones however, are different in that they must
connect to another C or I zone via train tracks, preferably within 4 to
5 spaces away.
Q: I see some cities with Tops near the edge of the map, how are they
able to do this?
A: When you first begin your city, the overall land value remains high,
regardless of the position on the map. You can build C and R zones with
park around them, and they will become tops, as long as you do not start
to build another part of the city far away from where you began on the
map. Once a zone has topped out, it usually stays this way unless land
value dips really low.
Q: Are there any zones that produce an undesired effect?
A: Industrial or I zones produce pollution and a higher crime rate than
C or R zones. Also the Casino gift increases the overall crime rate of
the city by a very small margin, so small in fact that the difference is
hardly an issue. The Airport produces pollution and if you power it up
you will have to worry about plane crashes in the future. The Seaport
produces pollution, and if it is placed by the water you may have to
contend with shipwrecks later on. Hospitals and Schools are worthless
once you have the 3 Library gifts, as are FD zones aside from the FDHQ
gifts.
Q: Is the Donut block method required for Elitist Simcity?
A: Yes, absolutely. Without it your chances of reaching 800k for your
population become little to nothing. The only other method is one that
is considered to be "out of bounds" by the current elitist SimCity
community, the method of zone stacking, see the cheats section for more
information on this method.
Q: My map is full, but I am missing a few gifts! What do I do?
A: Refer to section V of this guide to find out how to obtain each and
every gift. If your map is full, you may have to start over if you do
not find enough room to obtain for example, all 5 Amusement Park or
Casino gifts, which can only be done by building a long stretch of
roads. Make sure you have all of the gifts before you finish your city
the Fountain is usually the last one to get as you must wait for the
game time to reach 1950, which normally takes about 2 hours.
Q: I accidentally bulldozed one of my gifts! What should I do?
A: Reset, once a gift is lost, so is the potential that came with it.
Q: How important is maintaining a low crime rate?
A: Not as important as you might think. All the crime rate really does
in this game is lower land value just a slight bit, and becomes a topic
that you must address in the voice menu. In the center of the map,
where the highest land value is found naturally, you can have a very
high rate of crime and not lose any potential. However in the lower
land value areas of the map, keeping a low rate of crime becomes more
important. Balance carefully!
Q: I can get so close to 800k but just cannot seem to get there, what am
I doing wrong?
A: If you can get close to 800k, chances are you can make it by scanning
your map and re-zoning C zones along the edges of the map that are not
developing with I zones. Or you can scan for R zones that are not going
to develop well and replace those with C zones. Industry is really a non
factor until your population total begins to flatline. At this point you
want to place a few of them here and there to boost up that last bit you
will need for 800k. It is very difficult and things have to go as smooth
and easy as possible. It is called elitist for good reason!
Q: Some of my R zones always seem to lose power and cannot fully develop,
why is this happening?
A: This is one of the minor glitches of the game. There will always be
a few R zones that do this. The only cure for this is to wait for a very
long period of time in the game and eventually it will stop, but it takes
a very very long time.
Q: I see your world record reads "Console", what does this mean exactly?
A: In the current elitist SimCity community, there exists 2 types of game
challenges. Emulator and Console. An emulator is like a Super Nintendo
for the computer, and can give you options that playing on an actual game
console cannot, such as save states or the ability to greatly speed up
the frame rate of the game. If you make a mistake on an emulator you can
simply re load your last save state. If you make a mistake on a console
however, if you re load your last save you will lose potential due to the
startup bug glitch. There is also a consensus of what is considered "in
bounds", meaning only certain exploits of game can be utilized, such as
the money cheat, and "out of bounds" which is anything goes, meaning all
glitches, zone stacking, and other game breaking methods of play. The
world record I hold is an "in bounds" record played on an acutal SNES
console, meaning a higher degree of difficulty.
Q: I am playing on a SNES console, what glitches or other bugs do I need
to be aware of?
A: See the cheats section for the startup bug. Also be aware that at any
given time one of your R zones can glitch out, although this is not a
frequent issue, it can happen. Without the debug code, available in the
cheats section, you are subject to disasters and the randomness that can
come from playing on a console.
Currently reviewing more FAQs, will post more updates in the future!
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IX. Credits
First of all, I would like to thank gamefaqs for allowing me to publish
this guide on their website. I would also like to thank everyone that
was involved in disucssion of strategy for this game, including the regs
at the SimCity message boards and elsewhere. It was because of good
people like you that I was able to reach a console world record for my
population!
Maxis and Nintendo also deserve thanks, for making the game.
Personal thanks go out to WebGraphics, JJholt, Poolshark, The Cynic,
Gothic Sara, Kwasi1, The Magus, Josh Baker for allowing me his TV and
any one else I forgot to mention!
Lastly, here is the link to the photo gallery of my world record save
file. It took a lot of thought, patience, and hard work, but I made it
happen! Referenced many times above, I hope this gallery helps all of
you aspiring elitist SimCity players!
Population 803,360 WR!
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/sfrickinc/library/SimCity%201991%20SNES
%20Console%20World%20Record
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X. Legal
The boring legal section.
Guess what, this guide is copyright protected, so if you think you want
copy it, I suggest you tell me, and give me and the others who have
helped me their due credit. If you dont, then your a square, and thus
could face some jail time. Feel free to copy whatever you want from here
as long as cred is given.
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