The Basics
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Your Place in the Online Universe
Welcome! The Online Help documents provide an in-depth explanation of (just
about) every window, button, feature and function of the SimCity 2000 Network
Edition (2KNet). Links to all of the other online reference pages can be
found in the Online Help Table of Contents, linked above. Be sure to go
through the Tutorial manual to guide you through your first steps in city-building.
Here are a few basic points that should clarify your place in the SimCity
2000 network universe and prepare you for the rest of the Help documents.
This document assumes that the reader is at least somewhat familiar with
the stand-alone version of SimCity 2000 (SC2K).
In 2KNet you are a City Commissioner--the collaborative planner and "mayoral
partner" of a city of shared design. These cities can be as small as
you want or as large as you and your collaborators can make them; you manage
your own "districts" within the shared city.
As with the regular SimCity 2000, in your role as commissioner, you are
responsible for:
- Planning, zoning, long- and short-range strategies
- District infrastructure: water, power, transportation
- Government services: fire, police, hospitals, prisons
- Education: schools, colleges, libraries, museums
- Recreation and open spaces: parks, zoos, stadiums, marinas
- District budget and taxes
- Major and minor land manipulation
- The health, wealth and happiness of the Sims that live in your district
However, these responsibilities do not extend over the whole of the city;
some of them are native only to the land you own, and some are shared responsibilities.
Differences Between 2KNet and SC2K
Although 2KNet is based on the stand-alone version of SimCity 2000, there
are significant differences between the two products. These differences
are explained in detail on the other Help pages, but here are some basics:
Multiple Players
Obviously, 2KNet allows multiple players--between 2 and 4--to simultaneously
play within the same city. Users will be able to interact with each other
throughout the game, through a messaging system and shared business arrangements
pertinent to the city. New players can join an ongoing game without penalty,
though there will undoubtedly be less available land. You can also play
2KNet as a fully-functional single-player game, but of course you won't
be taking advantage of all of its powers--and challenges--of connectivity.
Local Area Networking and Other Connections
2KNet will run over Local Area Networks (LAN), allowing players to join
games from within most network configurations, as well as through modem-to-modem
and Internet connections. See your Quick-Start guide for explanation and
setup.
Land Ownership
Since 2KNet allows multiple players on the same map, land ownership will
be the logical method to distinguish between each other's territory. All
players must purchase plots of land on the city map before development can
proceed. You will only be able to build on land that you own. Land owned
by another player will be gray in your City window.
Double-Booked Finances
Each player will have their own budget, derived from various formulas based
on the land that they own and the fiscal adjustments they make in their
districts. The city (or game) itself will also have a budget. Both the players
and the cities will have taxes. Players collect taxes from their land, and
individual rates for all of the taxable entities are adjustable by players
for their districts.
Player Contracts
Players will be allowed to share--for a price--city resources, if they desire.
This will be accomplished via agreements between players. See the Player
Contracts page.
Interface and Gameplay Fundamentals
Make the Most of Your Mouse
In general, all instructions that refer to clicking, double-clicking or
clicking and dragging refer to the left mouse button. You can cancel some
of the object placement commands if you hold down the Shift key before you
release the mouse button to place an object or to define an area of land
for a command action.
Help is available from the Main menu in 2KNet--invoking it will load these
entertaining hypertext pages. Spending a little time with the Tutorial will
certainly ground you in game fundamentals, so that your help needs will
be meager.
Land Ownership
You are only allowed to build, modify and/or bulldoze on land that you own.
You can buy land anywhere on the map, provided you have enough money, and
as long as another player doesn't own it. Your land does not have to be
contiguous.
Players may purchase land from either the city or other players.
- Purchasing land from the city: To buy land, players simply
click on a spot on the map and drag the cursor to the size of the land they
want to buy. It will work almost exactly like the zoning tool in the original
SimCity 2000.
- Purchasing land from another player: Players must designate
a section of their land "for sale" (using the Sell Land tool)
before another player can buy it. It then is bought back by the city, and
made available for other players. If you fancy a particular plot owned by
someone else, you could suggest a deal through the game's Chat
function.
Your Dough and Your City's Dough
Each player in 2KNet will have their own budget. This will allow you to
manipulate and micro-manage your section of the city seemingly independent
from other players.
The city will also have its own budget. This budget cannot be directly manipulated
by any of the players.
Because the speed of a multiplayer game cannot be dynamically changed like
a single player game's speed can, the pace of 2KNet will be slower. Therefore,
all budgets will be calculated yearly. The server machine player (the originating
"host" computer) can make some general adjustments in the speed
of gameplay.
You can find all you need to know about budgeting on the Budget
Window page.
Terrain
Terrain in 2K Net has 32 levels of altitude, with mountains, valleys, lakes,
rivers, streams, and waterfalls. You can customize and modify the landform,
both at the beginning of a game and during actual city-building.
The land is divided up into "tiles." A tile is the smallest piece
of land that can be raised, lowered or covered with water. It is approximately
200 by 200 feet square, or about one acre.
The total city limits are equivalent to approximately 5 miles by 5 miles
square. Buildings, objects, roads, etc., are also divided up into tiles.
One section of road is one tile. Some of the larger buildings are made of
many tiles.
Your purchased land is yours for city expansion, for parks and open spaces,
or to leave wild. A city in 2KNet can be tiny, or can fill the entire rectangular
city limits.
Two Players, Two Districts, Two Throws of the Dice
You can build multiple separate communities or small cities within the city
limits, but the simulation will treat them as one city. All the statistics
and information in the Graphs, Population, Industry and other windows collectively
covers everything within your district, but you'll have options there to
view the stats of your fellow commissioners. Check the City
Info window for those possibilities.
"Winning" the Game
As with the "regular" SimCity, there are no time limits to beat
and no conditions to meet. There is no winning or losing, though there is
the zest of collaborating (and competing) with your fellow commissioners
in city design. The only two criteria in this judgment are your own enjoyment
and the quality of life of your Sims. If you do want to check out how your
fellows are doing, you'll be able to see population and other graphed district
and whole map data in the game info windows, as mentioned above.
Some of the included scenario maps do have "problems" to solve.
Check out the Strategies page for some gameplay
tips.
Selected Command Overviews
Here are some brief looks at a few of the commands found under the Main
menu; detailed explanations for all can be found on the Menus
page.
Newspaper
Here you'll get up-to-the minute news on citywide events; the paper always
appears at when a new game is begun.
All the News That's Unfit to Eat
Ordinances
Each player will act as a city council member when it comes to city ordinances.
Periodically, any member of the city will be able to "call to votes"
any city ordinance. All players will have approximately 2 game months to
vote on the ordinance. The majority vote wins.
Ordinances already in effect may also be voted out, using the same procedure.
You can find more details on the Ordinances page.
The
City Window (and the Rest of 'em)
The City window is your main view of your city.
It is always open as long as 2KNet is running. The game is easiest to control
with the City window as large as possible, but you can resize it using the
resize arrows. The City Toolbars page explains
all the command functions that you can perform in this view.
Information Windows
Most of the other, smaller windows, such as the Map and Population windows,
can be opened by choosing their tab in the City Info window; some can be
chosen from the Windows menu. These information windows are the same windows
that appear in the stand-alone version of SimCity 2000. These include Maps,
Graphs, Population,
Neighbors, Ordinances,
and others.
In SC2K, all of the information is city-wide. In 2KNet, only some of the
information will be city wide. If any information is player-specific, the
info windows will make that obvious.
How Information Windows Work
Here is the City Info window (accessed through the Windows menu) with the
Population tab chosen:
Note that all of the information windows are actually contained within the
City Info window. They are accessed via the tabs at the window's top. Each
tab will display one information window. Within the respective window, buttons
that are specific to each info category will bring up pertinent details.
Here we are looking at the population for the entirety of a particular city.
In some info windows, you can choose the Citywide selection in a drop-down
menu for the comprehensive reading, or choose a particular player's name
in that menu to see specifics for their district.
See the Servers and Clients page for some clarification
on the distinctions between those two approaches in game setup and startup.
The Quick-Start guide will also give you some insight.
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(C)1996, Maxis, Inc.
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