Inside the Simulation Easy, Medium and Hard Games The Effect of Time Scenarios Zones Commerce Industry Power Transportation Ports Trees Water Recreational Facilities The Climate Pollution Rewards Education City Services Newspapers Inventions Speed Issues

Online Help Table of Contents Easy, Medium and Hard Games Whenever a new city is begun, the host (server) player has the choice of three difficulty levels, easy, medium and hard. The differences between the levels are: The amount of money you start with. In an easy game, you start with $30,000. A medium game gives you $20,000. In a hard game, you start $10,000 in debt, with a bond issue to pay back when you can and interest to pay every year. The national financial model. Your city is located some where in SimNation. The growth of your city depends on its surroundings: rich, financially healthy neighbors are good customers for your industrial products and, bring their money with them when they visit your tourist attractions. In easy games, SimNation is in a boom cycle. In medium games, the national economy is stable. For hard games, SimNation is in a recession. The external industrial product demand. The easier the game, the more demand for the products that your city's industries can produce. The propensity for disaster. The harder the game, the more likely is it that your city will be host to a disaster. Choosing Disable in the Disasters menu prevents disasters at all difficulty levels. The Effect of Time When you start a new city, you can choose between 1900, 1950, 2000 and 2050 for its founding year. And as time goes by, things change, including: The available technology. The technology levels in 2KNet roughly follow reality, give or take a few years. (Except for the future stuff, which is just guessing, so don't come to us in 2050 and complain that we don't have fusion power yet.) Inventions that give you access to new technology are announced in newspaper headlines. The national financial model. Since the national and world population is larger now than it was in 1900, there are more potential citizens and more potential customers. External demand increases with time. It is easier to build a bigger city in 2000 than it is in 1900. The per capita (per zone) power consumption. In 1900 there aren't many ways for the average citizen to squander energy. Then, starting around 1930, with the advent of muscle cars and electric-powered everything and lots of electronic toys, power consumption zooms, peaking around 1970. From 1970 to 2000, because of both conservation practices and more efficient gadgetry, per capita power use sinks and levels off. This energy effect in SimCity 2000 is subtle, but can be affected by passing the energy conservation ordinance in the Ordinance window. Scenarios 2KNet scenarios are special cities with problems or interesting situations, included both to provide a number of gaming challenges and to help you better design your own cities by seeing the mistakes and problems other cities have faced. Scenario cities are all in separate files, and are read into the game when you load them from the Load dialog. Additional scenarios can be added later. Each Scenario includes: A pre-built terrain A problem to create and solve Creating the problem is your decision based on the Scenario you chose. Most Scenarios will have an interesting map, creating difficulties for either player cooperation or competition. There won't be any particular fanfare if you win--it's an intellectual pleasure, you know. Typical "goals" include: Reaching a population level Reaching a financial goal Rebuilding your industry Reducing crime, pollution or traffic Zones One of your primary functions as city planner is zoning--deciding what types of buildings go where. Good zoning allows all city functions to be accessed by all citizens, and sets the feel and flow of life in the city. All zones in 2KNet can be decreed to be either light-density (low population) or dense (high population). As you zone areas, the empty zones are shown in colors so you can easily keep track of them. You can turn on and off the display of empty zones in the underground view with the Show Zones button in the City toolbar. Peekin' at Zones by Way of the Show Zones Button There are three basic zones in 2KNet: residential, commercial and industrial. Residential zones, shown in green, are places where Sims live. They include everything from luxury homes to slums. Commercial zones, shown in blue, are the shops, stores and offices of the city. Industrial zones, shown in yellow, are the factories and manufacturing centers of the city. Zones can be almost any shape or size that can be made out of squares or rectangles. If you zone over an area that is already zoned, you will be charged for rezoning only if you change the type of zone or the density. You won't be charged for zoning light residential over an existing light residential area, but you will be charged if you zone dense residential (or light or dense industrial or commercial) over light residential. To remove zoning from an area without rezoning, use the De-zone function of the Bulldozer tool in the City-building toolbar. Sims only build in zoned areas. You, as commissioner, can build elements of the city infrastructure (roads, rails, power lines, power plants, etc.), city services (police and fire stations, etc.) and other public places (parks, zoos, museums, libraries, schools, etc.) either in zoned or unzoned areas. Zones grow and decay as Sims move in and out of individual buildings, zones or the city. Depending on the times, the economy and your design skills, booming, bustling zones may be abandoned, or empty zones may suddenly become prime real estate and suddenly grow into a city center. Specialized Zones Seaports and airports are actually special-purpose zones. They are placed and sized like the basic (residential, commercial and industrial) zones and they needn't be placed in existing zones. Roads, rails, stations, depots, and city-owned buildings like power plants and police stations don't need to be placed in zones. In fact, when you place them in a zone, they de-zone that land. For example, if you place a road across a zone, then remove it with a bulldozer, the newly exposed land will be unzoned. You can save a lot of zoning money by leaving spaces between them for roads and rails and keeping your power plants, stations, depots and departments out of zoned areas. Commerce Commerce is primarily trade within your city. It is slow in a small city, since your internal market is small. Commerce remains a much less important aspect of a city until it reaches a population of about 100,000, where income from commerce catches up with industry. As your population grows beyond that, your city may become primarily a commercial center. It will become more and more independent, relying less and less on the external market, but you'll always need at least some industry for a well-balanced city. Commercial zones develop better and faster near the city center. Airports provide a big boost to your city's commerce once your city reaches a population of at least 20,000. Industry Industry is the manufacture of goods and services to sell. You can sell both to the internal market (within your city) and the external market (outside your city). Industry is the lifeblood of a small city, and is much more important than commerce while your population is small. When a city is small, there aren't enough customers in it to support itself. You have to manufacture things to sell to the external market and bring in more cash and people. In fact, industry can be thought of as the reason to start a new city. Industry is a primary source of employment in your city. It is also the primary source of pollution. Industrial areas tend towards low land value and high crime. A Simple Industrial Zone The Industry window is an important tool if you want to control the direction of industry in your city. It gives you a readout of the current distribution of industries in your city, as well as the external demand for the products of the various industries. It also lets you set different tax levels for different industries to encourage the ones you want and discourage those you don't. You may want to discourage an industry that causes a lot of pollution. You may want to encourage a small industry that you think may be about to boom. When you create an industrial zone, the Sims tend to build the industries that are in highest demand. The demand for different industries is related to the era. For example, in 1960, the electronics industry isn't nearly as important, or in as much demand as in 1990. A forward-thinking commissioner in 1930 just may believe that there is a big future in that upstart, tiny electronics industry. Since it is in low demand, the Sims won't invest in it--unless their commissioner gives them a tax incentive. So the commissioner lowers the tax on the electronics industry and it begins to grow. Thirty years later it begins to bloom, then boom. That's when the commissioner raises the taxes and makes a fortune for the district--while securing lots of jobs in a high-tech, still-growing industry. Another forward-thinking commissioner whose district is almost entirely supported by one industry, say automotive, may want to diversify before the market crashes and the city becomes a ghost town. And yet another forward-thinking commissioner may realize that the new high-tech industries won't thrive without an educated population, and will make sure to provide schools, colleges and other educational institutions. Many aspects of city design affect industry. The presence of hospitals can give a boost to the petrochemical industry (pharmaceuticals). The presence or lack of seaports can help or hinder heavy manufacturing like steel, mining, and auto motive. The presence or lack of a good highway and/or rail system can also affect heavy industry's development. City ordinances can also hinder or help various industries. Power Yes, cities existed before electricity, but not in 2KNet. Sims are electronic life-forms and can't exist without it. All zones need power to develop. Power lines transfer power between power plants and zones and between non-adjacent zones. Power isn't transferred through adjacent zones or through roads or rails that divide zones without power lines. Tiles with power lines consume power. If you place too many power lines you waste a lot of power. The types of power sources available are time-dependent. You can't build a nuclear power plant in 1900. As new technology becomes available, it will be announced in the newspapers. All power plants are introduced when they become cost-efficient--no early, flaky experimental models in this game. Some of 2KNet's power sources do not yet exist in the real world. We've made some rough predictions as to when they'll be available and put them into the game. If our predictions are off, sorry--we specialize in simulation, not real stuff. You can mix and match the types of power plants in a single city. Power Plants, Oil and Coal All power plants (except for hydroelectric, which can last forever) have a 50-year life span, after which they collapse. When they collapse, they don't cause fires or leak radiation, they just stop working, and you have to rebuild them (and pay for them all over again). The Query tool will give your plants' exact ages. If you have the No Disasters setting activated (in the Disasters menu), then plants won't collapse. They'll be automatically rebuilt and you'll be charged. If you don't have the cash to rebuild them, then they'll collapse and you'll be out of power and out of luck. So save up cash for power plant replacement or be ready to issue a bond. Power is measured in megawatts (Mw). Developed areas require on the average one Mw for three occupied tiles. The exact power consumption varies with time, population density and an occasional city ordinance. Connecting too many buildings to a power source results in brownouts. Here is a table comparing the different power plants. The years are +/- 10 years. Type Year Available Mw Cost Cost per Mw Coal 1900 200 $4,000 $20 Hydroelectric 1900 20 $400 $20 Oil 1900 220 $6,600 $30 Gas 1950 50 $2,000 $40 Nuclear 1955 500 $15,000 $30 Wind 1980 4 $100 $25 Solar 1990 50 $1,300 $26 Microwave 2020 1600 $28,000 $17.5 Fusion 2050 2500 $40,000 $16 Coal power is always available, even in 1900, and is fairly efficient, but is the worst polluter. Hydroelectric power is always available, even in 1900, is fairly efficient, and doesn't pollute. Hydroelectric dams can only be placed on falling water. Oil power is always available, even in 1900, and pollutes about half as much as coal. Gas power pollutes even less than oil, but is very inefficient. Nuclear power is expensive to build and not too efficient, but it puts out a lot of power. Nuclear power plants are unavailable if you declare your city a nuclear-free zone. Wind power is fairly efficient and very clean, but puts out very little power, so you'll need a lot of wind generators to produce serious wattage. Wind power is also subject to the whims of the weather. There is more wind at higher altitudes. Solar power is non-polluting and fairly efficient, but has a low output and is unreliable--very little power is produced when it's cloudy or foggy. A combination of solar and wind power plants can produce a stable energy flow since one generally thrives while the other snoozes. Microwave power is actually solar power collected by an orbiting satellite and beamed down to a microwave collector disk. It is very efficient and produces a massive amount of power, but is very expensive to "get off the ground." Fusion power is very clean and reliable. It is the most efficient power source and produces enough power to run a city half the size of your entire city limits. It is very safe, with no radiation leakage or meltdowns. But it costs a whole heck of a lot of money. Transportation People gotta move. Sims gotta move. Products, delivery trucks, construction materials and all kinds of things need to be moved around the city. Transportation is the city's circulation system. Sims won't start developing a zone or building any buildings until there is access to some sort of transportation system. It not only costs money to build your transportation system, but there is a yearly maintenance fee, found in the Budget window. By examining the Transit Authority books, you can set separate funding levels for roads, highways, rails, subways, bridges and tunnels. The most basic transportation system consists of roads. Sims won't build buildings that are more than three tiles from a road (or other transportation system), so if you're after density, the largest area that will fully develop is a 6 x 6 square surrounded by road. If you're more interested in aesthetics, then you can make larger squares or rectangles and put parks or forests in the undeveloped center. Tunnels allow roads to run through mountains instead of going around them. They can be a real convenience, but they can also be expensive. They cost more to build than roads, and their yearly maintenance is higher. Tunnels can't cross each other, even at different altitudes. When roads carry up to 44 cars per minute, it is considered to be "no traffic." From 44 to 88 cars per minute is light traffic, and above that is heavy traffic. Watch the newspapers for traffic-related stories and check the traffic map in the City Info window to find trouble spots. In addition to causing traffic, roads or the cars on them are a major source of pollution in your city. Once your roads are overloaded, you have a number of options, depending on the year in your city. In 1900, your only transportation options are roads, tunnels, rails and rail depots. Other options become available as new technologies develop. Watch the newspapers for inventions that give you access to new forms of transportation. These are the years, +/-10 years, when different forms of transportation become available: 1910 Subways and subway stations 1920 Buses and bus depots 1930 Highways and onramps Buses allow roads to carry more people than roads alone without generating problem traffic. To start a bus line, you need at least one bus depot. Buses leave the depot and let passengers on and off all along the way. There are no animated buses, so the visible effect of a bus depot is a lowering of traffic near the depot. Bus depots must be adjacent to roads. If they are adjacent to onramps or highways but not a road, they won't be effective. Buses are a more efficient use of gasoline than cars, so they produce much less pollution per passenger. Pollution levels are slightly but noticeably lower around effective bus depots. Highways are basically two roads, one in each direction, so they are capable of carrying twice as many cars as a road. In addition, because they can travel at a higher speed on a highway, Sims will commute farther on a highway than on a road--up to three times as far. You must provide onramps everywhere you want to let Sims enter or exit the highway. Sims can't travel back and forth between zones and onramps without roads. A highway system is an extension of a road system, not a replacement. Rails are the paths your trains follow. Sims can only get on or off trains at rail depots. Depots must be adjacent to rails, and you need at least two for a working rail line. Rails can carry many more commuters than roads, plus they are a big boost to heavy industry, allowing shipping of goods and raw materials around the city. Since trains go faster than cars on city streets, Sims will commute farther by train than by car. Compared with cars, trains produce almost no pollution. Subways are underground rail systems, but are primarily for passengers, and less for the shipping of goods and raw materials. They can be connected directly to rail lines for a continuous flow of train cars. Passengers can only get on and off subways at subway stations. The advantage of subways over other transportation systems is that they are mostly underground. They don't take up valuable real estate. And if you want to add rails to an already developed city, you'll have to tear down a lot of buildings for the rails themselves as well as the large depots. Subways only require small (1 tile) access ways above ground, so they can be added to a city without calling in the wrecking crew. The disadvantage of a subway system is that it's very expensive to build and maintain. Subways produce almost no pollution. When simulating traffic, 2KNet doesn't really simulate every Sim in your city going to work and back and to the store and back and to school and back and to the pub and back and everywhere else they go. With thousands or millions of citizens this would take forever to simulate. The way the traffic model works is a process called "trip generation" and works on a building-by-building basis. It also works on the assumption that most trips will be from one type of zone to another. Sims Cruising by the Fire Department For each building in each zone, the simulator generates trips to both of the other types of zones. If the starting building is a house in a residential zone, the simulation will search out a path to a commercial zone and back, and to an industrial zone and back. It tries to avoid heavy traffic areas, and if it bumps into mass transit, there is a 50/50 chance it will take it. There is a time limit for each trip, and if the time runs out before reaching a zone, then the trip is a failure. The time limit is stable, but the allowable distance to the destination depends on the mode of transport. Since highways, rails and subways travel faster than cars on regular roads, the simulation can go up to three times as far while looking for a destination zone. If a failed trip involves mass transit, then the next time that same building is checked, it won't even try that same type of mass transit. So the amount of traffic alleviated by mass transit depends on two things: The whims of the Sims--that 50/50 chance. Your city's design: if the bus or train won't get the Sims where they want to go, they'll drive. A bad mass transit system is worse than none at all, because it won't get used. To promote the use of mass transit as much as possible: Put bus or rail depots or subway stations near busy intersections. Make sure that mass transit lines travel through different types of zones. A bus line that stays in a residential zone won't have much business. Ports Airports and seaports are specialized zones. Placing them in areas that are already zoned is a waste of your funds. An airport's primary effect is to boost commerce. Seaports boost industry. Neither type of port is necessary (or affordable) in a very small city. Once your city starts to grow, your citiSims will let you know when they want ports. The bigger the city, the bigger the ports it will require. Since you can make ports any size you want, and they're very expensive, start small--but leave open space for later expansion. When the city outgrows your small ports, the Sims will let you know when it's time to expand. But if you notice your commercial or industrial zones' growth rate slowing down, you may want to add ports before your Sims ask for them. Both types of ports produce pollution, but airports pollute more. Trees Trees and forests add beauty to your city and its surroundings, and improve property values. They are flammable and can help fires spread. Water Lakes, rivers and oceans are sources of drinking water for your city. They also provide recreational areas and tourist attractions, and improve land value. You can add as much water to your city as you want, but it is very expensive, so plan ahead. Seaports must be on a river or the ocean to be effective, and marinas in the desert are no fun at all. The Water System You can build a city without any water system at all, but the population won't grow very dense. A basic water system consists of pumps and pipes. When Sims build buildings, they put in the underground plumbing. All you have to do is add the water mains to connect the buildings to the system and supply the water. Parts of the water system that are properly supplied with water are animated in light and dark blue. Areas that aren't animated either aren't hooked up or your water source is too small for the population. Water Movement in Underground Pipes Water pumps, when placed away from fresh water act as wells. The amount of water they provide depends on your city's water table and the season. Water pumps placed right next to fresh water (lakes or streams) produce about three times as much as a well on dry land. A pump placed next to salt water (coastline) acts just like a well away from water. To get drinking water from a coastline you need a desalinization plant, which is expensive, but sometimes necessary. Desalinization plants produce twice as much water as a water pump near a river. Since the amount of water varies with the season, you may end up with shortages during the dry months. Water tanks store water during the wet season so you don't run low in dry times. Another way to prevent droughts is to build a treatment plant to clean and recycle your water. Recreational Facilities and Open Spaces Open spaces, whether they are undeveloped greenbelts or manicured recreational facilities, are important to a city, both aesthetically and psychologically. Besides adding land value, trees, forests and open space give a city a better feel, an openness that makes citizens feel comfortable and encourages new residents. As your population rises, your Sims will start demanding recreational facilities. The developed recreation facilities that are available in 2KNet are small parks, big parks, zoos, stadiums and marinas. Recreational facilities are primarily for your city's residents, increasing land value and promoting residential zone growth, but they also influence tourism. Small parks increase land value about the same amount as trees, and big parks increase it twice as much. Marinas, zoos and stadiums are a big boost for residential growth. The Climate Even though you don't see the seasons change or the rains fall, and you don't feel the wind blow (other than an occasional tornado or hurricane), there is a climate model in 2KNet that affects your city. Weather trends are generated on a monthly basis, when the simulation looks at the current trend and the season and throws in a certain weighted random element and decides the next trend. The different trends are: cold, clear, hot, foggy, chilly, overcast, snowy, rainy, windy, blizzard, hurricane and tornado. Blizzard, hurricane and tornado are the least likely to occur. Each trend has a temperature, a wind and a humidity element. In general, temperature affects the water supply, the availability of solar power, and the likelihood of fires and riots; wind affects the availability of wind power, and humidity affects the water supply. These effects combine in various ways in the various trends. Pollution Pollution as shown in the maps and graphs is a general overall level combining air, water and noise pollution. The biggest polluters in your city are automobiles, then industry and some types of power plants. The main things you can do to keep pollution down in your city are to provide good mass transit, opt for low- or non-polluting power sources, and promote low- and non-polluting industries through tax incentives. Rewards So you're a great commissioner. So you build a great city with the power of your mind and the sweat of your mouse-finger. So your citiSims love you. So what? Where are the perks? That's where the rewards come in. For the most part the rewards are more for the city than for you personally. Some say that the art and the artist are one, so a reward for your city--your creation--is a reward for you. Others say, "Give me the cash." In any event, there are at least a couple rewards that should give your ego a boost. Rewards are based on population. As you reach various population levels, you will be notified that a reward is available in a newspaper article and the offering will appear in the submenu under the Rewards button in the City toolbar. At Population You Get 2,000 A Commissioner's house 10,000 City Hall 30,000 Something cool that will boost your ego As your city grows, there will be other things that you'll just have to find out for yourself, because I won't tell you. Well, OK. I'll tell you one more: Arcologies at a population of 120,000. Arcologies are huge, tall, dense cities-in-a-building. They are like a very dense combination residential, commercial and industrial zone. Arcologies are a way to help your population zoom from mere hundreds of thousands to millions, expanding your tax base. There are four different arcologies, designed in 2000, 2050, 2100 and 2150. Even if you have a huge population, you can't build an arcology until it's ready. Arcologies also spur the growth of nearby residential, commercial and industrial zones. Even though they are theoretically totally contained cities, people who live inside will come out to shop and see the sights, and may even work outside. Others may live outside and work inside. They look cool too. Unfortunately, arcologies have all the problems of an extremely dense city: lots of crime, pollution and traffic. Technically, arcologies have their own internal police force and traffic system, but there is always an overspill of criminals, travelers and fun-seekers. Make sure you have police coverage near arcologies and that there is ample public transportation surrounding them. Education Education in 2KNet is expressed as an Educational Quotient, or EQ. The higher the EQ, the more educated your population is. You can see a readout of your citiSims' EQ in the population window. EQs range from zero (brain dead) to 150. The equivalent of a high school education is an EQ of 90. A four-year college degree is an EQ of about 140. The SimNational average EQ is 100. A high EQ is a source of pride to your citizens. It makes your city a more attractive place to raise their children. It also attracts high-tech industry. A low EQ is a source of embarrassment and causes insulting stories to appear in your local (and unread) newspaper. A city with a low EQ has a higher likelihood of both unemployment and rioting. When you start a new city, the Sims who move in and start their new lives are at least somewhat educated, so you don't have to build schools right away. But don't wait too long, or your settlers' children will be ignorant. If you have no schools or colleges, then education consists solely of verbal lore passed down from generation to generation, and children will only achieve about 20% of their parents' EQ. Schools each service a population up to about 15,000, depending on the age distribution of your citizens. Enough schools with full funding can increase your city's EQ up to 90 over a period of time. Colleges each service a population of up to 50,000, and can eventually increase your city's EQ to as much as 140, but only if you have enough well-funded schools to prepare students for college. After Sims graduate high school or college, their EQ will slowly erode. The presence of libraries and museums stops this erosion. All educational facilities raise the local land value, and require yearly funding in the Budget window to remain effective. City Services City services consist of police and fire protection, hospitals and prisons. All city services require yearly funding in the Budget window to be fully effective. The locations and effective areas of city services can be seen in the Map window. Police stations lower the crime rate and raise the land value in a radius around each station. They have the most effect right near the station, and less as distance from the station increases. The locations of police stations, their coverage and the crime rate can be seen in the Map window by choosing the Crime Rate radio button after clicking on the Crime button. You can get to the Map window's crime views through the City Info window command in the Windows menu. Each police station has a small jail where prisoners are kept. As a city grows and if crime runs rampant, the small jails will be so full and the police will be spending so much time taking care of the prisoners that their efficiency and area of coverage will go down. At this point you can either build a lot more police stations or build a prison. In 2KNet, prisons raise the efficiency and effectiveness of your police departments--but only if there is a lot of crime. Prisons are no help to cities with low crime or small populations. If and when your prison gets too full, the newspaper will let you know. The presence of fire stations makes fires go out sooner, helps prevent fires from occurring in the first place, and raises land value. They have the most effect near the station. The locations of fire stations and their coverage can be seen in the Map window by using the Fire Power and Fire Department buttons. Hospitals keep your Sims healthy, fix them when they're broken, and raise their Life Expectancy (LE). A fully funded hospital can serve a population of 25,000 Sims. You can see the effect of hospitals on your population's LE in the Population window. If you don't have a hospital, your city's LE will slowly decline to about 35. If you have enough fully funded hospitals the LE will slowly climb to 85. There are also city ordinances (in the Ordinance window) that can have a positive effect on your city's LE. Newspapers Your city's newspaper is your link to your citizens. Reading it keeps you informed, not only of current events, new inventions, city-development announcements and other important or disastrous occurrences, but also of public-opinion polls. Watch your paper closely to see what is important to your Sims. The newspaper changes periodically, so reading it in full can be time consuming, but useful. Papers announcing important events--inventions and rewards for city growth--will appear when the event occurs. Otherwise, you will have to open the Windows menu and select the Newspaper command. A newspaper announcing disasters will always appear. Inventions As time passes, things are invented. These inventions give you access to new technologies that you can incorporate into your city. As the technologies become available, new tools will appear in the submenus under the buttons in the City toolbars. Inventions are announced in your newspaper. Here are the inventions and their approximate discovery dates, +/-10 years. Subway systems 1910 Buses and bus depots 1920 Highways 1930 Water treatment plants 1935 Gas power plants 1950 Nuclear power plants 1955 Wind power plants 1980 Solar power plants 1990 Desalinization plants 1990 Arcologies 2000, 2050, 2100, 2150 Microwave power plants 2020 Fusion power plants 2050 Speed Issues 2KNet is a very complex simulation. It is also in 256 colors. Both these facts require a lot of computer power. These circumstances are compounded by all the variables that can occur when data is transferred over a network, a modem, or the Internet. The actual time it takes for a year to pass in your city depends on a number of things, including: The type of microprocessor in your computer. 2KNet runs on a wide variety of computers. The more powerful your microprocessor, the faster time will pass. The microprocessor's clock speed. The faster the processor, the faster the simulation will run. The resolution of your screen and the size of your monitor. Depending on your computer, you may be running 2KNet in as low as 512 x 384 pixel resolution or as high as 1280 x 1024 or more. The higher the resolution, the more dots 2KNet has to draw on your screen, and the slower it will go. Of course the speed of your computer and your graphics card may make up for lost time. The size of your city. The simulation model spends a lot more time and does a lot more calculations on tiles that are developed than on bare land tiles. In a busy city that fills the whole city limits, time will pass much, much slower than in a tiny town. Ways to make the simulation go faster include: The server machine player setting the speed to Cheetah in the Speed menu. Keeping the City window small. Keeping as few windows as possible open at a time. Turning off Music and Sound Effects (in the Options menu) helps a little And, of course, how reliable your data-transmission is over your game's network setup. But then again, sometimes you don't want time to pass too fast, especially when disasters are sweeping through your city or when you are trying to keep your city center from decaying. In these times of need, you can always beg the server player to open the Speed menu in the Network Server window and slow things down, or even stop them entirely. Back to Top of Page

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