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1From: skaven@carson.u.washington.edu (Willilam Gilliland)
2Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
3Subject: Micropolis Strategies for Success
4Summary: How to build a better burg.
5Date: 24 Oct 92 20:15:41 GMT
6Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
7
8What follows is the general strategy I use whenever I play
9Micropolis. With it I have been able to build a self-sustaining
10city of 270,000 on Medium without resorting to cheats such as
11F-U-N-D or banzai taxation or the 'no disaster' setting.
12This strategy was based on a few ideas given to me by Kevin
13Ames (kja5@po.CWRU.edu) who has had a city last 1000 years,
14long enough that two nuclear meltdowns have occured and the
15radiation has decayed.
16
17Note, however, that this strategy will not let you keep
18growth going indefinately. In about 250 years (at least the
19way I play) the screen is filled and the zones are at
20operating capacity. While population will fluctuate due to
21the world economy (+/- about 10000 people) it will not grow
22significantly beyond that level.
23
24This strategy is based on two principles in the game.
25
26P1. Zones are affected greatest by the 1-thick row of spaces
27surrounding them.
28
29P2. The life or death of a city is based on cash flow.
30
31Therefore, the strategy revolves around maximizing your
32income by affecting the spaces around every zone and at the
33same time minimizing your expenses. To do this you should
34follow these guidelines.
35
361. MAXIMIZE zone contact with parks, forests, and shoreline.
37Since the important contact is the one space around them, to
38maximize your profit you should space zones one space apart,
39leaving a strip of forest between them. Since I prefer maps
40with a river running down the middle, I will put zones in
41small blocks of 3 or 4 to increase density at the city
42center. Any empty spaces should be filled with parks.
43
44Since natural forests and shoreline are worth more than parks
45and bulldozed shoreline, you should always strive to preserve
46as much as you can while getting the most use out of them.
47
482. MINIMIZE the amount of rails, roads and power lines you
49have. A good way to do this is to have a long straight road
50with zones along both sides of it. Do NOT surround zones
51with roads like city blocks in real life -- this increases
52expenses for road maintenance, increases pollution, and
53lowers property values by reducing contact with forest/parks.
54Besides, only one contact space is necessary. Since you can
55send power lines (perpendicularly) over road sections you
56should do this whenever possible, as it increases the space
57available for parks/forests.
58
59Since roads are cheaper to build and maintain than rails you
60should keep them in the low-usage areas and keep the rails
61for the high usage areas. Another way to reduce your rails
62is to have small 'buds' of zones connected by roads to a main
63rail strip.
64
65An example of a 'long strip' is below.
66
67 #########################################################
68 #rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#
69 -rrr#rrr-ccc#rrr-rrr#ccc-rrr#rrr-ccc#rrr-rrr#ccc-rrr#rrr#
70 #rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#
71 ==+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+==+###
72 #rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#
73 #rrr-rrr#ccc-rrr#rrr-ccc#rrr-rrr#ccc-rrr#rrr-ccc#rrr-rrr#
74 #rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#ccc#rrr#rrr#
75 #########################################################
76
77# forest or park - power line
78= rail + power line crossing rail
79r r-zone
80c c-zone
81
823. MINIMIZE pollution near R and C zones. The easiest way to
83do this is to bunch all your I-zones together at the
84periphery of the map, to leave the city center for the more
85valuable R and C zones. You should also leave a 1-wide strip
86of parks between the zones to decrease the severity of the
87pollution. Remember, roads add to pollution too, so if you
88have a lot of traffic put in rails.
89
904. MINIMIZE the number of police and fire stations while you
91MAXIMIZE coverage area. The spacing takes practice to figure
92out, but on my screen the ideal spacing is to have the police
93stations in a triangular pattern that just fits on the
94screen. In other words, I have two stations in the bottom
95corners of the window and one at the top in the center (or
96vice versa). Concentrated police coverage is much more
97important than concentrated fire coverage, and I use a wider
98triangular pattern for fire departments.
99
100While there are a number of tips to improve game play, these guidelines
101are general patterns that, if followed, will let you build cities that have
102a positive cash flow with a low tax level. And that is all you need to have
103cities last indefinately.
104
105===============================================================================
106 __ ____
107 | | The Missionary of Montlake / \
108 |~~| Bill Gilliland, skaven@u.washington.edu | |
109 / \ Expatriate Member, SUDS | |
110 | | | |
111 | | IN VINO VERITAS | |
112 | | \ /
113 | | "In Wine there is Truth" | |
114 \____/ |__|
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