SimCity 3000

SimCity 3000 (SC3K) is a simulation/city building computer game and the third installment in the SimCity series of games. It was published by Electronic Arts (EA) and developed by series creator Maxis, a wholly-owned subsidiary of EA. While some users have managed to run SimCity 4 on Linux, 3000 was the first and only version to be specifically released for the operating system through an arrangement with Loki Games.

Gameplay and changes from SimCity 2000

There were many changes between SimCity 3000, and its immediate predecessor, SimCity 2000 (SC2K). These changes spanned both the integral city management aspects of the game, as well as its graphical and landscape aspects. These changes gave the game a feel greatly different from that of SC2K.

In a pattern which has continued throughout the SimCity franchise, the number and complexity of city services increased between SC2K and SC3K. The most notable change was that the concept of waste management was introduced in SC3K. In previous versions of SimCity, this aspect had been ignored. However, in SC3K, once a city had a population greater than 1,000, garbage would begin to accumulate and would have to be disposed of at the expense of the city. Farms and agriculture structures were also introduced, appearing on large light industrial zones in a city with low land value, little pollution and a small citywide population.

Although the concept of neighbor cities was introduced in SC2K, it was greatly expanded upon in SC3K. For the first time, the player could interact with his or her neighbor cities, negotiating rudimentary business deals with other mayors, such as the sale of water, electricity, or waste management services. These generate a monthly charge which is either added to or subtracted from the player's treasury, in accordance with the deal. From time to time, the simulated mayors of neighboring cities will call meetings to renegotiate the terms or price of these deals.

Although not strictly a city management aspect, SimCity 3000 simulated the effect of land value on construction much more realistically than in SimCity 2000. In the latter, most buildings fell into a wide stratum that did not reflect land value very effectively; every building was more or less suited to neighborhoods of every economic disposition. In SC3K, land value created very distinct neighborhoods which tended to contain narrow income bands, creating well-defined slums, middle class areas, and wealthy areas. However, over time, land value "inflation" would cause almost every area of a city to become expensive, so that wealthy neighborhoods covered most if not all of the map.

There were several changes to the graphical interface in SC3K. Although the game retained the pseudo-isometric dimetric perspective of its predecessor, the actual landscape became more complex and colorful. In SimCity and SC2K, the playable landscape was brown, not unlike the color of bare dirt. In SC3K, the playable landscape was a more realistic green color, simulating grassland. In SC2K, land could either be flat or sloped, and all slopes were of the same steepness. In SC3K, there were five distinct steepness of slope, creating more varied landscapes. However, in SC3K, there are no waterfalls, which are common in SC2K. Also, for the first time, there were different types of trees which could appear on the playable map. In SC2K, there were only pine trees, while in SC3K, oak trees prevail, but other types of trees exist, depending on the elevation of the terrain.

Advisors and petitioners

SimCity 3000 and its expansion pack, Unlimited feature seven advisors, each covering a specific issue, who help players makes proper decisions in the game by providing recommendations and advice. As opposed to previous versions of SimCity, the advisors actually give in-depth advice which is helpful to the player. In SimCity 2000, the advisors' advice usually consisted of the advisor shouting down the player for even considering budget cuts to that advisor's department.

There are also petitioners, many of which are citizens of the players' cities, that request players to modify city policies, such as lowering tax rates, or enacting an ordinance. Some are outside interests, often pushing proposals which would harm the city in exchange for a boost to its financial coffers.

News tickers

In addition to advisors, a news ticker scrolled along the bottom of the screen, displaying pertinent information about the city in the form of news stories, such as indicating that the city needs more schools, or that a particular city department is functioning well. Generally, when things were going very well in a city, the news ticker would display headlines which are comical, or even nonsensical and often seemingly useless to the player. Examples of such headlines being: "Semicolon declared sexier than comma in grammarian's fete," or "(City Name) prints all wrong numbers in phone book, leads to 15 marriages" or quotes from a "Tommy B. Saif Sez." Other headlines may be labeled "(City Name) News Ticker" or "From the Desk of Wise Guy Sammy". On occasions, the ticker will even provide a foreshadowing of an approaching disaster, for example, sometimes reading "Did you feel that big truck pass by? What? It wasn't a truck?", "Tidal waves reported off coast", "strange sightings reported between Areas 50 and 52" or perhaps another quote from a set range of different headlines before an earthquake occurs.

Landmarks

Independent real-world landmarks were also introduced for the first time in SC3K, but are strictly for aesthetic purposes and are free of construction cost. Landmarks in the game include the CN Tower, Notre Dame, the Bank of China Tower, the Empire State Building, and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

Unlimited

A re-release, SimCity 3000 Unlimited, was released in 2000. Unlimited added, among other things, Asian and European building sets, additional terrain colors and wild vegetations, a snapshot feature, an improved version of the Building Architect Tool (a very basic pseudo-3D design tool based on cubes), and scenarios (along with a creator based on Microsoft Access).

The SimCity 3000 Unlimited edition was distributed with different titles in some places outside of the USA:

SimCity 3000 UK Edition in United Kingdom
SimCity 3000 Deutschland in Germany
SimCity 3000 World Edition elsewhere in Europe and Latin America
SimCity 3000 China in China
SimCity 3000 Japan in Japan
SimCity 3000 Korea in Korea

BAT

Like SimCity 2000's SimCity Urban Renewal Kit (SCURK) tool, SimCity 3000 had its own building modifier called the BAT (Building Architect Tool). However, the BAT was based on the idea of building blocks (not unlike LEGO bricks). Because of the negative reactions on the limited possibilities with the SCURK, BAT2 (Building Architect Plus) was introduced with the ability to add custom-made props.

Despite the huge amount of buildings and artists involved with the BAT, it has not gained the cult-status the SCURK has. Another possible reason is that the BAT did not allow people to create and edit cities by placing buildings free-of-charge, unlike the SCURK's city editor, thus lessening the BAT's appeal.

External links

SimCity 3000 | SimCity 3000 | 模拟城市3000