Clicking a mouse button means to press and release it without moving. Dragging means to press and hold the button, move the mouse, then release the button.
Once you are familiar with the directions, you can use pie menus very quickly by smoothly pressing the right button down, moving in the direction you want, and releasing. If you do this without stopping, the pie menu will not even display on the screen -- you will just hear the name of the item spoken, to remind you of the selection. The more you use pie menus, the easier they are to use. See how fast you can get!
Click on "New City" to generate a random map to start a city from scratch. Click on "Load City" to load a saved city from disk.
You can go back and forth between your previously selected cities with the "Previous Map" and "Next Map" buttons.
Click on any of the Scenario buttons to play any of the eight scenarios. When you click on any of those buttons, the city is displayed in the Micropolis Map Window. The Scenarios provide both real and hypothetical problems for you to deal with in seven famous (and one not-so-famous) cities. They present various levels of difficulty. Some problems are in the form of disasters which will occur some time after you start. Other problems are more long-term, such as crime.
Your task is to deal with the problem at hand as well as possible under the circumstances. After a certain amount of time the city residents will rate your performance in a special election. If you do very well you may be given the key to the city. However, if you do poorly, they just might run you out of town.
Things haven't changed much around here in the last hundred years and the residents are beginning to get bored. They think Dullsville could be the next great city with the right leader. It is your job to attract new growth and development, turning Dullsville into a Metropolis by the 21st century.
Damage from the earthquake was minor compared to that of the ensuing fires, which took days to control. 1500 people died. Controlling the fires should be your initial concern here. Afterwards, clearing the remaining rubble will allow the city to start rebuilding.
Allied fire-bombing of German cities in WWII caused tremendous damage and loss of life. People living in the inner cities were at greatest risk. You must control the firestorms during the bombing and then rebuild the city after the war.
The roads here are becoming more congested every day, and the residents are upset. They demand that you do something about it. Some have suggested a mass transit system as the answer, but this would require major rezoning in the downtown area.
A large reptilian creature has been spotted heading for Tokyo bay. It seems to be attracted to the heavy levels of industrial pollution there. Try to control the fires, then rebuild the industrial center.
In the mid-21st century, the greenhouse effect raised global temperatures 6 degrees F. Polar ice caps melted and raised sea levels worldwide. Coastal areas were devastated by flood and erosion. Unfortunately, some of the largest cities in the world are located on the coast.
A major meltdown is about to occur at one of the new downtown nuclear reactors. The area in the vicinity of the reactor will be severely contaminated by radiation, forcing you to restructure the city around it.
By 1970, competition from overseas and other economic factors pushed the once "automobile capital of the world" into recession. Plummeting land values and unemployment then increased crime in the inner-city to chronic levels. You have just been elected after promising to reduce crime and rebuild the industrial base of the city.
This level -- Easy, Medium, or Hard -- adjusts the simulation to your current abilities by altering several factors. A harder setting will increase the chance of disasters, make residents more intolerant of taxation, cause maintenance costs to grow, etc.
Once you have decided which city you want to play, press "Use This Map" and Micropolis will come to life!
Disasters will randomly occur as you play Micropolis. At higher game levels the disasters will happen more often. Most disasters can be activated from the Disasters Menu. Random disasters can be eliminated by turing off the Disasters setting of the Options Menu.
Monster Attacks are provoked by high levels of pollution. A monster destroys everything in its path, starts fires, and causes planes, helicopters, trains, and ships to crash.
The effectiveness of the fire department (which can be viewed in the Map Window) is based on how close it is to the fire, its funding level, and its transit access. Fires inside this effective radius will be extinguished automatically. If you have no operational fire departments in the area you can try to control the fire yourself. Since fire will not spread across clear terrain, you can build fire breaks with the bulldozer. Just surround the fire with clear areas and it will stop spreading and eventually burn itself out. You cannot directly bulldoze a fire.
Floods gradually spread and destroy buildings and utilities. After a while the flood waters recede, leaving behind cleared terrain.
Meltdowns are only possible if you are using a nuclear power plant. If a meltdown occurs, your nuclear plant will explode into flames. The surrounding area will be unusable for the remainder of the simulation due to radioactive contamination.
Tornados can occur anywhere on the map at any time. Very fast and unpredictable, they can appear and disappear at a moment's notice. Tornados destroy everything in their path, and can cause planes, helicopters, trains, and ships to crash.
Earthquakes are the most devastating disaster. This is a Major earthquake -- between 8.0 and 9.0 on the Richter Scale. It will destroy buildings and start fires. The initial damage will vary with the severity of the earthquake, and the eventual fire damage depends on your fire-control efforts.
When an Earthquake occurs, the Edit Window will shake for a while. When it stops you will have to take charge and control the scattered fires. Use the bulldozer to contain the largest fires first and work your way down to the smaller ones.
Do not use this unless you work for the National Security Agency, and routinely subvert the Constitution of the United States by spying on American citizens with the Echelon Surveillance System.
Open Land is where you can zone and build. It is shown as brown with dark brown speckles.
Trees and Forests are shown as green, with dark green speckles. You cannot zone or build on trees. You may bulldoze trees and forests to turn them into clear land. While some bulldozing is necessary, clearing away too much green area will result in lower property values.
Water is shown as blue, with dark blue speckles. You cannot zone or build on water. You must bulldoze coastlines to create landfills before you can build or zone there.
There is a row of Menu Buttons on the left below the title. The Display menu lets you select how often the display is drawn. The Options menu lets you turn on and off certain view specific features.
To the right of the menu buttons, important messages are displayed. Below the menu bar is a tool pallet. The palette displays the name and cost of the currently selected tool, above an menu of colorful icons, used for choosing the city editing mode. Click the mouse over an icon to select an editing tool. The currently selected tool is highlighted, and its name and cost is displayed at the top of the panel, and spoken.
You can use the selected tool by pressing the left mouse button over the map in the middle of the Edit Window. Also, you can pop up a Pie Menu to quickly switch between editing tools, by clicking the right mouse button over the map.
You can easily scroll the map by pressing the middle mouse button down over the map and dragging the view around.
It costs $1 for each square tile bulldozed. Knocking down a 3x3 zone costs $9 since it's made up of nine tiles. You're automatically charged $1 for each non-empty tile that you Auto Bulldoze.
Roads may not be placed over zoned areas. They may be placed over trees, shrubbery, and shoreline only after bulldozing or activating the Auto Bulldoze function from the Options Menu. Roads can cross over power lines and rails only at right angles.
Holding down the Control key while laying roads will constrain them to a straight line.
Laying roads across water creates a bridge. Bridges can only be built in a straight line -- no curves, turns or intersections. Shorelines must be bulldozed prior to building a bridge, unless the Auto Bulldoze function from the Options Menu is active.
Roadways are maintained by the transit budget, and wear out if there is a lack of funding. The amount of yearly funding requested by the transportation department is $1 for each section of road, $4 for each section of bridge.
It costs $10 to lay one section of road and $50 to lay one section of bridge.
Power lines cannot cross zoned land. They can be built over trees, shrubbery, and shoreline only after bulldozing, or activating the Auto Bulldoze function from the Options Menu.
Junctions and corners are automatically created. Lay continuous power lines by pressing the left mouse button down and dragging your cursor. Power lines across water must be horizontal or vertical -- no turn, curves or intersections. Power lines consume some power due to transmission inefficiencies.
Holding down the Control key while laying power lines will constrain them to a straight line.
It costs $5 to lay one section of power line on land, $25 on water.
Intersections and turns are created automatically. Lay continuous transit lines by pressing the left mouse button down and dragging with your cursor. Tracks laid under rivers will appear as dashed lines. These are underwater tunnels, and must be vertical or horizontal -- no turns, curves or intersections.
Holding down the Control key while laying tracks will constrain them to a straight line.
Transit lines are maintained by the transit budget. The level of funding affects the efficiency of the system. The amount of yearly funding requested by the transportation department is $4 for each section of rail, and $10 for each section of tunnel.
It costs $20 per section of track laid on land, $100 per section under water.
Holding down the Control key while building parks will constrain them to a straight line.
It costs $10 to zone one park.
Most residential zones develop into one of four classes: lower, middle, upper, and high. They can range in population density from single-family homes to high-rise apartments and condominiums. Some residential zones will automatically develop into churches and hospitals.
Factors influencing residential value and growth are pollution, traffic density, population density, surrounding terrain, roadway access, parks and utilities.
It costs $100 to zone one plot of land as residential.
There are four values for commercial property, and five levels of growth, from the small general store to tall skyscrapers. Factors influencing the value and growth of commercial areas include internal markets, pollution, traffic density, residential access, labor supply, airports, crime rates, transit access and utilities.
It costs $100 to zone one plot of land as commercial.
Factors influencing industrial growth are external markets, seaports, transit access, residential access, labor supply and utilities.
It costs $100 to zone one plot of land as industrial.
It costs $500 to build a police station. Full yearly maintenance of each Police Station is $100.
It costs $500 to build a fire station. Full yearly maintenance of each fire station is $100.
It costs $3000 to build a stadium.
All zoned land needs power to develop and grow. When developed land loses power, it will degenerate to an undeveloped zone unless power is restored. Connecting too many zones to a power plant causes brownouts.
Coal power plants cost $3000 to build, and supply enough energy for about 50 zones. Nuclear power plants cost $5000 and supply electricity for about 150 zones.
Seaports should be placed on a shoreline. The shoreline must be bulldozed prior to zoning a Seaport, unless Auto Bulldoze is active. Once the port is operational you may see ships in the water.
It costs $5000 to zone land for use as a seaport.
Once you build an airport you will see planes flying above your city to and from the airport. There is also a traffic helicopter that alerts you to heavy traffic areas.
It costs $10,000 to zone land for use as an airport.
The Budget Window can be opened from the Windows Menu. When Auto Budget is active, all the funding levels will remain at full funding, or your last setting. If there is not enough money to completely fund the budget, money will go first to the Transit Department, then the Fire Department, then the Police Department.
You can raise and lower the tax rate and budget levels by dragging the sliders corresponding to each category. Press the button labeled "Continue With These Figures" to make the Budget Window disappear.
When the Budget Window opens up, a timer in the bottom button starts running. When it runs out, the Budget Window automatically goes with the currently selected figures and disappears. You can click on the timer button to cancel it, and the Budget Window will stay up for as long as you like.
The minimum tax rate you can set is 0%.
The optimum tax rate for fast growth is between 5% and 7%.
To slow city growth without actually shrinking, set the tax rate to 8% or 9%.
Allocating less than the requested amount will decrease the effective coverage of the police or fire stations.
The amount of yearly funding requested for the transportation department is $1 for each section of road, $4 for each section of bridge (roads over water), $4 for each section of rail, and $10 for each section of tunnel (underwater rails). You cannot allocate more than 100% of the requested funds.
Transportation maintenance funding slightly below 100% will cause slow, minor deterioration of the transit system -- an occasional pothole or bad track section. Funding between 90% and 75% will cause noticeable damage -- many sections of road and rail will be unusable. Funding below 75% will cause rapid deterioration of your transit system.
CashFlow = TaxesCllected - TotalAllocatedFundsIt will be a negative number if your yearly maintenance costs are greater than your yearly tax intake.
A major difference between Micropolis and a real city is that Micropolis does not allow budget deficits. If you don't have the money, you can't spend it. Try not to let your city run with a negative cash flow.
You can select between various views by pressing the left mouse button over any of the icons. Some of the icons have submenus, that pop up when you hold the button down, so you can select different aspects of the view.
One or more yellow rectangular outlines overlay the map, showing the location of the Edit Window and Surveyor Window views of the city. You can drag the rectangles around the map to pan the other views. You can also "throw" the view, by dragging with the left mouse button, and releasing the button while moving the mouse. The view keeps on panning and bounces off the edges of the map! Click on a moving rectangle to make it sit still, or on the map to stop all the bouncing rectangles. Use the middle button to avoid such behavior.
Before you build, use the map before beginning a new city to plan:
Printing the map and sketching in your plan with pencil or pen can save a lot of bulldozing and re-zoning and rebuilding.
During city growth:
Unlike the maps, which only show the current state of your city, the Graphs give you a record of the past so you can gauge trends and cycles.
You may view graphs for time periods of either the last 10 years or the last 120 years by clicking on the "10 YRS." or "120 YRS." button.
Residential, commercial and industrial population growth and/or decline can be tracked and displayed. If you notice a downward trend in any of these, refer to the User Reference Card to locate potential problems and solutions.
Use the Cash Flow Graph to track your city's efficiency as it grows. If your maintenance costs are higher than your tax revenues, you will have a negative cash flow.
The Crime Rate Graph can be displayed, revealing slight but consistent upward or downward trends.
Use the Pollution Graph to catch rising levels of pollution before they reach a problem level.
Public Opinion is presented in poll form, rating your overall job as Mayor and listing what the public regards as the city's most pressing problems. You are advised to keep your residents happy or they might migrate away, and you will be left with a "ghost town."
In general, if more than 55% of the populace thinks you are doing a good job, then you can feel secure of keeping your job.
If 10% or less of the people think something is a problem, then it's not too bad.
These are most of the problems that citizens complain about, and how to correct them:
Population is the number of residents in your city.
The Net Migration statistic provides a rating of the desirability of your city. If people are leaving in droves, then you know something is rotten in Micropolis.
The Assessed Value is the combined value of all city-owned property: roads, rails, power plants, police and fire stations, airports, seaports, parks, etc. It does not include residential, commercial and industrial zones.
The Categories are defined by population as follows:
Since city growth rate does affect the overall city score, a city in which growth has been intentionally stopped for environmental or aesthetic reasons will have a slightly lower score.
The main points to keep in mind while growing a city are:
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