TGDB.net - Game news, cheats, solutions, walkthroughs, trainers, saved games and much more!

+++
| Brad Stuart
| brad@cfar.umd.edu
| URL: http://www.cfar.umd.edu:80/~brad/
| SimTower FAQ, Diplomacy, Pinball links, and even some real work.
+++

SimTower FAQ version 0.5

Please send corrections/contributions to Brad Stuart .

This is the unofficial FAQ file for SimTower, including material from the
Macintosh version 1.1.

Contents
========

15 What are the system requirements?
14 "But the manual says ..."
13 What are the star level requirements/capabilities?
12 Where's the VIP?
11 How many stairs (or whatever) can I build?
10 Where can I get the Updater?
9 How can I contact Maxis?
8 The installer doesn't work on my Mac! I have a 68030!
7 Room Types
6 Elevators
5 Service Elevators
4 Express Elevators
3 Disasters
2 SimTower Demo
1 Easter Eggs
B1 Trivia

15. What are the system requirements?

SimTower requires a 68030 Mac or better to run. A 68040 is
"recommended." SimTower runs *native* on a PowerMac. 256 colors
are required. System 7.0 or above is required. SimTower is
compatible with System 7.5. The program uses up 4.5 meg of RAM.

RAMDoubler / SimTower are not compatible. I would place the blame
on the former, personally.

14. "But the Manual says ..."

The manual for SimTower gives many good guidelines, but many of the
figures are just plain wrong. The manual, no doubt, had to be printed
long before the game was ready, and many of the details of the program
changed right before release. The figures in this FAQ come from the
README files that come with the game, with the updater, and from
playing the game itself.

13. How do I get N stars?

The following table lists the requirements to reach a given
star level, and the new things you can build at that level. You start
the game with one star and $2,000,000.

Stars Population Other Requirements Building Enabled
===== ========== ================== ================
1 0 none Lobby,Stair,Floor
Office,Condo,Fast-Food
Elevator

2 300 none Single Room
Housekeeping,Security
Service Elevator

3 1000 1 security station Double Room, Suite
Retail, Restaurant
Express, Clinic,
Parking, Ramp, Recycling
Ballroom, Theatre

4 5000 VIP favor, 2 Suites, Metro
Medical, Recycling OK

5 10000 Metro placed, Cathedral
Medical, Recycling OK

TOWER Cathedral placed on 100

12. Where's the VIP?

In order to get from three to four stars, the VIP must rate your
building. But first, he must get there! He will want to stay in a
suite, so you should build at least two. You must also have
underground parking available for the hotel customers who pay the big
bucks. Putting the Suites near an express elevator, and serving the
underground parking with the same express elevator is sometimes a good
idea. If you don't like your express going underground, change it back
after you get your rating!

After you have everything in order for the VIP's visit, you will just
have to wait. After all, he's the VIP!

(As far as I know the VIP is always a *he*. MAXIS, you did that with
the mayor of SC2K, too.)

11. How Many Stairs (or whatever) can I Build?

The simulation has the following built-in limits (presumably to
make the game run at a tolerable speed).

Elevators (all kinds) 24 shafts total
Elevator Cars 8 cars per shaft
Stairs + Escalators 64
Named Sims 20
Security Stations 10
Medical Clinics 10
Theatres+Ballrooms 16
FastFood+Restaurants+Shops 512
Parking Spaces 512
Metro Station 1
Cathedral 1
Named Sims 20

10. The SimTower Updater

The SimTower Updater can be found on the Maxis BBS or the Maxis FTP
site. See "Contacting Maxis."

The updater takes care of :

1) Metro placement problems
2) Graphic glitches (the "metro crash")
3) Small monitors
4) Increased elevator capacity (from 17 to 21)
5) Rename businesses!

9. Contacting Maxis

The maxis FTP site is at: ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/ma/maxis
WWW access: ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/ma/maxis/http/maxis.html
Telephone access: 1-800-33-MAXIS
E-mail Access: ???
AOL Access: ???

8. The installer doesn't work on my Mac! I have a 68030!

From the "Read Me" that came with the updater:

SYSTEM 7.5 AND 68030 MACS: If you are running System 7.5, the SimTower
installer may report that your Mac is not a 68030 when it really is.
If the installer warns you of this, simply click the Continue button.
This will not affect the performance of the game.

SimTower won't work with RAMDoubler.

7. Room Types

The unit of width here is the size and shape of the "floor" tool.
Income and expenses are either daily (D), quarterly, (Q),
yearly (Y), or once only (!).

Type Width Price Income/expense Population
==== ===== ===== ============= ==========
Floor 1 500 0 0
Lobby 1 5k 0/0/-3/?/? (Y) 0
Stair 8 5k 0
Escalator 8 20k 5k (Q) 0
Office 9 40k 2-5-10-15k (Q) 6
Condo 16 80k 50-100-150-200k(!) 3
Single 4 20k 500-1500-2k-3k (D) 0-1
Double 6 50k 800-2k-3k-4500 (D) 0-2
Suite 10 100k 1500-4k-6k-9k (D) 0-2

Fast Food 16 100k (-3k)-2k-5k (D) 10-50
Restaurant 24 200k 4k-6k-10k (D) 10-
Retail Shop 12 100k 4k-10k-15k-20k (D) 20-50
Party Hall 24x2 100k 20k (D) 50
Theatre 31x2 500k ??? (D) 120
Cathedral 3 Million

Housekeeping 15 50k -10k (Y) not included
Security 16 100k -20k (Y) not included
Medical 26 500k 0 not included
Parking 4 3k 0
Ramp 16 50k -10k (Y)
Recycling 25x2 500k -50k (Y)
Metro ALL 1 Million -100k (Y)

Elevators: Capacity
Standard 4 200k+80k/car -10k/car (Q) 17 (21 in update)
Service 100k+50k/car -10k/car (Q) 17 (21 in update)
Express 6 400k+150k/car -20k/car (Q) 34 (42 in update)

7.1 Lobbies

Lobbies can only be placed on the first floor, and every fifteenth
floor after that. Residents will only change elevators on a lobby
floor, and even then, they will limit themselves to one change of
elevator. Your express elevators will stop in lobbies only. I have
experimented with putting shops on a lobby floor, along with part
of a lobby: it doesn't work well at all. It is much better to just
make the lobby the full width of the building.

At the higher star ratings (3+), you must pay to maintain the lobby.
I guess the Sims in the high-rent district want a new Van Gogh every
quarter.

The two floors above and below a lobby (13 - 17, for instance) are
prime real-estate for shops and fast food. Theatres and ballrooms can
be placed just outside this range.

Lobbies cost $5000 for a section the size of the floor tool. Add
another $500 for the floor itself. The lobby tool actually places 4
sections of lobby. Lobby sections can be built by dragging, but cannot
be destroyed.

7.2 Floor

The floor tool builds the basic structure of your building. Use it to
even out sections that didn't come out quite right, or to build whole
empty floors for later development (as retail space, for instance).
When you build other rooms in areas that haven't been built up before,
you are charged for the floor sections required, automatically. If you
have enough money to build the room, but not the floor it requires,
you will be told so by the program status bar.

Floor sections cost $500 for that little narrow piece the size of the
floor tool. Once built, floor sections cannot be destroyed.

7.3 Stairs / Escalators

Stairs are very useful for reducing the burden on your elevators.
They are even better when they are stacked up neatly, so Sims can
travel them with a minimum of frustration. Sims will go up or down
*three* flights of stairs to get where they want to go. A building
without elevators is very possible, but limited to four stories. One
quick way to get your second star is with a long lobby, one floor of
fast food, and two floors of offices. Put staircases every third or
fourth office, and away you go!

Staircases cost $5000, and can be built over the top of other types
of rooms (not over other transportation, though). They can support
a fairly small amount of traffic, but continuously.

Escalators become available with your third star. They can only be
erected between lobbies and retail levels, but, once erected, they
stay put regardless of what you do to the surrounding areas. They support
a large amount of traffic, and Sims prefer them to elevators when they
are available. The SimManual states that Sims will take the escalators
up to seven times, but I guess this number is closer to 5.

7.4 Office

Office space will be your bread and butter, making much of your cash
in the early parts of the game. Each office holds 6 workers, who like