NEAR1MIL is my latest attempt to construct a high population city where the
Sims don't complain (to much) about pollution, traffic, crime and taxes.

The objective was to "pull out all the stops" and use every available tool such
as Terrain Editor, EDITCITY and the 2 billion debug to see if I could reach the
level of DOUBLE-MEGALOPOLIS.  Well, I almost got there, but pushing that
population beyond around 960,000 has proved to be pretty tough.

Now a few comments on the building techniques:

1. I kept the Sims from complaining about traffic by giving them roads, but no
   place to go.  Every zone is adjacent to a road that is only one tile long
   and goes nowhere.  They can drive, but they can't generate traffic.

2. All the Industrial zones were placed on the edges of the city so that 1/2
   the pollution would be away from the populated areas.  The nuclear power
   plants made good buffers to keep the pollution inside the industrial zones.

3. The rail loop connecting the Airport and Seaport with the industrial zones
   seemed to help the "I" zones develop faster.

4. After the "I" zones became developed, the Terrain Editor was used to
   bulldoze unnecessary tiles and replace them with parks.  The less active
   "I" tiles, the less pollution.

5. The city was developed slowly from the center out.  Zones that did not
   develop fully were coaxed into more development by repeated bulldozing
   before more zones were added.

6. Churches and hospitals were allowed to develop until the zones became
   populated enough to support high density commercial and residential.  Then
   the EDITCITY program was used to replace all churches and hospitals with
   high density commercial.

7. During the entire development, I tried to maintain a balance where the sum
   of the "I" and "C" zones was equal to the number of "R" zones.  When the
   city was small, the "I" zones were greater than the "C".  As the city grew,
   this ratio was reversed.

Now only one question remains.  Which will happen first?  Will I get this city
over one million or will Maxis FINALLY release SC2000 for DOS?

Jerry Moore
CCSV96A@prodigy.com
DuckByte2@aol.com
75060.3206@compuserve.com 