~Sim Tower

SiMTOWER for WiNDOWS HiNTFiLE by THE YiD! 

 
 Alright, SimTower has been out for a while now and I've been able 
to learn  most of its little secrets to success. It's not an easy 
game, even though  at first it may seem to be. As time goes on, 
you'll soon discover that  simply placing blocks of condos, offices, 
food joints e.t.c. just anywhere  will create havok. You need to 
know WHERE to place things, WHEN to place  them and HOW to make them 
work. Hopefully by reading this file, you'll  learn how to do just 
that. 


~STEP ONE: CONDOS  
~
 
 The VERY FIRST thing you want to focus on in SimTower (aside from 
the first  lobby) is Condos. These will not only quickly get you 
your first couple of  star ratings but will also give you some VERY 
fast cash. Each condo costs  only $8o,ooo and instantly sells for 
$15o,ooo (unless you raise the cost to  $2oo,ooo). This kind of 
profit is the key to the whole game. Although condos  don't give you 
continuous income like offices, hotel rooms and retail outlets  they 
do let you stash tonnes of cash so that you can expand.  To start 
your building off, build three consecutive condos over your lobby.  
Then, place an elevator at each end. Note that you CAN place 
elevators over  condos and all other items. Now, simply build UP! 
Build your three-condo  tower up for THIRTY floors. Yes, I said 30. 
Don't forget to raise your  elevators along with your condos 
otherwise people won't be able to get to  them. Also, don't put 
anything on floor 15 or 30 as these will also serve  as lobbys. 
Remember that lobbys can be placed every 15 floors!! By the time  
you finish your first 30 floor column, you should have earned your 
next star.  Where you go from this step is your choice. You can move 
on to STEP TWO  (offices) or continue building condos. I recommend 
building TWO MORE 30- storey columns just like the first one, one on 
each side of the first. Not  forgetting the elevators and space for 
the lobbys. 

 
~STEP TWO: OFFICES
~

 Okay, now depending on how many 30-storey columns you made in STEP 
ONE, you  should have several million dollars. If you made 3 columns 
in STEP ONE, you  could have 20 million bucks! Now, that cash is 
fine for the time being, but  it won't increase unless you build 
some income-earning blocks. In fact, it  will actually decrease as 
your expenses set in. Offices are the biggest  income earning blocks 
you can build. You rent these and have control over  the rent 
ammount at all times. People will rent these spaces for different  
legnths of time depending on the conditions of the office space. 
Offices  are more expensive to build than condos are since you don't 
get the full  purchase price back for several months. However, in 
the long run, it is the  offices that will keep you in business. 
Start building the offices above  the top lobby of your building. 
This may be floor 31 unless you build your  condos higher. If you 
have enough stars, you may be able to build an express  elevator 
which is a good idea at this point. Express elevators only stop  
every 15 floors (lobbys) and can hold twice as many people as 
standard  elevators. This is important because office workers need a 
quick way to get  to their offices, and offices hold more people 
than condos. As you build your  office layers, don't forget to build 
standard elevators that connect the  levels. A good way to do things 
is to build an elevator going from the top  lobby and up through 
your office layers. Don't forget to add cars to the  elevators as 
you get more and more offices to accomodate all the people. 

 
~STEP THREE: HOTELS
~
 
 You may be anxious to build hotel spaces as soon as you can (which 
is at two  stars) but don't. Hotels are a good way of making income 
IN ADDITION to  offices but are not only expensive to build and 
maintain, but can also be a  hassle. Wait until your building has a 
three-star rating before entering the  hotel game. Once you think 
you are ready for building hotel rooms and have  enough extra cash 
to burn, pick a level to start at (preferably above a  lobby) and 
plan your next move carefully. One of the most important things  to 
remember about hotel rooms is they need CLEANING STAFF. One 
Housekeeping  block will take care of only 6 rooms. So don't get 
carried away until you  plan a place to house your cleaning blocks. 
Also, you have to build a  Service Elevator connecting the 
Housekeeping blocks throughout the floors of  your Hotel rooms. So, 
carefully build your Housekeeping staff and hotel  rooms making sure 
not to exceed the 6:1 ratio. Otherwise roaches move in  and you'll 
have a disaster to clean up. Also, be sure to have enough elevator  
service trhoughout your hotel because your guests don't like waiting 
and won't  come back if they don't have a good time. 

 
~STEP FOUR: FUN STUFF
~
 
 Once you've built a foundation of condos and a money-earning block 
of office  spaces and hotel rooms, you can start building the 
secondary income builders.  Before you start blowing your moolah on 
the these frivolous items, make sure  your income is greater than 
your expenses. You can find this out by  clicking on Window/Finance 
Window on the menu bar. If everything is fine and  dandy, you can 
start putting up restaurants, stores, fast-food joints e.t.c.  One 
thing to remember is that you should place these items carefully. In 
 order to get enough customers to make these items worth the 
trouble, it is  best to place them near offices and hotel rooms. 
These are the people that  will spend their cash during lunch hour 
and dinner time. The big stuff like  movie theatres should be put 
off until very late in the game. Such as once  you've gotten four 
stars and have built an underground Metro Station. The  Station will 
attract lots and lots of people to your tower and will make  Movie 
Theatres and lots of stores worth it. 


~POINTS TO REMEMBER!!
~

 1) Build LOTS of Condos at first. You need to get your stars and 
    earn $$$.
 2) Elevators are limited to 30 floors per shaft and 8 cars per 
    shaft.
 3) Express Elevators can be as high as you want but only stop every 
    15 floors and on every basement level.
 4) NEVER mix different types of blocks on the same level. E.g. don't 
    put office spaces on the same floor as condos. Or retail/
    restaurant spaces on the same floor as offices/condos. e.t.c.
 5) Don't forget to build enough Recycling centres and Parking spaces
    underground. The game will tell you when you need 'em.
 6) Learn to schedule your elevators efficiently. To schedule 
    elevators, click on a shaft with the magnifying glass.
 7) Keep your eye on the Finance Window to make sure you're making 
    money, not loosing money.
 8) Monitor the evaluation screen frequently to make sure conditions 
    aren't getting out of hand. If they are, correct the situation 
    ASAP before everyone leaves your tower.
 9) Don't price all your blocks too expensively. In time, people will 
    become fed-up with you and stop renting/moving in. Be fair and 
    you'll always have paying tennants.
10) Take a look at the helpfile. It will explain some of the more 
    basic details I have left out. I didn't want to bore you! =)

