Well, did you ever?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Notice the pool maintenance guy who occasionally comes out on the grounds of the Maxis 'Modern Mansion' and waves a net around to get the junk out of the swimming pool?

I've been noticing little features like this recently, probably because, for the first time since I've been playing this game, I've really sat and watched the animation fairly close up (zoom 4). There is a lot of stuff built in to this program and for the money I think it is a real bargain, especially after 10 years.

And, yes, if you cut funding for fire and police you get a comedy routine from them, too.

Has anyone seen Lawn-chair Larry lately? I actually put him in a lot. All these animated items are available in the Lot Editor if you hunt for them.

[Mary Maurine Mayo 984]

when I used to play i noticed that if you dont have enough facilities for garbage that it really piles up in the city. And if you have the sims games you can place them in your city also and watch them roam around your city.

I started playing simcity social on facebook today. Not as interesting as the normal game but as close as I am going to get.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

I remember those animations. I also remember that the props changed when buildings dilapidated.

[Duke87 1,070]

I remember the first time I spotted Nessie in SC2K. I'd been playing the game for a few years at that point. These subtle hidden surprises can really give a game depth!

It's even better when it's hidden in plain sight, something that you can stare at a thousand times before noticing anything is up about it. Another example I love, for anyone who has ever played Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project...

Go play one of the subway levels (Metro Madness) and look at the number on all the subway cars.

I don't know how many times I'd played that part of the game before I spotted it and when I did I did a dry spit take. Very subtle!

[Meg 368]

Some things are "obvious" unless you aren't looking: the cemeteries fill up over time and have zombies on halloween. The university has students graduating in June. Some places turn into raves at night. Several stores, including some that people batted, have holiday decorations appear out front in December.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

People don't appreciate the subtleties in this program. A lot of work went into some of the humour in this old girl. Wonder if the new implementation team will be as subtle?

[hamsterTK 93]

I always got a kick watching the stupid cars go by. Anyone ever noticed the crazy green Steve Urkel mini-cars in their cities?

Also in the old Simcity 2000, It finally dawned on me that trees slowly grow on empty ground as the game runs. I don't know existing forest tiles get denser though.

That, and certain industry buildings would spawn the chemical spill smoke cloud if burned down. It would move around and turn anything it touched abandoned.

In 2000, did anyone ever get a naturally grown military base with the missile silo tiles found in SCURK? Even with many cities winning the base legit, and getting it by typing the cheat code "GILMARTIN" in other cases, it never, ever, ever had silos.

Also were there really navy bases as hinted in the manual?

  Edited September 28, 2012 by hamsterTK  

[jacksunny 741]

I find myself watching these animations quite a bit.

They can also be helpful. When you stop a toilet papered tree or a chalk outline of a body, you know something's wrong.

[Duke87 1,070]

In 2000, did anyone ever get a naturally grown military base with the missile silo tiles found in SCURK? Even with many cities winning the base legit, and getting it by typing the cheat code "GILMARTIN" in other cases, it never, ever, ever had silos.

I specifically attempted it once, but I was unable to get to 60,000 sims in the really hilly terrain I created (too many undevelopable tiles). According to the strategy guide, having really hilly terrain is what you needed in order to get the missile silo. Other than that, moderately hilly = army, flat = air force, and coast = navy, all three of which I've legitimately gotten.

  Edited September 29, 2012 by Duke87  

[hamsterTK 93]

Ah ok I guess that was my problem. I always got army or air force bases. I don't think I ever tried specifically for a navy base, I assumed it didn't exist because there was no slot for anything navy in SCURK.

I got nessie all the time though, because my cities had a lot of surface water in odd configurations.

Also I built a lot of "swamps" using that trick where you move the water level up and down in terraform mode after placing surface ponds and then spraying trees on surface water that the game thought was ground. To ameliorate the shore tile glitch where surface water and deep water meet you'd put waterfalls on the slopes. The game turns those water "blocks" into deep water which was navigable for ships. This is why if you did the water level trick over a waterfall it would result in a flat horizontal tile and hole in the map instead of the rocky cliff "block".

You could do crazy things the ends of freeways too if there was a drowned waterfall on a standalone double slope like the remnant of a 2 tile road bridge. There was a time where I somehow managed to make a dual suspension bridge that was "onslope" to a freeway, of course it didn't function.

  Edited September 29, 2012 by hamsterTK