Letting the game run unattended

Learn how to let SimCity 2000 run on its own without constant attention. Follow these simple steps to set up your game for unattended play and save time.

Hey there! So, you want to let SimCity 2000 do its thing without you glued to the screen? Good news, the game's totally cool with that. You can set it up to run by itself for ages, letting your city grow while you grab a snack or, you know, live your life.

First things first, let's get your game settings dialed in for this. Head over to your game options and make sure you've got these set:

• Auto-Budget: Make sure this is switched ON. This is super important so the game tries to manage your finances automatically.
• Sound Effects: Turn these OFF.
• Music: Turn this OFF too. Honestly, these probably don't make a huge difference for unattended play, but hey, we're going for maximum efficiency here!
• Disasters: Ensure you have NO disasters selected. We don't want any unexpected city-wide emergencies while we're away.
• Newspaper: Both the "Subscription" and "Extra!" options should be turned OFF.

Next up, the financial side of things. Your city absolutely needs to be making more money than it's spending. Like, by a good amount. If your budget dips into the red, that Auto-Budget feature we just turned on will shut off, and that's exactly what we don't want. Keep an eye on your income versus expenses to make sure you've got a healthy surplus. Also, it's a good idea to have enough cash coming in so that you can afford new power plants every 50 years or so. Gotta keep the lights on!

Once your settings and finances are good to go, here’s the trick to setting it on autopilot:

1. Zoom Out: Go all the way out so you can see your entire city.
2. Position the View: Now, grab those scroll sliders and push them all the way to one side. Pick a corner – top-left, top-right, bottom-left, or bottom-right, doesn't matter which, just pick one and max it out.
3. Set Speed and Minimize: Select the highest game speed available. Then, minimize the main simulator window first, and then the actual City window.

And that's it! You can let the game run like this for as long as you need. This is actually how I figured out how long it takes to clear out that nasty radioactive pollution, so it's pretty effective!