Sim Earth FAQ/Walkthrough Version 1.1

Sim Earth FAQ/Walkthrough Version 1.1
By Matt Helbig
[email protected]
May 8, 2001
Copyright Matt Helbig 2001

Version Info
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Version 1.0 Includes walkthrough and basic tips
Version 1.1 Fixed a spacing problem due to a transfer from MS Word to
Notepad

Table of Contents
1. Walkthrough info/ Introduction
2. Why play this game?
3. Basic Tips
4. Random Planet Tips
5. Scenario Walkthrough

1. Walkthrough info/ Intro
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I wrote this Walkthrough to help people out as the scenarios are
very difficult and no good Walkthroughs exist, at least that I've seen.
This FAQ can be found on Gamefaqs (www.gamefaqs.com). If anyone else
would like to use this faq/walkthrough, contact me and I'll probably
give you permission, as long as you don't edit the content or take
credit for the work. All of the strategies and info I either thought
up myself or found in game, through the dictionary or the near useless
help system.

2. Why play this game?
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Sim Earth is a game that shows the basic method that scientists
think evolution happened. Sounds good right? Well in fact this game
gets real old quick. There are few options in the game, 8 scenarios
that have to be beaten in order, a random planet where you can do whatever
you want, and the bizarre daisy planet (which is just like the random
planet, except there are lots of daisies). You can edit things like
reproduction rate, mutation rate, advancement rate, and atmospheric
conditions, such as the effect of the greenhouse effect. The main
reason to play this game is first to have a little fun with evolution
(on the random planet) and then to be challenged as to how to terra-
form a troubled planet, such as Mars and Venus. This game has little
replay value, after you've beaten the scenarios. I've written this
walkthrough to help with the very difficult scenarios.

3. Basic tips
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The terra-formers: Biome generator- makes the appropriate vegetation
grow. This is better than placing your own
vegetation, especially when the temperature is
changing, as the vegetation type that will go
there will change.
Oxygenator- Puts oxygen into the atmosphere, which
cools the planet down. Too much oxygen will
cause fires, though, but since oxygenators are
the only way to lower the temperature you'll
just have to deal with it.
Nitrogenator- Puts nitrogen into the atmosphere.
This will supposedly raise the air pressure
which will lower the temperature variations,
according the dictionary on the main menu. In
reality this has little use.
CO2 generator- Puts CO2 into the atmosphere,
which helps plants grow. Use this to raise
the temperature. Best to use this in equal
proportion to vaporators.
Vaporator- Puts water vapor into the atmosphere,
which helps plants grow. Use this to raise
the temperature. It should be noted that by
raising the temperature too much, these can
actually kill plants.
Monolith- Causes an animal to advance to
civilization level. This can fail, so its
best to save first unless you have unlimited
money.
Ice Comet- Creates a small lake, where water was
not present before. Usually the first ice
comet will not lower the ground enough to
create a lake, so its best to hit the ground
with a regular comet first (as these are
cheaper), then throw an ice comet down in the
exact same spot.

If the only animals that are thriving are bacteria and amoeba, then the
dust level is usually to high, try not to use too many events, such
as fire, volcano, meteor, etc. Its best to use one, then check the
dust level under atmosphere (hit start, fourth option). If the dust
level didn't go up past .5% then its ok to use the event again. Try
to keep the dust level under 1%.

If you try to place a civilization and it immediately dies due to war,
make sure morals are set to maximum, under the civilization
section.

City sizes are as follows: red is the smallest, blue is second, and
yellow is the largest. On some planets cities never seem to get above
red level, this would seem to be because of the environment, the
better the environment the larger the cities get. This really isn't
something to worry about as settlers seem to grow at the same rate on
these planets, compared with planets where yellow cities develop.

The higher the level of your civilization, the more money (or whatever
its called) you get per tick of the clock. Stone age level seems to
have no effect on this but for each level above stone age you get one
more point per tick.

What does the energy investment area in the civilzation section do? It
seems to effect how much energy the civilization generates. After the
energy is generated it is distributed based on what you set the
energy allocation to. Basically by setting all of the energy
allocation options to the maximum, the civilization will generate all
levels equally. The ideal method is to check in the report section,
which is under the graph to see which type of energy is being
produced the most efficiently and set that one to the max while
setting all others to the minimum. However, changing the energy
allocation costs 100 points. The way I set energy allocation is to
set bio energy, sun/wind, and hydro/geo to the max with the others
set to the minimum. The other two power options cause the oil spill
and nuclear meltdown events, which are pretty bad. So, I think, its
best to impede growth by a bit to prevent these undesirable events.

Ok, so what about the energy allocation section do? The morals option
lowers the rate of the war event, I always set this all the way up as
many civilizations when placed seem to go to war immediately which
destroys it. The tech option increases the advancement of a civ to
the next level. Always max this one out. The farm option increases
the rate at which settlers come out of cities. This may also increase
the rate at which cities grow to the next size. Medicine decreases
the rate of the plague event. I keep it at the middle level. Art
decreases depression of civilizations. I'm not sure what this does,
so I usually keep this at the middle level.

4. Random Planet
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There really aren't many tips to give here as you can set money (or
whatever its called) to the maximum. The following tips are mostly for
the Geologic or evolution time scales, however, most will work on any
time scale. Then, set terra-formers to fix any problems you're having
with the atmosphere (oxygenators if its too hot, a combo of vaporators
and CO2 generators. Next, change the civilization section as follows:
Bio energy, Sun/Wind, Hydro/Geo, moral, tech, and food to maximum
value.
Change the advance option under the biosphere section (found under
the third option brought up by hitting start) to the maximum setting
(far right), leave everything else alone. This will let all the
animals advance to the higher classes, i.e. rodents to gorillas, whales
to dolphins, etc. Eventually they will advance to the next class of
animals, such as reptile to dinosaur. By setting mutation up to the
maximum setting, while leaving advance down, the animals will go mutate
directly to the next class of animals, and not advance to higher
classes. This means that there is almost no chance of the animal
reaching civilizations level and also that mammals will almost never
form. Mammals seem to evolve form the higher classes of dinosaurs, so
by turning mutation all the way mammals will never forms. Also, try
not to use too many volcanoes or meteors, as it will put a lot of dust
into the atmosphere. Too much dust will kill all the animals except
bacteria and amoebas. You can either watch the dust percentage under
the atmosphere section (hit start and click on the option that looks
like a bar graph). Alternatively you can let everything die and
replace it after the dust settles down (under 1% dust). The basic
idea behind this scenario is to have fun, so maybe you should do that ?

5. Scenario Walkthrough
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5.1. Aquarium- goal: get a land-based animal to civilize, time limit:
unlimited?
_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_

First, set off one volcano, preferably in the shallows, more than one
will put too much dust in the atmosphere and kill everything besides
bacteria and amoeba. Then, change the advance option under the
biosphere section (found under the third option brought up by hitting
start) to the maximum setting (far right), leave everything else alone.
Wait till the island fills up with trees and grass. They should grow on
there own, if not put a regular tree or two up. Put an amphibian or
reptile on the island (amphibians are cheaper and should evolve into
reptiles quickly. On the other hand reptiles won't wonder into the
water). Make sure to save the game before going on to the next step.
Use a monolith on any land based animal. If you fail load the game and
try again.

QUESTION: Whenever I load the save games on my version of the game
strange things happen, that luckily I've been able to compensate for.
Namely on the planets with more extreme temperatures (that is after
I've got plants to grow) the temperature either goes up or down quite a
bit, this kills quite a few plants and animals but usually not all of
them. Also any existing plants and animals seem to be randomly thrown
across the world, with things like mammal civilizations being thrown
into the deep ocean. Can anyone confirm if other people's games do
this as well? E-mail: [email protected]

5.2. Earth Pre- Cambrian- goal: get to the industrial revolution, time
limit: unlimited?
_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_

Change the advance option under the biosphere section (found under
the third option brought up by hitting start) to the maximum setting
(far right), leave everything else alone. Can also set reproduction (or
reploduction as its spelled in the game, hehe) all the way up, but if
you're like me you won't like the oceans filling up with bacteria and
amoeba. However, the objective is to build land animals up, and the
oceans do boil over rather quickly. This is just a matter of personal
preference. Next, change the civilization section as follows: Bio
energy, Sun/Wind, Hydro/Geo, moral, tech, and food to maximum value.
Leave everything else as is, might need to move up the art option, as
life quality gets real low eventually. This only seems to happen in
this scenario, though. Wait for the seas to start to burn up. Wait
for trees to cover a good portion of the continent, placing a biome
terra-former can speed this up. Then, place an amphibian or two.
Placing them where regular trees grow is better, as they seem to die
frequently in jungle terrain. Also try to place them toward the center
of the map, as ice caps are soon to develop. Might be best to wait for
the ice caps to develop (or wait for regular, not tropical trees to
develop in the "mouth" of the continent), as the environment is more
stable and less hot. Now watch them grow for awhile. Save the game.
Pick your favorite land animal and use the terra-former on it, re-load
if it didn't work. It's possible that an animal can develop to the
civilization level on its own in this scenario. If you set
reproduction all the way up, put the slider back to the middle. This
does not effect reproduction for civilizations (the farming setting
does this), only for non-civilized animals. Too many animals can
impede the growth of civilizations, as new settlers can't get out of
the city if the city is surrounded by animals. Watch as it develops.
You can try to speed up the scenario a bit by placing a few
civilizations far away from the existing civilizations, but this
doesn't speed things up much. There's not really much else to do with
your extra money.

5.3. Earth Modern- goal: get civilization to exodus level, time limit:
unlimited?
_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_

Set civilization option to the same levels as previous scenarios, you
might want to set farming to mid level, as size of population doesn't
matter in this scenario, only that you get to exodus. If the ice caps
start to melt place one or two oxygenators. Not much more to do but
wait. You could use a monolith or two to speed things up.

5.4. Mars- goal: get 25,000 biomes and 1,000 civilized people, time
limit: 200 years
_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_
Note for the next five scenarios: The last five scenarios all have
the same goal, so the method to beat them all is almost the same. You
do not need to create oceans or develop any animals. The only method
that works, due to time limits, is to fix the temperature, get trees to
grow, and place a civilization. The "gifts" the game gives you range
from the mildly useful oasis on Venus to the completely useless flooder
on Earth 2xxx. Basically you can just ignore them on all planets and do
just fine. You can ignore them or hit them with an event, like a fire.
Also try to keep your terra-formers away from the place you are going
to place your first civilization, as the war event can destroy a terra-
former and ruin your game. Place 3 CO2 generators and 3 vaporators.
Open the "gift" if you want, it will act as a mini-biome generator.
Wait for the temperature to rise a bit. To find this go to map mode
(hit select), Then hit start and pick the option that looks like an eye
and pick the air temperature option. Wait for at least a yellow strip
to develop on the map. Place a biome generator and wait for a lot of
trees to grow. Change the civilization option to the same as before:
first 3 energy sources to the max; morals, food, and tech to the max.
Place a stone-age civilization, and watch it grow.

5.5. Venus- goal: get 25,000 biomes and 1,000 civilized people, time
limit: 500 years
_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_

Place 8 or 9 oxygenators. Open the "gift" if you want, it will create
an area in which plants can safely grow. This is on too small of a
scale to really do any good, as it has no effect on the environment as
a whole. You can also place a biome generator next to this or you can
wait for the temperature to change. Wait for the temperature to
change, takes around 60 years. You might want to read a book, or do
something else. Now, place a biome generator now, if you already
haven't. Change the civilization options to the same as before and
then place a civilization. If your biomes don't reach the 25,000
range, this is probably because some biomes only grow at certain
elevations. The boreal forest only seems to grow at the higher
elevations on this planet, while the regular forests grow well on the
lower elevations. You can either place the biomes themselves or place a
biome generator, its up to you.

5.6. Planet- goal: get 25,000 biomes and 1,000 civilized people, time
limit: 500 years
_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_

Follow the same strategy as on Mars, the ice melts rather quickly
here.

5.7. Desert Planet- goal: get 25,000 biomes and 1,000 civilized people,
time limit: 500 years
_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_

The strategy here is almost identical to that of Venus. The major
difference is that on this planet you start with dinosaurs, lizards,
and even a civilization and also that the atmosphere develops much
quicker. Now, change the civilization option to the same as before.
Place the oxygenators (7 should do) quickly as you should try to save
as many animals as possible. Then, place 2 biome generators at
different ends of the planet. Try to place some regular trees to save
the civilizations. These trees should start to expand. If the
civilization dies out you can either wait for the trees to really
expand and place your own civilization or you can restart the scenario.
Regular trees seem to have a difficult time living at first in this
scenario, which is bad because you're trying to get some trees going to
save the civilization.

5.8. Earth 2xxx- goal: get 25,000 biomes and 1,000 civilized people,
time limit: unlimited
_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_

This scenario seems easy just from looking at it, but is in fact very
hard. You could open the present and flood the whole world, which
means you'll start from scratch. However, the method I used is the
opposite as it's hard to get the biomass up to 25,000 with so much
water. Water based animals don't seem to count as much towards biomass
as trees do. So, instead I allowed all of the water to boil over.
Letting the temperature rise is fairly simple in this one, as doing
nothing will achieve this goal. However, the temperature doesn't seem
to get to the boiling point every time in this scenario. To help this
place a vaporator and CO2 generator. Then set about 10 fires over some
trees somewhere. I'm not sure if the vaporator and CO2 generator help
or not, but I've had problems getting plants to grow without them
later. Better to be safe then sorry and place them now as they can help
raise the temperature. Now the fun part, wait about 35 years (that was
supposed to be sarcastic). By now the water should all be gone, but
the temperature is way too high. So, place 5 or 6 oxegenators (may have
to wait till you can afford this many, so place as many as you can
afford and place the others when you can afford them). Wait about 50-
60 years until the temperature begins to normalize (finished reading
War and Peace yet?). Now to get to work, either place a few biome
generators or try to place a few plants yourself. In my game boreal
trees grew well in the higher altitude areas and grass grew well in the
low altitude areas. Change the civilization section to the same
options used in previous scenarios. After plants begin to flourish,
place a stone-age civilization. Wait for everything to grow. Fixing
any minor problems that develop.

Now that you've beaten the game you can pick whatever scenario you want
by selecting next scenario at the main menu.

Please e-mail me with whatever comments, suggestions, fixes, or new
info at [email protected].