SimCity 2000: Network Edition

Cover Art.

Simcity 2000: Network Edition is an online-enabled version of SimCity 2000. It was Maxis' first attempt to bring SimCity online, with the game containing both a client and server program. It failed due to poor sales and was discontinued in only a year. Due to the game being sold very poorly, copies are very hard to find.

Development

After releasing SimCity 2000, Maxis started development of a multiplayer version. In this version, up to 4 people can play via LAN or play online (by connecting to the host player's IP address), and share, co-op, and connect their cities.

Playing online

Users can still play the game online provided they meet the very strict system requirements (a 16 bit windows. 

To do so, the player needs to launch the game and start a server to play with other players. If a user wants to play with another user they may do so provided they know the IP of the server. When a player launches the game, they can connect to a server IP and the game can be played together with others who connect to the same server.

However, it is possible to run the game on modern NT-based windows systems by installing the network interoperability patch by MrRong. It is also advisable to install the Network Edition launcher patch by Click4Dylan, which will allow the player to browse servers and run a server that is visible to others who use the launcher.

Gameplay

The Simcity 2000 NE server creator

The gameplay is very similar to SimCity 2000. No new buildings or features are present. However, players can play online in a game of them and up to four other players via LAN or direct connection to a server via an IP address.

Players can share cities, connect cities, and even co-op play in a single city. Unlike in SimCity 2000, all land must be bought before being used, which is how the game reproduces the singleplayer experience while permitting multiplayer gameplay. The user interface was also slightly changed in terms of appearance, SimCity 2000 having a more Macintosh-like design style, while the Network Edition adhered to the design of Windows 95, since that was the only platform it was released on.

The server window is how the game is controlled by the host. There are options to modify the file and save the game, to disable disasters and to set the speed of the game (which includes, as in Simcity 2000, Turtle, Llama, Cheetah, African Swallow and pause), and also a help feature that provides an a list of humorous disclaimers about the game's safety. The host is also able to see the players who are online and can grant them more money, disconnect them temporarily, or wipe their progress entirely while also being able to see their total funds, quantity of land owned by them, inhabitants of said land, and their last time of login. The server does not automatically pause when all players are logged out.

Disasters

Disasters were heavily changed to possibly reduce lag in-game. These are the 4 disasters present:

• Earthquake
• Fire
• Flood
• Hurricane

Chat

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In-game, the 3 players can chat together. Certain messages within the game also appear in the chat window. If a message is received while the window is closed, it will automatically open.

Trivia

• The game was Maxis' first attempt at online SimCity. The next being SimCity Social and SimCity (2013), which both released almost 17 years later.

• SimCity 2000: Network Edition is also the only game in the franchise where multiple players can manage a single city through the use of co-op.