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Welcome to J's Ultimate
Page. Hints, tips, cheats and tricks for Maxis Sim Copter. Career goal stratagies The basic objective of SimCopter is to complete a series of missions (rescue, transport, medivac, etc) within a given amount of time to earn money and award points. Earn enough money and you can purchase a better helicopter. Earn enough career points and you can advance to the next city. There are 30 cities in all. Complete the last city and you will be treated to a brass band and maybe a little something extra. Below are the basic mission descriptions, a brief explanation of how to complete them, and what obstacles to avoid. This game is pretty self explanatory, but there may be a few points not covered in the manual. All input, undocumented features and newly discovered Easter eggs are welcome here and will be included upon submission or request.  Traffic
Your first assignment as a lowley noobie of course is traffic duty. Fly to the scene of a traffic jam and press F6 (megaphone) to disperse traffic. If you get really angry you can “bump” a car to turn it over and set it on fire. This will actually reduce your points and earnings but sometimes it’s worth it. You will also need to be careful that your Police, Fire and Ambulance vehicles do not get stuck in traffic, or they will be unable to respond to a dispatch.  Transport
Easy. Pick up a suit, drop ‘em off. Click the M+ or M- button on your radar console to determine the destination of a Transport request.  Fire
Fly to the scene of a fire and press F2. A fire truck from the nearest fire department will be dispatched to the scene and extinguish the fire. You can also use your bambi-bucket or water cannon to put out a fire. Fly to the nearest water source, (lake, river, ocean) and lower your bambi-bucket into the water. Note your onboard water tank will fill up. (The more water, fuel and passengers you carry, the slower and less maneuverable your chopper will be). Fly to the fire, hover overhead and release your water tank, or spray the fire with your water cannon (if you have bought one), The water cannon will actually generate recoil and push you backwards. Be careful never to fly directly into a fire or your chopper will explode.  Fire Rescue
Some fires may have citizens trapped on the roof. Hover overhead and lower your rescue harness (if you bought one). The citizen should automatically grab on to the harness allowing you to hoist them into your chopper. You can also in some cases land on the roof or hover slightly above and they will automatically enter the chopper. Once you have picked up all trapped citizens, set them down safely on the ground to complete the mission. See "Glitches" for info on citizens stuck between floors.  Boat Rescue
Overturned boats have a tendency to drift and may be slightly down current from their original coordinates. Hover overhead and use your rescue harness to pick up stranded boaters. If you so much as “tap” an overturned boat, it will sink, injuring the stranded boater. Be careful. Sometimes you can hover just above the water and pick up a stranded boater, but it’s pretty risky. Return rescued boaters to shore to complete the mission. Crashed airplanes or the UFO will sometimes turn into an overturned boat rescue mission. Train Rescue.
This is the most fun and dangerous rescue of all, mainly because you are picking up victims from the roof of a moving train. Hover overhead and lower your rescue harness to pick up stranded passengers. You will basically have to match the speed of the moving train while avoiding obstacles like overhead wires, buildings and tunnels. Hoist passengers into your chopper and return them safely to the ground to complete the mission. Another strategy that works, but is a bit more hairy, is to fly well ahead of and into the path of the oncoming train. Hover just above the ground (about 10 feet off the ground) and wait for the train to pass just beneath you. If executed correctly, the stranded passengers will literally be “stuffed” into your chopper without ever having to move or use your rescue harness. If done incorrectly, usually the train will crash and burn killing all onboard, (oops!) If you do not perform the train rescue, the train will crash and burn anyway.  Medical Evacuation (Medivac)
Fly to the scene of a medical evacuation and press F3. An ambulance from the nearest hospital will be dispatched to the scene. When it arrives, a paramedic will exit the vehicle, search the area for victims, and carry them back to the ambulance. You can also fly to the roof of any hospital, pick up a paramedic and fly him to the medivac scene. The paramedic will automatically exit the chopper and return with any victims in the area. You must then fly the victims back to the Hospital rooftop where they will be unloaded (and fall over). As a pilot, you can also manually exit your chopper and carry your own victims back to the chopper (press enter to pick up/drop a victim). The more seats you have in your chopper, the more police, paramedics, and rescue – medivac victims you can carry. I noticed that sometimes when medivacing a nuclear power plant, the rescue victims will be dogs. I guess it’s a mutation thing. If you take too long to perform a medivac, your victims will perish.  Crime
Fly to the crime scene and press F4. A police car from the nearest police station will be dispatched to the scene. When it arrives, a police officer will exit the vehicle and apprehend any suspects in the area. Use your spotlight to help guide police to fleeing suspects. You can also pick up a cop from any police station rooftop, and deposit them at a crime scene. This is almost mandatory for areas not accessible by road. If a suspect is fleeing in a getaway car (it’s always the green El Camino) press F5 and follow him. F5 will dispatch a patrol car from the nearest police station which will follow your spotlight, (you will notice a mobile “blue-staff” indicator). When the patrol car catches up with the getaway car, the suspect will pull over and exit the vehicle, at which point the officer will apprehend him. Pursuing a getaway car throughout the city can take quite a bit of time however, and what I usually end up doing is “bumping” the roof of the getaway car with my chopper. The result is, the getaway car pulls over immediately, and usually with little to no damage to the chopper. For some reason if you land really close to the getaway car as the suspect is exiting the vehicle, it kills him. Surprisingly there is no penalty for killing a crime suspect. Even if you shoot one with the Apache, it only results in a completed mission, and you earn money and career points for it. Tough cops! (They must be from New Orleans). Riots Major disturbances are the only crime scene that will not show up on your radar, but it doesn’t matter, cause you can spot them from a mile away. Fly to the scene of a riot and dispatch police, fire and ambulances as needed. When the police arrive they will arrest any suspects in the area. You can also use your megaphone to disperse the crowd. Tear gas can help with the most unruly mobs, but it may backfire and result in having points deducted for causing injury to a citizen. Even after a riot has been quelled, it’s sometimes a good idea to dispatch a police car to the scene to keep it from re-instigating. See "Glitches" for info on how to use the donut shop glitch on rioters. As a rookie pilot in a new city, you begin the game at your home base airport with 7200 dollars and a Schwietzer 300. Enter the hanger to check out all the other available choppers and upgrades. Your chopper is subject to damage, fuel requirements and repairs just like any other toy. A common misunderstanding is you have to land at an airport for fuel and repairs, but you can actually land anywhere, exit your chopper, and press Ctrl+C to bring up the maintenance console. Returning to an airport will save money, but is not mandatory. Be careful never to allow your chopper to be completely destroyed or you will have to buy all new accessories. Even the ones that came free at the beginning of the game. You don’t have to buy accessories for each new chopper you own. They will be automatically transferred to what ever chopper you fly at any given time, but if it is destroyed completely, you have to buy the accessories all over again. Dust off landing One good trick that can come in handy is becoming proficient in the art of a dust off landing, meaning, picking up or dropping off passengers without actually touching the ground. This is particularly useful at locations where the chopper cannot usually land, like uneven roof tops, trains, and mountainous areas. It saves time and aggravation from having to use the rescue harness. Sometimes, if a victim or suspect is “stuck” between floors of a building where it is impossible to land on the roof, you can drop off or pick up personnel by performing a dust of maneuver, i.e.: drop off a cop on the roof to make the arrest, or drop off and pick up a paramedic to return with a victim. 
Most of the levels are pretty easy until you get to the final 2 or 3 levels.
The final level of the game is the most challenging. They will try and bombard you with a million missions all at once. The trick is to perform the ones that matter most, and ignore the rest. If you can gain your career points faster then they are deducted for penalties you will eventually win the game. Good job pilot and welcome to SimCopter! |