Disasters

Mayor, the city is off to 
a great start. But what if 
a disaster strikes?

Are there enough fire trucks to extinguish all the fires? Are there enough ambulances to treat every injured Sim? The city is prone to a number of random (and not so random) disasters, each with its own potential for widespread devastation.

But disasters aren’t the end of the world. Instead, they provide the city a second chance to come back healthier and stronger than ever. If there’s one time the city needs a strong leader, it’s in the aftermath of a disaster. Do you have what it takes to lead the city through its darkest days?

Major Disasters

Build a city, then knock it down! This fire-breathing lizard cuts a linear path of destruction through your city until it finds the nearest Garbage Dump.

There are a total of six major disasters in the Disasters menu. However, none of the disasters are immediately available—they must be unlocked by completing achievements. Once unlocked, a disaster can either be triggered manually, by selecting it from the Disasters menu, or can occur randomly, as determined by the simulation and certain geographical features—earthquakes are most common in mountainous cities while tornadoes are more likely to occur in open plains.

Although they’re responsible for leveling buildings, each disaster has at least one beneficial perk. Here’s a quick look at all of the disasters available, as well as some advice for using these disasters to your city’s advantage.

Earthquake

Description: Randomly destroys buildings within a large radius.

Did you feel that? The violent shaking of an earthquake will definitely get your attention as buildings crumble into piles of rubble and numerous fires breakout across the city. Once the shaking stops, make sure you have enough fire coverage to contend with all the blazes popping up around the earthquake’s epicenter.

An earthquake won’t destroy every building, but the spread of fires could lead to a secondary disaster even more destructive than all that shaking. When triggering an earthquake of your own, be prepared for the widespread destruction to follow, ensuring any buildings you wish to spare are outside the affected area, marked in red. Earthquakes can also occur randomly, particularly in mountainous areas.

Big Lizard

Description: Destroys all buildings within a linear path.

What could be cooler than a giant fire-breathing lizard stomping through your city? This red dragon-like reptile tunnels out of the ground beneath your city and begins marching, in a linear path, directly toward the nearest Garbage Dump. Along the way the big lizard destroys every building in its path, occasionally stopping to roar and ignite nearby buildings with fire.

The big lizard concludes its visit to your city by consuming garbage at your Garbage Dump before eventually returning to its subterranean lair. Triggering a Big Lizard attack can be a useful way to clear a path through some unwanted buildings—it’s certainly more entertaining than bulldozing.

When choosing a point for the big lizard to enter your city, take into account the proximity to the nearest Garbage Dump, because your new friend will make a beeline for that lovely collection of garbage, destroying every building along the way.

Meteor Strike

Description: Randomly destroys buildings within a large radius, sometimes creating a circle of ground pollution or radiation.

This spectacular disaster is better than any fireworks show. Watch as swarms of meteorites descend on your city, crashing into buildings and starting fires. When triggering this disaster on your own, place the wide red radius over a targeted area of your city and kick back and watch the destruction.

Regardless of how this disaster is triggered you’ll need good fire coverage to put out all those fires. Meteors also have a chance of leaving behind ground pollution and radiation, potentially making the site unlivable.

Tornado

Description: Randomly destroys buildings in a wandering path.

The tornado is likely the first disaster you’ll unlock, rewarded after placing 24 turbine module at a Wind Power Plant. Consider giving the tornado a whirl before your city gets too beautiful. While you can choose the starting position of a tornado, there’s no way to control where it goes once it touches down in your city.

The tornado wanders randomly throughout your city, destroying every building in its path. Given its unpredictable nature, the tornado isn’t the most precise disaster if you’re looking to clear some space in a specific area. Like all disasters, tornadoes have a chance of appearing on their own—if your city is set in an open plain, there’s a greater chance of a tornado appearing.

UFO Encounter

Description: Randomly destroys a building, abducts Sims, or steals resources from storage lots.

Who are they? Where do they come from? It’s unclear what these otherworldly visitors want from your city. The objective of each visit is random. Sometimes a UFO appears overhead and annihilates a random building. Other times UFOs only abduct Sims or steal resources from one of your storage lots.

But despite their mischievous behavior, visitations by a UFO produce a burst of skill similar to a University, encouraging the creation of high tech (tech level 3) buildings in industrial zones. When abducting Sims, the UFO also has a high chance of targeting criminals in jails at your Police Station or Police Precinct.

So if you’re facing an overcrowding jail situation, it may be time for a visit from a UFO. But it’s impossible to tell what will happen when the UFO appears over your city—it may very well blow away your entire Police Precinct!

Zombie Attack

Description: Zombies roam the streets at night and feast on the brains of unsuspecting Sims.

Beware of green glowing zombies emerging from the Hospital at night. These nocturnal brain-eating ghouls feed on the brains of innocent Sims, leading to the creation of more zombies with each encounter. Your police force will have their hands full trying to contain this outbreak.

Fortunately, when the sun rises, all zombies crumble, bringing an end to this terror. Unlike the other major disasters, zombie attacks do not damage any buildings. But the nightly death toll is reported in the morning, tallying the number of unfortunate Sims who met a gruesome fate.