Military Frequently Asked Questions

Question:What does a military base do for me?
Answer: a military base will boost your Commerce (soldiers are shoppers too) but it will also boost your traffic and crime. A military base will deter a Monster from attacking and if it does attack, it will persuade it to leave sooner. You can deploy your troops to assist with disasters with all bases except Missle Silos. Missle Silos run on a skeleton crew so there are no troops to deploy.

Question: What are the different types of Military Bases?
Answer: There are 4 types: Army, Navy, AirForce and Missle Silo
Question: When do you get a base?
Answer: When your population reaches 60,000 the following dialog box pops up:

Your Nation's Military is Interested in Building a Base on Your City's Soil. This Could Mean Extra Revenues. It Could Also Raise New Problems. Do You Grant Land to the Military?

If you answer yes and it can find a suitable place to put a base, it will say one of the following:

  • The Army has built a base in your city.
  • An Air Force base has been placed here.
  • A Naval base is built on your coastline.
  • Six missile sites have been placed in your city.
If it can't find a suitable place to put a base, it will say:

The military is unable to find a suitable location for a base near your city. You have the thanks of the nation for your patriotic acquiesence. SALUTE!!

Question: Why does the military say they can't find a suitable site for a base?
Answer: Because there isn't an empty piece of land that is large enough or appropriate for any of the four types of bases. Sometimes you have plenty of space and you still get rejected. There's an element of randomness in the decision.

If you really want a base, realize that they only ask you once. If you get rejected, then that's it, you never get asked again. For this reason, you should save your city before your population gets to 60,000. This way, if you get rejected, or don't get the type of base you want, you can restart from the saved city and try again.

If you've been turned down and you don't have a backup of your city and you still want a military base you can use the cheat gilmartin if you have SimCity 2000 for Windows.

Paul Dowland wrote: The cheat code gilmartin can be used any number of times. You may not always get a base but try a number of times and you will just keep getting them. I have had cities with 7 or 8 military bases just to be awkward. I suppose that it is possible to have a city full of bases!

If you have SCURK, you can give yourself as many bases as you please. You can even mix and match them.

Question:How much space will a base take up?
Answer: That depends on what type of base you get.

Army, Air Force and Navy all take up 64 tiles while the Missle Silo only takes up 54 tiles. The Army and Air Force bases are both square (8x8 tiles), while the Navy base conforms to the shore line. A Missle silo is spread out over six bases, each taking up 9 tiles (3x3).

  • Army - 8x8 tiles (can be hilly)
  • Air Force - 8x8 tiles (must be flat!)
  • Navy - are not 8x8 but are 64 tiles. Those 64 tiles are spread out along a body of water like a seaport
  • Missle Silo - six 3x3 tile area totalling 54 tiles
Question:Do I have an equal chance of getting each type of base?
Answer:No. Speaking from experience after examining hundreds of cities it seems to me that it breaks down approximately like this:
  • Air Force - 60% chance
  • Navy - 20% chance
  • Army - 10% chance
  • Missle Silo - 10% chance
Understand that this is purely my opinion and opinions will vary.

Army bases and Missle Silos are very rare. Navy's are rare too but not as rare. The Air Force is the most common base by far. My guess is this is because it chooses the base based on your terrain.

  • Air Force - prefers flat terrain only. I have never seen it built on bumpy terrain.
  • Navy - prefers a nice curvey coast with lots of exposure to the water.
  • Army - prefers slightly bumpy terrain but I've seen it built on flat terrain too.
  • Missle Silo - prefers hilly terrain but I've seen it built on flat terrain too.
Question:If I declare my city a Nuclear Free Zone, will it deter the military from building a base?
Answer: No. It has no effect on the Military. It will however improve the desirability of your city to residents, and marginally decreases desirability for industry.
Question:How do I dispatch the military?
Answer: You can only dispatch your military during an emergency. The upper-right hand button in your toolbar is the emergency dispatch button. This allows you to:
  1. dispatch your military - Military units may be available to your city after the military has constructed a base. Military units are highly trained and are effective against a variety of disasters. If you attempt to dispatch your military when you do not have one, it will tell you Sorry,You have no military to dispatch.
  2. direct your police - useful for suppressing riots and resisting floods.
  3. dispacth your firefighters - Firefighters suppress fire and resist floods and toxic clouds.
You can dispatch up to 33 disaster units (that's police, fire-fighters and military combined). dispatch 1 police for every station and 1 firefighter for every station ...

Note that regardless of whether you have an Air Force, Army, Navy or Missle Silo, the dispatch icons will always be tanks.

Also note, that if you give yourself a military base using SCURK, you won't be able to dispatch the military during a disaster. Only bases offered to you by the sims count toward fighting disasters.

Question: Why was I never offered a base?
Answer: If you used the Mac cheat porntipsguzzardo or the DOS Mega Cheat you will not be offered a military.
Question: It won't let me bulldoze the military base. How can I get rid of my military base once it's been built?
Answer:Very carefully
Question: Does a base need to be powered?
Answer: Yes. Strangely enough you can't power something from a powered military base. You can't even place power-lines on un-used military-zoned tiles.
This Web Page was created by Patrick Coston October 2, 1995, Last updated April 4, 2006