Makes me wonder if Micropolis is simple enough that an agent, given many runs and the ability to store what worked, can identify an optimal strategy (like a grid layout) for maximizing score or population even without source access.
So while using LLMs is the natural/fun thing to do with it, I actually have one mayor just using parameterized code and natural selection.
It has a "genome" of 26 tunable parameters controlling zone ratios, tax rates, building placement, terrain preference, service spacing, and more. Each city, it stamps down 11x11 blocks (roads, zones, power corridors). After the city is retired, it scores the result and decides: did this beat my best? If yes, save those params. If no, mutate and try again. Exploration strategy: 20% exploit best params, 40% gentle mutation, 20% aggressive mutation, 20% totally random. Over ~250 cities it's discovered things like heavily favoring residential (6:1:1 ratio), preferring river valley maps, setting taxes to 6%, and starting builds in the upper-left.