Landscaping and Disasters
Landscaping Tools[edit | edit source]
The Landscaping tab contains several tools that allow for changes in the terrain, which can help to change the physical design of the city. Soil is a resource which is accumulated by reducing the height of land, and is used elsewhere to increase land height. This enables the construction of new coastlines or mountain ranges or perhaps the removal of an inconvenient mountain. It can sometimes be helpful to level terrain so buildings look better, and even be necessary for larger buildings like airports.
Tools[edit | edit source]
The cost of shifting, leveling, softening or sloping terrain is ₡12.80 per cubic cell.
- Shift Terrain - Elevate by pressing the primary mouse button, lower with the secondary mouse button.
- Level Terrain - Use the secondary mouse button to select the target height, then use the primary button to flatten terrain to that height.
- Soften Terrain - Use the primary mouse button for a gentle smoothing effect. Use the secondary mouse button for a stronger effect.
- Slope Terrain - Click with the primary mouse button on one end of the area where the slope is to be located. With the secondary mouse button, click and drag from the other desired end back towards the first point to create the slope.
Painting Airport Areas[edit | edit source]
Creating an Airport Area will flatten the terrain to the level where the painting started at, and will remove any trees in the area.
Brush Options[edit | edit source]
The brush strength (the speed at which soil is added or removed) control may be set to one of three levels, displayed as a bar graph with three bars. The size (area) of the brush may be set to one of three sizes, shown by circles.
Soil Management[edit | edit source]
When adding or removing soil from the landscape, it will come from or go to the "Soil Availability Meter" . When empty, no soil can be placed without first removing it from somewhere else. When full, no more soil can be removed without first emptying (at least partially) soil from the meter by placing the excess soil somewhere on the map, or by disposing of it by clicking a button in the bottom left of the soil meter panel, at a cost that depends on how much soil is being disposed of. Soil can be dredged from underwater, but beware this can sometimes cause flooding. Alternatively, soil can be bought to fill up the meter by using the button in the bottom right of the soil meter panel, at a cost depending on how much soil is needed to fill up the meter.
The game has a built-in mod Unlimited Soil - Landscaping without limits[1]. The cost of moving soil is still in effect, but the soil available will not fill or deplete, which enables the player to add or remove as much soil as desired with the landscaping tools. Due to this, the buttons to buy and dispose of soil do not appear when this mod is enabled. Note that activating this built-in mod will disable Achievements, unless they are re-enabled by a mod from the Steam Workshop.
Paths[edit | edit source]
Pedestrian paths are narrow (single-cell) tracks which citizens will use in combination with roadside pavements and crosswalks to reach destinations on foot.
Upkeep for paths are a part of the "Parks, Plazas and Landscaping" budget, however they offer no entertainment value by themselves and are, practically, part of the transportation infrastructure. Paths are placed like roads, and can be straight or curved. Some paths can be elevated (with much steeper gradients than permitted for roads), allowing players to construct footbridges over major roads as well as other, more elaborate pedestrian systems. The pavement path and bike paths can tunnel.
Citizens are prepared to walk surprisingly long distances to their destinations, and an investment in footpath infrastructure can relieve a considerable burden from a city's roads. Citizens will also walk parts of journeys that also involve other transport methods. If a road dead-ends, and there is another road nearby, it can be helpful to link the dead-end to the other road with a pedestrian path to allow citizens on foot an easy way out.
There are several types of paths in the game, but apart from the differences detailed below, they are functionally identical. Paths can be connected to the sidewalks beside roads. Additionally paths can connect to some parks, allowing citizens to walk through these and enter/exit them without using the road.
Walls and Fences[edit | edit source]
Walls and Fences are placed using the same tools as roads, but cannot change elevation, only conform to terrain. They can be used alongside a road to remove the zonable areas. This can be useful if two roads run parallel closely enough for the zonable area to overlap, and the player only wants the zoned area on one of the roads. Fences have no upkeep cost.
Trees[edit | edit source]
Maps come pre-loaded with areas of natural woodland. If you wish to add to these, a variety of different types of trees can be added at ₡10 per tree. Trees have no upkeep cost. Player-placed trees will support the forestry industry as much as naturally occurring woodland.
Noise Reduction[edit | edit source]
Trees will reduce noise pollution, but must be used in large numbers to see a significant effect.[2] Tree-lined roads also reduce noise pollution from these roads and are available as part of the roads menu.
Availability[edit | edit source]
Different trees are available in different map themes. Small Beech, Alder #2, Small Bush, Oak, Tree with Leaves, Tree with Leaves #2, Green Tree, Giant Redwood, Giant Redwood #2, Flowering Tree, Flowering Tree #2, Flowering Tree #3, Flowering Tree #4, Chinese Windmill Palm, Corsican Pine, Sugar Maple, and Yew are available in all themes. Additionally, these trees are available in the theme(s) they're listed beside:
- Boreal and European: Conifer #2, Pine, Conifer and Wild Conifer
- Temperate and Tropical: Large Bush
- Tropical: Palm Plant and Palm Tree
Forestry Industry[edit | edit source]
Player-placed trees will support forestry industry as much as naturally occurring woodland. Placing extra trees to increase forest density before building a forestry extraction building over it can increase the output of the extractor.
Park Area Effects[edit | edit source]
Placing trees in a park area will raise its entertainment value.
Roadside Tree Replacement[edit | edit source]
As of patch 1.14, the trees on tree-lined roads and paths can be changed. To do so, select any tree and click on a road/path segment with trees. Some large trees are scaled down to fit the road/path. There is no cost for doing this.
Tabs[edit | edit source]
Trees are found in two different tabs:
- The Trees tab contains the original trees, as well as the ones introduced in patch 1.9.
- The Content Creator Trees tab was added in patch 1.14 and contains trees made by Steam Workshop asset creator “MrMaison”.
Vegetation[edit | edit source]
Use to place patches of vegetation at a cost of ₡10 per patch. Vegetation patches are props, meaning that they do not remove fertile land, are not affected by water and pollution, and can be rotated.
Rocks[edit | edit source]
Place rocks to give the landscape some character. Rock types include small rocks, boulders, buttes and mesas. Larger formations may include caves and trees.
Rocks and rock formations range in cost from ₡10 to ₡100.
Water structures[edit | edit source]
Quays provide a nice finish along the edges where water meets land. (The "Move It!" mod, anarchy type mods, and vanilla techniques can allow it to be placed in other areas.)
Patch 1.13.0 included the ability to add walkable quays. Quays can now be edited in the Asset Editor to allow pedestrian paths on top of them. This makes quays work like pedestrian paths.[3]
Flood walls can help to keep water out of your city.
Canals can create water based routes in your city. All canals automatically create pathways that ferries can use. Ferry Depots and some ferry stops may be placed alongside canals. Canals can also be found under the ship tab in the Transportation menu.
Bridges and Piers[edit | edit source]
The Bridges and Piers Content Creator Pack adds a number of pedestrian paths and quays in its own tab.
Disasters[edit | edit source]
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Available only with the Natural Disasters DLC enabled. |
In the Disasters tab of the Landscaping and Disasters menu there are 9 buttons for manually triggering natural disasters within the city. The player may activate one or more disasters of the same or differing types. There is a brief cool-down period for each disaster before it can be activated again. Some disasters start almost immediately, while others have a short delay before happening.
The intensity of all disasters (except "Collapse") can be controlled with a slider, with values from 1 - 10, with 10 being the most severe.
See Also[edit | edit source]
- Natural Disasters - for information on the "Natural Disasters" DLC.
- Disasters - for information on each disaster type.
- Disaster Services - for information on the services available to help with disaster response and early warning services.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- Pedestrian paths and trees were formerly found in the decoration menu (now called Parks and Plazas), but in Patch 1.4.0-f3, they were moved to the then-new "Landscaping" menu. As of Patch 1.6, this menu is called "Landscaping and Disasters", but only for owners of the Natural Disasters DLC.
- The Walls and Fences section was added with the Parklife DLC, but can also be accessed if you have the Industries and/or Airports DLCs.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Mass Transit 1.7.0 Patch Notes, "Unlimited Soil - Landscaping without limits" Mod, Free Content in Patch 1.7.0, released alongside Mass Transit on 2017-05-18.
- ↑ Forum: Parklife Dev Diary #4: Maps and tree noise reduction - CO Emmi (Colossal Order), 2018-05-15
- ↑ Forum: Sunset Harbor Dev Diary #1: Fishing Industry - CO Emmi (Colossal Order) (2020-03-20)