Building reference
You zone the land; residents and businesses build on it. These are the tools that turn an empty map into a town.
Zoning is a promise, not a building. Paint a residential lot and nothing happens until the lot has a street, power, water and enough demand; then a house appears and, if the neighbourhood keeps improving, it grows taller over the following weeks. Shops need customers, homes need jobs, and industry makes the construction materials every later build consumes, so a healthy town keeps all three in balance.
Zoning density sets how tall a lot may eventually grow, and the price rises with it. The charter raises the density you are allowed to zone as the city proves itself. If lots refuse to grow, the growth guide walks through every check they must pass.
| Building | Cost | Upkeep / day | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes | from $40.00 | — | From the start |
| Shops | from $55.00 | — | From the start |
| Mixed use | from $70.00 | — | 03 · More than houses |
| Industry | from $60.00 | — | From the start |
| Farmstead | $180 | — | From the start |
| Farm field | $12 | — | From the start |
| Shopping mall | $6,000 | — | 05 · A skyline of our own |
Zone land for homes that grow when the city supports them.
Up to 160 homes per lot at high density
Zone shops and offices that provide local employment.
Up to 75 jobs per lot · commercial tax
Combines homes with active ground-floor businesses.
70% of the homes and 65% of the jobs of single-use lots
Zone lots for industry. Workshops open at once where there is power and a street; they grow into factories, then (at density 3, with spare skilled workers from homes near schools, libraries or a university) clean manufacturing, and (at density 4, with a university, internet reach and desirability 3/9) high-tech. Heavy industry makes the most materials and smoke; cleaner levels make goods, pay more tax and pollute less. Zoning density sets how far it may modernise.
5–12 jobs per lot · materials, goods and industrial tax
A farmhouse, barn and silo that works the fields around it. Lay farm fields touching it (or touching its fields) within 4 tiles; it works up to 12 of them and the rest lie fallow.
+6 jobs · works up to 12 fields
Crop fields, painted like a zone. A field must join a farmstead — touching it, or touching one of its fields — within 4 tiles. Worked fields grow food; fallow ones grow nothing.
Up to 8 food / day per worked field
A four-tile mall with a glass atrium and car park. It sells 3 goods a day, which pulls in industry to make them, but it competes with the high street (less demand for shops) and brings traffic to its district. In a goods shortage it lays off 50% of its staff. Built by a crew over about 24 days; it opens when done.
+80 jobs · a market for local goods
Figures are the game's base prices. Upkeep is charged every in-game day, and construction bills are drawn from the city's stock of materials, steel, copper wire and timber (see farms and trade).