Learn the city

Blockline guides

How Blockline's city actually works, written from the game's own rules. Every number on these pages comes from the same tables the simulation uses.

• Your first cityFound a Blockline city step by step: choose your land, site the town hall, lay streets, zone, and bring power and water before starting the clock.
• Power, water, sewage and internetHow Blockline's four utility networks work: sources, streets as mains, conduits, capacity, coverage thresholds and the underground view.
• Why isn't my city growing?Every check a zoned Blockline lot must pass before it grows, the most common reasons lots get stuck, and what each development level needs.
• Desirability and land valueWhat makes land valuable in Blockline, what drags it down, and how desirability decides whether lots grow, decline or are abandoned.
• Money: taxes, budget, loans and debtWhere a Blockline city's money comes from, how department funding trades cost against service, and what loans and debt really do.
• Farms, construction bills and the Trade CenterFeeding a Blockline city with farmsteads and fields, why builds need steel, copper and timber, and how the Trade Center and neighbours' contracts work.
• Industry, density and upgradesHow Blockline industry modernises from smoky workshops to high-tech, how zoning density caps growth, and which buildings upgrade in place.
• Roads, rail, subway, docks and airportsMoving people and freight in Blockline: road capacity, bus stops, railways and level crossings, the subway, docks, airports and the city's mode share.
• Charters, research, eras and ordinancesBlockline's eight city charters and what each unlocks, plus the research tree, its four eras and the city-wide ordinances research opens.
• Construction crews, ageing and city staffHow Blockline's construction queue and crews work, how wonders are built in stages, why infrastructure wears out, and what the city's staff do.
• Walk-in venues and the music festivalInside Blockline's Police HQ, City Hospital, City Prison and Music Venue, plus the annual music festival: what each does for the city and how to run it.
• Reading the map: overlays and the underground viewHow to use Blockline's data overlays for land value and service reach, what coverage numbers mean, and what the underground view shows.