Guide
Charters, research, eras and ordinances
Charters tell your city's story and unlock its buildings. Research is the long game that carries on after the last chapter.
How charters work
A guided Blockline city unlocks its buildings chapter by chapter. Each chapter is a charter: a short brief from one of your advisers with a handful of goals. Meet every goal and hold them steady for the time shown, and the city earns a grant and opens new tools. The Charter app on the Mayor's Computer shows the current chapter's goals and how close you are.
The holding period matters. A goal met for a moment doesn't count; most chapters ask for days of steady performance, which is a test of whether the city can sustain what it has built. Push a number over the line by spending, and the charter will notice when it drops back.
The chapters
| Chapter | Goals | Hold for | Grant | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A place to call home 01 · Founding a settlement | Road tiles 8; Residential lots 6; Commercial lots 2; Industrial lots 4; Residents 40 | Once met | $2,000 | — |
| Keep the lights on 02 · Reliable foundations | Residents 120; Power coverage 90%; Water coverage 90% | 2 days | $3,500 | School, Cell tower, Fibre cable, Internet exchange, Coal plant, Library |
| More than houses 03 · A living neighbourhood | Residents 500; Happiness 55; Schools 1; Parks 3 | 2 days | $5,000 | Mixed use, Police station, Fire station, Treatment plant, Bus stop, Waste depot, Landfill, Clinic, Community centre, Playground, Arcade, medium-density zoning |
| A town that pays its way 04 · Financial independence | Residents 1,000; Daily surplus $10; Employed workforce 60% | 3 days | $7,500 | Train track, Railway bridge, Train station, Dock, Toll booth, Avenue, Hotel, Hydro dam, Cinema, Bowling alley, Swimming pool |
| A skyline of our own 05 · Becoming a city | Residents 2,500; Power coverage 90%; Water coverage 90%; Happiness 60 | 3 days | $12,000 | Hospital, City Hospital, University, Data centre, Museum, Nuclear plant, Courthouse, Police HQ, City Prison, Shopping mall, Recycling centre, Highway, Clean-energy retrofit, high-density zoning |
| Opportunity for everyone 06 · The knowledge economy | Residents 4,500; Universities 1; Hospitals 1; Digital coverage 80% | 3 days | $16,000 | Subway tunnel, Subway station, Shipyard, Botanical garden, Zoo, Music venue, Air filtration plant |
| Connected to the world 07 · Regional capital | Residents 9,000; Transit mode share 5%; Docks 1; Happiness 60 | 4 days | $24,000 | Airport, Hangar, Stadium, Theme park, Festival grounds |
| A city worth inheriting 08 · A lasting metropolis | Residents 25,000; Happiness 70; Power coverage 90%; Water coverage 90%; Daily surplus $150 | 7 days | $40,000 | — |
A few things worth knowing:
- The first two chapters are about foundations: a working neighbourhood, then power and water you can rely on. Don't race past them; a shaky grid gets harder to fix as the city grows.
- Medium and high density come from charters, not research. If lots are stuck at their zoning cap, the next charter is the fix (see industry and upgrades).
- The money chapter asks for a daily surplus, not a big treasury. Grants from earlier chapters won't carry it.
- Several unlocks are one per city: the walk-in venues and the landmarks (see venues).
Research
Research runs alongside the charters. Schools, libraries and above all universities produce research points every day: 2 per school, 3 per library and 6 per university. Education funding scales that output, and so does internet coverage: below 50% digital coverage research slows down in proportion.
In the Research app you choose one technology at a time to study. If nothing is chosen, points are banked rather than lost, but it is easy to forget, so check in when a technology completes.
Eras
Technologies belong to 4 eras: Industrial (steam, steel and the first factories), Electric (grids, trams and the modern utility), Digital (networks, data and the knowledge economy) and Green (clean power, circular industry and resilient streets). Finishing every technology of an era opens the next.
Industrial era
| Technology | Points | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Surveying | 20 | Plan streets and mains properly: infrastructure wears 10% slower. |
| Municipal bookkeeping | 25 | Unlocks the Balanced Budget and Business Rates ordinances. |
| Freight yards | 30 | Warehouses hold 25% more; freight moves faster. |
| Public health | 35 | Unlocks the Clean Air and Food Rationing ordinances. |
Electric era
| Technology | Points | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Electrification | 75 | Generators produce 10% more. |
| Mechanised building | 700 | Construction crews work 25% faster. |
| Civil service | 560 | Unlocks the Night Economy and Heritage Protection ordinances. |
| Rail logistics | 620 | Stations and docks move 30% more freight. |
Digital era
| Technology | Points | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Computing | 1,140 | Research 20% faster. |
| Smart grid | 1,650 | Infrastructure wears 15% slower; faults found sooner. |
| E-government | 1,750 | Per-resident service costs 10% lower. Unlocks Remote Work. |
| Just-in-time freight | 1,850 | Unlocks Freight Curfew; freight 20% faster. |
Green era
| Technology | Points | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Renewables | 1,800 | Solar and wind produce 20% more. Unlocks Green Building Code. |
| Circular economy | 1,850 | Unlocks Car-Free Centre; pollution 15% lower. |
| Resilient streets | 1,950 | Infrastructure wears 20% slower. |
| Fusion pilot | 2,500 | The long game: a capstone for the finished city. |
Costs rise steeply after the first era: the Industrial technologies are within reach of a school or two, but the later eras cost hundreds or thousands of points each, which is where universities earn their keep. The bonuses are permanent and stack: slower wear, faster construction crews, more power, more freight, cheaper services and less pollution.
Tip. Surveying is the cheapest technology in the tree, and its slower wear pays back on every network you own. It makes a good first pick.
Ordinances
Ordinances are city-wide policies enacted from the Ordinances app. Each has a daily cost that grows with the population, and each has clear winners and losers. Some are available from the start; the rest are unlocked by research. At most 6 can be in force at once, and repealing one refunds nothing.
| Ordinance | Winners | Losers | Daily cost | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Street sweeping | Residents, road condition | The treasury | $4 + $3 per 1,000 residents | Always |
| Neighbourhood watch | Quiet streets | Night-life (commercial demand) | $2 + $2 per 1,000 residents | Always |
| Balanced budget act | The treasury (upkeep −5%) | Services (happiness −2) | Free | Municipal bookkeeping |
| Business rates | Commercial tax +15% | Commercial demand | Free | Municipal bookkeeping |
| Clean air act | Health, land value | Industry (demand, tax) | $6 + $2 per 1,000 residents | Public health |
| Food rationing | Food lasts 25% longer | Everyone's mood | $2 + $1 per 1,000 residents | Public health |
| Night economy | Commerce and tourism | Sleep (crime, noise) | $3 + $2 per 1,000 residents | Civil service |
| Heritage protection | Land value, tourism | Developers (residential demand) | $5 + $1 per 1,000 residents | Civil service |
| Remote work | Commuters, traffic | High-street shops | $4 + $2 per 1,000 residents | E-government |
| Freight curfew | Residents' sleep | Freight (−20%) | Free | Just-in-time freight |
| Green building code | Pollution, wear | Construction cost | $8 + $3 per 1,000 residents | Renewables |
| Car-free centre | Walkability, happiness | Drivers, freight | $10 + $4 per 1,000 residents | Circular economy |
The free ordinances aren't free in practice: their cost is the losers' column. Business rates raise commercial tax at the expense of commercial demand; a freight curfew buys residents' sleep with freight capacity. Treat ordinances as tools for a specific problem (a food shortage, a smog crisis, a stalled high street) rather than permanent fixtures.
Charters and research both feed into how the city is judged; for the money side of that, see money.