Building Your First City: Difference between revisions

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[[file:CityDowntown.png|thumb|right|A neatly built downtown area of a city.]]
After getting used to the basic controls and having maybe explored your world a little, you are ready to found your civilization's first city.  


Every [[city]] is started by building a [[Town_Square|town square]]. A [[flag]] is needed to build a town square. If you do not have a flag, the materials may be present to [[handcraft]] one. On a new emperor's homeworld, the materials needed are certainly present. Read the [[Handcraft]] page for more information.
This guide assumes that there are no other cities, and that you are on your starting habitable world.  


Planning a town is often easier in [[Top-Down_View|top-down view]]; use the <code>Backspace</code> key to switch between top-down view and the first-person view of your [[avatar]]. In top-down view, the <code>[</code> and <code>]</code> keys will change the view zoom level; the <code>\</code> and <code>Shift+\</code> keys will change the information overlayed on the terrain.
It also assumes you've used the ''Reach for the Stars'' or ''The Savage State'' start types.


The [[Construction]] (F11) window offers controls for constructing [[buildings]] and [[road]]s. The column of small buttons on the right selects a category of buildings. Each of the large square buttons builds something. The lower section shows information about the building selected for construction; it also has buttons for selecting the construction material.
==Gathering Age==
[[File:ConstructionMenuManufacture.png|thumb|right|The construction menu, with [[Mine]] selected.]]
The first step to start a civilization is the construction of buildings; houses, farms, mines, workshops and so on. But to start any construction you first need construction materials.


Click the ''Town Square'' button to start building a town square. The Construction Materials section shows the town square requires only a flag. The terrain requirement is Land Not Near Anything which means the town square must be built entirely on land and it cannot be placed next to any existing building or road.
Press <code>Backspace</code> to enter the [[Top-Down_View|top-down view]] and use <code>\</code> and <code>Shift + \</code> to cycle through the different overlays. The first thing you will need to find is [[stone]] or [[Log|wood]].
{| class="wikitable"
|[[Stone]] icon||[[Log]] icon
|-
|[[File:C_Stone.png|center|50px]]
|[[File:C_Wood.png|center|50px]]
|}


Use the hand cursor to select a location on the terrain to build the town square. Press the <code>Enter</code> key or hold the <code>Ctrl</code> key to use the hand cursor. A green box will appear at the build location on the terrain. Arrow keys rotate the box. The box contains a green line from the center to the edge of the box. This indicates the front of any building you are constructing. It also selects the construction altitude; the end of the green line that touches the box is always elevated to the terrain, simplifying the process of placing buildings near roads. Click on the ground to build the town square.
Once you have found one of the basic construction material resources, open your ''[[Construction]]'' (<code>F11</code>) window, by pressing either <code>F11</code> or by clicking on the sidebar icon[[File:ConstructionIcon.png|16px]]. Now, in the building menu, select the ''Manufacture'' category at the top[[File:ManufactureCategory.png|16px]], and then select either the [[mine]][[File:BMine.png|16px|link=Mine]] or [[Logging_Camp|logging camp]][[File:BLoggingCamp.png|16px|link=Logging_Camp]] depending on your choice. It is important to select a small building blueprint, bigger buildings cost a lot of materials and you currently have none. Place the building in an area that has the resources.


After the town square is built, the city can be expanded. The general rule for construction is that everything must be built next to a road or next to the town square. There are a few minor exceptions, such as [[park]]s and [[zoo]]s.
'''Hint:''' A recommended building blueprint for a [[mine]] is the ''Quarry by Haxus''. It is very cheap and quick to construct. There is also a default logging camp blueprint, but it's more expensive, so it's generally recommended to use [[stone]] instead if possible.


Roads are used to expand the reach of the city. When starting a city, dirt roads should be used. Dirt roads require the least amount of labor and no building materials are needed.
===Material Foraging===
With the construction site of your first building down, you need to collect a few construction materials manually. This is done by [[Forage|foraging]] the [[stone]] or [[Log|wood]] needed.


On the Construction window, click the Dirt Road button to start building a dirt road. The terrain requirement is Land Near Road which means the dirt road must be built entirely on land and it must be placed next to an existing road (or the town square).
Go to the construction site and open the ''Building'' (<code>F10</code>) window. In the construction tab, the left box will show what is needed to construct the building.


Use the hand cursor to select a location next to the town square. Click the terrain to establish the starting point for the road segment. Click the terrain somewhere else to finish planning the road. Hold the shift key to constrain the road angle.
Use the [[Top-Down_View|top-down view]] to locate the needed materials and move to them. In first-person view, you should be able to find the resources and click it with the hand cursor.


When the mouse wheel is rolled, the circle showing the start location of the road grows twice as large. This selects a special kind of road section called a slab. Slabs are used to designate airports and vehicle spawn locations next to factories. Slabs level the terrain by forcing the second end of the slab segment to be at the same altitude as the first end, which significantly increases the labor required to build them.
===Construction===
Once you have have the needed materials, go back to the construction site. While on the construction site, open your [[Gear]] (<code>F4</code>) window and then drop the materials on the ground.


After clicking both ends of the road segment on the ground, the terrain changes to a road construction appearance. Move your character to stand within the road construction area.
Open the ''Building'' (<code>F10</code>) window again and press the "Work Construction Site" button. Stay at the construction site and keep the ''Building'' window open until the building is fully constructed.


To construct the road you have planned, display the ''City'' (F10) window. The left box is empty, showing that no materials are consumed. The right box shows things that affect the process but are not consumed. Bottom left is a check box labeled Employ Citizen. This has no effect yet because your town has no [[citizen]]s. Bottom right shows the amount of Labor Needed. Press the ''Work Construction Site'' button to apply labor. Construction of the dirt road section is complete when all labor has been applied.
A number at the bottom right shows the amount of labor needed. Working the construction site applies labor and lowers it. Construction is complete when all labor has been applied.


=Stone Age=
There is a small chance that some of the materials are [[waste]]d when applying them to the construction site. If so you will have to go forage replacements to the lost materials.
Construction materials are needed to build most [[buildings]]. In this example we will build everything out of [[stone]]. Use [[Top-Down_View|top-down view]] to locate stone.


On the [[Construction]] (<code>F11</code>) window, click the [[Mine]] button to start building a mine where the stone is located. You may need to build [[Dirt_Road|dirt road]] sections until the road passes next to the stone.
===Basic Tools===
Some building blueprints might require some [[tool]]s to construct, or might be faster to construct if specific tools are available. Basic tools are [[hammer]]s and [[shovel]]s, and they can both be [[handcraft]]ed using stone and logs.


A mine can be up to four levels deep, depending on the number of rocks present in the terrain area. The cursor shows a green number which is the number of levels to build. Roll the mouse wheel to change the number of levels. Build as many levels as possible at the stone outcropping.
Any required or optional tools for construction are shown in the right box of the Construction tab of the ''Building'' (<code>F10</code>) window.


Move the cursor near the road until it turns green. If it turns red because it overlaps the road, click the mouse to orient it to the road. When it turns green, click a location to build the mine.
To use a tool it most be in either a ready [[inventory]] slot, or in a [[Utility_Pouch|utility pouch]] in the belt slot.


After clicking on the ground, the terrain changes to a building construction appearance. Move your avatar to stand within the mine construction area and open the ''City'' (<code>F10</code>) window.
==Stone Age==
With a basic [[mine]] or [[Logging_Camp|logging camp]] constructed, you now have a source of construction materials so you don't need to [[forage]] anymore. Any construction site connected to you building will be able to automatically fetch needed construction materials from it.


Construction of a mine does not require any materials, just labor. Press the ''Work Construction Site'' button and wait until all levels of the mine are completed; you'll have to stay within the construction site and keep the ''City'' window open.
While you are standing at the [[mine]] or [[Logging_Camp|logging camp]] the ''Building'' (<code>F10</code>) window will have a tab for [[manufacturing]]. There should be a manufacturing line set to produce [[stone]] or [[log]]s, if not then delete the manufacturing line and create a new one for stone or logs by clicking this button: [[File:NewManufacturingLineButton.png|16px]]


Once construction is finished the ''City'' window will display the [[Manufacturing_Line|manufacturing line]]s. If a manufacturing line is set to produce anything other than stone, change it to produce stone. Press the ''Run'' button on each manufacturing line to mine some stone.
Start the manufacturing line by clicking the "Run" button. It will then count down for the process to finish. You do not have to stay at the building while the manufacturing line is being run, you can even construct a second building of the same type and alternate between multiple buildings to speed up production.


Mine a large amount of stone. 100 units of stone is a good start. This is the most tedious step of getting your first town going. After the first town, you should rarely ever need to do this again.
Mine a large amount of stone. 100 units of stone is a good start. This is the most tedious step of getting your first town going. After the first town, you should rarely ever need to do this again.


The [[Comm]] (<code>F3</code>) window can query your town for its current inventory at any time. To query for a city's inventory, you must be standing in a development of the [[city]], not in empty terrain near the city. Select the ''Trade'' channel on the Comm and press the "Inventory of City" button. The city will respond.
If you want, you can temporarily skip to the [[#Nation_Age|nation age]] part of this guide and build a [[capitol]] to allow you to remotely switch between buildings without running there.
 
'''Hint:''' On the ''Building'' (<code>F10</code>) window's building tab you can see the current inventory of the building.
 
===Food and Shelter===
[[File:ConstructionMenuFoodProduction.png|thumb|right|The construction menu, with [[Farm]] selected.]]
Next, you'll need to build homes and a basic farm. A town with homes attracts people to become its [[citizen]]s. Citizens fetch materials and apply labor to construction and manufacturing jobs of your town, freeing you from that tedium. Citizens need to have [[food]] to eat or they will not be very happy; they might even die.
 
Use the [[Construction]] (<code>F11</code>) window to build a [[farm]][[File:BFarm.png|16px|link=Farm]] near your other buildings. Go to the construction site and push the ''Work Construction Site'' button on the ''Building'' (<code>F10</code>) window to start manually constructing the farm, construction materials will automatically be fetched from the other buildings' inventories; you may have to go back to your other buildings if you run out of construction materials.
 
You may have noticed a check box labelled ''Employ Citizen'' when constructing buildings. This has no effect if your town has no [[citizen]]s, but if you do this will allow citizens to construct things for you.
 
Homes will be needed. Most farm [[Building_Blueprint|building blueprint]]s have homes included, but it is not a requirement. Make sure to look above the "Jobs" section of the Construction window to check if the design you're using has homes, as seen on the right.
 
'''Tip:''' A basic farm design is the ''Pioneer Cabin by Haxus''. It is fairly cheap to build and has homes.
 
It may also be a good idea to build a few [[home]]s[[File:BHouse.png|16px|link=House]] and [[apartment]]s[[File:BApartment.png|16px|link=Apartment]] at this point, to allow space for even more civilians to move in.
 
Time is needed for citizens to move into your burgeoning town. Now is a good time to take a break from building the town. Explore the surroundings. Hunt [[animal]]s. Go eat lunch or dinner, etc. Alternatively, you can continue progressing and manually running the processes until citizens have moved in.


=Food and Shelter=
After some time, the town will have an abundant supply of food and construction materials, because citizens are running the manufacturing lines. Your little town will be ready for growth. From now on, you should only have to plan the [[buildings]] and [[road]]s and your citizens will do the work.
[[File:ConstructionMenu.png|thumb|right|The construction menu, with [[Farm]] selected]]
A town with homes attracts people to become its [[citizen]]s. Citizens fetch materials and apply labor to construction and manufacturing jobs of your town, freeing you from that tedium. Citizens need to have [[food]] to eat or they will not be very happy; they might even die.


Use the [[Construction]] (<code>F11</code>) window to build a two-level [[farm]]. 30 units of [[stone]] are needed per level. Push the ''Work Construction Site'' button to start manually constructing the farm, stone will automatically be fetched from the city's inventory to the construction site; you may have to stay at the farm for a short time while the farm is being built.
===Roads===
Roads are used to connect buildings together. On the ''Construction'' (<code>F11</code>) window, click a road type button to start building a road.


A two-level farm adds four homes and three jobs to the town and it produces food. The extra home will result in one extra citizen to do other jobs outside the farm.
Dirt and stone roads are cheap and easy to build, so it's recommended to use these. Asphalt roads require [[oil]][[File:C_CrudeOil.png|16px|link=Oil]], so it's not recommended to use these.


More homes will be needed. Use the ''Construction'' (<code>F11</code>) window to build a four-level [[house]]. Each level requires 10 units of stone. A four-level house adds a total of eight homes and one job to your town.
Use the hand cursor to select a location. Click the terrain to establish the starting point for the road segment. Click the terrain somewhere else to finish planning the road.


Time is needed for citizens to move into your burgeoning town. Now is a good time to take a break from building the town. Explore the surroundings. Hunt [[animal]]s. Go eat lunch or dinner, maybe even log-off for the night.
The "Level grade" option makes roads level the terrain by forcing the second end of the road segment to be at the same altitude as the first end, which significantly increases the labor required to build them.


After some time, the town will have an abundant supply of food and stone in its inventory and there will be more people than jobs. Your little village will be ready for growth. From now on, you should only have to plan the [[buildings]] and [[road]]s and your citizens will do the work.
After clicking both ends of the road segment on the ground, the terrain changes to a road construction appearance. Move your character to stand within the road construction area.


=City Report=
To construct the road you have planned, use the ''Building'' (<code>F10</code>) window like you did for your other buildings. Stone for concrete roads is automatically fetched from the environment if available.
Every 13 minutes, your [[city]] creates a status report for you, commonly referred to as a [[City_Report|city report]]. To request a city report, use the [[Governance]] (<code>F12</code>) window, ''Cities'' tab; then right-click a city. City reports provide all the information needed to manage a city.


City reports show factors affecting the [[morale]] of the [[citizen]]s. Morale determines whether the population will grow or shrink. A positive morale causes citizens to immigrate into the city. A negative moral causes citizens to emigrate out of the city.
===Hints and Tip===
* Place all buildings and roads using the [[Top-Down_View|top-down view]]. This will make planning, placement and organization a lot easier. It is essential when you are placing resource harvesting building because it lets you see where the natural resources are.
* Hold the <code>Shift</code> key to snap the road angle, to make cleaner city layouts.
* When placing a building, you can press the <code>Space</code> key to auto-align it to the road.
* Also, when placing, you can pause and hover buildings over an area for a second to get a pop-up showing the resources it would have access to. This is useful for optimizing your [[mine]] production.  
* A tooltip showing the amount of construction materials needed appears if you hold the cursor over the row of "Construction Materials" icons in the [[Construction]] window.


Certain events that occur in a city are carried out at the time the city report is generated. Most importantly, this is when the population of the city changes due to migration of citizens.
==Metal Age==
[[File:HoverResourcePopup.gif|thumb|right|Hovering the mouse over a resource to see what the building would have access to.]]
[[Metal]] production is needed to advance further. Metal is an essential component needed for producing [[electricity]] and manufacturing [[vehicle]]s and [[spacecraft]]. Your [[city]] cannot progress without metal.


Review the status report periodically as you continue building the city. Each new building will add jobs to the city. More homes and [[food]] will be needed as the number of jobs increases. The demands of the citizens will change as the city grows.
Metal is smelted from [[ore]]. Ore is a mineral [[resource]] that is mined from the environment. Use [[Top-Down_View|top-down view]] to locate ore. Build a [[mine]] there. You may need to do some exploring to locate ore.
[[File:C_Ore.png|thumb|none|[[Ore]] icon]]


=Metal Age=
'''Note:''' The ''Quarry by Haxus'' can '''only''' mine [[stone]]. You will need to use a different mine blueprint to mine [[ore]].
[[Metal]] production is needed to advance any farther. Metal is an essential component needed for producing [[electricity]] and manufacturing [[vehicle]]s and [[spacecraft]]. Your [[city]] cannot progress without metal.


Metal is smelted from [[ore]]. Ore is a mineral [[resource]] that is mined from the environment. Use [[Top-Down_View|top-down view]] to locate ore. Build a [[mine]] there, as many levels as possible. You may need to do some exploring to locate ore.
The icons on the top-down view just indicates that there are ore rocks in that area, but not how many or exactly where. When you are placing a mine, hover it over an area for a second and it will show how many rocks are within the mine's site. The mine won't be able to have more ore mining workshops than there are ore rocks at the mine's site.


Build a [[smelter]]. The smelter will create metal using ore from the city's inventory. The resulting metal is stored back into the city's inventory.
When using a large mine blueprint for ore, but there aren't enough ore rocks to fill all the workshops, consider using the spares for stone and retiring your old stone mines.


The city's inventory can reveal weaknesses in your manufacturing potential. For example if your inventory accumulates a large amount of ore but has little or no metal, you probably need more smelters. If your inventory has no ore and little or no metal, you probably need to increase your ore production.
Build a [[smelter]][[File:BSmelter.png|16px|link=Smelter]]. The smelter will create metal using ore gathered by the mine. The resulting metal is stored in the smelter's inventory.


===Tools===
===Tools===
[[file:ManufacturingLinesExample.png|thumb|right|The City window showing the 8 [[Manufacturing_Line|manufacturing line]]s of a level 8 [[Machine_Shop|machine shop]].]]
[[file:ManufacturingLinesExample.png|thumb|right|The ''Building'' window showing [[Manufacturing_Line|manufacturing line]]s of a [[Machine_Shop|machine shop]].]]
With metal it becomes possible to manufacture metal tools. [[Tool]]s are required to construct more advanced [[buildings]] and vehicles. Some tools also increase the efficiency of manufacturing processes.
With metal it becomes possible to manufacture a wide range of metal tools. [[Tool]]s are required in some more advanced [[building]] construction and manufacturing processes. Some tools also increase the efficiency of manufacturing processes or construct speed of new buildings.
 
Construct a [[Machine_Shop|machine shop]][[File:BMachineShop.png|16px|link=Machine_Shop]] in order to start producing tools. Configure [[Manufacturing_Line|manufacturing line]]s to produce some basic tools. The most important tools at this stage are [[hammer]]s, [[shovel]]s, and [[Sewing_Needle|sew needle]]s, but having all types of tools is always good.
 
'''Tip:''' Tools aren't directly consumed when used, instead they have a chance to take durability damage. Tools made from good [[quality]] materials will be more durable.
 
==Nation Age==
With [[metal]] available your town is ready to become a real [[city]] and a [[capital]]. Do note that you can still create a city without metal if the [[capitol]] design allows so.
 
If you haven't already created an [[empire]], you need to either [[handcraft]] or otherwise acquire a [[flag]] in order to create a new empire. You will be unable to turn your town into a real city if you aren't in an empire.


Construct a [[Machine_Shop|machine shop]] in order to start producing tools. Each [[Manufacturing_Line|manufacturing line]] can be set to produce a different tool. The most important tools in the at this stage are [[hammer]]s, [[shovel]]s, and [[Sewing_Needle|sew needle]]s, but a having all types of tools is good.
For more information, see the [[Starting as an Emperor]].


Tools aren't directly consumed when used, instead tools have a chance to take durability damage. Tools made from good [[quality]] materials will be more durable.
===City===
Build a [[capitol]][[File:BCapitol.png|16px|link=Capitol]] building in your town. When you place it you will be prompted to give it a name and possibly name the [[Solar_System|solar system]] and [[sector]] if they aren't named already.


=Electrical Age=
The capitol building has a small [[jurisdiction]] radius around it, buildings inside this area are considered part of the city. This jurisdiction area can be extended by constructing [[Police_Station|police station]]s.
Your city will grow very slowly until electrical power is generated. This is because the citizens do not work at night when there is no [[electricity]]. Once the city has electricity, the lights come on brightly at night and the citizens work all the time. The pace of development of the city increases once it has electricity.


Resources and terrain at your city will determine which power plant is best to build first. If you are near a coast line, build a [[Hydroelectric_Power_Plant|hydroelectric power plant]]. It is built with relatively simple materials and it does not consume any fuel. A tool tip showing the amount of each item needed appears if you hold the cursor over the row of Construction Materials icons.
The capitol building allows easy remote access to all factory [[Manufacturing_Line|manufacturing line]]s in the city's jurisdiction. It is also possible to remotely do construction using the capitol building.


If you are not near a coast line, the [[Coal_Power_Plant|coal power plant]] is probably the next best choice. This requires you to locate [[coal]] in your area and to build a [[mine]] there. Coal is also a necessary component of [[Gun_Powder|gun powder]], if you decide to make firearms.
If you skipped here from the [[#Stone_Age|stone age]] part of this guide, you should now go back and continue from there.


Alternatively consider a [[Wind_Power_Plant|wind power plant]].
===Capital===
[[File:DeclaringCapital.png|thumb|right|Setting your city to be the [[Empire_Capital|empire capital]].]]
To declare the city as your capital you need to go to your capitol building.


=Industrial Age=
Declare it as both an empire capital and a sector capital. To do this, stand at the capitol building's site, open the ''Building'' (<code>F10</code>) window, on the ''Capitol'' tab click the two buttons in the upper-right corner.
The first step to make your civilization expand beyond the horizon will be trade connection by air. Your [[city]] is a long way from producing everything needed to build an [[Airport_Terminal|airport terminal]]. Let's do it anyway, as a way to figure out what is needed.


Build a [[Road_Slab|road slab]]. A slab is a wide section of road that is level. A slab is required before you can build an airport terminal.
The empire capital city will be the city that you [[respawn]] at after dying.


Build an airport terminal next to the road slab. The road slab becomes a landing place for the future [[spacecraft]] that your civilization will make.
===City Report===
Every 13 minutes, your [[city]] creates a status report for you, commonly referred to as a [[City_Report|city report]]. To request a city report, use the [[Governance]] (<code>F12</code>) window, ''Cities and Bases'' tab; then right-click a city. City reports provide all the information needed to manage a city.


Look at the ''City'' (<code>F10</code>) window to review the requirements for the airport terminal. You do not have all that is needed. Build the industries that are necessary to make those things needed to complete construction of the airport terminal.
City reports show factors affecting the [[morale]] of the [[citizen]]s. Morale determines whether the population will grow or shrink. A positive morale causes citizens to immigrate into the city faster. A negative moral causes citizens to emigrate out of the city.


Your town will grow to considerable size by the time you complete this step. As you place each new industry, the ''City'' (<code>F10</code>) window will show what is required to build that new industry and it will show what is required to manufacture that new industry's products.
Review the status report periodically as you continue building the city. Each new building will add jobs to the city. More homes and [[food]] will be needed as the number of jobs increases. The demands of the citizens will change as the city grows.


Keep working your way down the production chain until everything needed to complete construction of the airport terminal is being manufactured. It's not hard to figure out now that you have learned the basics of construction and manufacturing.
Make sure to keep an eye on the morale demands and build them as needed. This will keep your city stable.


===Trade Connections===
===Economy===
Trade routes allow for cities in the same [[Solar_System|solar system]] to trade and share [[commodities]] with each other.
Build a [[bank]] and start minting metal bullion. Money is useful for trading later on.
 
===Airport Immigration===
Constructing an [[Airport_Terminal|airport terminal]][[File:BAirportTerminal.png|16px|link=Airport_Terminal]] allows for citizens to immigrate into your city from outside your city's local wilderness. Citizens immigrating via an airport can double your immigration rate. This works even if you don't have any actual aircraft in your city.
 
An airport terminal can be built using a basic [[Building_Blueprint|building blueprint]] that doesn't use anything else than metal. So making it early can greatly increase your city's growth rate.
 
==Electrical Age==
Your city will grow very slowly until electrical power is generated. This is because the citizens do not work at night when there is no [[electricity]][[File:C_Electricity.png|16px|link=Electricity]]. Once the city has electricity, the citizens work all the time. The pace of development in the city increases dramatically once it has electricity.


Cities can be connected by [[road]], sea, or air.
Resources and terrain near your city will determine which [[:Category:Power_Generation_Buildings|power plant]] is best to build first. If you are near a coast line, build a [[Hydroelectric_Power_Plant|hydroelectric power plant]][[File:BHydroelectricPowerPlant.png|16px|link=Hydroelectric_Power_Plant]]. It is built with relatively simple materials and it does not consume any fuel.
* Two cities that are connected by road will have the fastest trade connection. It also allows the two cities to share [[electricity]].
* Any city with a [[wharf]] is connected to all other cities on the same [[world]] that also have a wharf.
* All cities with an airport terminal in the same solar system are connected.


For more information, see the [[City Trade]] page.
If you are not near a coast line, the [[Coal_Power_Plant|coal power plant]][[File:BCoalPowerPlant.png|16px|link=Coal_Power_Plant]] is probably the next best choice. This requires you to locate [[coal]] in your area and to build a [[mine]] there. Coal is also a necessary component of [[Gun_Powder|gun powder]], if you decide to make firearms.


=Rocket Age=
If you don't have a coast or coal, consider a [[Wind_Power_Plant|wind power plant]][[File:BWindPowerPlant.png|16px|link=Wind_Power_Plant]].
Your goal in building your first [[city]] is to develop space travel. To do that, you will need a [[Spacecraft_Factory|spacecraft factory]]. Either make a new [[Road_Slab|road slab]] or use the same road slab as the [[Airport_Terminal|airport terminal]]. Build the spacecraft factory next to the road slab.


By the time the spacecraft factory is finished, your town will have grown into a city. You are close to slipping the surly bonds of your world.
'''Note:''' Most power plant blueprints require quite a lot of resources and labor to construct. You may need to scale up your mining and smelting operations for this.


But wait! The spacecraft factory needs a spacecraft design to manufacture. You quickly read [[Designing A Spacecraft]] and build a design studio. After spending a day designing the ultimate ship, you return to the spacecraft factory, design disk in hand, only to discover that two things are needed that you don't have, grav couplings and lumenite. You look up into the sky. Somehow, you know the things you need are out there.
==Industrial Age==
The first step to advance your civilization towards the stars has been taken. Now your civilization will start its industrial revolution. [[Electricity]] allows for faster manufacturing and working at night, but it also opens up the possibility for [[Electronic_Part|electronic part]]s[[File:C_ElectronicPart.png|16px|link=Electronic_Part]] and [[computer]]s[[File:C_Computer.png|16px|link=Computer]].


Build an aircraft factory. This is built quickly given the production capacity of your city. Set the aircraft factory to manufacture space rockets. Build any additional industries needed to manufacture the space rocket. It will require a large rocket motor, which your city is probably not manufacturing yet.
An [[Airport_Radar|airport radar]][[File:BAirportRadar.png|16px|link=Airport_Radar]] is a good example of a building that your civilization should be able to build at the end of this stage. Place down an airport radar construction site; once constructed it will allow your civilization to watch the skies for threats and greet visitors.


The space rocket and all spacecraft will require hydrogen for fuel. Build a refinery to make hydrogen.
Look at the ''Building'' (<code>F10</code>) window to see the requirements for the airport radar. You do not have all that is needed. Build the industries that are necessary to make those things needed to complete construction of the airport radar.


Harsh conditions exist in space and on other worlds. An environment suit will be needed to survive. Build an armoror to make environment suits and environment suit helmets.
Your town will grow to considerable size by the time you complete this stage. As you place each new building, the ''Building'' (<code>F10</code>) window will show what is required to build that new building and also what is required to manufacture that new industry's products.


<b>Once these things are finished, the rocket training mission starts automatically.</b> The rocket training mission will only start if your character has less than 3 minutes of experience in a space rocket and your city has a new unused rocket, hydrogen, environment suits, and environment suit helmets. The mission provides the player with an environment suit and helmet if the character has never possessed them. <b>It is a good idea to stay out of the rocket and wait for the rocket training mission to start automatically.</b>
Keep working your way down the production chain until everything needed to complete construction of the airport radar is being manufactured. It's not hard to figure out now that you have learned the basics of construction and manufacturing.


=Launch Me Now Tutorial=
===Industrial Resources===
You can skip the rocket training mission if you are in a hurry to get into space. However, the training mission isn't very long and it does have some valuable things to teach, and you get a free space suit just by starting the mission. You will find that EVA suits are expensive.
A few additional [[resource]]s will be required in this stage of development. Most notably [[oil]], but also [[minerals]] and [[crystals]].
{| class="wikitable"
|[[Oil]] icon||[[Minerals]] icon||[[Crystals]] icon
|-
|[[File:C_CrudeOil.png|50px|center]]
|[[File:C_Minerals.png|50px|center]]
|[[File:C_Crystals.png|50px|center]]
|}


When the space rocket is manufactured, it spawns on the road slab next to the aircraft factory. Look at the space rocket and press E to enter it. Once inside, E will exit the rocket. While sitting in the rocket on the road slab, the K key will request service, which will refuel the rocket if the city has hydrogen in its inventory, and it will repair a portion of any damage to the rocket.
Some of the resources can be rarer than others depending on the randomly generated world. Oil is especially critical and can be a hindrance. Exploring the other [[Resource_Zone|resource zone]]s of your world might ne necessary.


The space rocket is the most challenging space vehicle to fly, due to its inertial movement physics. When you enter the cockpit, you will initially be facing the sky ahead of the rocket. For a "Buggs Bunny" blast-off, turn around to face the ground behind you. Press Shift+PageUp to maximize the throttle. Press P to turn on the power. Once outside the atmosphere, press Delete to kill the throttle. The rocket drifts with inertia. Steer the rocket using the A, D, W, and S keys. Roll the rocket with Z and C. Arrow keys provide weak lateral movement thrust. Space bar applies brakes along the forward/reverse axis of the rocket. Q applies brakes laterally. Hold space bar and Q together until the rocket stops completely.
===Trade Connections===
Trade routes allow for cities connected together to trade and share [[commodities]] with each other.


The rocket holds its position in space as long as the engine is on. EVA from the rocket by pressing E. Maneuver EVA in the environment suit using W A S D Z and C keys. Space bar applies brakes. Without an environment suit, you cannot control your body's acceleration or braking while EVA; you will plummet to the world below.
Cities can be connected by [[road]], sea, or air.
* Two cities that are connected by road will have the fastest trade connection. It also allows the two cities to share [[electricity]].
* Any city with a [[wharf]] is connected to all other cities on the same [[world]] that also have a wharf.
* All cities with an airport terminal in the same solar system are connected.


=Space Age=
This allows you to travel to other [[Resource_Zone|resource zone]]s on your homeworld and get any [[resource]]s you might be missing or resources of better [[quality]].
The space rocket enables you to explore your solar system. You must find eludium and lumenite. Eludium is needed to manufacture grav couplings, an essential component of gravity drive units. Lumenite is an essential component of wormhole drive units.


Lumenite will be the hardest to find as it is very rare. When you find it, there will likely be an abundance of eludium in the area. Search the smallest coldest darkest moons for lumenite, that is where it is most prevalent. It is also found on the colder planets but eludium is unlikely to be found nearby on a planet that has an atmosphere. Lumenite glows bright blue in the dark. Eludium is most prevalent where there is little to no atmosphere. Lumenite and eludium are mineral resources so top-down view will show them along with stone and other rocks. Eludium tends to be so prevalent that it is shown on the overlay that shows stone.
For more information, see the [[City Trade]] page.


When you find lumenite and eludium, read [[Building Your First Moon Base]].
==Next Steps==
At this point, you're ready to start thinking about space travel.


Your first solar system is guaranteed to have eludium and lumenite. However, due to the way rock resources are distributed, it is remotely possible that the only lumenite in the system is in a location that cannot be mined. Here are some suggestions if you find yourself in this rare "stuck" situation:
It's helpful to start production of [[EV_Suit|EV Suit]]s[[File:C_VacSuit.png|16px|link=EV_Suit]] and [[Space Rocket]]s[[File:C_SpaceRocket.png|16px|link=Space_Rocket]].  


* If you find lumenite but can't build a mine there, forage the lumenite you need by hand. Go to a retail store and use the Comm to sell the lumenite to the town. It will be stored in the town's inventory, where it can be fetched by the spacecraft factory. It doesn't take much lumenite to build a small spacecraft with wormhole drives.
For the next part, see [[Building Your First Moon Colony]].
* Design a spacecraft that does not require lumenite. Lumenite is only needed for wormhole drives. You could then [[deadhead]] to the nearest star in that ship and cross your fingers. Plan ahead. Take everything you need, including colonists.
* Fly the space rocket to another solar system. This sounds insane but it has been done many times. Carry extra cans of hydrogen with you; the K key will refuel your vehicle using items in your inventory. The + shaped stars can be reached directly. Size is based on distance; the larger the +, the closer the star is to you. The rocket takes about 6 minutes to reach light speed at maximum throttle; the speed reading on the HUD will stop increasing at light speed. Turn off the engine and coast until you are near enough to the destination to begin braking; as with accelerating, it takes about 6 minutes to decelerate from light speed.


[[Category:Guides]]
[[Category:Guides]]

Latest revision as of 12:37, 10 March 2024

A neatly built downtown area of a city.

After getting used to the basic controls and having maybe explored your world a little, you are ready to found your civilization's first city.

This guide assumes that there are no other cities, and that you are on your starting habitable world.

It also assumes you've used the Reach for the Stars or The Savage State start types.

Gathering Age

The construction menu, with Mine selected.

The first step to start a civilization is the construction of buildings; houses, farms, mines, workshops and so on. But to start any construction you first need construction materials.

Press Backspace to enter the top-down view and use \ and Shift + \ to cycle through the different overlays. The first thing you will need to find is stone or wood.

Stone icon Log icon

Once you have found one of the basic construction material resources, open your Construction (F11) window, by pressing either F11 or by clicking on the sidebar icon. Now, in the building menu, select the Manufacture category at the top, and then select either the mine or logging camp depending on your choice. It is important to select a small building blueprint, bigger buildings cost a lot of materials and you currently have none. Place the building in an area that has the resources.

Hint: A recommended building blueprint for a mine is the Quarry by Haxus. It is very cheap and quick to construct. There is also a default logging camp blueprint, but it's more expensive, so it's generally recommended to use stone instead if possible.

Material Foraging

With the construction site of your first building down, you need to collect a few construction materials manually. This is done by foraging the stone or wood needed.

Go to the construction site and open the Building (F10) window. In the construction tab, the left box will show what is needed to construct the building.

Use the top-down view to locate the needed materials and move to them. In first-person view, you should be able to find the resources and click it with the hand cursor.

Construction

Once you have have the needed materials, go back to the construction site. While on the construction site, open your Gear (F4) window and then drop the materials on the ground.

Open the Building (F10) window again and press the "Work Construction Site" button. Stay at the construction site and keep the Building window open until the building is fully constructed.

A number at the bottom right shows the amount of labor needed. Working the construction site applies labor and lowers it. Construction is complete when all labor has been applied.

There is a small chance that some of the materials are wasted when applying them to the construction site. If so you will have to go forage replacements to the lost materials.

Basic Tools

Some building blueprints might require some tools to construct, or might be faster to construct if specific tools are available. Basic tools are hammers and shovels, and they can both be handcrafted using stone and logs.

Any required or optional tools for construction are shown in the right box of the Construction tab of the Building (F10) window.

To use a tool it most be in either a ready inventory slot, or in a utility pouch in the belt slot.

Stone Age

With a basic mine or logging camp constructed, you now have a source of construction materials so you don't need to forage anymore. Any construction site connected to you building will be able to automatically fetch needed construction materials from it.

While you are standing at the mine or logging camp the Building (F10) window will have a tab for manufacturing. There should be a manufacturing line set to produce stone or logs, if not then delete the manufacturing line and create a new one for stone or logs by clicking this button:

Start the manufacturing line by clicking the "Run" button. It will then count down for the process to finish. You do not have to stay at the building while the manufacturing line is being run, you can even construct a second building of the same type and alternate between multiple buildings to speed up production.

Mine a large amount of stone. 100 units of stone is a good start. This is the most tedious step of getting your first town going. After the first town, you should rarely ever need to do this again.

If you want, you can temporarily skip to the nation age part of this guide and build a capitol to allow you to remotely switch between buildings without running there.

Hint: On the Building (F10) window's building tab you can see the current inventory of the building.

Food and Shelter

The construction menu, with Farm selected.

Next, you'll need to build homes and a basic farm. A town with homes attracts people to become its citizens. Citizens fetch materials and apply labor to construction and manufacturing jobs of your town, freeing you from that tedium. Citizens need to have food to eat or they will not be very happy; they might even die.

Use the Construction (F11) window to build a farm near your other buildings. Go to the construction site and push the Work Construction Site button on the Building (F10) window to start manually constructing the farm, construction materials will automatically be fetched from the other buildings' inventories; you may have to go back to your other buildings if you run out of construction materials.

You may have noticed a check box labelled Employ Citizen when constructing buildings. This has no effect if your town has no citizens, but if you do this will allow citizens to construct things for you.

Homes will be needed. Most farm building blueprints have homes included, but it is not a requirement. Make sure to look above the "Jobs" section of the Construction window to check if the design you're using has homes, as seen on the right.

Tip: A basic farm design is the Pioneer Cabin by Haxus. It is fairly cheap to build and has homes.

It may also be a good idea to build a few homes and apartments at this point, to allow space for even more civilians to move in.

Time is needed for citizens to move into your burgeoning town. Now is a good time to take a break from building the town. Explore the surroundings. Hunt animals. Go eat lunch or dinner, etc. Alternatively, you can continue progressing and manually running the processes until citizens have moved in.

After some time, the town will have an abundant supply of food and construction materials, because citizens are running the manufacturing lines. Your little town will be ready for growth. From now on, you should only have to plan the buildings and roads and your citizens will do the work.

Roads

Roads are used to connect buildings together. On the Construction (F11) window, click a road type button to start building a road.

Dirt and stone roads are cheap and easy to build, so it's recommended to use these. Asphalt roads require oil, so it's not recommended to use these.

Use the hand cursor to select a location. Click the terrain to establish the starting point for the road segment. Click the terrain somewhere else to finish planning the road.

The "Level grade" option makes roads level the terrain by forcing the second end of the road segment to be at the same altitude as the first end, which significantly increases the labor required to build them.

After clicking both ends of the road segment on the ground, the terrain changes to a road construction appearance. Move your character to stand within the road construction area.

To construct the road you have planned, use the Building (F10) window like you did for your other buildings. Stone for concrete roads is automatically fetched from the environment if available.

Hints and Tip

  • Place all buildings and roads using the top-down view. This will make planning, placement and organization a lot easier. It is essential when you are placing resource harvesting building because it lets you see where the natural resources are.
  • Hold the Shift key to snap the road angle, to make cleaner city layouts.
  • When placing a building, you can press the Space key to auto-align it to the road.
  • Also, when placing, you can pause and hover buildings over an area for a second to get a pop-up showing the resources it would have access to. This is useful for optimizing your mine production.
  • A tooltip showing the amount of construction materials needed appears if you hold the cursor over the row of "Construction Materials" icons in the Construction window.

Metal Age

Hovering the mouse over a resource to see what the building would have access to.

Metal production is needed to advance further. Metal is an essential component needed for producing electricity and manufacturing vehicles and spacecraft. Your city cannot progress without metal.

Metal is smelted from ore. Ore is a mineral resource that is mined from the environment. Use top-down view to locate ore. Build a mine there. You may need to do some exploring to locate ore.

Ore icon

Note: The Quarry by Haxus can only mine stone. You will need to use a different mine blueprint to mine ore.

The icons on the top-down view just indicates that there are ore rocks in that area, but not how many or exactly where. When you are placing a mine, hover it over an area for a second and it will show how many rocks are within the mine's site. The mine won't be able to have more ore mining workshops than there are ore rocks at the mine's site.

When using a large mine blueprint for ore, but there aren't enough ore rocks to fill all the workshops, consider using the spares for stone and retiring your old stone mines.

Build a smelter. The smelter will create metal using ore gathered by the mine. The resulting metal is stored in the smelter's inventory.

Tools

The Building window showing manufacturing lines of a machine shop.

With metal it becomes possible to manufacture a wide range of metal tools. Tools are required in some more advanced building construction and manufacturing processes. Some tools also increase the efficiency of manufacturing processes or construct speed of new buildings.

Construct a machine shop in order to start producing tools. Configure manufacturing lines to produce some basic tools. The most important tools at this stage are hammers, shovels, and sew needles, but having all types of tools is always good.

Tip: Tools aren't directly consumed when used, instead they have a chance to take durability damage. Tools made from good quality materials will be more durable.

Nation Age

With metal available your town is ready to become a real city and a capital. Do note that you can still create a city without metal if the capitol design allows so.

If you haven't already created an empire, you need to either handcraft or otherwise acquire a flag in order to create a new empire. You will be unable to turn your town into a real city if you aren't in an empire.

For more information, see the Starting as an Emperor.

City

Build a capitol building in your town. When you place it you will be prompted to give it a name and possibly name the solar system and sector if they aren't named already.

The capitol building has a small jurisdiction radius around it, buildings inside this area are considered part of the city. This jurisdiction area can be extended by constructing police stations.

The capitol building allows easy remote access to all factory manufacturing lines in the city's jurisdiction. It is also possible to remotely do construction using the capitol building.

If you skipped here from the stone age part of this guide, you should now go back and continue from there.

Capital

Setting your city to be the empire capital.

To declare the city as your capital you need to go to your capitol building.

Declare it as both an empire capital and a sector capital. To do this, stand at the capitol building's site, open the Building (F10) window, on the Capitol tab click the two buttons in the upper-right corner.

The empire capital city will be the city that you respawn at after dying.

City Report

Every 13 minutes, your city creates a status report for you, commonly referred to as a city report. To request a city report, use the Governance (F12) window, Cities and Bases tab; then right-click a city. City reports provide all the information needed to manage a city.

City reports show factors affecting the morale of the citizens. Morale determines whether the population will grow or shrink. A positive morale causes citizens to immigrate into the city faster. A negative moral causes citizens to emigrate out of the city.

Review the status report periodically as you continue building the city. Each new building will add jobs to the city. More homes and food will be needed as the number of jobs increases. The demands of the citizens will change as the city grows.

Make sure to keep an eye on the morale demands and build them as needed. This will keep your city stable.

Economy

Build a bank and start minting metal bullion. Money is useful for trading later on.

Airport Immigration

Constructing an airport terminal allows for citizens to immigrate into your city from outside your city's local wilderness. Citizens immigrating via an airport can double your immigration rate. This works even if you don't have any actual aircraft in your city.

An airport terminal can be built using a basic building blueprint that doesn't use anything else than metal. So making it early can greatly increase your city's growth rate.

Electrical Age

Your city will grow very slowly until electrical power is generated. This is because the citizens do not work at night when there is no electricity. Once the city has electricity, the citizens work all the time. The pace of development in the city increases dramatically once it has electricity.

Resources and terrain near your city will determine which power plant is best to build first. If you are near a coast line, build a hydroelectric power plant. It is built with relatively simple materials and it does not consume any fuel.

If you are not near a coast line, the coal power plant is probably the next best choice. This requires you to locate coal in your area and to build a mine there. Coal is also a necessary component of gun powder, if you decide to make firearms.

If you don't have a coast or coal, consider a wind power plant.

Note: Most power plant blueprints require quite a lot of resources and labor to construct. You may need to scale up your mining and smelting operations for this.

Industrial Age

The first step to advance your civilization towards the stars has been taken. Now your civilization will start its industrial revolution. Electricity allows for faster manufacturing and working at night, but it also opens up the possibility for electronic parts and computers.

An airport radar is a good example of a building that your civilization should be able to build at the end of this stage. Place down an airport radar construction site; once constructed it will allow your civilization to watch the skies for threats and greet visitors.

Look at the Building (F10) window to see the requirements for the airport radar. You do not have all that is needed. Build the industries that are necessary to make those things needed to complete construction of the airport radar.

Your town will grow to considerable size by the time you complete this stage. As you place each new building, the Building (F10) window will show what is required to build that new building and also what is required to manufacture that new industry's products.

Keep working your way down the production chain until everything needed to complete construction of the airport radar is being manufactured. It's not hard to figure out now that you have learned the basics of construction and manufacturing.

Industrial Resources

A few additional resources will be required in this stage of development. Most notably oil, but also minerals and crystals.

Oil icon Minerals icon Crystals icon

Some of the resources can be rarer than others depending on the randomly generated world. Oil is especially critical and can be a hindrance. Exploring the other resource zones of your world might ne necessary.

Trade Connections

Trade routes allow for cities connected together to trade and share commodities with each other.

Cities can be connected by road, sea, or air.

  • Two cities that are connected by road will have the fastest trade connection. It also allows the two cities to share electricity.
  • Any city with a wharf is connected to all other cities on the same world that also have a wharf.
  • All cities with an airport terminal in the same solar system are connected.

This allows you to travel to other resource zones on your homeworld and get any resources you might be missing or resources of better quality.

For more information, see the City Trade page.

Next Steps

At this point, you're ready to start thinking about space travel.

It's helpful to start production of EV Suits and Space Rockets.

For the next part, see Building Your First Moon Colony.

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