Build the first home beside a connected road
On desktop, select Road and drag with the mouse to paint several connected tiles. With Road selected, Shift + drag pans the map. Undo reverses recent building and policy actions before the next month or event. Demolishing a building does not refund its construction cost.
- Follow the opening guidance to the suggested home tile. Show this tile on map brings the marked position into view. Check the construction cost and paying budget, then choose Place on a phone or Build here on a desktop.
- Follow the road suggestion next. Buildings need an adjacent road connected back to headquarters. A road segment beside a building is not enough if that segment is cut off from the network.
- Use Next month and read what changed in both budgets, employment, happiness, and household spending. Open Economy to inspect the city’s recent history before building again.
- Keep the city paused while deciding what it needs next. Add homes when people have somewhere to work; add businesses when residents need jobs. Check power and service coverage as the city spreads.
Build on a phone without losing the map
Drag one finger to pan the map, even with Road selected. Pinch to zoom, or open View for zoom, rotation, Fit and map layers. Close View when finished to see more of the city. The curved arrows rotate in quarter turns while keeping the marked tile selected and the current run or pause state. On a touchscreen, roads use the same tap-and-confirm flow as buildings, so moving the map does not lay a road accidentally.
- Tap Build in the bottom bar. Choose Basics, Work, or Life in the picker, then select a building. Its card shows the price and whether city or company funds pay for it. City opens Policies, Economy, sharing, saves and help without scrolling away from the map.
- Back on the map, tap the tile you want. Check the marked preview, exact price, and paying budget. Selecting a building or previewing a tile does not spend money.
- Tap Place to build, Change to choose another building, or Cancel to return to Inspect. If a tile is unavailable, read the reason and choose another spot.
Watch the city treasury and company cash separately
Money in one budget does not automatically pay bills in the other. Read the budget label on a build card before spending. An affordable building can still add more monthly costs than the city or company can support.
Household spending connects the two sides. Employed residents earn wages and buy from local businesses. Share company profits can support their spending in the following month, but payouts depend on actual profits and leave less money in the company.
| Budget | What it pays for | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| City treasury | Homes, roads, power, public services, and training investment | Construction price and ongoing monthly balance |
| Company cash | Shops, offices, AI facilities, wages, and company costs | Reachable workers, power, revenue, and profit sharing |
Use the first year to understand why the city changes
An open job somewhere on the map is not necessarily a job a resident can reach. Keep homes and businesses near connected roads, and use the map overlays and building inspector to see local problems. A distant service building also has limited reach and capacity.
If a job warning appears, choose Show affected homes. The map marks the homes whose residents are looking for work and focuses the most affected one. Next home cycles through them. Read Workers employed, Commute limit, and Nearest open job in the inspector; it also explains when reachable AI jobs need more skilled workers. Hide markers returns to an uncluttered map.
Major events pause the city while you choose. Read the costs and consequences for each option, then check the next monthly report. Change one part of your plan at a time so you can see whether it helped.
| What you see | What to inspect next |
|---|---|
| Empty or disconnected buildings | Select the building and check its connection to headquarters |
| Jobs exist but employment stays low | Check road routes, distance from homes, and skills; nearby jobs, transit, or training may help |
| Power shortage | Compare supply with demand before adding another business or increasing automation |
| Weak household spending | Check employment and whether company profits can fund sharing |
| A budget keeps shrinking | Look at its monthly balance and operating costs before placing another building |
Read each milestone as a checklist
Open an unfinished city milestone to see your current figures beside its targets. Requirements start collapsed so the sidebar stays compact, and your open choices stay in place as the month advances. Meet all its requirements together at the end of a month. A check mark means that requirement is met now; the grant is awarded at the monthly close. Earlier milestones must come first, though several can be awarded in the same month.
For Beyond the old town, the district breakdown names all three districts and shows how many more residents each needs to reach 20. Only two districts need to qualify. Service coverage is weighted by the residents living in each home, so place useful services where people live.
A working economy checks monthly income minus costs for both budgets. Having cash saved does not satisfy a negative monthly balance; breaking even does. No consecutive-month streak is required. The final milestone grant is separate from the campaign ending recorded at month 72.
| Milestone | Requirements at a month end |
|---|---|
| Room to grow | 100 residents and at least 80% employment |
| Beyond the old town | 160 residents, at least 20 residents in any two districts, and at least 35% local service coverage |
| A working economy | 240 residents, at least 80% employment, at least 65 happiness, and nonnegative monthly balances for both city and company |
| The future you built | Reach month 72 and complete the earlier milestones; you can earn this grant during continued play |
Keep growing neighborhoods moving
Traffic begins after month 30 when the city has at least 250 residents. Its pressure builds over 12 eligible months, giving you time to adapt. The City traffic card shows estimated recent commuting delays. Choose Show bottlenecks to mark the busy roads, then Next bottleneck to inspect their demand, capacity, and delay.
Shorter connected routes and jobs closer to homes reduce long commutes. A nearby transit hub extends the base commuting range and reduces car demand. Congestion gradually reduces how many residents will take longer journeys; adding an unrelated or disconnected road does not solve it.
Pooled robo-taxis unlock at month 31 with 250 residents. A depot costs $1,800 from company funds, costs the company $30 each month, and needs 8 power units. Connect it to roads and keep city power at least 98%. It serves homes within five tiles, reducing their remaining car demand by 40%; overlapping depots do not multiply the reduction. It provides transport, not new jobs.
Pause the city to inspect a route or plan a change. Cars, people, and ambient movement stop too, while panning and zooming keep working. The month readout says Paused or Running, and 3× speed advances the city visuals with the simulation.
Increase automation with jobs, power, and skills in view
City policies let you hire people, adopt more AI, invest in worker training, and share company profits. Automation changes business output and available jobs; it also increases power demand in offices and AI facilities. More company income can accompany weaker employment or spending, so read the whole economy view.
Training is an ongoing city expense. Training centers provide places for nearby residents, while funding determines the extra investment in skills. Check coverage and the city’s monthly balance before choosing a higher training level.
You do not need maximum automation to finish well. Try a people-focused city first, or increase automation gradually and watch the following months. A later replay with the same starting setup is a useful way to compare your decisions.
Invite a friend now, then compare the same month
After month 72, choose Saved campaign · Month 72 for your recorded result. The ending screen’s Share full results opens these campaign controls. This result stays frozen if you continue playing.
Share opens your current city first, with its actual month, a city preview, and a few key results. Use Share when your device supports it, Copy link, or Save image for a city postcard. More options contains X and a copied result post. At month 200, the image and current-city link show month 200; the saved campaign remains month 72.
A shared city link opens read-only results and leaves your friend’s city intact. The city image can travel as a supported share attachment or as a downloaded image you add to a post. Nothing publishes automatically. Results are self-reported snapshots, with no live player list or global leaderboard. For a downloaded copy, send the code and have your friend choose Share → Open a friend’s link. Send a new snapshot when you want to show later progress.
- Choose Share, then Play with a friend at any month and send its link. Your friend can start a separate city with the same starting seed and game rules.
- At month 12 or 24, share a fresh link to include your saved checkpoint. Earlier links stay unchanged. Both players can take as much real time as they need.
- Open the returned link and choose Compare with my city or Compare with saved challenge when available. Economy’s Compare friend results opens the saved comparison without restarting your city.
- Compare residents, employment, happiness, city cash, company cash, and household spending at the same checkpoint. Discuss the tradeoffs instead of treating the largest bank balance as the only result.
Save a city before trying a different future
The current city autosaves in this browser. Open Saves for three local slots, Export file, Import file, and Recover backup. Export a file if you want to carry your progress to another browser or device; an invitation link does not transfer the full city.
Browser data can disappear when you clear site storage, and private browsing may not retain it after the session. Keep an exported copy of a city you want to revisit. Once your first year feels stable, save a slot, choose one policy change, and watch what happens over the next year.
