Earn experience and protect growth
Transporting passengers and supplying required goods earn city growth experience. Reputation, Satisfaction, Delivery, Traffic, Noise and Pollution are the six ratings to balance: low ratings limit the growth factor and reduce the effect of that experience.
Cities have 18 growth levels, from small hamlets with fewer than 100 inhabitants through villages to metropolises. Progress through those levels requires experience points.
As cities grow, they require different quantities and types of goods. Simple supply chains can bring in many goods for fewer experience points; more complex chains can deliver fewer goods while awarding substantially more experience.
Watch the gameplay video for tram lane positioning, movable pedestrian crossings and traffic lights, and the effect of noise on residential areas.Playing this video connects to YouTube.
Choices that affect your city
- How should I choose between passenger service and goods deliveries?
- Both passenger transport and deliveries of required goods award growth experience. For cargo, weigh the volume available from simple supply chains against the greater experience awarded by goods with more industries in their production chain.
- What can improve Reputation and limit Pollution?
- Clearing a forest or moving large amounts of earth for an airport can hurt Reputation. It recovers over time, and planting trees can improve it. Industries, infrastructure and vehicles cause Pollution across the municipal area, so build infrastructure sparingly and use it efficiently.
- How do passenger journeys and cargo timing affect ratings?
- Satisfaction reflects station waits and travel times; faster or more comfortable vehicles may help on longer journeys. Delivery depends on each good’s expected arrival time. Food is more time-critical than bulk goods such as stones, which may suit an economical sea route. Late goods still earn revenue, but lower the city’s Delivery rating.
- What should I adjust when Traffic or Noise becomes a concern?
- Congestion lowers Traffic, so improve infrastructure or invest in public transport. You can reposition tram tracks to use a more effective lane and move pedestrian crossings or traffic lights. Noise significantly affects residential areas.
- Why can growth remain limited after I earn experience?
- Low city ratings limit the growth factor, making collected experience less effective. Balance the city’s basic needs with the effects of your infrastructure instead of improving one aspect at the expense of others.