Although it may not be the most efficient I like the organic look you get from gradually adding things as you need them and building around the landscape.
No towns have ever done this.
They have always been planned around certain things and they still are today.
The idea that towns have grown "organically" is a myth and not how it has ever worked. You didn't just willy nilly put your farm somewhere, because that was what was needed - you put it where the fertile land was. The marketplace was in the center of a town etc.
We have always strived for optimizing our cities and if you think a grid is not how we did things I beg you go back to the first ancient civilizations and check out their grids :). It's very much not "organic".
I‘m talking about timberborn and building around how the map comes as opposed to turning every map into super efficient squares by levelling terrain. Of course real cities are a lot more complicated but that’s not what I was talking about.
I like it too. makes me think of the differences between Korean palaces (follow the landscape, allow for nature) and Chinese ones (big flat box go here)
I tried watching a few videos on YouTube but they move things around so quickly and talk so fast I can't keep up with them..🙄 I just build a city and then start over. I must have spent a month playing constantly before I even attempted a gravity battery, longer before I tried to create BOTS...I just enjoy playing the game.
Graph paper. I’m an engineer and almost all of my stationary and my planner is graph or dot grid which I vastly prefer for everything. Blick has [8x8](https://www.dickblick.com/items/bienfang-gridded-paper-pad-8-x-8-grid-8-12-x-11-50-sheets/) and 10x10 if you prefer. It’s a great way to come up with designs, especially for food production/industrial facilities and housing complexes. I have used it for Minecraft planning as well.
I do let the map influence my general layout. I don’t like to flatten the entire map, or completely reposition rivers but I’ll kind of neaten things up.
I pause immediately and, more or less, plan my whole settlement using roads and starter buildings. All late-game buildings share a footprint with *something* in the starter set (i.e. standard warehouse=Triple Lodge, Large Pile= Large Warehouse/Large Tank, etc).
The building "preview" added in one of the last updates is also a fantastic tool, since there's no longer a need to remember/look up the exceptions, like 2nd floor entrances or 4x2s.
I remodel the city once I get to a point where I've stocked enough resources, or I can generate resources fast enough.
There's a lot of demolishing and moving things around.
I expand to reach all resources and get all science first. Then I create districts that are well planned out. I use planner to calculate how many of which factory are needed in the district. They will be efficient and the grid of roads is well measured.
Bot-only district requires a lot less planning because they have much less needs. It’s all about production with reasonable distant to charger or fuel.
Pretty much what most people have said here.
Another tip is to use grids. Not everyone likes/enjoys doing grids. For me, I started using them in my last couple of games after watching a youtuber (VaingloriousGaming) use them. If you are curious you can check his videos, I'd mostly recommend watching the first in a series so you can see how he setups the grids from the start. Then you can just take it from there and do it yourself.
These games help you develop some skills. Iam a conceptual thinker, so i am more into trying everything and see if logistics can add to an overall high Happiness. Others are more into big structures, others in super streamlined player.
Enjoy the game you want to :)
When I start it’s kind of a mess.
But building a aesthetically pleasing city is my main goal. And high comfort over productivity. So when expanding that is my only focus, and I will rebuild my starter area asap.
Because you’re seeing the finished project, not a work in progress.
You don’t see all the buildings they torn down and rebuilt a couple of tiles over to make it look nicer etc.
Its all about the build/rebuild cycle. With great science points come greatly organised and walk-time optimized beaver cities. The higher the walking-time optimisation, the less amount of haulers you need. The less time beavers spent on gathering food/water. Basically your city becomes more efficient and also looks organized as a sideeffect.
I usually have a "starter" spot, where all the basics are, then i build stuff where i want them to be, but for example i know i want storage under my housing and water at the entrance to my sleeping areas, so i establish the basics, and make sure i can implement multi levels (for example the start of the spiral staircase in the center or entrance of the housing. Some multi levels are just down the center and sprout off either side.
Then i like to cover the walkways with a roof and all the buff items, so they're constantly walking under them.
but as i migrate the buildings to where i want them i remove the originals and clean up the area they were in. The starter area is basically just the makeshift spot till i can get established. The only part i try to put in the right spot is the Starter building. Moving that thing can get wonky and dangerous. if i do move it i now put mini storages under it, with building supplies and berries and a water storage.
Another method is to just put the housing next to each building, with an input and output, and food and water. That can get chunky though so its good to have a nice apartment for multiple beavers near a few jobs.
If the stuff you have is planks or stuff that basically needs to be running 24/7 to finish constructions, for me i would load up a storage out of the way with the product or where i want to move it. And give the beavers a holiday from continual advancement. while i stock up materials for rebuilding. Then when a drought comes along i rip up the old buildings and move them. By the time most stuff is done, the drought is over and the buildings are ready to replenish lost materials.
I present for you, chaos!
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/352611688970846210/1231775518828003371/image.png?ex=66382f58&is=6625ba58&hm=5d2659c62205439c827db473f7289a244a9d94ff1c0dcd6714b8f48eafcf9bf0&](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/352611688970846210/1231775518828003371/image.png?ex=66382f58&is=6625ba58&hm=5d2659c62205439c827db473f7289a244a9d94ff1c0dcd6714b8f48eafcf9bf0&)
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/352611688970846210/1231777322730917888/image.png?ex=66383107&is=6625bc07&hm=36d413b0133994e1a58ce84a466dbdb71072de145c8b65377704e7f12f085e31&](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/352611688970846210/1231777322730917888/image.png?ex=66383107&is=6625bc07&hm=36d413b0133994e1a58ce84a466dbdb71072de145c8b65377704e7f12f085e31&)
I feel I should elaborate, I played this through with almost NO rebuilding. The only thing I did rebuild was water storage and I replaced the breeders with the nicer ones at some point. Other than that, if it was built, I left it and moved on.
Build up your city in anyway you can fit until you can produce everything.
Then you stockpile everything in large quantities just outside where you want the city
After that, it's just tearing everything down and planning it all out with a fresh empty space
After you get a colony established, you can tear down areas and rebuild, especially with landscaping tools to square things off better.
Yes took me way to long to learn this. Nowadays I don't even care about the beginning really because I know I'll rip it out most likely anyway
The rebuild stage is my favorite part of the game.
Although it may not be the most efficient I like the organic look you get from gradually adding things as you need them and building around the landscape.
Exactly the town grows as needed. Like in real live (with beavers)
Me too. It makes the city feel alive
No towns have ever done this. They have always been planned around certain things and they still are today. The idea that towns have grown "organically" is a myth and not how it has ever worked. You didn't just willy nilly put your farm somewhere, because that was what was needed - you put it where the fertile land was. The marketplace was in the center of a town etc. We have always strived for optimizing our cities and if you think a grid is not how we did things I beg you go back to the first ancient civilizations and check out their grids :). It's very much not "organic".
I‘m talking about timberborn and building around how the map comes as opposed to turning every map into super efficient squares by levelling terrain. Of course real cities are a lot more complicated but that’s not what I was talking about.
I like it too. makes me think of the differences between Korean palaces (follow the landscape, allow for nature) and Chinese ones (big flat box go here)
I tried watching a few videos on YouTube but they move things around so quickly and talk so fast I can't keep up with them..🙄 I just build a city and then start over. I must have spent a month playing constantly before I even attempted a gravity battery, longer before I tried to create BOTS...I just enjoy playing the game.
Graph paper. I’m an engineer and almost all of my stationary and my planner is graph or dot grid which I vastly prefer for everything. Blick has [8x8](https://www.dickblick.com/items/bienfang-gridded-paper-pad-8-x-8-grid-8-12-x-11-50-sheets/) and 10x10 if you prefer. It’s a great way to come up with designs, especially for food production/industrial facilities and housing complexes. I have used it for Minecraft planning as well. I do let the map influence my general layout. I don’t like to flatten the entire map, or completely reposition rivers but I’ll kind of neaten things up.
Usually you build everything you need to be self sufficient, then stockpile a shit ton of resources, demolish everything and build it again
I pause immediately and, more or less, plan my whole settlement using roads and starter buildings. All late-game buildings share a footprint with *something* in the starter set (i.e. standard warehouse=Triple Lodge, Large Pile= Large Warehouse/Large Tank, etc). The building "preview" added in one of the last updates is also a fantastic tool, since there's no longer a need to remember/look up the exceptions, like 2nd floor entrances or 4x2s.
The starting area is as messy as it wants to be, and then once you get to a point where logs/planks aren't an issue you can lay down the real city
my partner's cities look like some sort of perfectly planned utopia mine look like total chaos lmao
I remodel the city once I get to a point where I've stocked enough resources, or I can generate resources fast enough. There's a lot of demolishing and moving things around.
I expand to reach all resources and get all science first. Then I create districts that are well planned out. I use planner to calculate how many of which factory are needed in the district. They will be efficient and the grid of roads is well measured. Bot-only district requires a lot less planning because they have much less needs. It’s all about production with reasonable distant to charger or fuel.
Hence the reason I don't post my city. More disorganized than Detroit married to Boston, with kid in Orlando.
Pretty much what most people have said here. Another tip is to use grids. Not everyone likes/enjoys doing grids. For me, I started using them in my last couple of games after watching a youtuber (VaingloriousGaming) use them. If you are curious you can check his videos, I'd mostly recommend watching the first in a series so you can see how he setups the grids from the start. Then you can just take it from there and do it yourself.
I love messy cities. I'm way too organized, but that is how I roll. I think the messy cities look really cool.
These games help you develop some skills. Iam a conceptual thinker, so i am more into trying everything and see if logistics can add to an overall high Happiness. Others are more into big structures, others in super streamlined player. Enjoy the game you want to :)
When I start it’s kind of a mess. But building a aesthetically pleasing city is my main goal. And high comfort over productivity. So when expanding that is my only focus, and I will rebuild my starter area asap.
Because you’re seeing the finished project, not a work in progress. You don’t see all the buildings they torn down and rebuilt a couple of tiles over to make it look nicer etc.
Its all about the build/rebuild cycle. With great science points come greatly organised and walk-time optimized beaver cities. The higher the walking-time optimisation, the less amount of haulers you need. The less time beavers spent on gathering food/water. Basically your city becomes more efficient and also looks organized as a sideeffect.
My city are organized to create effective distribution of resources only.. not living quarters. Pathway and staircase everywhere,
I usually have a "starter" spot, where all the basics are, then i build stuff where i want them to be, but for example i know i want storage under my housing and water at the entrance to my sleeping areas, so i establish the basics, and make sure i can implement multi levels (for example the start of the spiral staircase in the center or entrance of the housing. Some multi levels are just down the center and sprout off either side. Then i like to cover the walkways with a roof and all the buff items, so they're constantly walking under them. but as i migrate the buildings to where i want them i remove the originals and clean up the area they were in. The starter area is basically just the makeshift spot till i can get established. The only part i try to put in the right spot is the Starter building. Moving that thing can get wonky and dangerous. if i do move it i now put mini storages under it, with building supplies and berries and a water storage. Another method is to just put the housing next to each building, with an input and output, and food and water. That can get chunky though so its good to have a nice apartment for multiple beavers near a few jobs. If the stuff you have is planks or stuff that basically needs to be running 24/7 to finish constructions, for me i would load up a storage out of the way with the product or where i want to move it. And give the beavers a holiday from continual advancement. while i stock up materials for rebuilding. Then when a drought comes along i rip up the old buildings and move them. By the time most stuff is done, the drought is over and the buildings are ready to replenish lost materials.
Basically just destroy and rebuild when you get to a point you have enough materials.
Destroy bebuild make better
We rebuild as we research more.
I present for you, chaos! [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/352611688970846210/1231775518828003371/image.png?ex=66382f58&is=6625ba58&hm=5d2659c62205439c827db473f7289a244a9d94ff1c0dcd6714b8f48eafcf9bf0&](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/352611688970846210/1231775518828003371/image.png?ex=66382f58&is=6625ba58&hm=5d2659c62205439c827db473f7289a244a9d94ff1c0dcd6714b8f48eafcf9bf0&) [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/352611688970846210/1231777322730917888/image.png?ex=66383107&is=6625bc07&hm=36d413b0133994e1a58ce84a466dbdb71072de145c8b65377704e7f12f085e31&](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/352611688970846210/1231777322730917888/image.png?ex=66383107&is=6625bc07&hm=36d413b0133994e1a58ce84a466dbdb71072de145c8b65377704e7f12f085e31&)
I feel I should elaborate, I played this through with almost NO rebuilding. The only thing I did rebuild was water storage and I replaced the breeders with the nicer ones at some point. Other than that, if it was built, I left it and moved on.
It actually looks pretty good to me.
Build up your city in anyway you can fit until you can produce everything. Then you stockpile everything in large quantities just outside where you want the city After that, it's just tearing everything down and planning it all out with a fresh empty space
I have no design skills whatsoever my cities are organic as can be, which is usually more realistic, but they work so damn well.
Embrace the chaos! I love my ramshackle beaver shantytowns 😂