Hopefully this guide will help with the following:

• Not enough credits
  
• Can't balance workers with work places and provide enough food/water
  
• Mass depopulation
  
• Insert rage fueled RNG event that caused your city to fold.

Keep in mind this is Early Access and things will change (UI, buildings, Tech, etc.)... I will do my best to keep everything up to date when there are major changes that makes the guide outdated/misleading.

The focus of this guide is a very stable infrastructure that will support 600+ residents for our starting city. The second city population is up to you but this guide will shoot for 200-300 residents.

The focus will not be on explaining each building/mechanics in great detail, it will however point out important tidbits.
Our goal is to get the city setup with a firm bit of hand holding accompanied by final exam in the form of a third city that you will build on your own with the knowledge gained.

• If all your cliffs have less than 40% ground water - Restart.
  
• If you have water on only one cliff (NOT ground water, you will know it when you see it) - Restart.
  
• If all your cliffs have less than 40% fish - Restart.

The above tips are only mentioned to ensure you get the best start as possible. After you get the hang of things, the above tips are challenging layouts and loads of fun. Eventually you should try to get all 3 worse case layouts on one map.

The best cliff layout is connected by a large body of water... This is the sweet spot.

From this point on I will be detailing what you should build and when you should upgrade buildings. Like everything in life, use your judgement and adjust as needed. There are built in sanity checks to ensure you are still within the safe zone to building a stable city.

Lets get started.

Build the following on the right side of the connected cliffs (screenshot from The Setup section):

• 1 Storage (enjoy the cutscene or press spacebar)
  
• 1 Urainium mine
  
• 2 Matter mines
  
• 1 Nuclear Power Plant
  
• 1 Landing platform
  
• 1 Water treatment
  
• 1 Battery station
  
• 1 Residential Complex (Do not upgrade yet)
  
• 1 Large Indoor crop farm

Let everything complete. This is to make sure everything we need has been built and accounted for as every credit counts. There will be times where we are down to 30ish credits to take heed to directions to NOT upgrade buildings. That said...

Upgrade the Large Residential Complex to +20 residents.

This should leave you with ~320 credits.

You will have more jobs than people - its fine so long as you don't have more people than Workplaces! Remember this as The Golden Rule.

Production is vital to keeping the credits flowing & the residents happy

• Build 1 3D printer (Do not change production)

The printer won't complete right away due to low funds but they will start adding the Matter materials. Once completed, click on the printer and adjust the following:

• Add 1 Appliances
  
• Add 1 Furniture

With that said, Collect all the rewards we have been ignoring.

Some quest completions will require us to do a little waiting:

• Water collected
  
• Batteries recharged
  
• Crops collected
  
• Etc..

Just wait and keep collecting the Rewards. No spending just collecting!

At this point you should be earning +4-6credits a cycle... Congratz you are already turning a profit from taxes.

If everything went well and you followed all the steps correctly, you should have been making appliances & furniture (temp boost to residents needs)

Adjust the 3D printer production as follows:

• Remove Appliances
  
• Add Engines

At this point we have been following the tutorial and completing things in sequence. That's fine and dandy but (as stated before) we are going to be making our own path and choosing to delay certain things.

Mainly the tutorial progression.
The tutorial is decent and will lead you to a good start... but is good enough? For me, no. I want bigger, better, badder, kick a (ok getting off track).

When you get the 3D printer quest, you should have ~2000ish credits.

Wait for the quest to complete (Engines & Furniture) then collect the reward.


You should now have the Trade Portal quest. Additionally, you should have more than enough credits & matter to build the portal...

DO NOT BUILD THE PORTAL YET!

Here is where we really start choosing to ignore the tutorial in order to streamline our Power, Production, Residents & Credits.

We are not ready to start using the portal due to a few reasons:

• The stock 3 drones are almost 100% uptime moving raw materials & food to the storage/3D printer
  
• The portal is only active for a limited time each day

We want to make sure we can get all of our goods we are selling to the platform in time before it leaves. This is the main reason we delayed building the Trade Portal, adding more tasks to the drones is just overloading the infrastructure.

To address this issue, build the following (Be sure to wait for each to complete before proceeding):

• 1 Airport
  
• 3 Cargo drones (more details later why only 3)
  
• 1 Large Indoor Farm
  
• 1 Trade Portal

This should leave you around ~400 credits.

When the portal completes, pause the game and set the following on the Trade Portal:

• -5 engines
  
• -5 batteries

The - indicates we are selling vs + means we are buying. We definitely want to sell.

At this point we need to wait a bit for the quest to complete (should be 2 cycles).
Collect reward.

Next quest should be the Airport - build the following (wait for each to complete before proceeding):

• 1 University
  
• 2 cargo drones (This is why only 3 was built previously - we don't want too many of these)

DO NOT COLLECT REWARD!

This is where we will be able to research new tech to ease the pain well before the tutorial has completed.

Your funds will be low but build the following:

• 1 Large Residential Complex (Do not upgrade until needed)

The trickle credits from the portal will eventually complete this building. Do not sell more than what we have been selling. Resisting temptation is key.

While we wait lets shift our focus to Research.

Once the large complex completes we should have the following:

• 125 Population
  
• 130 Places
  
• 142 Work Places
  
• 88% Efficiency

This will be enough for us to generate ~+12credits a cycle & complete what I consider "Required" research to move safely ahead.

Tech research order:

• Improved drone engines (complete the entire column - Large cargo drones carry 5 cargo vs 1 cargo thus priority #1)
  
• Geo Processing (gives us the hidden stats of our cliffs - This will tell you if you are going to have to address the lack of uranium or matter before we get too big)
  
• Improved printing bands (this directly affects our 3D printer, we can choose to make one of each or specialize)

Yes and no.
it really depends on the person. Additionally, you should be aware of what I call mini crisis events. The type of event is dependant on the cliff you are on... if you built on the cliff from The Setup section, it will be water.

During this time while you are on x6 you can go afk (keep in mind you need to keep selecting research so don't go too far, I haven't found a queue... yet) or micro manage the events.

So if you go afk - don't freak out if you come back to only 50 colonists - its easily fixed by building whatever building you need more of... e.g. water plant.
The good part is you are stable at ~50 and research will still move forward. When you build the additional buildings it will bounce right back. I have yet to comeback to 0 population.
Just be sure to read up on the micro manage part below and fill in the blanks when you return.

If you like to micro manage the events, just watch your storage - specifically the stored vs not delivered.
If your storage is dwindling and you don't have a surplus of "not delivered"; build food, water, uranium depending on what it tells you. It will only be one of those 3 in my experience.

There is a lot of freedom at this point due to the surplus income and x6 speed. If you want, you can further streamline the cliff by adding another University to speed up research.

If you wish, build the following:

• 1 University
  
• 1 3d printer (match production - engines & furniture)
  
• 1 Large Residential Complex (upgrade when possible)

Remember the golden rule: More work places than population is OK if its not a huge difference, but never the inverse. So be sure your work buildings are done BEFORE you add new population buildings!

Furthermore, you can even build personal drones to start earning some juicy prestige...
Build the following:

• 10-15 Personal Drones

As soon as you unlock the large cargo drones build the following:

• 10 Large Cargo Drones

As soon as you unlock the agrarian drones build the following:

• 10 Agrarian drones

At this point you should have 2 3D Printers... We are still producing Engines & Furniture.
We need to specialize them to maximize productivity and really ramp up production.

Make each printer produce one type of good. Use all lines for one type of good. So for each production cycle we will produce 4 of one type of good for 1 matter. In our case:

• 4 Furniture
  
• 4 Engines

Final note on research: From this point all other research items are as needed, luxury, your choice depending on the cliff.

Depending on your starting cliff you may only have 3 huge build plots. Not a huge deal just annoying because you will be capped at how much power you will be able to produce as each nuke plant requires 1 huge plot. By my count we have used 3 up to this point.

If you only have 3, the information is still good when you move to another game or a different cliff.

If you have 4 & you have good uranium deposits (above 50) we need to push our power to the limits by adding yet another nuclear plant. The idea here is that we are about to fund the other two cities both in power & credits without issuing a loan.

If your uranium is low scout out the other two cliffs and mark it for your second city. BEWARE, I have had crap rolls on all my cliffs before... was rough but still possible.
In the short term consider additional uranium mines until you get the second city going. If it has 4 huge plots and good uranium, you are going to make that cliff your main by replicating the same buildings from above (less the research) then converting the original one into a support city.

Lets go shall we?

• Collect the long awaited reward.
  
• Complete the airport disable/enable quest... collect reward.

Aesthetics quest will be annoying (we lose a few plots) because we opt'd to go the nuclear route but fear not we will build the following:

• 3 Large Gardens
  
• Collect reward.

Build the following:

• 1 Nuclear Power Plant
  
• 1 Uranium mine
  
• Optional: build enough to balance workplaces to support another Large residential complex.

You can build a 2x1 Large Office if you have the credits... I never do at this point. Ports are a good option or battery stations.

Once all of the above has completed we move to the final prep of our Main City.

Build the following:

• 1 bridge to other cliff (only one side)
  
• 1 Large Residential Complex (do not upgrade until it makes sense)

At this point you should should have a healthy stockpile of "not delivered", lets play the portal game and sell off excess for some quick credits to prepare for the next push.

Simply pause the game and look at your stock piles. Set to sell whatever excess good at the portal. Keep an eye on the stockpile we want to be 20-30 goods not picked up before we stop or have atleast 2-4k credits. <--- This is now your personal tax free money maker. Just keep your ratios in check and you will always have excess "not delivered" waiting to be sold.

For me, I couldn't sell enough Fish, Grain, Matter to deplete my "not delivered" stocks before I hit 4k. This depends on your starter cliff.

Set the Portal back to our original -5 engines & -5 furniture.

Finally, Build the following:

• 1 Stockpile

The goal of this phase is to get some free residual income as well as prep for end game challenges. Very straight forward BUT you can kill your progress thus far if you screw up. So remember the golden rule and wait for things to complete before moving forward.

Build the following:

• 1 Large Office
  
• Upgrade large residential complex (If you haven't done so)
  
• 1 Large residential complex (upgrade +20)

Keep a close eye on the basic goods Food and Water.
Often times since we are getting a large amount of residents those will take a steep dive if you aren't ready. This is a critical point because we have a lot of production buildings and if they leave, we won't have enough to spread out to the essential buildings.
But you have been following this guide and its not happening, RIGHT!

Of course its not happening, but just in case it is...
If this is happening (residents leaving) take a deep breath.
Start disabling building in this order until the mass depopulation stabilzes:

• Office building
  
• Universities
  
• Airport
  
• Ports (its food but a luxury food)
  
• 1 uranium mine
  
• Water plants

Eventually it will balance out and as residents return, re-enable those buildings in reverse.


Before we proceed, we need to do a sanity check and make sure we are atleast somewhat in the same place due to the freedom of options in previous phases.
Currently you should have at a minimum:

• 5 fully upgraded Large residential complexes
  
• 2 nuclear power plants
  
• 2 uranium mines
  
• 2 matter mines
  
• 1 Trade Portal
  
• 1 Airport
  
• 1-2 Universities
  
• 1 Large Office
  
• 1 partially completed bridge to the next cliff

Not to say an assortment of other buildings to support the cliff... but these are cliff based which we cannot account for... the important part is the number of residents we are supporting as well as power and a way to generate credits via the portal.

Now that we are still sane and somewhat in the same place, build the following:

• 1 Town Hall
  
• 1 Bank

Check Basic Goods (food & water, make sure you can support another large residential complex)

Build the following:

• 1 Large residential complex (do not upgrade)

Check Basic Goods after all residents have arrived.
You should be around 425 population. Build farms/water if needed.

Build the following:

• 1 Entertainment Center (more free credits)
  
• Upgrade Large residential complex (+20)
  
• 1 Hospital

Check basic goods yet again to make sure you can support another large residential complex - Don't forget to check workplaces. If need be fill workplaces by adding additional little things like battery stations, recycling plant etc...

Build the following:

• Build Large residential complex (do not upgrade)

Check basic goods... you should now have 500 population.

Build the following:

• 1 Court
  
• 1 Town Square
  
• 1 Hospital
  
• Upgrade Large residential complex (+20)

Final check for basic goods. Adjust if needed.

Now that the critical leap is completed we can take care of the cities needs...
One major problem that we have is our Ecology, it sucks right.

No worries lets get the city cleaned up.

The choice is simple stop using nuclear power plants and uranium mines or add something to increase ecology. We clearly are not going to touch our power nor our mines so we need to build more buildings that increase the Ecology score (which btw increases prestiege).

The main problem with this simple idea is we don't have many building that help ecology, currently only:

• Park (huge plot) +10 ecology
  
• Large Open crop field (2x2) +4 ecology
  
• Open crop field (1x1) +1 ecology

Keep in mind, we opt'd for a second nuclear power plant and do not have a plot to build a Park. So we will have to use a combination of the crop fields (Large & Open).
Consider these crops as bonus fields as late game they are not dependable. As stated any crucial food production should be in the indoor crop fields.

Build a combination of Large (2x2) and Open (1x1) crop fields until the Ecology Icon is at minimum 1/2 full but ideally above the icon picture(3/4 or better)...

After building all these crop buildings you will need more water production and population...

You know the drill, make sure you can support another influx of residents. Utilize the 2x1's if needed for more residential space(they cannot be upgraded, opt for the 1x1 then upgrade for additional space in the building)


Build the following:

• 15 personal drones
  
• 20 agrarian drones (you will need them all)
  
• 1-2 extra Zeppelins (so total 3-4 Zeppelins)
  
• a few gardens (2x1) to up the Aesthetics of the city

At this point our population should be around 600... We need to concrete our position and get ready for our second city!

Lets generate a truck load of credits BEFORE we build our first support city.

With all the food it should be obvious what to sell. Yes Food... Sell until you have at minimum 40K in funds.
Sounds like a lot huh?
Nope by now you should already have 20K from just 5 engines, 5 furniture, plus trickle money. Oh and bonus... look at your taxes!


What are you waiting for SELL SELL SELL... btw great time to finish up the research! x6 speed auto pilot engaged.

So you got your 40K, great. Your Main city should look something like this:







You should have an absurd amount of food (for me it was 750+, never went below 700 before it popped back to 750+) for constant selling to offset what we are about to do next.

Wayback in Phase 6 we built 1/2 a bridge, its time to put it to use...
Set the bridge to BUY +20 appliances (click on where the bride starts to open) then close.

We have now set a demand from our soon to be connected city to deliver 20 units of Appliances. This will be a nice boost to the starting city cash flow, WITHOUT issuing a loan to them.

Keep in mind your uranium deposits. Below 40% is a no go and you may need to survive on the battery shuffle until you have credits flowing. Worse case decide if you will cut the amount of profit from appliances to buy uranium from main city. I suggest you cut the profit for the sake of energy.

The support city is largely your choice with only one requirement. +4 Appliances to support the Main City & the third city.


So lets get started.

Build the following:

• 1 Storage
  
• 1 Urainium mine (may not be viable if cliff has like 20-40%, you may not be able to keep up with demands - if this is the case don't build. Buy form Main city)
  
• 2 Matter mines
  
• 1 Nuclear power plant (again depends on choice, may need wind/solar plant - I went with nuclear)
  
• 1 Landing platform
  
• 1 Water treatment
  
• 1 Battery station
  
• 1 Residential Complex (Upgrade to +20 when possible, not now)
  
• 1 3D printer
  
• 1 bridge connecting to main city

Note: no farms yet!

You won't have enough matter to build the printer & bridge but the mines will finish the job with a little waiting.
As soon as the 3D printer has completed:

• set production to +4 Appliances

Build the following:

• 1 Indoor crop field
  
• Upgrade Large residential complex (If you haven't done so)

Go back to your Main city and select Town Hall.
Use this to send over some Large cargo drones (don't go crazy we are just boosting the second city not converting).
The display will show you {cliff name} #pt. This reflects how many drones of that type you have, so if you have 20 send 5. Same goes for agrarian drones, be sure to send over 1 zeppelin. Just be sure to send it to the right cliff!


Now that we have an instant boost to productivity we start focusing on supporting the both the new & main city.
Build the following:

• 1 3D printer (Set to +4 furniture)
  
• 1 Airport

As soon as the Airport has completed the main city & new city will start visiting each other generating passive credits. Prestige affects the amount earned.

Since this is not going to have nearly as much population as the main city we can turn this cliff into a support city... You will need at least one.

Additionally, if this is the middle cliff (meaning two outside connections) consider making it a storage depo for a lot of different goods to help in bad times. You shouldn't need to because by the time we hit endgame, each city will be able to buy its way through the hard times... but it is an option.
One that is seriously worth weighing your options. I would suggest you do.

Options are plentiful and so long as you don't max out power you should be fine as we don't want to go over 1 nuclear power plant.
That said I have found that it supports maybe 300 population depending on the buildings selected. Below are some viable options to use to fill out power/population/workplaces.

Optional choices to build:

• 1 Park
  
• 1 large residential complex (upgrade +20)
  
• 1 Large Office
  
• 1 Bank
  
• 1 large residential complex (upgrade +20)
  
• 1 indoor crop field
  
• 2-4 Ports
  
• 1 Entertainment center
  
• 1 Large Residential Complex (upgrade +20)
  
• 1 Hospital
  
• Seriously consider if you want a trade portal and adjust

This should consume 98+ percent of available power, fill out the rest using everything we know... Remember the golden rule & watch those basic goods!

Lets get that last city going... just as easy as the second... rinse and repeat. Make those critical decisions based on what you know about the cliff and how things fit together to turn a profit.

The only requirement for the third cliff is production of gadgets. You will need to support two cities with gadgets. To accomplish this we endure a little waste. Sell 10-15 to second city, then have the second city sell 1/2 of the gadgets to the Main city.
I haven't found a better way to do it... yet.


Well lets go... I'm waiting...
What did you think I was going to hand hold you on the last cliff? Time to fall or fly.


Wasn't that fun?
Congratz you did one this on your own.
Now smash that Collect Reward button and lol your way to the end of the tutorial and the begining of the endgame.

This is the first time that I felt I should attempt a proper tutorial (Hats off Dev's that is saying a lot)...

As I have said there are many ways to do it. This is only one way.
I hope you have gained something to help enjoy what appears to be one of the best city builders I have played in a long time.
If there is something that is incorrect or I have forgotten something (a lot of tiny steps and tons of information to remember) let me know so I can fix it.
Depending on feedback perhaps there will be a guide on Sun/Wind power for those who want the Eco-Friendly route.


@Devs: If you are reading this tutorial, I hope you are planning to raise the price at some point. I love the price but I want you to be able to finish the game... shockingly good game for so little money!