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Airports Dev Diary #4: Cargo Airport & New Maps

Greetings city-builders! Are you ready for another Dev Diary? This one is loaded with goodies and stocked full of information about Cargo Airport Services!

When your airport reaches level 3 you unlock the Cargo Airport buildings and roads, which include the Cargo Airport Terminal, Cargo Aircraft Stand, Medium and Large Cargo Airport Roads, and the Airport Cargo Train Station. In keeping with our goals of modularity and creative freedom, you can add these to existing airports or create one specifically for cargo air traffic.

Cargo Aircraft Stands work slightly differently than the passenger stands in that they can be placed alongside any road and do not require a connection to a terminal to function. This means you can simply add a Cargo Aircraft Stand along a road and connect it to your existing runway using taxiways and you are able to ship cargo in and out of your airport!

4-1 Cargo air 1.png

Expand your airport to accept cargo air traffic

However, while the Cargo Aircraft Stand might be all you need to receive cargo planes, it doesn’t make for much of a cargo airport! That’s where the Cargo Airport Terminal comes into play! It can be added to an existing Airport Area creating a dedicated point of departure and arrival for cargo traffic, or it can be the main terminal in its own Airport Area. As airport levels are tied to passengers and attractiveness, a dedicated cargo Airport Area will remain level 1 however.

4-2 Cargo air 3.png

Only cargo trucks are allowed through the terminal

The Medium Cargo Airport Road and the Large Cargo Airport Road are wide roads with utility buildings separating the lanes. These can be used to extend the Cargo Airport Terminal or as roads in your city, and are able to handle a good amount of traffic. The Large Cargo Airport Road even has a wide area for loading and unloading, making it ideal for high volumes of industrial traffic.

And last but not least is the Airport Cargo Train Station which features 4 train tracks making it ideal for cargo transfers between different areas of your city. Don’t let the name fool you though! It’s placeable anywhere in your city, so it’s a great option for those areas where the regular Cargo Train Station just can’t keep up with the train traffic.

4-3 Cargo air station.png

Distribute cargo throughout your city with the Airport Cargo Train Station

New Maps​

Whether you’re looking to build a city profiting from substantial industry or focused on tourism, Airports comes with three new maps featuring large open areas making them ideal for airports!

First on our list is the tropical Asanu Beach, which features a long stretch of wide beaches and an undisturbed lagoon perfect for tourism! But if that isn’t your kind of city, the lush jungles have much more to offer and could be a bustling metropolis or profitable industrial venture.

4-4 Asanu Beach 02.png

Asanu Beach with its sandy beaches and lush jungles

Heading to the temperate regions we find Hanami Bay at the mouth of two rivers and plenty of land to expand to - whether you want to move inland or take advantage of the bay’s many islands is up to you!

4-5 Hanami bay 08.png

Hanami Bay benefits from its long coastline

If you long for colder destinations, then Noyou Port might just be the place for you! It’s wide-open spaces are ideal for any city and the rivers carved into the landscape through the eons offer beautiful scenery.

4-6 Noyou Port 11.png

Noyou Port is rich in both natural beauty and open space

And with that, we’ve reached the end of the line for this Dev Diary! With Airports almost ready to ship, we have just one thing left to cover: The free update coming to everyone on the 25th of January! Monday at 4 PM CET / 7 AM PST we cover the new features and updates, including the patch notes so you are up to date with everything!

Last but not least check out the video tutorial by City Planner Plays and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more!


CS_Airports_Schedule_1080x1080.jpg
 
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And with that, we’ve reached the end of the line for this Dev Diary! With Airports almost ready to ship, we have just one thing left to cover: The free update coming to everyone on the 25th of January!
Based on the schedule the free update releases on the 24th, which also the Paradox community manager has stated.
 
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The toll booth idea is a good shout for a security booth kind of thing for these. As soon as I saw the Cargo roads my first thought was 'Can I attach these to the main road network, and can I do it in a way that is realistic especially in the Post 9/11 world?'

Based on the schedule the free update releases on the 24th, which also the Paradox community manager has stated.

No that's the dev diary.
 
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Lovely. Im dying to design a good functional cargo system, since Im having so much problems with commercial goods.

But Im dying even more to know about if the Free Update will come with PS5/XSSX support (bringing PC graphics or something else).... dying!
 
There's still conflicting information between the PDX community manager and this dev diary. I'd like to know whether Helena misspoke or not.
No. The subject of the 24th's dev diary is the free patch, and the dev diary will include patch notes. The 24th has never been the scheduled release date of the patch; free patches and DLC for titles published by Paradox are always released the same day.
 
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Based on the schedule the free update releases on the 24th, which also the Paradox community manager has stated.
The 24th we have a dev diary covering what’s in the free patch. The 25th the free patch arrives for everyone. Sorry for the confusion!
 
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C:S maps are usually 'inspired' by real places, aren't they? Any guesses as to where these places are?

(Chirper puts on Detective Chirper hat)

*Asanu Beach* is tropical and the name sounds vaguely Malayo-Polynesian. But that covers a huge portion of the world. The distinctive feature of the screenshot is the channel that runs from sea to sea creating the island in the right. Singapore is created by such a channel, and has a famous airport, but it isn't best known for its beaches (though it has some nice ones!), especially on the northwest coast. And the scale would be way off. So I'm stumped.

*Hanami Bay* is temperate and sounds very Japanese. But these maps are supposed to be flat and Japan famously has very little flat land, which suggests either Kansai or Kantō. Osaka Bay is most famous for hosting an airport (on an artificial island), but the screenshot shows a peninsula, so that doesn't match. Tokyo Bay has the Bōsō Peninsula in the right place in relation to the rivers, but only has one natural island. Even the artificial islands don't line up with the screenshot today, but maybe they did in the past.

Incheon (Korea) also has a famous airport in a bay and "Hanami" is valid Korean too. But neither the river nor the peninsula (the Dangjin area) match the screenshot. "Hanami" is also valid Mandarin, but it would be a weird Mandarin name. So Tokyo Bay seems most likely. I wonder if the map will stretch as far as Mount Fuji? Planes flying past the mountain would generate great screenshots.

*Noyou Port* is supposed to be further north than Hanami. If that's geographically literal, it can only mean the Russian Far East, which in turn would surely mean Vladivostok and Golden Horn Bay. But I can't match the screenshot's river to anything in Vladivostok. And "Noyou" sounds more Chinese than Russian to me. While it doesn't fit any of the myriad romanizations of Mandarin, it's a reasonable approximation of (Hanyu pinyin) "Nouyou", which is weird but theoretically possible in Mandarin. Central Dalian (a.k.a. Port Arthur) would roughly fit the screenshot in terms of rivers and mountains, so it could be that I guess.
 
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So, what benefit does having a cargo terminal actually offer (other than appearances) in an existing passenger airport?
I think if there are huge city areas between your airport and industrial and/or commercial zones then normally the traffic would flow through those small roads creating a huge jam. But adding these Cargo Train Stations means they will deliver the cargo on rail and not via your living district.
 
I think if there are huge city areas between your airport and industrial and/or commercial zones then normally the traffic would flow through those small roads creating a huge jam. But adding these Cargo Train Stations means they will deliver the cargo on rail and not via your living district.
I think he was referring to the building, but a seperate freight rail system is always a top tip.

I think the building acts as a filter as only cargo trucks are allowed through.
 
I think if there are huge city areas between your airport and industrial and/or commercial zones then normally the traffic would flow through those small roads creating a huge jam. But adding these Cargo Train Stations means they will deliver the cargo on rail and not via your living district.
Oh the benefit of the rail is obvious. I'll use those for sure. I'm just wondering if the Cargo Terminal is something that's needed or if I can skip it to save space.
 
Greetings city-builders! Are you ready for another Dev Diary? This one is loaded with goodies and stocked full of information about Cargo Airport Services!

When your airport reaches level 3 you unlock the Cargo Airport buildings and roads, which include the Cargo Airport Terminal, Cargo Aircraft Stand, Medium and Large Cargo Airport Roads, and the Airport Cargo Train Station. In keeping with our goals of modularity and creative freedom, you can add these to existing airports or create one specifically for cargo air traffic.

Cargo Aircraft Stands work slightly differently than the passenger stands in that they can be placed alongside any road and do not require a connection to a terminal to function. This means you can simply add a Cargo Aircraft Stand along a road and connect it to your existing runway using taxiways and you are able to ship cargo in and out of your airport!

View attachment 793791
Expand your airport to accept cargo air traffic

However, while the Cargo Aircraft Stand might be all you need to receive cargo planes, it doesn’t make for much of a cargo airport! That’s where the Cargo Airport Terminal comes into play! It can be added to an existing Airport Area creating a dedicated point of departure and arrival for cargo traffic, or it can be the main terminal in its own Airport Area. As airport levels are tied to passengers and attractiveness, a dedicated cargo Airport Area will remain level 1 however.

View attachment 793792
Only cargo trucks are allowed through the terminal

The Medium Cargo Airport Road and the Large Cargo Airport Road are wide roads with utility buildings separating the lanes. These can be used to extend the Cargo Airport Terminal or as roads in your city, and are able to handle a good amount of traffic. The Large Cargo Airport Road even has a wide area for loading and unloading, making it ideal for high volumes of industrial traffic.

And last but not least is the Airport Cargo Train Station which features 4 train tracks making it ideal for cargo transfers between different areas of your city. Don’t let the name fool you though! It’s placeable anywhere in your city, so it’s a great option for those areas where the regular Cargo Train Station just can’t keep up with the train traffic.

View attachment 793793
Distribute cargo throughout your city with the Airport Cargo Train Station

New Maps​

Whether you’re looking to build a city profiting from substantial industry or focused on tourism, Airports comes with three new maps featuring large open areas making them ideal for airports!

First on our list is the tropical Asanu Beach, which features a long stretch of wide beaches and an undisturbed lagoon perfect for tourism! But if that isn’t your kind of city, the lush jungles have much more to offer and could be a bustling metropolis or profitable industrial venture.

View attachment 793794
Asanu Beach with its sandy beaches and lush jungles

Heading to the temperate regions we find Hanami Bay at the mouth of two rivers and plenty of land to expand to - whether you want to move inland or take advantage of the bay’s many islands is up to you!

View attachment 793795
Hanami Bay benefits from its long coastline

If you long for colder destinations, then Noyou Port might just be the place for you! It’s wide-open spaces are ideal for any city and the rivers carved into the landscape through the eons offer beautiful scenery.

View attachment 793796
Noyou Port is rich in both natural beauty and open space

And with that, we’ve reached the end of the line for this Dev Diary! With Airports almost ready to ship, we have just one thing left to cover: The free update coming to everyone on the 25th of January! Monday at 4 PM CET / 7 AM PST we cover the new features and updates, including the patch notes so you are up to date with everything!

Last but not least check out the video tutorial by City Planner Plays and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more!


View attachment 793797
I quite like these changes. 4 track cargo trains station is cool, but it feels weird to me that ya gotta be a lvl 3 airport before unlocking cargo. (My local airport is only cargo and private charter).

Also, I’m still disappointed by the lack of transport integrations. No monorails (famously used in airports), intercity buses, helicopters or taxi’s. Feels like a lost opportunity to me.
But I suppose if monorails don’t reflect their irl limitations (junctions being prohibitively expensive) then their airport applications make less sense.
 
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So, what benefit does having a cargo terminal actually offer (other than appearances) in an existing passenger airport?
It helps you control traffic flow giving you a more steady flow of traffic out of the airport. But it's entirely optional, you can also build your own road network to handle the cargo traffic or use toll roads as a means to control it.

Wait... those new truck models, are they "airport" only? Or are we now able to switch the truck models of our cities??? They look really good
The ones parked in front of the cargo airport terminal? I'm afraid those are just decorations part of the building and not new trucks. But the artist did a great job with them for sure!
 
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The whole update and DLC are superb!

Having double track cargo train station is great too, I wonder if we will ever receive underground cargo train station for inner city areas :3