Greetings fellow city-builders! It's time to tune into another series of the beloved Cities: Skylines Dev Diaries!
As you already know, Sunset Harbor, the next expansion for Cities: Skylines, was announced on the 19th of March. In the upcoming days, we are going to take a more detailed look at all the cool features we have been working on. But first, let's start by going over what the Sunset Harbor expansion is all about and the types of new features it introduces. If you haven't already checked out the trailer, you can follow the link here or watch it below.
Cities: Skylines Sunset Harbor DLC is an expansion that, instead of improving only on a single aspect of the game, brings with it a multitude of features that address several different things. We start off these Dev Diaries here by introducing one of the key features of this expansion, the highly sought-after addition of Fishing Industry that will surely liven up the shorelines of your cities! In future Dev Diaries, we will be introducing the improved and extended mass transit options as well as the expanded Waste Transfer System, Inland Water Treatment and Healthcare city services. To top it off, we introduce a new and amazing Unique Building, cool new maps, policies and miscellaneous improvements, because we all know you can't have an expansion without them! This expansion is simply going to take your cities to the next level.
Our new maps are designed with the new Sunset Harbor features in mind. They offer challenges in the shape of sewage treatment management, provide good opportunities for fishing industry activities, and showcase memorable landscapes to build cities on. The paid part of this DLC allows you to expand on Waste Management with the Waste Transfer System, offer your citizens new mass transit options with Trolleybuses, Passenger Helicopters and Intercity Buses, and have them all utilize new Transport Hubs. The free part of this DLC, includes a majorly overhauled metro system. You can now adjust the height of metro tracks, which means tracks and stations can be underground, street level, or even above ground on elevated platforms! Included in the free content update are also the new Healthcare facilities. After building them, you may notice more children being born in the city and some citizens living slightly longer than others.
Now that the general introductions are out of the way, it's time we roll up our sleeves and dive right into the fish puns. Actually, let's try to keep those to the minimum.
What fish-tastic news!
Adding life and meaning to the vast shorelines, Fishing Industry is a new addition to the industry selection of Cities: Skylines. It is a type of industry separate from the Industries DLC and neither production chain requires the other in order to function. In Sunset Harbor, you take control of the fishing industry in the city and can manage it from simple fishing route planning all the way to final commercial production. You build fishing boat harbors, plan fishing routes for different types of boats and nurture fish farms on the shoreline (preferably away from polluted waters). The fish yield from these is then delivered to either Fish Markets in the city or to the Fish Factory, where the fish is turned into canned fish and delivered to grocery stores for increased profit.
You can locate the new Fishing Industry features under the same construction menu as Garbage, on it's own Fishing Industry tab. A Fishing Industry Info View was also added to the (already long) list of Info Views. It can be used to determine what types of fish live in the waters surrounding the city. The Info View shows fish types, water pollution, and existing fishing routes in different colors and also highlights the fishing industry buildings. The Outside Connections Info View now also highlights fish resources, but keep in mind that fish can only be exported!
The Fishing Industry Info View provides valuable information about water pollution, fish types, fishing routes and fishing buildings.
It's time to go fish!
After reaching milestone 3, Fishing Industry unlocks and you are able to cast your first nets! In the beginning, you can build a non-specialized Fishing Boat Harbor and define fishing routes for the boats it houses. The Fishing Harbor comes with a built-in road, similar to other harbor buildings, and it has two built-in fishing route nodes ready: one for outgoing boats and one for incoming boats. From these points, you can create the route with a special fishing route tool. Draw the route as you see fit, and connect the route to the other node on the same harbor to close it. The route shape and length is entirely up to you, and multiple fishing routes can overlap each other!
The world is my oyster.
With a completed fishing route and a functioning Fishing Harbor, fishing boats are sent out to catch fish automatically. The boats can catch any type of fish, but the catch rate is only moderate and the storage capacity is low (it keeps the fishing industry running but doesn't give much of a boost to the city's economy). A boat's speed is determined by its current action: when it is catching fish, it moves slower. When it is at full capacity and returning to harbor, it moves faster. Caught fish can either be exported or transported with Fish Trucks to a Fish Market and sold directly to consumers.
As the combined fish yield from all of the city's fishing boat harbors increases, further Fishing Harbor unlocks become available. With careful fishing route planning, this process can be significantly sped up. Fishing boat harbors unlocked later all come with their own fishing boats, each dedicated to a certain type of fish. The catch rate and capacity of these specialized boats is high, but they catch fish only when sailing in an area that contains the type of fish specific to them. If the fishing boat's route passes through areas that only contain the wrong type of fish, they won't catch anything. Fishing route efficiency can be seen by selecting the harbor and opening the building panel.
Fishing boats catching fresh fish for the morning markets in the sunset.
The first Fish Farm unlocks at city milestone 5, allowing you to grow and gather higher yields of fish. Further Fish Farm unlocks are tied to the overall fish yield of the city's fish farms, much like with Fishing Harbors. Fish Farms are an alternative way to gather fish and also make it possible to farm seaweed and algae. Fish Farms are a more efficient way to gain high yields of fish and sea plants, but their stationary nature makes them particularly vulnerable to water pollution. Fish Farms work well in small lakes however, where creating efficient fishing routes is not feasible. Fish Farms operate on growth cycles, which can be seen by selecting the farm. During the cycle, the meter fills up. Once it is full, the building is ready to send its yield to either a Fish Factory or Fish Market. If neither a factory nor a market exists, the fish is exported out of the city.
As mentioned, water pollution affects fish yields in the polluted area. With boats, the catch rate decreases as water pollution increases, until finally they stop catching fish entirely. You need to either remove the pollution from the water or plot new fishing routes that circumvent the polluted waters. With fish farms, cultivation stops immediately if any pollution is present.
Note to self: Fish Farms and Sewage Outlets don't mix well.
How much is the fish?
So, how do we know what types of fish thrive in which conditions? In short, fish type is determined by the depth and flow of water. Sunset Harbor features 4 types of fish, all of which prefer different conditions. Anchovies thrive in still, shallow waters, salmon prefer shallow water with a flow, shellfish require deep and still waters, and tuna need deep, flowing water. This means one single map might not always have the required conditions for all types of fish.
Fishing Boat Harbors and Fish Farms have a limited capacity for storing fish, so in order to gain profit, the fish needs to be transported by Fish Trucks to either a Fish Factory, where the raw food material is processed into goods, or to a Fish Market where the raw food material is sold directly to citizens. Direct monetary compensation from fishing is received from Fish Factories and Fish Markets when their products are sold to the end users or exported. But monetary compensation is not the only benefit these buildings offer: the Fish Market gives surrounding citizens a health benefit and entertainment. In the budget panel, you can inspect how the fishing industry is performing, how much running the industry costs, and how much profit it generates. Happy fishing!
Sunset Harbor will hit the stores on the 26th of March, and we are hooked on a feeling of excitement about this expansion! To help the wait, tune in for more Dev Diaries published here every day. We hope to see you on the next one, where we will show you the kinds of new public transportation options we have to offer!
Best regards,
Your Colossal Order dev team
