Roads first. Drag with the Road tool. Lots only develop within 2 tiles of a road. Dragging across the river builds a bridge.
Zone, don’t place. Drag areas of Residential, Commercial and Industrial. Buildings move in on their own when there is demand (the R C I bars at the top).
Power everything. Nothing develops without power coverage. Wind is clean but small; Coal is big and cheap per MW, but filthy.
Jobs and homes. Residents need jobs (Industrial and Commercial). Shops need customers. Keep the three in balance.
Grow up, not just out. Buildings upgrade when they have water, stay clean, and have high land value. Parks, trees and the waterfront raise it; pollution kills it.
Mind the budget. Roads, plants and parks cost upkeep every month. Taxes pay for it, but above about 12% people start leaving.
Services for taller buildings. Level-3 buildings need a School in range, level 4 also a Clinic. As the city grows, shops and factories can catch fire: a Fire Hall in range puts fires out. While you place one, the map shows what it covers.
Grow into the sky. As your city grows, new islands come up for sale. Inspect one to buy its land deed, then drag a road across the sky to link it with a sky bridge. Each island makes a good that level-4 buildings and wonders need.
Link far islands. A sky bridge crosses at most 8 tiles of open sky. A Cable Car station (Thriving City) links to the nearest station on another island up to 24 tiles away. An Airship Mast (Metropolis) links to every other mast at any distance, and freight airships add 25% to its island's goods. Both go right beside a road. The far corner islands, Ember Isle (a volcano: Geothermal Plants beside its lava) and Stormcrest (wind turbines make triple power and Charge), can only be reached this way.
Borrow, and weather the storms. The Sky Bank lends against your islands, or lets you buy the next one on credit. Miss three payments and it takes the island. Storm fronts are sighted weeks ahead: pay to brace an island, or gamble that the storm misses. A struck island loses its sky bridges and some buildings.
Sky Market. Spare island goods pile up in the warehouse. Sell them when the price is high; traders' rumours warn of booms and crashes, but they're not always right.
Baron Vane. A rival tycoon. Leave an island on sale too long while you have the money, and he buys it. He also wins the bank's auctions. He'll sell you the island's good at a markup, and sell the island back at a price that climbs every year.
Where goods come from. The Islands & goods button (top right) lists every good: which island makes it, which zone to build there, how much you make and need, and your next step. Show me flies you to the island. Click any island's name tag for the same card.
Light the Sky Beacon. The first archipelago's crowning wonder (Sky City) takes six stages, each needing a different island's good, so it takes the whole archipelago. Lit, it lifts land value and happiness everywhere, and lights every island against the sky serpent.
Beyond the horizon. A wall of mist hangs at the edge of the map. At Cloud Capital you get the first piece of an old sky chart; the others turn up on cliff edges as gold bubbles (they glow, and the camera flies to them). With three pieces, send an expedition from the compass (top right) to find the Far Reaches: four islands with new rules and rare goods, and the Horizon Gate, the last wonder.
The New Charter. With the Horizon Gate built, this city has seen everything: keep playing it as long as you like, or retire it (Menu) for Charter Stars and spend them on perks every new city starts with.
Use the Inspect tool on any lot to see every requirement for its next upgrade. The Map view button in the top bar (or V) shows power, water, pollution, land value, road access and services. The game autosaves every month.
