Tutorial - How To Build A Land Bridge

Please PM STomnibus if you have any questions about this tutorial.

In this tutorial we will learn how to build a land bridge, that is a bridge that is built anywhere above sea level, on land.

This tutorial was originally published in my Three Rivers Region CJ, in the summer of 2006.

To sucessfully build a land bridge you will need to download and intstall the "Rain Mod" or "Extra Terrain Tools 2" which can be downloaded here


We will build our land bridge in this valley, made with the Mayor Mode valley tool.






The valley looks good but now we'll make it look even better.



Select the Roads tool, or better yet, press the [ R ] key.






Look at the valley carefully, trying to identify the lowest places along its floor....





...and start laying short stretches of road on them. Things'll begin to look like this...






...and ultimately this.






Now, we'll select the Demolish tool (and I've been calling it the Bulldoze tool all along- shows you what I know) by clicking on the bulldozer icon or by pressing the [ B ] key, then click-and-drag the tool over an area that covers all the roads just put down.








Release the mouse button and...

...BLAMMO!



...sorry, couldn't resist...I'm such a moron...



Our valley now looks like this. Only a subtle change from before, but the "road" step makes a world of difference when the surface water is laid down.






The next step is to grade the (real) road out to where we want the bridge abutments.



I'll note here that many of my roads drop down just a bit into the valley, especially when crossing over larger rivers. Here, to keep things simple, we'll make the bridge deck level with the grade of the surrounding plain.



Place the roads tool next to an end of the existing road...





...and lay a line of single, unconnected road tiles out to where the abutment will be. We'll do this as well on the other side..






Then we'll drop down several meters (I usually just eyeball about 10-15 game meters) and lay another line of road tiles between where the abutments will be.





Then, as before...



fingers in your ears?



...blow the whole thing...







...




...hmmm...must be those new silent explosives...



Now, before we do anything else, we're going to press [ Ctrl ] [ S ] and...







...save the game (I know you've been doing this all along- don't get me started).




Now once again, select the Roads tool and lay a road tile on the floor of the valley next to the embankment we just created.







Make a cut through the embankment by laying unconnected road tiles. I've placed a short strip of road at the end of the cut to blend the valley floor level with that beyond the bridge area.






OK, you know the drill...Demolish tool...fire in the hole!








When the smoke clears, we'll just drag our road across the valley...right?







Not!



Simply dragging a road across just doen't work. We''ll just have to do something about that.



We'll first select the Mayor Mode Gouge Valleys tool once again.






Now, position the tool centered over one of the corners of the grid square that is the lowest point directly under the path of our bridge...





...and press [ Ctrl ] [ 2 ] to make the tool effect circle (the white circle) very small. Center the circle over the grid square corner...






...and ever so quickly left-click the mouse so that the area affected by the tool lowers just a little. You might have to do this a few times to get the hang. It's not an exact task. It's also best to press [ Ctrl ] [ S ] before you do it the first time. That way if you accidentally drill to China (or, if you live in China, to wherever you folks drill deep holes to over there), you can exit the city and start right from where you were.






Now I hope we have all got the rain mod installed cos, now we are gonna need it... if you haven't go back and do it... go on off you go... the link is at the top of the page...



Once you install the Rain Mod in your plugins folder and restart the game you will see additional choices in the Level Terrain submenu under the God Mode Terraform icon. Remember, you need to use the God Mode Cheat (press [ Ctrl ] [Alt ] [ Shift ] and left-click on the "Sun" icon while all menus are minimized)








Now, click on the brand new shiny Rain Tool icon that appears on the submenu...

...and...whoa...that's Noah's Ark territory...






We need a small, localized shower, not the deluge.



Ahhh, [ Shift ] [ 4 ] makes it all better. Position the tool effect circle over the small depression we just created, and...





...let it rain! If you've been successful at doing all this, you'll see some "game" water (yes, it is in fact game water- looks like it, acts like it- it is game water) appear in the area around the depression..






Now, I'm not going to go off on a discourse about the water created by the Rain Mod. You should check it out for yourself. You can make nifty lakes and other features that are level by nature. There are two very limiting rules, though.



1. Game water created by the Rain Mod, just like all other game water, will not flow downhill (or uphill, for that matter, but that's just one of Newton's laws at work, I can't remember which one).




2. Game water created by the Rain Mod, unlike other game water, will disappear when you close your city. Gone. Vanished. Vamoosed. It. Will. Not. Be. There. Next. Time. Sorry, but that's just the way things are.



But we now have game water under where we plan to put our bridge.







...Does that have anything to do with how we make game bridges over land, you ask, perceptively...



Hoo boy yah it does! Let's drag a road...







Oh, man, that's cool.



You even, if the bridge is big enough, get the "game" bridge choice menu.








How 'bout this one?







Interesting, but nope...this one?






Ee-yew! I hate that bridge about 99% of the time, anyway. Another?








Doesn't toast my biscuits. How about...







Ohhhh, yeah. That bridge was made for right there. A click of the "Accept" button, and you too have joined the teeming millions that will now also be creating "game" land bridges everywhere in your cities, because it's so easy, and the secret is out.




A heartbreaker of a rule, though. Just like the game bridges that are automatically created over game "water table" water, you can't place any transportation network (street, road, rail, etc.) under the bridge. That is just so frickin' limiting. In fact, it stinks, and if I could do one thing and one thing only to change SC4 tomorrow, that would be the capability I'd add.



...then the next day, of course, I'd add diagonal tunnels, and then the next day...



So here's what we have.








Stepping back, a "no grid" view.

That's it folks. Take care 'til next time.



Enjoy!




David