Seaport Placement

[stereohype 0]

While in God mode, I specifically setup a good length of shore for a seaport.  When I got to building my city however, a seaport would not place, the "foot" never went blue.  I got annoyed and obliderated the city to try to setup a better shore - one that lines up with the grid.  But had no luck when I got to Mayor.  To experiment I went to another city and found only one area a seaport would place was on the side of a steep cliff that no road can get to.  What are the physical requirements for a seaport?  Is there a depth the water must have?  Is a "beach" necessary?  And,  how much do seaports really help the industry?  They seem so small.  In SC3K I used to make these enormous seaports right next to my industry.  I'd also make Island communities that required a seaport to connect to my neighbors.  And what caused Maxis to take out the zones for airports and seaports?  The sake of realism is not furthered by this change.  SC5 better improved upon this.  Anyway, I'm starting to rant.  I'll appreciate any feedback.

[Gridlock 9]

From mayor mode   press ctrl+alt+shift + gode mode button ( the sun icon) this takes you back to god mode terraforming tools, shift + a #(1- sizes the tools . i use size 2 and 4 mostly for terraforming seaports and zoom in to next to the closest , once you get the feel of the tool , you can cut very accurate coastlines for your port, I usually just plop a seaport to get the level , demolish it , then go into god mode to cut the coastline. Level out a big area , place some streets for guidlines and work the terrain to the shape you drew with the roads .Seaports dont do anything , just a cap boost ,but they look cool.  They do, do something , but im not sure what they dont seem to work that well in sc4 .You can force your industry to use it though if you realy wanted .

[stereohype 0]

good to know, man - thanks for the tips.