A tip for water tower placement, and a warning

[Jack_Hawksmoor 0]

When I started CitiesXL and worked with water towers, I assumed that the radius of the tower (the part which it carves out of a 'water zone') was the amount of resource it would draw. Therefore I placed them towards the centre of the water zones to maximise collection by spending the least amount of resource. In fact, on the fertile plains map with 2 'water zones' I proudly managed to get most of the water with just 3 towers. Lol.

It was later that I learned that it is actually the number of towers that determine how much water is generated (1 water token per tower). So my tip to share with you is that to maximise the 'water zone' usage you should place your towers at the most extreme peripheries of the zone so that each towers radius carves out the least possible area, thereby allowing you to place more towers.

Okay so you probably already knew this, but I hope it helps someone. In my successful fertile plains example, I had over 90% of my 'farms zone' covered with farms, and yet enough towers to remain water neutral (ie - no need to trade for water, despite the map having 2 stars for farms and 1 star for water).

My warning... is that with this method it is possible to overlap the radii of towers. It may not seem like you have done so, until you go to delete and replace a water tower. In fact because of this I thought at first that the game didn't give you back your zones when you deleted a tower. But then another player confirmed they could delete and replace no problems.

I made a new map and tested. Yes, you can delete towers and recover your water zone. But have a look at the attached picture.

Here I made a tower on the periphery of the waterzone to the south, then wraped it in a road so I could be 100% sure of the location.

Then I placed the tower to the north at the extreme periphery of the remaining 'water zone'. Now I have two efficiently placed towers. Good times.

On returning to first site I then deleted the tower and immediately tried to replace it. But I find that I cannot replace the tower I just deleted.

Yes, it is true that I could simply place it to the east of it's original location in the picture. However in my original game I had already placed towers either side of the deleted one in the fashion described above. As a result when I deleted my tower there was no 'water zone' remaining due to the overlap from both sides, so I couldn't replace the tower I just just knocked down anywhere on the map.

That meant 1 token lost that I had before, and no longer is my agrarian nation water neutral. Yes I know I can build up offices to get the 35% water efficiency building, but that's not the point.

It certainly makes you wish the game had an undo feature.

Anyway, I hope again that this warning tip helps out anyone using the water tower placement method outlined above from stumbling across the same mistake and losing out on tokens. It's unlikely to occur, but certainly annoying when it does happen.

If you have any feedback, or further water tips, feel free to leave them below.

[Kredit 0]

wow, interesting! I indeed assumed it would only be effective on the actual area of water it covered, so that a tower on just a little spot of water would hardly gather any water at all... but basically it's just an amount of water per tower, and place as many as you can... I gotta do some water-tower-replacement tonight

[alonzo 0]

Thank you!

[Androv 6]

It's all about placing your water towers as efficiently as possible, and then *leaving* them there no matter what. I've got some elite areas that have water towers in the middle of the villas. Fortunately they don't cause any pollution etc so it's all ok

[theMay0r 0]

Yep, that helped much!! thanks

[zwr100 2]

Good info!  I started my first farm town before reading this and placing water towers. *whew*


You should assume that your city will benefit from getting every drop of water (oil, holiday) possible and plan to do so.  It seems like the limited resources are rapidly increasing in price.

[Androv 6]

Utilise each resource to it's maximum potential - it will save you money

[Jack_Hawksmoor 0]

Androv has it totally right.

Farms buy water as their resource required to operate. So the more towers you can put down, the less water you will have to trade for or buy to keep them operating efficiently. Excess water brings you no benfit that I am aware of though, so you can sell that in trade if you ever get in such a nice position.

Good luck with your farm town zwr100. Don't forget about silos to keep them operating efficiently. Once you have enough silos you unlock fertiliser factories too, which act like silos but with a much larger radius and make your farms even more efficient. Someone said in chat the other night that more than 3 fertillizer factories don't increase efficience any more, but I haven't tested that yet.

Glad some of you other guys also benefitted from the tip. Thanks for the thanks

[eka 0]

I've been wondering a similar thing for oil-fields, farms and junkyards. At first I always made them as big as allowed, thinking that that would give the most resources. But could it be so that they give the same amount of resources no matter how small they are, and I should keep them as small as possible just to save space?

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

How about copying your post to the ...   Cities XL Hints & Tips sticky. 

[Jack_Hawksmoor 0]

Good call abcvs.

Copied.

[zwr100 2]

Anyone know if water is affected by pollution?  I think I saw a map with water and oil, and I just get the feeling they might not mix

[gyzzzmo 0]

water production isnt affected by pollution

[CWLGAMER01 39]

Originally posted by: eka

I've been wondering a similar thing for oil-fields, farms and junkyards. At first I always made them as big as allowed, thinking that that would give the most resources. But could it be so that they give the same amount of resources no matter how small they are, and I should keep them as small as possible just to save space?quote>

I read somewhere (my have been the manual) that "zoned" areas such as the ones you mention do matter on size -- the larger they are the more they produce........

[Rakeesh 0]

For those who are more experienced with water production; where is the best place to plop down water storage? Next to a water tower, away from them? And should multiples be placed together so that the water treatment affects multiple?

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

--Liv

[zwr100 2]

Originally posted by: Rakeesh

For those who are more experienced with water production; where is the best place to plop down water storage? Next to a water tower, away from them? And should multiples be placed together so that the water treatment affects multiple?quote>

BUMPing a good question whose answer I WAS patiently awaiting

I saw somewhere that you should place all of your water storage close to eachother, and then place the water treatment near the clump of water storage... I'm not sure where I saw that and was looking to verify it. I imagine it would be good to put the storage near towers so the treatment benefits them all?  I'm afraid to place my storage wrong in my big city (gave up on the farms), so I guess I'll make a water city just to experiment ><

[Jack_Hawksmoor 0]

How'd your investigation go zwr100?

In the city I'm currently working on I have just 1 x water treatment plant (incidently next to a single tower plus storage). Overall producting 7 water tokens at my other towers.

I moved two other storages to sit next to the one inside the 'halo' of the treatment station, and overall I was still producing 7 tokens. Therefore no change in output no matter where they were (although I do always have my storage next to a tower, but that's because I find it easier to keep track of them). I also noticed that when I click on the treatment plant every storage on the map gets its own 'halo'. To my mind this reinforces a map-wide impact no matter where your water storage is.