The Water Pipes

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

Could use some advice on how to build a good network. I'm so used to SC4 pipe system but here I understand the water have to flow from pump to sewage (more realistic...I like). How do some of you deal with a large grid? Do you snake the pipes through or is there another technique?

[Mystrelia 57]

You know, this game has made me plum lazy about how I put in those pipes. In all the SC games I played I always made sure the pipes were perfectly placed to make the best use of resources. What I did in my town I have going on now (it's only one square so far so I wouldn't call it a city) is that I placed the water pump close to the upstream edge of the map then placed the sewage pump near the downstream edge of the map. Then I connected those two with a pipe and ran a single pipe from there up to where I was zoning then just ran pipes as needed under the zones.

[simonmd 6]

There is a tip that says if you lay your pipes at intervals of 440 between each one, you will get perfect coverage. However, personalty, I like to do it as it would be done in real life, ie, mainly following roads and putting new bits in when required at whatever angle works. I like the look of it, looks more organic and realistic and shows some thought for the actual demands.

[Sabretooth78 808]

Basically, just place a pump (or water tower) somewhere and place a discharge (or treatment plant) somewhere else (preferably downstream if applicable).  Make sure they're powered; they don't need road access.  Connect the two with pipes, and run it through your zones in some fashion acceptable to you and that's pretty much it.

 

Pipe layout seems to be subject to the same fussiness that road layout displays.  Also, it seems impossible to perfectly align them to the roads.  Other than that it's pretty straightforward.

 

One area I noticed some weird behavior was with the powering of the facilities.  They seemed to work fine, then suddenly at some point complained they had no power.  I'm not sure how that happened; I don't think I did anything to cause it.

 

You'll note that pipes in C:S are actually parallel sets.  I do enjoy how it has an actual sewage system.  IMHO, SC4's handling of water pollution and the way water treatment plants address it is completely fubar.  I haven't gotten far enough in C:S to observe the mechanics of them.

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

You know, this game has made me plum lazy about how I put in those pipes. In all the SC games I played I always made sure the pipes were perfectly placed to make the best use of resources. What I did in my town I have going on now (it's only one square so far so I wouldn't call it a city) is that I placed the water pump close to the upstream edge of the map then placed the sewage pump near the downstream edge of the map. Then I connected those two with a pipe and ran a single pipe from there up to where I was zoning then just ran pipes as needed under the zones.

When you say "ran pipes as needed" how are you connecting them to the network?

 

Edit:I didn't find I could "connect" the pipes together in the zones. I also like to lay them out like in RL....under the streets following my road grids.

[Mystrelia 57]

By as needed I meant run a pipe into the area that needs the water. Most of my pipes end up without any space between the water coverage but some of them are just taken off willy-nilly to where the water needs to go.