Greetings to all fellow mayors and Simtropolitan citizens!   I want to present you a series of tutorials revolving around a very immersing part of the game: earthworks! Why? Because it's a very fundamental aspect of any construction in real life and can add aesthetic and functional depth to your cities.  I came up with a series of tutorials I'll be developing for this purpose, ranging from the most fundamental aspects to highly demanding applications of in-game earthmoving to shape the destiny of your city. Perhaps the biggest gain players can get from mastering earthworks is making rugged terrain regions all that much more enjoyable. It may be tempting to always go with a very flat region to make building easy, but that approach makes players miss the opportunity of a challenging terrain resulting in a thrilling and wonderful landscape. I'll be making these based on my main ongoing region, the Sinnoh Region, as the one fundamental geographic element that defines it are its mountains.   One favor I ask followers of this series is to avoid posting on the tutorial threads until they have been constructed. Their completion will be announced here and in the meantime, the corresponding comments can be made here. Finally, before we start, I would like everyone's feedback on which category should I tackle next after completing the fundamentals tutorial.   ESSENTIAL TOOLS: Network Addon Mod, latest version (currently the 36, versions 34 and 35 will still be adequate). In particular, make sure to have the NAM hole digging lots, these are super important to do a lot of the required steps I'll be showing.     Slope mode of your choice (in my case, the BRF Tunnel and Slope Mod). I recommend this one in particular because it's one of the most strict slope mods available for SimCity 4. I currently use an older version which still did not include a dedicated Real Highway (RHW) slope, but that isn't a problem for me as you'll all learn during the tutorials.   Region with hilly, rolling and/or mountainous terrain--anything that isn't a super flat expanse of nothingness will do.   God Terraforming in Mayor Mode (or if not your thing, use the cheat to activate God mode terraforming tools in Mayor Mode     T U T O R I A L   S E R I E S : A. EARTHWORKS FUNDAMENTALS: (in the making) Starting a town (Emeragrove): now available! Main local road (Emeragrove): screenshots available, pending writing
  Bridge across river (Emeragrove): upcoming
  Power lines (Emeragrove): upcoming   B. EARTHWORKS APPLIED TO MAJOR TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS AND URBAN RENEWAL (future) Rural Freeway Segment (Route 203)
  Rural Freeway Interchanges (Route 203)
  River Diversion (Jubilife)
  Urban Freeway Retrofit (Jubilife)
  Median Mass Transit (Jubilife)
  Suburban Freeway Retrofit (Route 204)   C. MOUNTAIN MADNESS (future)  Difficult mountain crossing (Oreburgh-Pal Park)
  Mountain Railway (Oreburgh-Pal Park)
  Dam and reservoir (Pal Park)
  Mine expansion (Oreburgh)
  Tunnels across mountains (Route 216)
   Wildlife crossings
a. Cerviduct            b.  Wildlife-friendly culverts          c.  Viaducts
  2.  Mountain roadway          a.  Benched slopes          b.  Viaducts over gorges          c.  Tunnels          d.  Freeway with separate carriageways/roadbeds 3.  Mountain railway          a.  Horseshoe bend          b.  Loop bend          c.  Tunnels          d.  Switchbacks          e.  Viaducts on a gradient   4.  Dam and reservoir system (coming soon!)          a.  Dam and reservoir proper          b.  Spillways          c.  Fish ladders          d.  Penstocks
  5.  Mine expansion          a.  Open pit mine          b.  Underground mine          c. Mountaintop removal mine   6. Mountain streams          a. Ploppable streams (basic)          b. Ploppable streams (rapids and small waterfalls)          c. MMP streams          d. Waterfalls made with in-game terrain          e. Beaver ponds     D. COASTAL CHALLENGE (future) Seaport (Jubilife Port)
  Power Plant (Jubilife Port)
  Beaches (Hotel Grand Lake)
  City straddling the sea (Sunyshore)
  Building a linear breakwater (Seabreak Path)
  Building an island (Flower Paradise)
  Underwater tunnels (Jubilife)   E. Entertainment / recreational facilities          1.  Stadium, coliseum or sports arena over scenic hill          2.  Sunken sports park          3.  Scenic lookover (coming soon!)          4.  Large urban park (coming soon, early 2021!)          5. Golf course          6. Cycling path          7. Mountain trail (coming soon!)   H. Historic and archaeological sites          1.  Mound architecture          2.  Castle moat          3.  Ancient aqueduct (coming soon!)          4. Archaeological dig (coming soon!)
  R. Major transportation projects, Rural 1.  Rural freeway segment          a.  Embankment layout          b.  Sunken layout          c.  Overpasses and underpasses
  2.  Rural freeway interchange          a.  Diamond          b.  Partial cloverleaf          c.  Cloverleaf          d.  Trumpet          e.  Directional Y / T
  3.  Drainage and small stream crossings          a.  Culverts          b.  Detention ponds          c.  Roadside ditches          d.  Fords
  4.  High speed rail across the landscape          a.  Viaduct segments          b.  Embankment segments          c.  Soundproofing with soil embankments          d.  Tunneling   S. Slope Mod Shoppe--future topic representing the various slope mods available for SimCity 4 so far, I've identified 8 main mods, 2 auxiliary mods and 22 variants in total! 1. Properties          a.  Grade (percent, reciprocal, degrees) for each network          b.  Use of vertical curvature          c.  Minimum height for support structures (pillars, retaining walls)
  2. Maxis (no mod) 3. BigRedFish (original) 4. 250458 & BigRedFish (modified variant) 5. CSX 6. Bones1 7. Xeno 8. NHP Ennedi          a.  Smooth          b.  Medium          c.  Mounted 9. SCRT Slope Mod          a.  Extremely smooth          b.  Very smooth          c.  Smooth          d.  Average          e.  Mounted          f.  Very mounted          g.  Extremely mounted 10. Alvinheriadi Slope Mod          a.  More smooth          b.  Smooth          c.  Medium          d.  Steep          e.  More Steep 11. Auxiliary slope mods          a.  Real Highway Mod          b.  Bullet Train Mod / High Speed Rail   T. Major transportation projects, urban 1.  Sunken urban freeway          a.  Segment          b.  Diamond interchange          c.  Collector-distributor
  2.  Median mass transit          a.  Bus Rapid Transit          b.  Ground light rail          c.  Elevated rail          d.  High speed rail
  3.  Urban freeway interchanges          a.  Turbine          b.  Stack          c.  Cloverstack          d.  Cloverleaf with separate weaving area          e.  Basketweave
  4.  Sunken railway          a.  Segments          b.  Stations 5.  Airport          a.  Leveling large terrains          b.  Airport drainage          c.  Tunnel-based access          d.  Clearing vertical topographic hazards
  6.  Urban canal          a.  Basic alignment          b.  Bridge crossings          c.  Pedestrian facilities   U. Utilities 1.  Thermal and nuclear power plants          a.  Site preparation          b.  Fuel storage          c.  Cooling water channel          d.  Flood defenses
  2.  Power line          a.  Overland alignment          b.  Aquatic alignment 3.  Irrigation canal          a.  Canal layout          b.  Feeder dam or weir          c.  Regulation ponds          d.  Siphons          e.  Canal crossings
  4.  Refinery          a.  Storage tanks          b.  Tanker ship terminal          c.  Oil pipelines
  5.  Quarry          a.  Excavation          b.  Benching          c.  Spoils area          d.  Logistics
  6.  Floodplain flood control          a.  Levees          b.  Channelized river          c.  Emergency floodway          d.  Bioswales   7. Landfill          a. Landfill pit          b. Landfill mound          c.  Landfill drainage