Have you ever wondered how to place a dam in cities skylines? I’m going to show you how to build the 1600 MW hydropower dam below.Resources:
In this article we will try to figure out how to build a dam in cities skylines. I hope you’ll find the right answers on how to place a dam in cities skylines, because this guide is more technical than any of my previous guides.
If you are planning to build a dam that is larger than 5,000 cubic meters or has a wall height that is greater than four meters (measured vertically from the ground below the dam to the top of the wall), you should seek additional guidance from the Department of Land and Water Conservation (DLWC) office that is located closest to you.
The Department of Land and Water Conservation (DLWC) may demand a licence for dams that are located on rivers and are either utilised for irrigation (with no minimum capacity) or for stock and domestic purposes.
Building a dam in cities skylines
- Place the city on a flat area with a river or lake nearby.
- Click on the terrain tools and select “water”.
- Use the water tool again and click on the terrain to create a lake or river.
- Adjust the shape of the water feature by right-clicking and dragging your mouse across it.
- Wait for the water feature to be created.
Dams are special assets that can be placed on rivers, specifically:
| Type of Dam | MW Rating | Size | Power Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Dam | 400 MW | Smaller | Moderate Power |
| Large Dam | 1600 MW | Larger | High Power |
Requirements for Building Dams
- Unlock the appropriate technology for your city.
- Have an area with sufficient space for the dam.
- Ensure an electricity supply is available.
Steps to Build a Dam
- Open the Dam icon from your menu bar.
- Select “Build Dam.”
- Click on the map to highlight the desired location.
- Choose the dam size using the provided sliders.
- Confirm the selection to begin construction.
Flood Control Dam Placement
To place a flood control dam:
- Select your city from the main menu.
- Click on the button labeled ‘Water.’
- Open the menu and select the ‘Flood Control’ option.
- Choose the area to protect from flooding.
- Click ‘Place Dam.’
- Select the desired location for the dam.
Important Notes
- Dams increase the real estate value around them.
- They must be built on water to function properly.
- Dams won’t appear on the map until construction is complete.
🛠 What This Is About
How a dam faces water flow and when it starts working depends on the map setup.
Building a dam is not as simple as digging a hole in the ground; rather, it is a structure that stores water and requires planning, surveying, and building. A dam wall must be able to maintain its stability even during significant storm events, and the earth must be somewhat impermeable in order to reduce the amount of water that is lost by seepage. It is possible that your local council will require consent, and if this is the case, you will need to have a Development Application submitted.
🧱 Key Points
- A dam always faces into the water flow.
- If the water doesn’t build up behind it, the dam will not work.
- It all depends on how water flow is set up on the map.
Choosing a location for a dam
The construction of a dam that is badly sited or constructed can be highly expensive, it may not be of any benefit over the long term, and it may generate significant difficulties with land degradation. Take additional advice if you are unsure about something. When looking for a location for a dam, what qualities should you look for?
It is often considered to be the most advantageous to construct a dam in a depression or gully because of the good storage to excavation ratio that it offers.
• Steep sites, defined as slopes that are greater than fifteen percent, should be avoided in general since there is typically not enough adequate soil material to construct a wall that is satisfactory.
• Ensure that there is a enough amount of soil material that is suitable for the construction of the wall. The procedure of sampling and evaluating the subsoil is absolutely necessary in order to guarantee the quality and amount of the soil material. Under most circumstances, rock, sand, gravel, and soils that are prone to tunnelling failure are not appropriate for construction, unless specific construction techniques are utilised.
• When planning the capacity of the dam and the size of the spillway, the size of the catchment must be taken into consideration.
For example, in coastal regions, a catchment area of five hectares with a moderate slope should be adequate to fill a small dam with water, with a capacity of up to one thousand cubic meters. The flip side of the coin is that it could be challenging to identify and maintain an efficient spillway in catchments that are somewhat big.
• Dam spillways need to be positioned and engineered in such a way that they can safely manage heavy storm flows.
• When there is an excess of water flowing over the spillway of the dam, it is important to make sure that there is a suitable location to restore the water to its usual flowline without creating erosion. If the dam is located close to a property boundary, it is imperative that flows exit the property in the same location as they did prior to the construction of the property.
📌 Quick Facts
- Correct water setup = dam works
- No buildup = dam stays idle
how to place a dam in cities skylines
I have been searching the net for a few days now and I have not found an answer. I’ve read multiple people asking “how do you plact a dam in Cities: Skylines?” but no one has answered their questions. I tried out different forums and youtube videos to figure this out but none of them worked for me.
In my case, I bought the 1600 MW dam from the city planner pack. It’s called “Water Tower” in the game, but it is actually a dam. The problem is that it does not appear in my dam menu when I click on “add a new feature” or any other options that come after that point. So how do I place it?
The first thing that you need to do is find a suitable location for your dam. This should be on a flat area next to a river or lake. You can then follow these steps:
First, place the Dam Site! It will cost you $10,000 and take 2 months to complete construction.
Cities: Skylines’ latest expansion, Natural Disasters, is out now on PC and coming soon to consoles. It brings a whole bunch of new features and catastrophes to the city-building sim, but it also adds one thing that many fans have been asking for: a dam.
In the game’s modding community, there’s already been some progress made in making this possible. For example, this mod allows you to place a dam in your city:
But it turns out that it’s actually really easy to do this yourself without any mods. Here’s how:
In Cities: Skylines, you can build a dam to create a reservoir. This is a great way to fill up your city with water supply and also provide some much needed jobs in the area.
However, when you first place a dam there will be no water flowing. You will need to build pipes connecting the dam with your city so that water can flow into it.
You can see where there are pipes connecting the dam with your city by looking at the pipe icon on the map of your city. The icon should be green if there are pipes connected and red if not (if it’s grey, then there isn’t any pipe connection).
First, you’ll need to get the dam site cleared. You can do this by either bulldozing or demolishing buildings. Use the bulldozer tool (default: Q) to clear the area where you want to place your dam and then place an industrial zone on top of it.
The second step is to build a water purification plant for your city. This will cost 250k simoleons and will consume 2 workers and 1 scientist each day. After it’s built, click on it and choose “Start Water Purification Process.” This will take 10 days and will cost $10k at the end.
Next, you’ll need to build a power plant for your city. Place it anywhere in your city (it doesn’t have to be near the dam) but make sure that it has access to power lines from nearby areas so that it can operate properly. The cheapest option here is wind turbines which require no investment up front and only produce $1k per month worth of power each (which may not even be enough). If you want something more reliable or faster than wind turbines then go ahead and build coal or oil-fired power plants instead (they both produce $2k per month worth of power each).