Landscaping tips

[El_Coronel]

Okay, I admit it, I am an aesthete.

I want my towns to be functional and look good.  So I get a bit obsessive with layout and landscaping.

I like palm-lined main roads, but I'd been burning a square to either side of the road to get that, which wasted a lot of space, and tended to get the Trops walking on the grass more than necessary (it's okay if the tourists do, they pay the bills).  Just discovered something I somehow have missed in the past:

When laying roads, a lot of landscaping persists.  But if you lay the road first, you can't put landscaping onto the road surface.

So, the trick is to lay out your roads first with landscaping, then finish the surface.  

Any of the single mini-square shrubs, trees or rocks work great for lining your roads' edges.  They don't block traffic (wish they did!  then I could channel traffic better) either, as far as I can tell.  At least the Trops sure cut through them often.

A two-wide boulevard doesn't come out as well though, as the road-laying logic leaves patches of grass showing (though with enough traffic that may not be an issue long).

Anyone else come up with any landscaping tricks?  

[El_Coronel]

Hmm, landscaping seems to have changed from my last series of tests (a year or so ago).  Now a lot of landscaping features do block traffic.

I get tired of having tourists wander off the main road into less beautified areas, so am forever trying to block them from easily doing so.

The white-based palms (and the broadleaved trees in that $100 category) do channel traffic if you make a solid line of them.  This is tricky though.  Pathing does become an issue.  

Hedges seem to block passage now also.  Even the rocks appear to work (if you want something less visible).  There are cracks though.  If you lay a line and there is a visible gap where one rock lays off to a side slightly, the Trops will find it.  This may apply to other features too.

The statue does not block traffic.  Trops can skirt the fountains also, walking along the edges of their tiles.  These structures  do narrow passage though, so they can create bottlenecks for passage.

All this raises an interesting question... can rebel forces penetrate a solid wall of palms around a palace?  

[El_Coronel]

Landscaping is out near farms.  The farmers and ranchers (no fences for cattle control!) are ruthless in chopping down and digging up trees, bushes, rocks, etc.

They do leave fountains and statues alone as far as I can see.  (I plopped a couple in their front and back yards and they left them alone for several decades.)

[Senor Ruina]

Interesting.

What I want to know is, how much do the various plants available affect beauty?  Anyone know?

[El_Coronel]

I haven't tried measuring the different types, but I haven't noted much difference.  A solid wall of anything around the docks overwhelms the dock's pollution enough that the added beauty results in an almost dark green rating (medium green, I'd call it).  I suspect the beauty improvement is the same and the density of coverage is the issue.

That said, those that cover larger areas should be most cost effective for beauty.  I like the 1x1s for lining roads though.  If you have a whole G square to landscape, the larger 3x3s are a better value at $75 each.  The best for lining roads seem to be the broader 1x1 hedges.  The pathfinder seems to spot open areas between trees and occasionally a persistent Trop slips through.  They seem not to find any with the more solid hedges,

Hedges are $25 too.

Flowers are good for blocking traffic too, and at $25 for a 2x2 cost half what hedges do for the same linear coverage.  They won't work to line a road that's all in one G square though as you can't put one on either side and still have a path.

Anyone know what makes the $100 trees worth more?  I thought maybe the farmers would leave them alone, but testing proved this not to be the case.  From now on when I want trees I will stick to the $50 ones.  As someone mentioned in the other thread on trees, those produce lumber too.

Hmm, maybe it's that the lumberjacks leave the $100 ones alone... (still, the farmers are the real problem).

[El_Coronel]

Well, more testing proves nothing is impassible.  Trees die and turn into stumps and 'hello, passage!'

A double row might last a decade or two, but best not to count on it.

So, back to concentrating on impriving my Living Environment score, which helps ensure I need no guards.

[Coconut Kid]

Cross reference:
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tropico/cafe/index.php?topic=10482.0

El_Coronel got bored too soon.

...  When laying roads, a lot of landscaping persists.  But if you lay the road first, you can't put landscaping onto the road surface. So, the trick is to lay out your roads first with landscaping, then finish the surface.  ...  A two-wide boulevard doesn't come out as well though, as the road-laying logic leaves patches of grass showing though ...

Big mistakes! First, a few trees and shrubs along the edge of the road tiles may at first glance (when zoomed out) appear to be in the road when they actually are not. Then, the Laborers will pave several of the road tiles before they start clearing the tiles of vegetation -- it's as if different Laborers have different work orders: "lay paving" or "clear vegetation." So eventually the "landscaping" in road tiles will be cleared away. A two-wide road is a waste of space, money and effort. But if you insist on doing it, you have to have the green grid turned on so you can see how the second road "meshes" with the first. You have to place some curves and intersections one tile at a time instead of just ripping off with the "point and drag" which works well only for straight lines. Again - you need to be zoomed in.

The white-based palms (and the broadleaved trees in that $100 category) do channel traffic if you make a solid line of them.  This is tricky though.  Pathing does become an issue.  Hedges seem to block passage also.  Even the rocks appear to work (if you want something less visible).  There are cracks though.  If you lay a line and there is a visible gap where one rock lays off to a side slightly, the [units] will find it.

Again it's a big mistake to think that what appears to be a solid line actually "blocks" the units. First, the description seems to indicate that placement was not done at a close zoom-in as needed for accuracy. Then, it is necessary to know that the mechanics of the game's interplay of the units with the map surface allows the units to move (find a path) where the player's eyeball does not expect one to be. When two buildings are placed side-by-side, there is still a path for the units to move between them. A line of hedge plants may make it less likely that a unit will walk between plants in the line, but it does not prohibit it. A unit may not step on a flower bed, but it can step between them if required.

Landscaping is out near farms.  The farmers and ranchers (no fences for cattle control!) are ruthless in chopping down and digging up trees, bushes, rocks, etc. They do leave fountains and statues alone as far as I can see.

But El_Colonel did not carefully observe the area involved. Five tiles from the footprint of the Farm building, and eight tiles from the Ranch building. The developers stupidily added an invisible fence to the Ranch and thereby lost the balance of how fast the grass had to grow for the cows to eat the number of meals they are programmed to require. AND starving cows\goats mistakenly trip the people starving alarm. For garsh sakes, fountains and statues are "buildings" - not vegetation.

I haven't tried measuring the different types, but I haven't noted much difference.  A solid wall of anything [vegetation] around the docks overwhelms the dock's pollution enough that the added beauty results in an almost dark green rating ...  I suspect the beauty improvement is the same and the density of coverage is the issue.

DUH! It works for any aura (radiated) pollution from any building. However, it's the beauty value (as provided in the Brady guide):

• Wild Shrub .3 to .7
• Wild Tree 1
• Hedgerow .9
• Ornamental Bush 1.2
• Ornamental Tree 4.5
• Flowers 2.5

Remember - you need to dedicate a full tile anti-pollution zone around buildings which have a heavy pollution radiation. Each tile holds several items of vegetation.

Anyone know what makes the $100 trees worth more?  I thought maybe the farmers would leave them alone, but testing proved this not to be the case.  From now on when I want trees I will stick to the $50 ones.

• Wild Tree  costs $50  and has a beauty value of 1
• Ornamental Tree  costs $100  and has a beauty value of 4.5

The $100 trees are 4.5 times as effective as the $50 trees. Duh!