Ships & planes
Docks, oil rigs and airports.
Ships and planes need no road or track: only a dock or an airport at each end.
Docks and ships
- Pick Dock (0) in Ports and click a shore slope that runs straight down to open water. It costs $2,600.
- Ships find their own way. The two docks only need to be joined by water.
- Ships are slow but carry a lot for little running cost.
- A dock is one berth. A ship waiting there for a full load keeps it, and the ships behind it wait. A second dock beside the first helps when they have other work there; two ships after the same cargo only take turns.
- Each dock is a berth for one ship: the next one waits off it until it leaves. Docks built side by side join into one station with a berth each.
Oil rigs and fishing harbours
- Oil Rig: it stands out at sea and comes with a dock of its own. Nobody owns that dock: any company's ships may load oil there, however far from the shore the rig is. Ship the oil to a dock near this plant: Oil Refinery.
- Add the rig's dock to a ship's orders like any other stop: pick it from Add a stop or click it with Pick on map. It can't be bulldozed.
- Fishing Harbour: it stands on the coast. Its fish goes to this plant: Food Plant.
- A dock joined to a rail station shares its catchment, so together they reach industries the dock alone cannot.
Airports and aircraft
- Pick Airport in Ports and click level ground: it is a 3 x 2 airfield. It costs $31,200.
- Two airports must be at least 10 tiles apart for a flight.
- Aircraft are fast, so long routes stay on time and pay big fares.
- An airport has 3 stands. A plane that finds them all taken circles overhead until one is free.
- Put an airport where its catchment covers a busy town centre, or join one to a rail station.