Utilities
Power, cold water, hot water, and sewage are painted runs from a town hookup on the map edge. There is no player-built generator. The old Generator catalog entry is retired.
Cables and pipes are hidden in the normal view. Connection pads stay faintly visible so you can find the town hookup. Press U, or use the overlay button on the Utilities tab, or pick a utility paint tool, to see the runs. Planned jobs show on the overlay before maintenance finishes them. They do not carry power or water until the job is finalized.
Small cable is 25 per tile and large cable is 50. Small pipe is 30 per tile and large pipe is 60. Amounts render in the currency you picked (US dollars by default). Hold Ctrl and drag to pull matching cable or pipe back into spare stacks. Remove Utility clears runs and town connections in a rectangle. Connections are not refunded. Networks reconnect after a removal.
Power
- Place a Power Connection on the map edge and pay for the town hookup.
- Paint Small Power Cable or Large Power Cable out from that mains (circuit 0).
- Place a Fusebox or Heavy Fusebox on or next to that mains cable.
- Select the fusebox, then paint Power Cable. That stroke is stamped with the fusebox circuit. The game blocks the stroke until a fusebox is selected ("Select a fusebox before painting a circuit").
A starter fusebox is 60 kW and 80 tiles of cable, and costs 400. A heavy fusebox is 120 kW and 160 tiles, and costs 900. One stroke cannot join two circuits. A circuit cannot grow past its tile cap.
Power is a zone of control, not "the fixture must touch the cable." Small cable covers 5 tiles in a king-move square (Chebyshev). Large cable covers 8. Only cable on a fed circuit counts.
What needs power
- Light, AC Unit, Heater, Box Fan, Auto Postage Machine, and the Water Boiler.
- High-Volume Sorter and X-Ray Machine stop when their circuit is not online.
- Sorting stations do not need power. That includes Sorting Station, Carrier Case, Package Sorting Station, Service Counter, Passport Station, and Cage Window. They still work better in readable light.
When power fails
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Overloaded! | Brownout. The circuit is still energized. Lights stay on but dim to about 42 percent. A long overload can trip the breaker. |
| Breaker tripped! | Powered equipment and lights on that circuit go dark. You can reset the fusebox once the load is back under capacity. |
| Too much cable! | The circuit is longer than the fusebox tile cap. |
| Needs mains! | The circuit is not fed from the town connection. |
| No cable! | Nothing in range is covering this fixture. |
| Still installing! | Maintenance has not finished the run. |
The light's build tip says a brownout turns lights off. In the simulation a brownout dims them, and a tripped breaker is what turns them off.
Water
Buy a Water Connection on the map edge, then paint Small Water Pipe or Large Water Pipe. A small pipe serves its own tile and the orthogonal neighbor one step away. A large pipe serves a king-move radius of 2.
A Water Main is a plumbing panel (cost 400). Place it on or next to a pipe from the Water Connection. It stays open while cold water reaches it.
Small pipe carries about 4 fixture-equivalents before pressure builds. Large pipe carries about 12. A small restroom (toilet, sink, coffee) fits a small trunk. A second restroom on that same small trunk does not. Sustained overload can burst the pipe. The burst leaves a puddle on the orthogonal neighbors (one tile out). People move slower in it, and mail left in the water can soak. Janitors mop. There is no separate "clogged sewer" alert.
Hot water and the boiler
A Water Boiler costs 500. Place it on or next to a cold water pipe and give it power. It heats water only when it has both. The build tip says: when it has cold water and power, paint Hot Water Pipe from it to sinks and coffee makers.
Hot water pipes do not come from the town tap. They are fed by a live boiler. Small and large hot water pipes use the same reach and the same fixture caps as cold water.
Sinks and the Coffee Station need cold water and hot water. Toilets do not use the hot water line. Boiler inspect lines include "Needs water" and "Needs power".
Sewage
Buy a Sewage Connection on the map edge. Run Small Sewer Pipe or Large Sewer Pipe to toilets, or a short small-pipe lateral into the sewer under a road. Road tiles can carry sewage once a lateral connects. Toilets need both cold water and sewage. Sinks do not need a sewer connection.
Climate pieces on the same tab
- AC Unit: facility cooling, high draw.
- Heater: facility heat, high draw.
- Box Fan: local comfort, low draw.
- Light: the only ceiling-mounted object. See Ceiling mounts. Required in rooms without windows, and for early morning, evening, night, and overnight even with windows. Daytime (08:00 to 17:00) near a window counts as natural light. Click places one. Dragging stamps a grid with three tiles between lights.