Move — swipe up/down/left/right to move the cursor.

Build — tap to place the active tool. For roads tap a start tile then an end tile to lay a whole run; for zones tap two corners to fill an area. Wiggle to cancel a pending run. Undo is in the menu (or Z on a keyboard).

Menu — swipe left‑right‑left‑right quickly to open the tool menu. The FULL MENU tile opens Stats, Map, Goals, Trends, News, Policies & Finance.

Back — swipe up‑down‑up‑down to close any screen (or tap the on‑screen Back/Resume tile).

Start — lay roads, drop a power plant + water plant, then zone R/C/I next to roads. Power & water flow along roads with distance falloff, so keep plants close.

Grow — meet R/C/I demand, add schools, hospitals, police, fire & parks to raise land value and let towers rise.

Approval — the ☺ % on the HUD sums up how happy your city is (services, pollution, crime, traffic, tax, jobs). A happy city draws more residents. Open Approval in the menu to see what's helping or hurting — tap a row to jump to the worst spot.

Landmarks — once you grow, unlock City Hall (approval), University (education everywhere), and Seaport (waterfront industry & exports).

INDUSTRY & SUPPLY CHAINS

Two ways to earn — plain I zones already make money and a trickle of goods on their own. The production chain is optional upside stacked on top: extract raw materials, refine them into higher‑value stock, and the finished goods multiply your industry income, shops and exports.

Extractors — each needs the right ground (use Inspect to find deposits): Mine on an ore deposit → ore · Oil Well on oil → oil · Farm on fertile soil → food · Colliery on coal → coal · Logging Camp beside forest → timber · Quarry beside mountains → stone.

Processors — turn raw into higher value: Smelter ore→metal · Refinery oil→fuel · Sawmill timber→lumber · Chem Plant oil→plastic · Cement stone→cement · Factory metal + fuel → goods · Elec Plant metal + plastic → electronics (your highest‑value product).

Heavy industry — the deeper tiers: Steel Mill metal→steel (lifts goods & electronics) · Machinery steel + goods → machinery (+citywide chain output) · Auto Plant steel + electronics → vehicles (sell at a Car Dealer or export) · Fertilizer oil→fertilizer (boosts farm food, like coke boosts steel).

Coal & coke — a second fuel chain: Colliery on a coal deposit → coal (finite, like ore/oil) → Coke Oven → coke. Coke is split two ways: it lifts steel output, and a Coke Power Plant burns it for extra power capacity (cheaper upkeep than a Coal Plant, but smoky — Clean Coal Scrubbers research halves that). Surplus coal & coke auto‑export at world prices.

Two shared bottlenecks — oil is split between Refineries (fuel) and Chem Plants (plastic); metal is split between Factories (goods) and Elec Plants; coke is split between Steel Mills and the Coke Power Plant. If one branch starves, add more wells/mines/ovens so both get fed.

What each output does — local metal lifts I zone income · fuel cuts power‑plant running costs · goods raise C zone income and stock Markets · electronics stock Malls & earn premium exports · lumber speeds construction · cement lets towers grow taller/denser · food feeds residents (+approval).

Shops sell it — Market sells goods, Mall sells electronics, Grocery sells food. Each needs three things at once: that commodity in stock, its own shop capacity, and enough shoppers (population). Selling at home is your best margin; whatever's left over auto‑exports.

Workers — every chain building and shop draws staff from your residents (about half of them work). Grow homes alongside industry or output falls (it never hits zero — it's floored). Schools & University make the workforce skilled, which raises chain output and shop income.

Selling & freight — surplus goods, electronics and raw resources export automatically at live world prices (higher with a Seaport or Airport hub). But a factory must be road‑linked to a shop or port to sell — a stranded one keeps only half its output until Logistics research fixes it. Warehouses stockpile surplus ore/oil to smooth shortfalls. Watch the roads: coloured dots streaming toward shops/ports are real freight moving — each tint is a different commodity (amber ore, orange fuel, purple electronics…), and brighter = busier. Tip: the Supply screen in the menu shows every commodity's production vs. capacity.

TRADE, RESEARCH & WONDERS

Trade — in the menu, open Trade to import resources you lack and export surplus at live world prices; build a relationship with neighbour nations. Research spends cash on permanent upgrades. Wonders (Convention Center, Metro, Space Center) are big multi-month megaprojects. Distant industry must be road-linked to shops or a port to sell (freight) — and roads can now bridge water & tunnel mountains.

Survive — don't let the treasury stay negative for 3 months or buildings catch fire. Watch pollution & crime in the City Map overlays.