(6) Layers - Building and City Plans
More fleshing out of the concept of layers and City Plans. This lets you build (in general) easier - especially laying down plots. When it comes to City Plans it gets real interesting. (The pro's will have worked that out already.)
Building:
Sometimes you want to place down some structure - but there's something in the way. It could be another piece of structure, or more often a plot.
The easy solution is to put whatever is in the way on another layer - toggle the layer to hidden - and do what you need without that getting in your way.
So that said:
* Put your framework on one layer
* Put your plots on another layer
You can then get the plots out of the way, rearrange the framework to how you want them, and return the plots back to being usable.
This can be helpful too, when you've had to use a mix of 1x1 and 0.5x0.5 tiles for easy plot-snapping. Once the plot is snapped in place (on a different layer) - toggle it off and rearrange the floor back to how you wanted it originally.
City Planning:
Look at these layers (from my Castle build):
A total of 8 layers. To recap what is in the video later:
* Level 0 City Plan uses Layers D and 0
* Level 1 City Plan uses Layers 1 and 2
* Level 2 City Plan uses Layers 3 and 4
* Level 3 City Plan uses Layers 5 and 6
Of these layers:
* Layers D, 1, 3, and 5 = framework of the City Plan
* Layers 0, 2, 4, and 6 = plots of the City Plan
With the framework and plots on the appropriate layers:
* All layers enabled - export your L3 City Plan
* Disable layers 5 & 6 - export your L2 City Plan
* Disable layers 3 & 4 - export your L1 City Plan
* Disable layers 1 & 2 - export your L0 City Plan
MAJOR BENEFIT: You do not have to rip down your City Plan for each level! All you are doing is
*disabling the extra bits* for each level export.
In the classic system of City Planning you have to tear down each level from L3 to L0. Making a mistake in the teardown is painful: if you take too much out you then have to reload the last save, tear it down again, and be careful not to tear it down too far. If you find partway through that you've made a mistake...you have to go back to the original L3, fix the mistake, and go back through the export-and-teardown process with each level again.
With layers, you can see
*exactly* what each level of a City Plan will look like. If you see a mistake, fix it there and then. Examine it once more. Toggle the layers to see exactly what each level of the City Plan will look like. (I should have done a video.)
When you're done - the export process requires only toggling off the layers you don't need, not tearing everything down.