Advanced Town Placement (Editor)

Larger central towns, smaller surrounding settlements, and independent towns in between: Advanced Town Placement (ATP) gives you more control over how towns are distributed across your map.

Why this mod?

I created ATP because town placement in the base game often felt too uniform to me. Many towns are spaced at similar distances, while larger towns are scattered randomly across the map. I missed having clear regional centres: a larger town surrounded by smaller settlements, with longer distances to the next region. When planning a transport network, I always ask myself: Which towns belong together? Where does regional transport fit, and where would an intercity route make sense? When distances are similar everywhere, I find that distinction difficult. In particular, I struggle to find a useful role for the new trams that can also run on railway tracks: with such similar distances between towns, a conventional train often seems just as suitable for the same connections. I generally enjoy generated maps, but town placement is the part that bothers me most. I could place towns manually in the map editor, exactly where I want them. But that would mean deciding in advance which towns to connect and how, taking away that part of the fun before the game even starts. This is where ATP comes in: I can influence town distribution and define regional centres without choosing every individual location myself.

What does ATP offer?

• One to three cluster regions: Keep the map as one continuous region or divide it into two or three regions from north to south. Each region has its own town cluster, which you can adjust in a dedicated settings tab.
• A central town and its surroundings: Each cluster can contain one to ten towns, including its centre. Target starting populations are based on the scale of towns in the base game: around 350–500 residents for the central town and 75–275 for the smaller surrounding settlements.
• Adjustable distances: Set the minimum and maximum distance from the centre, as well as the minimum spacing between surrounding towns.
• Two distribution modes: “Evenly distributed” spaces distances from the centre in equal steps. With enough surrounding towns, “Inner and outer anchors” looks for one location at each radius limit, then chooses random distances in between for the remaining towns. Positions still depend on terrain and seed.
• Independent towns: Add up to 25 additional towns. Their minimum distance applies to every individual cluster town, not just the centres. You can also set the minimum spacing between independent towns.
• Separate settings and seeds: Adjust each cluster individually while the other cluster layouts stay unchanged. Independent towns may move as their distances are checked again. Use the arrows beside each seed to reroll one group, or reroll the entire plan from the “Layout” tab.
• Live preview: An initial plan is created automatically when you open ATP. Changes to sliders, distribution modes, or seeds update the preview so you can see their effects immediately.
• Presets and terrain checks: ATP suggests an initial town distribution based on map area and checks potential locations for water and elevation differences. Depending on the terrain, some requested towns may not find a suitable site. The preview shows the planned count for each group. Adjust the town count or distances with the sliders, or try a different seed.

The mod works with the terrain already on your map. You can create the landscape beforehand using the standard terrain generator, an additional terrain generator, or an imported heightmap. Town placement, industries, and roads between towns remain separate steps. ATP uses the game's town generation system for names, district layout, cargo requirements, and demand, while adjusting the target starting sizes.

How to use the mod

ATP currently works only in the map editor. As far as I know, the game does not currently provide an interface that lets a mod replace only town distribution when starting a new game. Placement therefore takes place in the map editor; you can then play the finished map as usual. If a suitable interface becomes available, I would like to update the mod to support it when I have the time.

1. Start the map editor: Enable ATP in the mod selection and choose your climate, map size, and aspect ratio.
2. Create the terrain: Use “Generate Heightmap” to generate a landscape, or import a heightmap.
3. Open ATP: Click the ATP button in the upper-left corner. The initial preview is created automatically.
4. Choose your regions: Set the number of cluster regions under “Layout”.
5. Adjust the clusters: Use the cluster tabs to set town counts, distances, and distribution modes. The preview immediately shows how positions change.
6. Add independent towns: Set their count and distances in the “Independent” tab. Tip: Start with the count at 0 so you can see the individual clusters more clearly in the preview. Add the independent towns afterwards, before placing the complete plan.
7. Place the towns: Click “Place towns” in ATP and wait for generation to finish. The planning preview then clears; the generated towns remain on the map.
8. Generate industries: Open “Towns & Industries”, switch to “Industries”, and generate your preferred industry distribution.
9. Create road connections: Open the main street connections tool, select “Propose Default Connections”, then click “Generate”. You can adjust the proposed connections beforehand.
10. Play your map: Save it using “Save Map”, then start the saved map from the main menu. Adjust the gameplay settings beforehand if needed. Alternatively, use “Save and Play” directly from the editor.

Notes

Existing towns are preserved.

Regions define the search areas for cluster locations. They do not change the terrain or create permanent boundaries for town growth. Independent towns may lie within these regions as long as they respect the configured distances from cluster towns.

ATP does not generate industries or build transport connections between towns.

This mod was developed with the assistance of OpenAI Codex.