Crater Falls Map Guide for Cities: Skylines

Crater Falls
DLC Required	Sunset Harbor
Map Theme	Boreal
Buildable Land	46%
External Connections	Highway Railway Air
Natural Resources	Fertile Land Forest Ore Oil

Map Overview

Crater Falls in the new game menu

Crater Falls is a map from the Cities: Skylines Sunset Harbor DLC.

The main feature of this boreal-themed map is the complex network of rivers and streams branching out across the entire map.

The rivers and valleys in the middle of the map are surrounded by mountains on all sides. There’s lush forest all along the riverbanks.

There are also rock formations scattered all across the map.

Details such as these rock formations near the rivers add to this map’s beauty.

All in all, this scenic map can be a greatly rewarding choice for mayors who build around the natural landscape.

Highlights

Very scenic and diverse landscape
Interesting visual details (rock formations and ruins)

Starting Tile

The starting tile in Crater Falls.

Crater Falls has a fantastic starting tile located in the middle of the river network.

There is water in both the north and south of the map for your water source.

Although there isn’t a lot of strong wind on this tile for a wind turbine start; most of the strong wind is in the mountains to the west, or in the lake just east of the starting tile.

However, there are two small patches of strong wind on the northeast and southeast of the tile where you can maximize the output of your turbine.

The two small areas on the starting tile with strong wind.

Another great thing about Crater Falls’ starting tile is that it has two initial highway connections, one in the east and another in the west. This gives you even more flexibility on where to build your starting town.

External Connections

Crater Falls has highway, railway, and air external connections. It has no external ship connection.

There are extensive highways in the west, north, and east of the map, converging at a three-way junction northwest of your starting tile.

And there are two external railway lines: one going east-west and another north-south.

The east-west railway can be accessed as soon as you purchase the tile directly north of the starting tile.
Meanwhile, you’ll have to purchase at least two tiles to get to the north-west railway (it’s just out of the border of the tile east of your starting tile).

Crater Falls’ highway and railway connections.

Crater Falls has no external ship connection since there is no open water on this map.

But if you plan to build airports, make sure to set aside space towards the middle of the map where there’s plenty of flat land for it.

The terrain also gets steeper along the sides of the map, which means it’ll be difficult to place airports anywhere around the edges.

Natural Resources

Crater Falls in Natural Resources view

This map has all four natural resource types: fertile land, forest, ore, and oil.

Both fertile land and forest are available in your starting tile, as well as plentiful in various parts of the map.

Much of the ore can be found on or near the mountains. There is also a small patch of it near the lake.

Oil here is scarce, but there is a small bit of it in the northeast corner of your starting tile.

Fishing

All four types of fish (anchovy, salmon, shellfish, and tuna) can be found on this map—which is not surprising at all, since it comes from the Sunset Harbor DLC which introduces the fishing mechanic.

The location of the different fish types in Crater Falls’ rivers.

You’ll find anchovies in the lake, in the north of your starting tile
There’s salmon pretty much all throughout the rivers
There’s shellfish east and southwest of your starting tile
Tuna can mainly be found in the southwest section of the map

First Expansions

The four tiles, adjacent to your starting tile, that you can choose from as your first expansion.

North Tile

Expanding north of your starting tile gives you the rest of the lake.

There’s a good amount of buildable land on this tile, with a highway going through it.

East Tile

This is one of the worse options for your first expansion tile, because most of it is water which leaves you with very little buildable land.

Not only that, but the buildable land it does have is mostly across the river.

So you’ll have to build a fairly long bridge or a junction off the highway just to connect to it.

This is not recommended as a first expansion on this map.

South Tile

This is a great tile with plenty of buildable land just across the river from your starting tile.

It has a large amount of fertile land and forest for your industry.

And as a bonus, it also has neat little details including the ruins of a castle and several rock formations.

West Tile

The tile directly west of your starting area has beautiful waterfalls, which can make for a very scenic district.

These beautiful waterfalls are just west of your starting tile.

However, it’s not nearly as convenient for building on compared to the north or south tiles. So consider saving this for a later purchase.

Milestones

Below are the population targets for each milestone on Crater Falls:

Milestone	Population Required
Little Hamlet	420
Worthy Village	800
Tiny Town	1,200
Boom Town	2,200
Busy Town	4,000
Big Town	6,000
Small City	8,000
Big City	12,000
Grand City	15,000
Capital City	24,000
Colossal City	32,000
Metropolis	46,000
Megalopolis	60,000

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Liz Villegas

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Liz is a writer and photographer with a love for building and strategy games. Her spare time is often split between lifting, reading, drawing, annoying her dog Mr. Porky Butt, and squinting at stat tables on the wiki pages of whatever game she's currently playing.

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