The Dust Bowl Map Guide for Cities: Skylines

Map Overview

The Dust Bowl is a map from the Cities: Skylines Natural Disasters DLC.

This map features two large land masses separated by a river, and open water in the north and south.

Apart from a few hills, this map is mostly flat, and boasts a whopping 82% of buildable land.

This may be a good choice for those wishing to grow a large population.

Starting Tile

Your starting tile on The Dust Bowl features a large flat area in the middle of the map, with the river going across the northern part of the tile.

If you’re going for a clean energy start, there’s strong wind near the riverbank for getting max output from your wind turbines (8MW).

The initial highway connection is on the western edge of the tile.

External Connections

This map gives you access to three out of the four possible external connections:

• Railway
• Ship
• Air

There are two external highways, one on each of the two large landmasses. The more accessible one is west of your starting tile.

There are also two ship connections: one in the north and the other in the south.

The northern one is accessible within two tile expansions, while the southern one will require at least three.

There’s of course plenty of flat land for building airports everywhere on this map.

Unfortunately, this map lacks a railway connection (which is a shame, as trains would really suit a map with so much land).

Natural Resources

Apart from forests (which can be found all over the map), the other resource types on this map are a little on the scant side.

There are some sparse areas of fertile land near the center of the map, and small amounts of ore and oil near the northern coast.

Fishing

All four possible fish types are on this map (anchovy, salmon, shellfish, and tuna).

Anchovy is in the open sea in the north. In the mouth of the river nearby is salmon.

The river has salmon as well as tuna, while the open seas in the southeast of the map has shellfish.

First Expansions

All four tiles adjacent to your starting tile are fairly similar in that they are all mostly flat land. So the main thing to consider is which part of the map you want to expand towards.

North Tile

The tile north of your starting area is entirely land, which gets a little hilly towards the east.

This tile contains the small amount of ore present on this map.

East Tile

This tile will give you a segment of the river as well as the buildable land.

Expanding further to the east of this will give you access to the other external highway connection.

South Tile

This tile gives you a little bit of fertile land as well as a longer section of the western highway route.

West Tile

Similar to the southern tile, you can expand towards the western tile and get some fertile land, as well as more access to the western highway.

Milestones

Below are the population targets for each milestone on The Dust Bowl

BACK TO THE MAIN GAME Cities: Skylines Full Strategy Guide

Guide Navigation

• Cities: Skylines
  • The Dust Bowl Map Guide for Cities: Skylines

Liz Villegas

174 articles

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.

View Writer's Posts →

Related Posts:

Asanu Beach Map Guide for Cities: Skylines Lagoon Shore Map Guide for Cities: Skylines Pearl Bay Map Guide for Cities: Skylines Gondola Islands Map Guide for Cities: Skylines Crater Falls Map Guide for Cities: Skylines Noyou Port Map Guide for Cities: Skylines Green Peaks Map Guide for Cities: Skylines Swamplands Map Guide for Cities: Skylines