What does the green flow from service buildings actually mean?

[Weapon Master]

So when it comes to constructing service buildings, my usual thought is to make sure that every little part of my city is lit up green from its placement. However, one city I started that was very stretched out rather than balled up was somehow able to get rid of the "crime rate high" and "needs services" notifications even though 30% of the city was not lit up by the police station.

Does the line actually mean anything? Do structures upgrade faster if they are in the green area? I have so many little questions that I wish there was an ingame help (those hints do nothing for me, and infact pistachios me off when they keep telling me to check out the taxi depot).

[AngerIsAnEnergy]

you should check out the taxi depot though :)

I think the greeness of the roads helps with land value and happiness. So, I imagine in those parts of your city where crime was good without the roads being green the land value was lower than other parts which are green.

[Vortigaunt Steve]

It means efficency of said service in the area, if residents live in an area with park coverage of gray, it means they have no parks to go to.

[MarkJohnson]

The green area represents the coverage. As you will notice the green fades away the further it gets away from the service building. So it means the coverage gets weaker the further away, which in turn has less happiness and land value bonuses. So they ultimately should overlap a little to get the most value so your buildings level up quicker and cims don't get upset.

[bradybrklyn]

Services like police, fire, and ambulances will travel wherever they are needed whether down the block or to the other side of the city. The green areas are those best covered and, as has been said, will level up because of it. You can turn off the hints in the option menu.

[Weapon Master]

I understand that for things like the firehouse, being farther away from the firehouse means the house has a much higher chance of burning down and spreading before they can even respond. But there was an issue I had before where industry was complaining that there were too few services in the area even though they were in the bright green for clinic, graveyard, police, and fire. And then as I mentioned before, a level 2/3 house can be outside of both the police and fire green areas and yet it doesn't complain about crime or services.

[AngerIsAnEnergy]

Industry likes a public transport network service. Add a bus route into the area and they'll be happy

[MarkJohnson]

Originally posted by bradybrklyn:

Services like police, fire, and ambulances will travel wherever they are needed whether down the block or to the other side of the city. The green areas are those best covered and, as has been said, will level up because of it. You can turn off the hints in the option menu.

Yes, this is true. Services will go outside of the coverage area, but usually it means you have lack of services or they aren't spread out evenly. You'll you'll have unhappiness and low land values. But they can be made up for with other services.

[MarkJohnson]

Originally posted by Weapon Master:

I understand that for things like the firehouse, being farther away from the firehouse means the house has a much higher chance of burning down and spreading before they can even respond. But there was an issue I had before where industry was complaining that there were too few services in the area even though they were in the bright green for clinic, graveyard, police, and fire. And then as I mentioned before, a level 2/3 house can be outside of both the police and fire green areas and yet it doesn't complain about crime or services.

Industry wants the larger firehouses. The smaller firehouses aren't equipped to handle the hazmet fires. Plus large fire stations give a huge bonus to Industry. Also, the cargo train will give a huge buff to industry as well. You don't even need to connect the rail tracks to get the bonus. Just having the non-functioning cargo train station will give a full building level bonus for industry.

[kristofburger]

Originally posted by Weapon Master:

But there was an issue I had before where industry was complaining that there were too few services in the area even though they were in the bright green for clinic, graveyard, police, and fire.

Like rmjohnson hints above, only fire department is of significant importance out of the services you mentioned. Cargo transport is even more important for industry, which is probably what caused some of the buildings complain about too few services. Those two combined with public transport is almost enough to max out industry.

As a "pro tip", radio coverage also gives a quite hefty service bonus for industry if you have Natural Disasters :)

[Weapon Master]

All of this is really helpful information that is never touched on in any in-game hints and seems important to know. I hope the next expansion they release includes a comprehensive tutorial of basics such as this.

[kristofburger]

Originally posted by Weapon Master:

I hope the next expansion they release includes a comprehensive tutorial of basics such as this.

All of this is covered in the Skylines wiki: http://www.skylineswiki.com/Cities:_Skylines_Wiki

[Weapon Master]

Never even heard of it before now

[bradybrklyn]

That's because, imo, this is not the best forum for this game. Register your game over at the Paradox forum: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?forums/cities-skylines.859/.

There's a lot more useful information and a lot less squabbling.