Canals
The Canal Addon Mod, or CAN-AM, is a NAM feature designed in cooperation with the BSC (BATT Squad Certification) group, adding functional canals to the game.
The contents of this document are undergoing revision and are subject to change.
While CAN-AM is technically functional without any additional files, it is designed to work with either of the following (which are necessary for the canals to have walls):
- CAL SG Canals by callagrafx (recommended) OR
- The original SG Canals by SimGoober
The NAM CAN-AM files do include a single passenger station for use with CAN-AM. Additional passenger stations and even freight stations are available on the LEX at SC4 Devotion. Note that these separate download stations may have dependency lists.
Building CAN-AM Canals
The CAN-AM pieces are located under the Misc. Transit menu.
To build a functional canal with CAN-AM, start by building the outer walls of the canal with your canal set (in this case, the CAL SG Canals). In between the walls, place the CAN-AM pieces, which provide the actual transportation functionality. CAN-AM canals must be at least 3 tiles wide: 2 tiles for the walls on each side, and at least 1 tile for the CAN-AM pieces.
Crossings with CAN-AM are currently puzzle piece-based. There are two versions of each crossing piece for the supported network crossings–one for the wall, and one for the open water. The open water tiles allow for canal traffic to pass underneath.
The crossing can be assembled as follows:
Note that CAN-AM is an older feature that has not seen much new development in the past decade. As such, it is reliant on a limited array of semi-deprecated/legacy features, especially in terms of crosslinks with newer/more modern NAM features.
Being that the CAN-AM canals are a mass transit network (technically based on the Bus vehicle type), they need stations in order to allow access. The CAS 1x1 Ferry Terminal (included in the mod) is one option. Place it aligned with a canal wall, with the arrow pointing toward the water in the canal. Note that the stations require Power in order to function.
Note that in order for canal boat automata to appear on the canals, one of the “magic pieces” must be placed as part of the build process, preferrably in the open water next to the station. These include the + and T-intersections, as well as the 90° L-bend. (Thanks to CorinaMarie for this discovery!)
If everything is done properly (at least two stations of the same type are needed for full functionality), traffic should begin to use the canal.
Neighbor Connections with CAN-AM are possible as well. Simply build a standard Road-based Neighbor Connection, and plop the CAN-AM pieces over top of the Road.
