Terrain Block
A 
Terrain Block is a cubic unit (or voxel) of earth on a map, which can be placed by builders with 
Dirt, and removed by using 
Explosives or a 
Dirt Excavator.
Terrain Blocks are a source of Dirt, and require a Dirt Excavator to harvest.
Construction
A Terrain Block requires 6 Dirt, which can be obtained from Dirt Excavators.
When placing a Terrain Block site from the 
Landscaping building section, an arrow indicator appears on the site, indicating build order. Builders do not build blocks that have an unfinished block behind it.
This block behaves as any natural dirt block once it is completed: it holds water, counts as ground layer, and can be farmed upon. 
Buildings can be placed on top of Terrain Block sites at the planning stage, but crops or trees require the site to be completed before planning or placement.
Verticality
Terrain Blocks can be placed on all Buildings with a 
Solid surface, with the exception of 
Contamination Barriers, 
Irrigation Barriers, and 
Impermeable Floor.[1]
Terrain Overhangs
Terrain Blocks can also be placed on the sides of other Terrain Blocks, up to a limit of 3 blocks. This effectively creates an overhang that is 3-long, and stacking one-up allows for another consecutive run of 3 overhanging terrain blocks.
Directional Blocking
Terrain Block sites contain a mechanism to help with preventing builders from building themselves into an enclosed area or walling themselves in. When there is another Terrain Block site pointing to it that shares the same direction, the blocks at the pointed-end of the chain of arrows are not worked upon. A 
Directional Blocking indicator appears in the building site's UI to the right upon selection.
Additionally, Terrain Block sites with uncompleted building projects or other Terrain Blocks sites below are not worked upon. Everything below the affected site has to be complete before any 
Builders are allowed to work on it. This is to help with top-down construction, where builders would be above the sites and not at the exact location, so that access to sites below do not get blocked off by a Terrain Block completing above.
Demolition
Removing Terrain Blocks require the use of Explosives, and can not be demolished by the usual means with the deletion tool. Alternatively, a Dirt Excavator can remove Terrain Block in a 5x5 area, layer by layer, and also produces Dirt as a resource.
Removing elevated Terrain Blocks atop any other building also requires Explosives, but the explosive removal rang only affects Terrain Blocks down to the lowest contiguous layer of terrain. Any building under a Terrain Block that would be in explosion depth are not affected.
Overhang Collapse
If the overhanging chain of Terrain Blocks is built upon a supporting building while also attached to the side of another Terrain Block, removal of this supporting building would cause certain Terrain Blocks to be unsupported, especially if this removal creates a run of 4 or more overhanging blocks.
When this is the case, all unsupported blocks are automatically demolished, along with any other structures that may be above it. Buildings with a large footprint that loses one or more Terrain Blocks underneath it are automatically demolished as well.
Terrain Blocks forcefully deleted in this manner do not produce Dirt, so the main way to produce Dirt still requires a Dirt Excavator. Other affected Buildings do otherwise leave 
Rubble in its place.
Strategy
Terrain Block sites with another Terrain Block site pointing to it at the same direction are not worked on by builders, until said Terrain Block pointing to it has been completed. If there is an arrow from another adjacent terrain block pointed at a terrain block on the same layer, it waits to build until that block is complete.
Even though they’re functionally identical after completion, it is crucial to rotate them correctly - builders build them in the order indicated by arrows. Use this mechanism to stop builders from blocking access to planned construction sites and to prevent cutting off the builders.
Ideally, when working at the same level, the arrows should point toward the direction where the builders leave the area. When working from above, the arrows should point towards the "outward or growing" direction of the existing terrain edge, as pointing it the other way would mean the builders have to build from the far end before getting towards the closer edge.
To circumvent the build hazards and mostly ignoring build order of Terrain Blocks, consider using elevated 
Suspension Bridges to get beavers to path to the sites, as builders can work vertically downwards above any height on any site within pathing reach.
History
| Update 7 | |
|---|---|
| 2025-05-08 |
"3D Terrain" - Terrain Blocks can now be placed on other Solid buildings, and can self-overhang itself by 3 blocks. Builders' reach, Directional Blocking, and block demolition mechanics adjusted accordingly.
|
