JobsiteFind your next cut.

Take a line through construction

Choose Build a utility line on the world screen. Click Start excavation, Start pipe crew, and Start backfill once to dispatch independent crews on a 12 m utility line. The excavator tracks beside the trench, retaining spoil and loading the haul truck. The pipe crew follows behind excavation through formation checks, bedding, placement and inspection. After 6 m has been excavated, the backfill backhoe follows inspected pipe, placing four lifts and compacting each. Retained spoil supplies the upper lifts. The excavator waits at a 10 m open-trench limit so the trailing crews can catch up. These lengths are game rules. Wet-ground sites need pumping. Order materials ahead of the crew to avoid waiting. Use each crew’s Stop button to finish its current operation and park, or Pause to freeze the entire site. Start whole spread runs all assignments with one click; Space is an optional start/stop shortcut. Choose a work method and compare elapsed time, passes and scenario costs. The final report counts accepted sections, not just tonnes moved.

These stages introduce the sequence of work. Read the OSHA excavation requirements and PPI installation guidance for real-world context; actual projects follow their engineered design and local requirements.

Production is a connected cycle

Digging, loading, and hauling all take time. Watch when the excavator waits for a truck. A faster bucket alone may not remove the delay.

Try it: In free dig, compare truck waiting time before and after buying the second haul unit.

Ground conditions change the work

The active layer shifts as you excavate. Sand, gravel, clay, and fractured rock have different resistance presets, so the same input does not always produce the same cycle.

Try it: Use the same fleet in Dubai and Iceland. Compare the timing zone and the time each cut takes.

Recover and keep working

Space always requests the next action. Crew in the equipment zone move clear before the cycle continues. A blocked or parked truck gets a short recovery onto a clear loading lane. At the pad boundary, the spread moves to fresh ground. Recovery preserves excavation, installed pipe, payload and earnings. These are arcade recovery rules, not real equipment procedures.

Build a continuous pipe run

Release Space when the crew says the bed is ready so you can install pipe before advancing. With an empty bucket, select Install 2 m pipe. Select Back up 2 m to align the next section, then dig, load, and install again. Use Connect joint when two pipe ends meet. The crew works visibly in your excavated trench.

Know what the numbers mean

All t are metric tonnes; m3 is cubic metres of undisturbed ground. Each cut removes grid volume and converts it to payload using that bite's density preset: earth 1.8, clay 1.7, sand 1.6, gravel 1.9, basalt 2.2 t/m3. Loading and hauling preserve mass. Loose-volume swell is not modeled. Dimensions show the current 2 m section; volume and removed mass cover the whole saved site.

Three distinct 2 m sections on grade unlock throttle. Eco uses less fuel and slower hydraulics; Boost cycles faster at higher L/h. Fuel and RPM are game presets. Paused shifts use no fuel.

Match the bucket to the truck

Payload is the mass carried in the bucket or truck. In the starting utility spread, a 2.5 t full bucket takes eight loads to fill a 20 t truck. Smaller bites need more cycles.

Try it: Fill a truck with clean bites, then repeat with short bites. Count the loads and compare the elapsed time.