Pollution

**Pollution** is a two-part problem. Initially, it is emitted by a large number of buildings, such as the Quarry, Iron Mine and Kitchen, the amount being generated noted on the building's tooltip icons with a gas mask and series of red bars. In the meantime while it's being generated, pollution emissions can be monitored in the Overlay menu, and also reduced by forests.

However once generated, the pollution will rest on the ground, making it visually darker and gives a negative modifier to the happiness of any Peep which walks through it. Pollution on tiles can be removed by placing Cleaners to remove the happiness effect. Highly polluted tiles also risk transforming into a puddle of Toxic Sludge and creating an area of Wasteland around themselves.

## Stages

### Slight Pollution

The first stage of pollution. Gives a **-1** modifier to the happiness of any Peep which walks through it. Created around most regular mines and most light food processing buildings. Until a Cleaner II using chemicals is available, there will not be a way to remove this level of pollution.

### Pollution

The second stage of pollution. Gives a **-2** modifier to the happiness of any Peep which walks through it. This level can generally be produced by early industry such as the Wood Generator, Toolsmith, and Glass Smelter, as well as most oil-related buildings.

### Heavy Pollution

The third stage of pollution. Gives a **-3** modifier to the happiness of any Peep which walks through it. Heavy Pollution is generally created by Iron Smelters and the Fuel Refinery, but it can also be created by the breath of Space Whale attacks.

### Very Heavy Pollution

The fourth and final stage of pollution. Gives a **-4** modifier to the happiness of any Peep which walks through it, and risks conversion to Toxic Sludge, temporarily creating Wasteland around it. Very Heavy Pollution is generated by Steel Smelters and Deep Mines, and can end up accumulating under Baleenium deposits over time.

### Summary

 Causes very heavy pollution | Heavy pollution generation, 4 tiles away, red | Very highly polluted (---- happiness)

## Other effects

### Production Penalty

Pollution is one of the sources of a production penalty in the game. If a field or well is located on a polluted tile, then it will reduce its output.

### Cleaner

*Main article:* Cleaner
Cleaners remove accumulated tile pollution. Cleaner I will remove one stage of pollution at a time, and can't remove slight pollution, but is available earlier and only requires water to act. Cleaner II will remove all pollution stages at once, but requires chemicals. Fully cleaning a tile unlocks the Pond.

### Comparison to Gloom

Pollution is distinct from Gloom, although both reduce happiness. Gloom cannot accumulate, and most pollution emitters produce some but far less of Gloom, as compared to Pollution. Some buildings that produce Gloom but not Pollution are the Marketplace, Apartment, Aegis and Tailor.

## Wasteland generation

*Wasteland generation is part of the Wasteland update, and therefore not a game mechanic in the Console Edition.*

If any one tile of extreme pollution is left too long, that particular tile may convert to Toxic Waste and block a number of surrounding tiles from use as Wasteland, until the Decontaminator process is applied to the sludge. One polluted tile is sufficient to spawn toxic sludge; adjacent tiles don't have to be polluted, and nor do tiles necessarily have to have pollution on them in order to become blocked by wasteland. This can be an issue for multi-tile buildings such as the Warehouse, which will only report the pollution status of their entrance tile.

Therefore, as a result of this process, it can be wise to use the Pollution overlay periodically to check for tiles that are not getting appropriate cleaner coverage. The construction overlay will help by showing ranges, but the full overlay will highlight the relevant tiles in a special colour and make them easier to see. Note that buildings in the overlay appear to be indicated with a pollution generation value one level higher than what is stated on the tooltip; a mine stated to produce "slight pollution" will be marked as "medium" pollution generation (i.e. normal pollution levels) on the overlay but this is unlikely to produce standard pollution unless the pollution generators are situated very close together.

A wasteland issue can also arise from the Space Whale, both its breath attack and its Astrobaleenium deposit. The attack can generate heavily polluted areas where Cleaners are not normally present, creating a risk where there was none before. This is especially problematic because of all the distraction from repairing destroyed buildings, so it may pay off to build a Cleaner under the whale attack as a matter of course to avoid forgetting to do so later. Secondly, because the area under a Baleenium depositcannot normally be cleaned, it tends to accumulate Very Highly Polluted tile status. If it is ever removed by use of a Reclamation Spire, the use of a Cleaner II building can rapidly bring the area under control and is sure to avoid problems.

Another interesting concept is that pollution does not seem to accumulate past the source level of pollution. For example, an Iron Mine with one bar referred to as emitting "slight pollution" can make slight pollution tiles, but it can never become Heavy Pollution. Whereas a Steel Smelter is especially risky for creating Toxic Sludge. This risk can be removed by fitting the heaviest polluters with Filter upgrades once upgraded.