🌉 Ducks on STERIOIDS?!

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Hello Fellow Engineers!

This week, we’re leaning hard into structural integrity, literally, with the Millennium Tower’s 16th birthday wobble. We’ve also got jet-fueled jank in Aviassembly, a duck with unreal cardio, and a fantasy bridge that scored a whopping 9.3/10 for being blissfully architect-free.

Oh, and Paddy tried to take my shins out with a stick. Again.

Let’s dive into it 👇

This week, we're giving away FOUR games, FOUR winners, and zero architectural involvement! 🎮✨

🏆 WINNERS 🏆

• mattystanger – Izmir, An Independence Simulator

• architectsrule – Rym 9000

• levipiercy5 – Soulflow

• bendavagmo – Quadrata

Check your inbox, champions of structural soundness and pixelated chaos… your game key awaits! 🎉

Missed out? Don't worry, more giveaways are coming faster than a duck on synthetic seeds.

Want in next time? Vote for your favourite FICTIONAL bridge in the poll below! 🌉

Better bridges = better newsletter karma.

👷‍♂️ Truss Me, I’m an Engineer…

🎉 Happy 16th, Millennium Tower! You're Still Leaning Strong.

Today we’re celebrating the Millennium Tower’s Sweet 16, and like any rebellious teenager, it's still leaning into its identity crisis. 🥳🎂

Standing tall at 645 feet and 58 stories, it’s got views, luxury condos, and just a tiny little tendency to sink and tilt. You know, like an overconfident Jenga tower built by an architect who skipped foundation class for a latte and a sketchbook.

Let’s be real. If this was Architect Digest, they’d call it “an experimental blend of modernism and natural settlement.” But here in the Real Civil Newsletter, we call it an object lesson in why you always invite an engineer to the table.

Because while the design team was busy making the lobby Instagrammable, engineers were left with the real challenge: How do you stop a skyscraper from turning into a Slip ‘N Slide?

Spoiler alert: it involves 75 massive steel piles being driven down to bedrock like a heavy-metal acupuncture treatment for the Earth.

Engineering Feats

• Stabilization mission: The tower began leaning 17 inches and sinking 18 inches into the soft San Francisco soil. Engineers weren’t about to let that slide (literally), so they launched a $100M retrofit plan.

• Bedrock or bust: The fix? Drilling down 250 feet to anchor the building into bedrock with a forest of steel piles, aka Earth’s version of orthopedic shoes.

• Real-time monitoring: Engineers set up sensors to track every twitch, shiver, and shimmy the tower makes.

So here’s to you, Millennium Tower: a reminder that architecture may give us pretty skylines, but it’s engineers who keep them from becoming horizontal real estate.

⚡ Cool Links

🔌 Have you ever seen a 500mm ARMOURED cable?
500mm² of armoured beefcake cable? Only an engineer would look at that and say, “Yeah, I can crimp it.” 💪⚡

🧊 Glass Bridge Defies Gravity (and Common Sense)
A 30-foot bridge made entirely of interlocking hollow glass units has been constructed - are you walking on it?

✈ Engineering the PERFECT passenger jet...
This game is dangerously addicting! Build a janky plane, barely land it, earn £3.50 and some scrap, and immediately spend it all on a sketchy wing upgrade. Rinse, repeat, explode, repeat harder.

🏙️ 'Cities: Skylines II' Getting Free and Paid Content to Celebrate Anniversary
The latest update brings new parks and buildings to celebrate the series' anniversary. It's the perfect excuse to neglect real-life responsibilities in favor of virtual city planning. ​

🐾 'Timberborn' Introduces Adaptive Power Shafts
Beavers rejoice! The new update adds adaptive power shafts, making your wooden contraptions more efficient. It's the kind of innovation that makes you wonder why humans haven't caught up yet.

💖 'Palworld' Dating Sim Wasn't a Joke After All
What started as an April Fools' prank is now a real game. 'Palworld: More Than Just Pals' lets you romance Pokémon-like creatures in a high school setting. It's weird, it's wild, and it's happening. ​

🐕‍🦺 Paddy’s Corner

An hour later, my shins are very bruised...

Paddy clutched that stick like it was Excalibur… for a full hour. My shins may never forgive him, but you can witness the apprentice and his stick here 👇

👾 Indie Game of the Week:

This week’s Indie Game is Duck Life 4… or as I like to call it: “How to Engineer a Duck into a Triathlon Monster.”

Forget protein shakes. My duck’s been living off synthetic seeds and vibes, and yes, he’s now faster than me, smarter than me, and possibly owns property. I’ve trained this duck like my career depended on it.

Logs were jumped. Cruise ships were cleared. Volcanoes were... problematic.

🏃‍♂️💨 Grab Duck Life 4 on Steam now and start engineering greatness (in feathers)!

It’s time for a Bridge Review!

With the release of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remaster, we’re stepping into uncharted (but very well-constructed) territory, reviewing another fictional bridge, and honestly? It might be one of the best I’ve seen.

The Imperial City Bridge isn’t just a pretty asset drop in a fantasy world; it's a hulking slab of engineering excellence.

You can keep your Gothic arches and pointless spires, Karen the Architect, because this one’s all function, zero faff.

Let’s break it down:

• Engineering Feats:
  ✅ Multiple robust stone arches evenly spaced for maximum load distribution.
  ✅ Fortified towers for bonus defensive utility (and probably to yeet arrows at bandits).
  ✅ Survived centuries of Elder Scrolls lore with no visible signs of artistic tampering.
  ✅ Built so well, even the remaster couldn’t break it.

• Architectural Flair:
  ❌ Towers that are slightly oversized, but we’ll allow it since they double as arrow bunkers.
  ❌ No random sculptures, glowing lights, or flying buttresses to “express the designer’s inner turmoil.”

You know what this bridge screams? “An ENGINEER was in charge.”

No flowing curves. No glass walkways. Just pure "you shall not pass" vibes.

Final Score: 9.3/10

🏗 r/realcivilengineer Spotlight