🏗 It happened again in Timberborn...

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Hello Fellow Engineers!

This week, we’re tackling everything from a 2,000-kilometer rail dream (or nightmare) in the Gulf to a LEGO-themed bridge that proves engineers and artists can team up—with zero architectural interference.

We’ve also got beavers causing chaos in Timberborn, city-builders for 2025 that range from space whales to medieval plagues, and a dangerously addictive indie game that’s 100% dopamine. Oh, and a throwback to a classic Paddy the Apprentice walk featuring sticks, mud, and questionable camera techniques.

Let’s dive into it 👇

🎉 Huge Thanks to Everyone Who Joined This Week’s Giveaway! 🎉

The suspense is over, and we have our winner! 🥁🥁🥁

Big congratulations to ian.barrow! 🎉 You’ve won a copy of Lake along with the festive Season’s Greetings DLC! 🌟

Get ready to deliver mail, soak in some small-town vibes, and spread holiday cheer like a cosy Santa.

For everyone else, don’t fret—next week’s mystery game giveaway is already in the works! Make sure to submit an answer in the poll in today’s Bridge Review for your chance to win. 🎮✨

🎄 PSA for all you last-minute shoppers! 🎄

Christmas is around the corner, and the clock is ticking to grab your RCE merch in time for the big day! 🎁 

The FINAL deadline for guaranteed delivery before Christmas is 16th December, and you’ll need to select rushed delivery to make it happen.

Don’t miss your chance—head over to realcivilengineer.com and grab your gear before Santa skips your chimney.

👷‍♂️ Truss Me, I’m an Engineer…

The Gulf Railway - will it be possible?

When you hear "2,000 kilometers of rail spanning six nations," you know this is an engineer’s magnum opus. The Gulf Railway is all about connecting Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE—without a single architect shoehorning in a pointless spiral staircase "for aesthetic balance."

Costing a casual $250 billion (yes, with a "b"), this project is what happens when engineers get oil money and a mandate to build something useful. The UAE is already ahead of the game, with its National Railway Network launched earlier this year, and Riyadh’s Metro is about to hit the tracks after. Meanwhile, architects are probably brainstorming how to attach glass pyramids to the stations.

The current status? As of now, construction hasn’t even started elsewhere. Architects would be proud—delays are their love language.

Fun Fact: Engineers are making this feat possible with zero unnecessary frills, all while tackling a region famous for extreme heat and sandstorms—conditions that could turn any structure into a sandbox toy. Architects? They’d probably be lobbying for air-conditioned arches "to express movement."

Here’s to engineers building actual movement instead!

⚡ Cool Links

🎁 Give the Strongest Gift This Christmas! 🎁
Out of time for holiday shopping? A gift subscription to my Patreon is the perfect last-minute solution! Not only will you support the channel, but your recipient will also get exclusive access to all my video series—including Cities: Skylines II (26 episodes), Astroneer (10 episodes), Satisfactory (20 episodes), and many more. The current 2 series are Planet Crafter DLC and Planet Coaster 2 realistic theme park build series - you don’t want to miss those!

Give the gift of endless entertainment and structural integrity this Christmas.

⛴ Gimbaled gantry disembarking oil rig
Zero architectural frills—this gimbaled gantry is 100% raw engineering beauty. It keeps the docking bridge steady as a rock while the boat below is doing the cha-cha with the waves. This is the most satisfying engineering video you’ll see all week - probably even all month!

😭 It happened again in Timberborn...
It's Season 10, Episode 6, and we’re diving into the new update with a fresh rebrand—welcome to The Shaft! Join me as I juggle bad tides, hungry beavers, and poo-related disasters while aiming for the biggest colony ever. Watch the chaos unfold—it’s a dam good time!

🏙 10 Most Anticipated City Builders For 2025
City-builders are coming in hot for 2025, and it’s all about managing chaos with style. Whether you’re ruling space whales or building rat empires, these games will have you micromanaging like a pro."

• Ratopia: A city-building rat simulator. Think "Stuart Little," but he’s your demanding mayor.

• Beyond These Stars: Civilization on a space whale. Yes, you read that right.

• Manor Lords: Medieval town-building where your biggest enemy is... probably the Black Plague.

🐕‍🦺 Paddy’s Corner

Relaxing dog walk in the Welsh countryside with Paddy!

Throwing it back almost 3 years to a classic Paddy the Apprentice walk!

Ever wondered what it’s like owning a Labrador like Paddy? Spoiler: it’s sticks, mud, and bush-engineered camera angles. My headphones died mid-walk, so I stuck my phone in my jacket pocket and let Paddy do his thing.

Relive the moment with me 👇

👾 Indie Game of the Week:

They made this game TOO ADDICTIVE... and now I can’t stop bonking! This week’s indie pick is Ballionaire, a pachinko-meets-roguelike masterpiece that’s 80% strategy, 20% physics, and 100% dopamine. If you love game-breaking synergies and chaotic wealth, this one’s for you.

Watch my full take below—and you can grab the game on Steam for 19% off here.

It’s time for a Bridge Review!

Turns out not all non-engineers are terrible—this 250-meter pedestrian bridge in Wuppertal got its iconic LEGO makeover from an artist, not an architect. Hats off to Martin Heuwold, who turned a solid (but otherwise unremarkable) concrete bridge into something that sparks joy. Don’t worry, though—the engineering team still deserves all the real credit for ensuring it doesn’t fall apart, even under the weight of our nostalgia.

Structural Highlights:

• 250 meters of pure functional brilliance—because engineers never play around with safety, even when it looks like they do.

• Concrete construction painted to look like the biggest LEGO set you’ve ever seen. It’s not plastic, but hey, no one’s accidentally stepping on this one in the middle of the night.

Bonus Points: For not involving architects at all. Just an artist, a bucket of paint, and an engineer-approved structure.

Final Score: 9.2/10

🏗 r/realcivilengineer Spotlight

Thanks to u/slippuu for submitting this one!

🤔 Thoughts from an Engineer

Here’s my Spotify Wrapped!

How did yours look? Reply and let me know!