Simulators in this course aren't games: they're research instruments. Each scenario is modeled on real geology and real history. The data your simulation runs produce (placements, budget, population saved, score) become the iteration evidence in your unit portfolios. Treat them seriously, predict before you run, reflect after, and document like you would any other AI-assisted work.
Available now
Planned for future units
The Tectonic City Builder is the first of an in-house simulator set planned across the year. Each later unit's summative is intended to anchor on a similar scenario-based instrument:
- Unit 4: Climate Adaptation Simulator. Sea-level rise, monsoon shift, heat exposure. Adaptation budgets for a real coastal city (Chennai is the candidate).
- Unit 5: Watershed Stakeholder Sim. Allocate water across farmers, cities, industry, and downstream communities under drought pressure.
- Unit 6: Sustainable Land Planner. Lay out a 100 km² region balancing agriculture, ecology, urban growth, and resource extraction.
- Unit 7: Energy Mix Builder. Design a city's path to 2050 net-zero across solar, wind, nuclear, storage, and demand reduction.
These are scoped, not built. As each lands, it joins this hub.
How to use a simulator productively
- Read the briefing. Each scenario has a hazard profile, a budget, and constraints. Skim them before placing anything.
- Predict before you run. Write or voice-note what you expect to happen and why. This is the entry that turns a sim run into evidence.
- Run it. The disaster plays out. Population saved, critical infrastructure intact, score, grade: all logged.
- Reflect after. What actually happened vs. what you predicted? Where did your model of the geology break down?
- Iterate. Change ONE thing, predict again, run. Three iterations minimum for the portfolios.
Need help thinking through a design decision? Open the Engineering Coach. Stuck on why a hazard is what it is? Try the Plate Tectonics Tutor.