Search results
reddit.com
- Raise a city from the ground up and transform it into a thriving metropolis with the most realistic city builder ever. Push your creativity and problem-solving to build on a scale you've never experienced. With deep simulation and a living economy, this is world-building without limits.
www.paradoxinteractive.com/games/cities-skylines-ii/about
People also ask
How does Cities Skylines 2 work?
Can you build a city in Cities Skylines 2?
What is Cities Skylines II?
Is cities Skylines 2 a good game?
What are the Best Cities Skylines 2 tips?
How are service buildings improved in Cities Skylines 2?
Oct 25, 2023 · Setting up Cities Skylines 2 industry in your city is key for sustainability, here’s how it works, and some tips on getting the most from your production.
Oct 24, 2023 · Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Paradox Interactive) Cities: Skylines 2 is here at last, and the new urban city builder honestly works a lot like the old 2015 one.
Oct 24, 2023 · Cities Skylines II is a city-builder developed in Unity3D by Colossal Order and published by Paradox Interactive. This community wiki's goal is to be a repository of Cities Skylines II related knowledge, useful for both new and experienced players and for modders.
- Overview
- Understand the Map You Are Building On
- Climate Affects More Than Just the Temperature
- Understanding the Progression System and Milestones
- Don’t Be Afraid to Pause
- Start From Humble Beginnings and Don’t Overbuild
- Simplicity = Success
- Know Your Demand and Avoid Zoning Everything At Once
- Why You Should Avoid Zoning All at Once
- Building Upgrades Are Not Essential When First Starting Out
By Angie Harvey, +1 more
Starting out in Cities: Skylines 2 can be a little intimidating, as the realistic city builder has many complex and detailed systems that, if not managed correctly, can quickly result in the downfall of your city. Thankfully, we're here to help, as we have compiled 18 essential tips and tricks to help you build a flourishing and successful city in Cities: Skylines 2.
Before building your first city, it’s vital that you fully understand the map that you’re building on, as features, such as climate, outside connections, or natural resources, could ultimately have a significant impact on your city that you may not have initially planned for.
Here’s what you need to know about all six map features and how they can impact your city:
•Theme: While the theme of your map won’t adversely impact any services or facilities, it will affect the visual styling of buildings in residential and commercial zones, street markings, traffic lights, vehicle models, and other roadside props. Just be cautious of which theme you select, as while most items can have their theme manually changed from their default styling before building, your city will ultimately be forced to obey either left-hand or right-hand traffic rules permanently – so choose wisely.
•Climate: Alongside Outside Connections and Natural Resources, climate is one of the most crucial aspects you need to consider, as not only does climate (and latitude) dictate the weather, daylight hours, and temperatures, but it also changes the behavior of citizens, increased need for maintenance services, and spikes in energy consumption. You can learn more about the effects of climate in our dedicated climate section below.
•Latitude: As a general rule of thumb, northern latitudes typically see an average temperature decrease, whereas southern latitudes see an average temperature increase. Also, daylight hours will be affected, as more northern latitudes will see increased daylight hours, and vice versa. Other factors that coincide with climate are cloud coverage and precipitation.
•Buildable Area: The percentage of buildable area is important, as it indicates how much of the playable land can be built on. While most maps will boast a playable area of 159km2 -- an astounding five times more than Cities: Skylines -- only a small percentage will be buildable land. With a large landscape, map tiles have also been made significantly smaller, so each map has approximately 441 map tiles, with available resources and buildable areas playing a part in their costs. A vital thing to note is that you can unlock any buildable land tile on the map, as it does not need to connect to an unlocked tile.
As mentioned in our map breakdown above, climate affects more than just the temperature; it also affects the changing of seasons, daylight length, unique weather patterns such as cloud coverage and storm intensities, facility and service increases, citizen behavior, and more.
Paradox Interactive has gone as far as categorizing each map into the following three climate categories:
•Temperate Climates feature distinct seasonal changes, moderate precipitation, and a wide temperature range.
•Continental Climates feature significant annual variations in temperature. Depending on each map, maps that fall under this climate category will experience considerable differences.
•Polar Climates feature short and cold summers and longer-lasting cold winters.
As we touched on earlier, weather can also significantly affect your citizen behaviors, as rain and cooler weather will see citizens looking for indoor leisure activities to partake in. In contrast, sunshine and warmer weather will see citizens preferring to spend their time at parks or other outdoor activities.
Progression in Cities: Skylines 2 is based upon two main factors: Milestones and Development.
There are 20 milestones to unlock in Cities: Skylines 2, with each milestone representing a new stage in your city’s development – whether this be a small village, a booming town, a huge city, or a megalopolis. And, unlike the first game, milestones are reached through Expansion Points, otherwise known as XP.
Expansion Points are earned actively through upgrading existing services and buildings, constructing signature buildings, or performing general upgrades throughout your city. You will also passively receive XP points 16 times each day for increases in citizen happiness and population growth.
When leveling up milestones, you’ll receive cash bonuses, development points, additional land tiles to purchase, and new buildings, features, and upgrades.
As you begin accumulating development points, you can spend these within the Development tab to unlock new features and services for your city, such as new roads, green energy services, larger parks, tourist attractions, underground parking, advanced education systems, and disaster emergency services.
When it comes to the best unlocking strategy, there really isn’t one, as it ultimately comes down to your development plan. Still, it’s worth considering your city demands, as well as your overall citizen happiness, improvements needed to increase efficiency or level up, and potential Chirper complaints, as you may find that a particular upgrade could assist in approving your city, such as new road designs, a better education system, or leisure activities for your citizens to enjoy in their downtime.
When first starting, the pause feature will be one of your greatest assets, as you can use this feature to plan your initial city design without any pressures, as well as implement core services within your town such as water, electricity, sewer, and even rubbish removal, without the stress of citizens moving into town and not having access to these essential services.
This feature continues to prove vital as you progress through the game, as you can use this to plan and reassess your city’s development and make general changes without worrying about causing any live disturbances that may cause unhappiness or complaints from your citizens.
When first starting, it’s crucial that you start small and do not overbuild, as this will often end in a costly mistake that will see you chewing through your initial budget and unable to maintain a healthy return on your investments during your early years. Coming back from negative monthly revenue is incredibly hard and a huge time investment, so avoiding this scenario is vital if you're looking for your city to succeed.
Another thing to consider when first starting your new city is to keep zone sizing small, as larger properties – both business and residential – will incur more expensive rent. Higher rent can be particularly harmful to many residents, as they’ll often be unable to afford the cost of rent and general living costs.
When it comes to residential zoning at the start, we found 4x4 Low-Density Residential Zones work best and allow for more sustainable living for your low-income residents. Anything larger will see this zone-type receiving backyard, increasing rent and land value.
The same applies to Medium Density Residential, Low Rent Housing, and High Density Housing. So, we suggest mixing it up with different zone sizes to see what fits your city's needs and demands best.
While Cities: Skylines 2 may be a simulation, don’t feel the need to go over the top with extravagant city designs or intersection systems. There’s a reason real-world cities keep designs simple – they just simply work. It also doesn’t hurt to research real cities that excel in their design fundamentals – maybe there’s a thing or two you can implem...
As tempting as it may be to zone everything straight out of the gate, we highly recommend that you avoid doing so for several reasons.
While we break down our reasons below, our TL;DR version is to zone areas as you need and then wait for demands to replenish. If you overzone for your city, especially with commercial zoning, you’ll be left with businesses struggling to stay afloat due to a lack of customers.
Since your city is ever-growing, it only makes sense that different types of zones will be in demand at different times, especially as new citizens move in or even move out, and when your city sees growth in higher-educated citizens.
Zoning as you need allows you to make changes on the fly to meet your citizen's demands and adjust your city's layout as required. It’s also important to keep space free for the likes of landscaping and service upgrades, as immediately zoning around services such as High Schools, Police Headquarters, and Medical Facilities will leave you with no space to upgrade these services to meet demands in the future.
Remember that while you can plan roads and districts ahead of time, you don’t need to zone them or have every available zone square occupied immediately.
You can view your city demands via the City Information section, where you’ll find a list of current pros and cons within your zone types – these are frequently updated and should be monitored closely to understand how to better help each zone type reach its full potential.
First, you want to ensure you’re leaving space for future upgrades, as specific services will need additional spacing for future facility upgrades, such as education enhancements, cemetery expansions, extra bus depot lines, specialized emergency response services, and jail cells, to name a few.
What would happen if you started to zone every free space available before you have the money to perform such upgrades? Well, you would essentially be setting yourself up for development disaster and community disapproval as you would be forced to make one of three choices:
•Move services out of designated areas for more space, which runs the risk of surrounding land value decreasing.
•Keep the existing service facility but build another with the needed upgrades, which is inefficient and costly.
•Move out families and established businesses to make room for your upgrades, temporarily disappointing those nearby in the community.
Secondly, as you progress through different milestones, you’ll begin to unlock new zone types, such as medium-density housing, low-rent housing, mixed housing, and high-density businesses. While it’s not a huge deal to rezone areas, but it can be when you’re starting out.
While many services and buildings will offer upgrades to their facilities, such as extra storage, extensions, cleaner services, and more intake capacity, we highly recommend avoiding such upgrades until they’re needed in your city. Not only are they costly, but their upkeep will put a massive dent in your monthly budget. Unless you’re running a Met...
Cities: Skylines 2 is an ambitious sequel that might have bitten off more than it can chew – be prepared to do a lot of terraforming if you don't want your metropolis to look like a...
Dec 18, 2023 · Offering a deep simulation and a living economy, Cities: Skylines II will challenge your decision-making skills and allow you to build the cities of your dreams. Get ready for a new epic scale in the most realistic city builder - ever. Here your city will evolve and react to your decisions.
Oct 23, 2023 · Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Paradox Interactive) Looking for some Cities Skylines 2 tips? This city-builder lets you build a modern metropolis from scratch, starting with...
