This game has been out for a while now, but still a lot of people are just first hearing about it and getting themselves a copy. When you first start playing Cities: Skylines, the first thing you need to do is let go of your SimCity habits. This game functions more true to life than SimCity which brings me to my first tip.
1. Use Google Maps And Real Cities for Inspiration When Laying Out Your City
Many of the problems you will encounter while playing Cities: Skylines (like traffic) have already been faced by real cities and looking at how they tackled the issue could give you the solution to your problem. Real cities have a natural ebb and flow to them. Also, real cities are always rebuilding old districts and Cities: Skylines is no different. By the time you get your population up to around 50k people, you will definitely need to evolve your original neighborhoods.
2. Roundabouts Are Far Superior To US Style Intersections
My fellow Americans aren’t going to like to hear this, but the European style roundabout is a much better option for your intersections and will reduce the amount of traffic jams. The Mythbusters even did a episode about this where they tested US style intersections to the European style and found in two 15 minute intervals, the US style four-way stop managed to move an average of 385 cars through the intersection. In the same amount of time, the roundabout moved 460 cars. The same holds true in game. It is unavoidable… Traffic lights and stop signs create congestion.
3. No Matter What You Do You Will Have Some Pollution
You can go green, but will never be able to completely eliminate pollution. Your best option is to try to manage it effectively. Going back to tip 1, real cities like to create industrial districts and then build their commercial centers and residential areas away from it. Don’t place your industry to close to the commercial and residential sectors. However, don’t forget that people work there and will need to get themselves back and forth to these areas. Also, trucks will need to get into the industrial area and then move items to the commercial areas. It’s a lot to think about when evolving your city.
4. Mass Transit Should Be Your Best Friend
The sims living in your city really seem to dig mass public transit, and when it is setup properly they will reward you by using it thus reducing the amount of traffic on your streets. Spend the time to setup bus routes that makes sense moving people from the residential areas into both the commercial and industrial districts. You can also use trains, subways and ferries to move large groups of people around your city at once. A good mass transit system is key to any large city.
5. Use The Steam Workshop To Modify Your City To Perfection
If you let the game choose all your buildings for you, your city will start to look a bit cookie cutter as it grows. Because you can modify each and every building on your map, you can create the perfect skyline for your downtown as well as getting as much realism as possible… And that’s why we love these types of games, am i right? The Steam Workshop for Cities: Skylines is chock full of amazing creations of the super talented community of players, and it continues to grow each and every day. Take advantage of it.
6. Always Keep The Game Running When Playing
Yes, you can build in pause mode, which is good when trying to modify a connection to a highway or when laying some power lines, but it is best to always try to keep the game running so you have income coming in. Every moment the game is “paused” is a moment you lost some money. If you think of it like you’ll be surprised at how much money you can make when you get into really detailing out an area and are not really paying attention.
7. Don’t Sit On Large Amounts Of Money
Always be reinvesting your money into growing and improving your city. Let that money make you even more money… Just like with pausing the game and losing money, sitting on large amounts of money in the long run lose you money. You are not earning interest on it, so by spending it on new areas and encouraging growth will only net you new taxpayers which equate into more money!
Questions?
Got questions or other remarks? Feel free to post in the comments below!
Be sure to check out all of my Cities: Skylines coverage here.
