This is a simulator of a city planner that enables the player to try on the role of the governor and expand the settlement by adding areas and developing infrastructure, as well as monitor the environment, level of happiness and other factors. How to build a city in Cities: Skylines, the article will be discussed.
about the project
A gamer delves into the basics of economics without attending retraining and continuing education courses. How to build a city in Cities: Skylines? The success is achieved by maintaining a balance between the economy, the pace of construction and taxation.
Allocated 4 km 2 of land for laying the foundation of the city, new plots are gradually acquired and built up: residential, industrial, office and commercial areas. Separately laid water supply, sewage and power lines.
Tourists and new residents arrive along the roads. Settling houses is the starting point in the development of the settlement. The growth of the city adds to the menu municipal (schools, hospitals) and administrative (city hall) buildings, fire departments, police stations and landfills. Urban sectors are united in areas and the direction of development is set.
Some tips for beginners
How to build a city in Cities: Skylines, you have to understand by trial and error in the absence of a training regime. The wrong decision will lead to the collapse of the economy: factories will stop, unemployment will increase and residents will leave the settlement.
The golden rule for the development of a settlement is compliance with market laws:
- Taxes are growing gradually. A sharp jump will give a short-term capital inflow required for the construction of power plants. If the tax lasts a couple of months at a high level, enterprises will begin to close, residents will lose their jobs, and small businesses will disappear. Lower rates will not fix the situation.
- The construction boom is bad! The construction of high-rise buildings begins after the settlement of the remaining houses, otherwise the funds will be wasted in vain for the maintenance of empty residential sectors. Citizens need schools, hospitals and jobs. The decision to put one school in a densely populated area is doomed to failure.
- Development loans. Budget problems are mistakenly solved by issuing loans - interest will ruin the economy and drive the player into a debt hole. The acquisition of a site for the growth of an industrial zone or a shift in the boundaries of a city is a good decision; loan to build a police station or fire station - no! Making a loan to solve the problems of the population is a nail in the coffin of an unbalanced budget and the path to the collapse of the economy. Better to start the game again.
Construction principles
Building a city from scratch (both in Cities: Skylines, and in another simulator) is easy, harder to maintain the economy at the level. You can’t rush: first, residential quarters and jobs are created, the risk of crime growth is reduced.
Savings in sewage treatment plants lead to a shortage of drinking water, the construction of water towers, and a decrease in the quality of water supply and living standards. People will stop loving the area and leave.
New residents
How to build a city in Cities: Skylines so that the population grows? It is necessary to provide residents with jobs (factories and office buildings), take control of crime (police stations and fire stations) and take care of medicine (hospitals). We'll have to sacrifice something because of the high cost of solutions.
Buildings are not limited to cells: a store is being built on a small area, a large supermarket will fit.
Factors
Industrial noise, crime and poor ecology annoy residents. Statistics - a loyal assistant to control the level of happiness. The negative factor is leveled as soon as possible.
Poor district design makes it difficult to solve the situation: if the negative increases, the flow of capital decreases, and loans do not promise assistance, it is better to start playing again.
To understand how to build a city in Cities: Skylines, you need to learn how to solve complex problems: people don’t go to a small store if there is a hypermarket in the neighboring area. The point is the income of citizens.
In a well-maintained sector, a lack of jobs at the plant, a high level of education draws the demands of young specialists to the employer: a comfortable office will be preferred to a manufacturing enterprise.
Economy
Upon reaching a balance in the regions, individual development directions are introduced and the rules are established:
- legalization of soft drugs;
- recycling;
- free public transport;
- prohibition of smoking and drinking alcohol.
Areas are profitable: a smoke veto is introduced in the green sector, smoke detectors are installed, well-maintained houses attract people, and housing prices are rising. High-rise buildings are replaced by environmentally friendly townhouses and cottages - the area will become more prestigious.
The permitted sale of drugs will attract tourists, but a lot of money will be spent on maintaining the police work at the proper level.
Garbage recycling rules will make the settlement cleaner, which is relevant for landfill sectors.
Expanding borders
How to start building a city in Cities: Skylines correctly, of course, it remains to decide on the development of new sites when the population exceeds the mark of 10,000.
Technically, everything is simple: money is allocated - land is acquired.
Over time, the town turns into a metropolis, and the player thinks about redevelopment of sectors:
- tenants move from old houses to new ones;
- shabby buildings demolished, roads laid;
- waste plants are replaced by parks.
The hydroelectric power station is being built last, but this does not mark the end of the game, the city expands and is redone endlessly.
Waste
Export routes and waste disposal sites are thought out before building a city in Cities: Skylines. Roads are further away from homes — noise (and the smell of waste) is reduced and public satisfaction is growing.
Soundproof shields will protect residential buildings near roads from the crash of cars and garbage trucks.
Factories in residential sectors increase noise pollution and reduce levels of happiness, so you need to build away from sleeping areas.
Water
A clean water supply plan needs to be dealt with before building a city in Cities: Skylines. The noise of the water tanks is stopping the townspeople from sleeping.
Sewer pipe also goes into the reservoir, but should be set downstream so that dirty water does not get into the water pump. Improper channel arrangement will lead to a surge in the epidemic in the city and the outflow of residents.
A number of water stations will provide settlement with water, but operation will be expensive, it is more reasonable to install treatment facilities and reduce the level of pollution of water bodies.
Interesting
Each object in the game has a unique name to be edited. The graphics leave much to be desired, but it is interesting to observe each inhabitant, as well as the functioning of a gas station or a large hypermarket.
The player can follow every family walking around the city, relaxing in the park, because any action is carefully prescribed by the developers from the Colossal Order.
Addons
Between 2015 and 2018, 10 official DLCs were released that enriched the game:
- After Dark - there was a day mode, a casino, a hotel and leisure and tourism development options.
- Snowfall - The winter season requires efforts to hire snow removal equipment and workers to clean the roads. There are trams and a graphics editor to create unique worlds with the ability to download to Steam Workshop.
- Match Day - football stadiums are being built, on the day of the match on the roads there is high cross-country ability, sales of goods are increasing. The colors of the competing teams are customizable.
- Natural Disasters - seven natural disasters will not let you get bored, and the updated script editor allows you to run them for fun.
- Mass Transit - replenishment in the public transport section: airships, ferries, aircraft and buses.
- Concerts - utilities for concerts and festivals are introduced into the game.
- Green Cities - a concept for the development of green cities: electric cars, solar panels and windmills.
- Parklife - an addition to landscaping the city: parks, squares, gardens, arboretums and zoos. New laws and tour buses added.
- Industries - the addon is working on a detailed distribution chain of resources in industrial zones. The oil, agricultural, mining and forestry industries have acquired personal factories.
- Merry Christmas - DLC for the onset of 2019, adding a Christmas tree, fair, Santa Claus sleigh and city festive decorations.
Verdict
Gamers will learn how to build a city in Cities: Skylines. Megapolis is a giant organism where every nook and cranny functions.
Periodic tornadoes break the measured life, the damage from which will have to be repaired immediately. The fall of an asteroid is tantamount to an atomic explosion, and karst dips (due to flooding by groundwater) are difficult to predict.
An inconspicuous lightning strike in the corner of the map will turn into a fire in the absence of countermeasures, tremors near the water will bring a tsunami.
The game does not let you get bored for a minute, constantly throws up tasks of an economic, political and climatic nature. Fans of urban simulations appreciated the game.
The musical component is not happy, but nothing prevents replacing the tired melodies with any music you like.
Cities: Skylines implements a utility for porting amateur mods written in C #: a player changes any aspect of the game (from a small bus to terrain features) at will, without being limited to anything.
Planned release of the product on the platforms iOS and Android.