Cities: Skylines
- Thread starter Scotty123
- Start date
Soldato
^^^^ some of the city layouts are also amazing....! I only have around 300 hours in this game, not a lot compared to many, and yet my cities tend to implode at around 180,000 pop. Often that is due to traffic or just me getting fed up with how they tend to look - not much flow or style. Watching several "Lets Play" vids on YT, I'm following a few now, and I have got the feeling that this game can suit the person who obsesses over detail, and symmetry. The time that some take to place rails and roads and then decorate them with props is staggering. I'll drop a road and it will have to look really bad for me to try and alter its shape much to be considered perfect.
I do not have much of a creative flair and coupled with not a great need for things to be that symmetrical or organised it goes to explain why my cities look as they do and yet others produce such masterpieces.
I have severely reduced the amount of assets that I used to create building themes in districts. It was fun for a while but can be very hardware demanding. Also it can be annoying when they require so many other props to look as they should and some author removes or renames a prop in the workshop.
I now only have a few assets and around twenty or so mods.
Bottom line is for me though is that I have fun
Great game and I have bought each of the DLC's as they were released. I was disappointed with Snowfall as I thought, my bad, that it would introduce seasons like they did in the Total War games. Instead you get to play on a permanent Winter map only. After Dark is good, but for building the night cycle is rubbish for visibility so I have turned off the day and night setting.
Be careful, the Workshop can be an addictive place....!
I do not have much of a creative flair and coupled with not a great need for things to be that symmetrical or organised it goes to explain why my cities look as they do and yet others produce such masterpieces.
I have severely reduced the amount of assets that I used to create building themes in districts. It was fun for a while but can be very hardware demanding. Also it can be annoying when they require so many other props to look as they should and some author removes or renames a prop in the workshop.
I now only have a few assets and around twenty or so mods.
Bottom line is for me though is that I have fun
Great game and I have bought each of the DLC's as they were released. I was disappointed with Snowfall as I thought, my bad, that it would introduce seasons like they did in the Total War games. Instead you get to play on a permanent Winter map only. After Dark is good, but for building the night cycle is rubbish for visibility so I have turned off the day and night setting.
Be careful, the Workshop can be an addictive place....!
^^^^ some of the city layouts are also amazing....! I only have around 300 hours in this game, not a lot compared to many, and yet my cities tend to implode at around 180,000 pop. Often that is due to traffic or just me getting fed up with how they tend to look - not much flow or style. Watching several "Lets Play" vids on YT, I'm following a few now, and I have got the feeling that this game can suit the person who obsesses over detail, and symmetry. The time that some take to place rails and roads and then decorate them with props is staggering. I'll drop a road and it will have to look really bad for me to try and alter its shape much to be considered perfect.
I do not have much of a creative flair and coupled with not a great need for things to be that symmetrical or organised it goes to explain why my cities look as they do and yet others produce such masterpieces.
I have severely reduced the amount of assets that I used to create building themes in districts. It was fun for a while but can be very hardware demanding. Also it can be annoying when they require so many other props to look as they should and some author removes or renames a prop in the workshop.
I now only have a few assets and around twenty or so mods.
Bottom line is for me though is that I have fun
Great game and I have bought each of the DLC's as they were released. I was disappointed with Snowfall as I thought, my bad, that it would introduce seasons like they did in the Total War games. Instead you get to play on a permanent Winter map only. After Dark is good, but for building the night cycle is rubbish for visibility so I have turned off the day and night setting.
Be careful, the Workshop can be an addictive place....!
Yeah I've seen some lovely ones on YouTube. I don't have much creativity, I just make lots of bland grids
.
Soldato
Which DLC are worth getting? After Dark and Mass Transit seem interesting. I've owned this game for a while but never really got into but I have a week off work and little to do... Can get both £16 at the moment (not as good as when they were 50% off on Steam last year but still decent).
Snowfall and the other smaller ones seem a bit pointless?
Snowfall and the other smaller ones seem a bit pointless?
After Dark & Mass Transit is all you need imho. The only reason to get Snowfall is if you really, really, REALLY, like Trams. The Disasters DLC is worth a look also if you want a bit of fun & tension and have money to burn. So in a nutshell, After Dark & Mass Transit are a thumbs up, the rest you can forget about but if you haven't already pickup up the 2 free DLCs, Pearls of the East and Matchday because they are free!
Soldato
Unemployment levels...? Residents have high enough education to fill jobs...?
Demand instead for Commercial or Industrial...?
Land Value and desirability of residential areas, enough services etc. Check if buildings are levelling up.
After effects of a death wave which leaves households much less than full, so they are still filling up...?
Lots of empty and abandoned buildings etc.....?
Residential tax too high, or just lower it a little...?
Land value is high and cover all fire police etc needs. They are all green and happy.
Buildings level up. I've hit 100k people.
I can't get the dead removed fast enough although I have more than enough services to do so.
Most of my road are red for traffic.
Demand for all three categories are all low. I'm making good money, I guess it's ticking over nice, but there's never any high demand, or am I asking too much?
Buildings level up. I've hit 100k people.
I can't get the dead removed fast enough although I have more than enough services to do so.
Most of my road are red for traffic.
Demand for all three categories are all low. I'm making good money, I guess it's ticking over nice, but there's never any high demand, or am I asking too much?
Soldato
I might have over 300 hours in playing this game and I'm far from an expert, but.....
You have to sort out those issues, doesn't matter how many crems or cemeteries you have if the hearses can't get to pick up the dead in a timely manner people start moving out and others do not want to come in.
Traffic management has got to be resolved for the above to happen.
What type of traffic is it? Freight, garbage, or peeps? Most of my problems were caused by goods being imported but I've solved this improving my rail freight network and building more stations at key points next to a motorways that connect to my commercial districts. Goods go from Industry/Import to Commercial where they are sold.
I'm no expert either but this it the international rail terminal I have constructed to cope with demand (uses 3 freight terminals, 1 for dedicated to importing, 1 which connects the import terminal to the internal freight rail system, & 1 dedicated for exports).
Soldato
This might help......
as you can see I only have around 113,000 people but I have an airport and also an international airport. A six line train terminal and tracks running through the city with highway connections running through. Metro and bus station and stops etc are also used. Traffic tends to be around 85% or so.
Internal rail cargo network from specialised to generic to some commercial areas to keep the trucks down.
Reduce your imports but be careful about too many exports, rail and ships can help.
Not the prettiest of cities I know but it works, even with a Metro like a bowl of spaghetti
I do like how the forum software now resizes the images automagically
as you can see I only have around 113,000 people but I have an airport and also an international airport. A six line train terminal and tracks running through the city with highway connections running through. Metro and bus station and stops etc are also used. Traffic tends to be around 85% or so.
Internal rail cargo network from specialised to generic to some commercial areas to keep the trucks down.
Reduce your imports but be careful about too many exports, rail and ships can help.
Not the prettiest of cities I know but it works, even with a Metro like a bowl of spaghetti
I do like how the forum software now resizes the images automagically
Last edited:
Soldato
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- 17 Jun 2012
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- 5,951
One reason I gave up is I just could not fathom how the roads worked, whenever I built something that looked like a common sense layout to me the traffic would only use about two of the roads and just cause choas, so I just gave up in the end as it seems counter intuitive, same for goods traffic etc. Maybe I just don't have the patience for it but I'd not played this type of game before, just bought off of suggestions.
Soldato
The Cims do *not* use common sense tho
They simply look at the where they want to go and plot the quickest route to that point and then set off regardless of road conditions etc on that route. So that ultra wide highway that you built to help them get to their place of work etc might be 1 min longer than going through the centre of the town with tons of traffic, but guess which route they take...?! But actually, IIRC, faster roads like highways will be a factor in their choices, for the quickest route, but traffic will not be. Once you get the idea that they do not dynamically change their route when driving, unless you demolish a road, it isn't too bad.
Public transport such as Metro and bus, and maybe rail, are a godsend. so is walking and cycles.
I'm not good at playing this but I tend to think more modular when building a city, at sort of self contained sections which merge into one.
I use some mods as well, such as painting "ore" "oil" and farmland" onto the map and then build that specialised industry, along with forestry and then generic in the same area connected by goods rail. Then a separate goods rail from there to some commercial areas, to reduce truck traffic on the road.
Some YT players are worth watching as they seem to have perfected their city building, whilst others seem to build huge cities which are, if they make their save game available, hardly functioning at all.
Is there a way of telling what type of traffic? I can see there's 'routes' and you can select cars, trucks etc...?
Use the Traffic Volume tool and look for red on your network. Eyeball what is driving by and use the Traffic Route tool to visually see where just the high volume traffic types you eyeballed is all coming from and going to. Pause the game, click on one of said vehicles and follow its route if you like also, or just look at the arrows. If it's a load of cars taking the kids to school, for instance, then put in a bus lane, tram lane or heck even a taxi (I find taxis are also an easy way of making a few extra quid). If it's a load of oil tankers taking oil for export then think about how to get it on a train etc. That's what I do.
Soldato
Since having the ability to turn off traffic lights my traffic flow now sits around 82%, more cargo can move and my population is growing again. Nearly at 200k with no mods
Soldato
Since having the ability to turn off traffic lights my traffic flow now sits around 82%, more cargo can move and my population is growing again. Nearly at 200k with no mods
That is pretty damn good.
I'm at around 202,000 with mods and around 86% traffic.
What is your active vehicle count...?
Mine is around 10,000 or so, remember the game can only support 16k before the vehicles will despawn and services stop working.