Cities:Skylines

[Grey Fox]

Yes, there is an option to turn on everything.

[garbon]

Ah cool.

[Grey Fox]

or actually turn off level progression, iirc.

[Syt]

You can also play with unlimited money. And there's mods that unlocks all regions from the start for building.

[garbon]

Well I don't really want all that. Just it sucked to be constrained to building simple roads when it shorter order I would have to demolish zones to build better roads.

[Syt]

My main problem is that it's still too easy. Building up a reasonably large city with good coverage of utilities and services is not hard, and you can avoid a lot of traffic problems by just  using two lane roads. And it's still better and more efficient to have no traffic lights at intersections (there's a mod where you can add/remove traffic lights).

The target then is to create a city that you find pleasing (e.g. replacing the canyon-like two lane roads between high rises in the inner city with wide avenues, adding bike lanes etc., or adding parks or pedestrian walks) or toy around with a few ideas. If you grow your city organically (as I often do) it probably means tearing down some blocks to add that train station you want, or to relocate a school so you can build that new roundabout.

Still, it's very relaxing in its own way and it's a good game to fiddle with while watching a movie or TV show.

[FunkMonk]

Saw this on YT and thought it was pretty interesting. Contrasts SimCity 2013 and Cities: Skylines

https://youtu.be/NUhuCMw7nnk

[MadImmortalMan]

I'm pretty much a Soviet engineer. I just spent a few hours making a city just to build a huge dam. Once it was up, my citizens promptly began a several year stint of drinking their own sewage. Then, when the water finally filled up (I went out for pizza), I created Katrina and flooded everyone to death. Watching the cars drive around in the water is amusing. Hey but now they have lots of power. You know, once the flood washed away all the sewage and the river came back to roughly normal. 

I only lost maybe 20% of the population though. Maybe next time I try digging a lake with a nuclear bomb. I wonder if there's a mod for Operation Plowshare.

[Syt]

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads%2Fcities-skylines-snowfall-dev-diary-2-new-things-on-the-roads.904358%2F

Traffic is an important thing in any city. Traffic and winter is a whole different challenge! For Snowfall, we wanted to make sure there's something new affecting traffic. We settled on to two major things: snow on the roads and road maintenance. While the snow plows will be discussed later, this text will shed some light on what else is new in the game.

The road maintenance service, unlike the snow plows, is available on all maps. What the maintenance service does is that it gives some extra care to roads, allowing vehicles to travel on them faster. Normal roads in normal condition are fine and good, but with a road maintenance service covering the city streets, the traffic can get an extra boost from higher maximum speeds on the roads. The boost a maintenance truck gives fades away with time, but if the service covers the city well, the trucks travel to boost the roads that have the least boost left on them. Road maintenance can be used with the snow plow services, so that boosted roads don't suffer from snow as fast as non-boosted roads.

Then the thing many people have been waiting for: trams! They are something we have been planning for a long time and finally get to share with you. Trams operate on tracks and reside in a tram depot when they are not on lines. The basic principle is much the same as with buses: the budget defines how many trams are available in the depot or depots, and the vehicles are divided between lines depending on line length. Longer lines get more vehicles than shorter lines. To get more vehicles, increase the city budget for the service. Trams need to be able to reach the line from the depot, so you may need to lay some extra tracks to allow trams to get to lines further away from the depot.

To build tracks, you can upgrade/downgrade existing roads to versions with tracks, or build new roads with tracks. There are both regular two-way roads and one way roads with tracks. As a finishing touch, tram tracks have overhead wires.


To give the trams some advantages over buses, tram tracks can also be built as standalone versions with no road beneath them. The standalone tracks are very handy for getting your trams to avoid busy intersections or streets known to be crowded. Stops can only be placed on roads and pedestrian pathways, but the standalone tracks allow for nice little detours to keep your trams free from traffic jams.

Trams have a higher passenger capacity than buses (20 for buses, 30 for trams), but also have a little higher upkeep costs per distance traveled, about 15% more than for buses. For best results, trams should be used as short inner city lines, and buses and metros can handle longer distances. Trams do not benefit from road maintenance boost, but also are not hindered by snow.

To get the winter theme really going, we have done lots of variations of existing buildings. This means your city does not need to have palm trees waving in the snow storm, or citizens hanging out on piers in the freezing cold. Things like flower pots are modified to fit the winter to keep the city looking consistent. Some buildings are only available to players who also own After Dark, but many are variations to the base game ones. My favourites are the agricultural buildings on fertile land, which are greenhouses on winter maps. You will also see many new parks that fit winter time better than the default parks.

These new additions to the game are available in the paid expansion. We feel they give a lot of new possibilities to handling roads, traffic and public transportation. I can't wait to see all the cool tram systems you will be building!

[Syt]

The sales blurb might give Beeb an aneurysm:

In Snowfall, the difficulty heats up when the city cools down, thanks to a new in-game temperature reading that will have residents bundling up for warmth when the weather outside is frightful. Cosmetic weather, composed of rain and fog, will be added to Cities: Skylines as part of a free update, along with other features to be announced soon. Players who own Snowfall will get to face new challenges such as ensuring that their city infrastructure can handle seasonal heating demands – and, when the snow starts falling, that the roads can stay clear. New snowplow services will be required to prevent traffic from freezing in place, while new all-weather trams and expanded public transit options can help residents and visitors alike get around town – and visit the new winter parks and landmarks available in Snowfall.

Snowfall will include:

Now is the Winter of This Content: Rain and fog for existing maps, plus a new "Winter" map theme with snow and all of its challenges
The Streetcars You Desire: Expanded public transportation options, including easier management of existing lines – and Trams, a new system demanded by fans
World Warmth, Too: Cold weather increases demands for electricity, unless new water-based heat systems are in place
Plowers to the People: Build a snowplow depot to keep traffic flowing during winter weather, and employ new road maintenance systems to keep your streets in shape
New Chirps: #yeahthereare

From the newsletter:

Rejected Expansion Names for Cities: Skylines - Snowfall

An interesting tidbit about game publishing is that naming stuff is *hard*. You need something unique, that fits with your brand and that also passes legal. Sometimes we have brainstorms about the expansion names to determine what to call a product. Here's the more or less serious names that didn't make the cut for Cities: Skylines - Snowfall
Winter is coming
The Coolest Expansion
Scandinavian Spring
There's No Such Thing As Bad Weather (Just Poor City Planning)
Snow, Saunas, and a Doughnut Truck
The Coldening
Out Cold
Ice Ice Baby
Pulka Polka
Do you know Jon Snow?
All yogurt is frozen
Ice Snow What You Did There

[Josquius]

Anyone had a problem with games not loading? It gets halfway and just keeps loading....leave in 20 mins and nought.

[Syt]

Nope. Works fine for me.

[Josquius]

Got it working. Seems to be holding steady.

Had a weird game. Was doing very well...then all of a sudden everyone in my city became sick and I went full on Detroit.
No idea why. My pumps and sewage removal were on opposite sides of town in different water bodies, hospitals were plentiful. Odd.

[Syt]

Might have been your ambulances were stuck in traffic?

[Oexmelin]

The Atlantic plays the game:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/urban-planning-computer-games/470895/?utm_source=SFFB