CITIES: Skylines is the "spiritual heiress" of the urban planning series SIM CITY. However, she is also the heiress of Cits in Motion – the previous series from developers from Colossal Order. This is already felt at least in how many possibilities for driving here.
Roads can be built in any direction, and not in 4-8 and as in SIM CITY. And at any height, if you want to build a bridge or lay one highway above another. On the roads there is an opportunity to switch traffic lights, install booths for collecting a fee, lay routes for public transport – and all this even without complementing Mass Transit, where there are even more options. And most importantly – residential, industrial and commercial zones (standard for the genre) are marked exclusively next to the road.
All roads lead to the city
Unlike SIM City, where you subsidize the construction of buildings when you indicate where to place which area, in SkyLines, when marking the quarters, they do not take anything from you. When residents come to the residential quarter, their houses are being built themselves, at their expense. The same with the industrial zone – with the difference that factories are being built there, providing the population with jobs and bringing part of the income. And the commercial zone is a place for shops where the inhabitants are boiled, and someone works the same way as in factories.
However, you still can’t do without investment. Everywhere it is necessary to conduct electricity, sewage, water supply. By the way, for the last two pipes are laid together. The main thing is that the water intake station itself is away from the drain of wastewater, and above (yes, the current is taken into account!). Well, and the monthly expenses for maintaining services must be monitored.
And when the people will increase and the city will grow up, you can already build a school, so that the new generation skillfully work skillfully to work not only with loaders and sellers in department stores. As well as a landfill and hospital.
Upon reaching the next limit of residents, the police and the fire department are unlocked. At the fourth level, it becomes possible to divide the city into areas and establish special rules in them. To oblige residents to save electricity, for example, to specialize industry for agriculture. And so on.
As the city grows, not only new buildings open, but also diagrams with cards, and even various budget settings. In principle, I am not very clear why the mayor is forbidden to change the tax at first. But from a game point of view, an approach with a gradual increase in opportunities will help beginners not get confused in the system.
What the residents want?
Although the puncture came out just by information regimes – they cannot be activated at the same time. That is, for example, it is impossible to immediately display on the map ordinary pollution and noise. Design the living area? Be kind separately, so that your inhabitants and smoke from the factory do not inhale and from the noise of an environmentally friendly chickenpox are not deaf.
The same thing when marking areas. I https://goatspinscasino.co.uk/login/ somehow arranged all three types of zones along one street, so I had to switch the zoning mode several times to draw borders exactly between the industrial zone and shops. And so that the housing is in a separate area, where I later introduced water savings. Since the pumping station was at the limit, and there was not enough money in the budget yet.
Although it may not be worth introducing such a policy, because due to water meters I also had to pay from the budget. On the other hand, if he had not entered, there would be complaints about the lack of water. And by that time I also raised taxes. Suddenly it would be a “last straw”, after which there would be a mass departure?
The consequences of their decisions can not be felt at once. So starting serious development, always have at least several thousand in stock. To adjust everything you need, if that, and in minus, do not leave.
In general, as in Sim City – the eye and the eye are needed for the needs of the townspeople. True, and this function is not everything smooth either. By clicking on the house, you can find out the age and education of the residents, but not their place of work (or the absence of one). For detailed information, you need to “catch” an individual person or his car on the street. And only there you can call an information window with all the data – who is, where it goes and so on.
In case you have not guessed – CITIES: SkyLines really simulates the lives of all people and transport in the city. Maybe in a slightly simplified form, but nevertheless, every “SI” lives on its own schedule – he goes to work, rests, goes shopping or bars. Когда случается пожар или преступление — машина соответствующей службы реально выезжает на место. And then criminals are also put in prison separately.
An ambulance car comes to the house. Behind the dead – hearse. Even a simple movement of goods from factories to store shelves – in Cits: SkyLines there are also production chains – also occurs through trucks of different sizes.
Kilometer sandbox
The game simulates not only city life, but also nature. Not that carefully, but for example, water flows are calculated in real time. Build a dam – the river will come out of the shores above. There may even be waterfalls on the map, from which you can get especially a lot of electricity.
The maximum card size is 17 by 17 kilometers. Although you always start with a “patch” at 1.9 to 1.9. Then, when your town develops to level 4, you can buy neighboring areas. Without modifications, however, the maximum number of zones is limited to the 9th (that is, in the end you are waiting for either a square of 5.7 by 5.7 or a more oblong area). However, the Steam workshop also contains mods for the maximum scale and generally content for every taste.
The game itself is extremely friendly to user creativity. Right in the main menu there is a separate “manager” where you can activate any modifications (like the one that makes the maximum card size available), types of buildings, graphic jewelry and even scripts for the game or camera.
You can not get into the modification discs and limit yourself to the built -in editors of the Asset – cards, buildings, cars, visual topics and much more. Although, to be honest, you can’t especially see the buildings – well, I put a poster or put a swing in the yard. They can’t even raise them higher, if necessary. So if you want to do something sophisticated, import a model from a real 3D editor in FBX format.
But road interchanges is really convenient to build in the editor. And the risk that you will lose a bunch of dough, if you make a mistake somewhere, no. You can always erase and lay. And then it remains just to add the result to the game.
Thanks to such openness, the workshop of the game has long been filled with everything that is possible. And well -known buildings, and maps of all major cities of the world (though there is only a landscape), and various scripts. There are even game preservations – among them there are recreated Moscow, London, Tokyo ..
Unfortunately, it was the sibs of Moscow that turned out to be “broken”, and it was not possible to load them. Anyway, bugs in Cits: SkyLines are very present. And I think that one of the reasons is now and then output DLC. Yes, they add interesting chips to the game, but given the complexity of all the relationships, “break” something in this process-just spit.
Full picture
Comparing City: Skylines with SIM City 4 (Well, what can I do if this is the last standing game of the series and it was the last to play it) I cannot but notice that SkyLines are still more oriented towards aesthetics. Yes, certain things in it are simulated extremely in detail, but this is precisely the simulation, not the simulator. It is made in order to make the life of your citizens look whole and logical, and not in order to bring the city model closer to reality.
Call to the player City: SkyLines practically does not leave. There are no nuances and a complex economy that you have to think about in SC4, planning the next area. Even the “regime of increased complexity” with increased expenses and reduced income will simply make you act more carefully and patiently wait until the funds accumulate. Another question is whether these difficulties are really needed?
Precisely because CS is primarily made for those who want to build a virtual city of dreams. Small and cozy or large -scale with all kinds of bells and whistles, filled with unique buildings or spread out among the picturesque area.
The simulation is complicated exactly so that you can enjoy the coherence of workers producing goods for export. And then look at how with the onset of night, quarters bloom hundreds of lights and residents hurry home or clubs (however, you need DLC for clubs).
Bring the camera closer to the ground to look at the citizens hurrying about your business. Click on the icon of the local Twitter in order to find out the last trends. Look at the sky of your city.