Anyone play Cities: Skylines yet?

[Roadrunner75]

I would have loved this game as a kid (in my day it was SimCity on the Commodore 64) but I'm too old with too many other worries and a shorter attention span now.   

These do look really cool but could also be addictive. I used the old pencil and paper method to develop cities when I was a kid. 

Jim

Yup - me too.  I used to love drawing road maps of my own creations, both large and small scale, starting at an early age.  SimCity came much later, but couldn't come close to the old pen and paper.  I still sometimes feel like sitting down for some map drawing, but rarely ever get around to it.

[Ned Weasel]

So roughly how long does it take to develop your city then get to get stuff to drive through it? I have rode in your car on Youtube several times now. I love it!

Thanks!  Honestly, I never timed it.  Roughly, if you play for several hours in a given day, you can get from the beginning level to the "Megalopolis" level (70,000 population, like that would ever be considered a megalopolis IRL    ) in a couple of days.  By that point, you have 9 "tiles" available to you and all of your features unlocked (except for some of the special buildings, which have their own prerequisites).  Now, if you play with unlimited money and all achievements unlocked, you can build much faster, although your zoned land will still take some time to get developed.

[riiga]

Farms are Cities: Skylines' Achilles heal. Even the poorly-coded Cities XL had farms that could be built by selecting edge points. [...]

I started using the farms in this collection to fill in the square-mile spaces north of Rapid City with something larger than a 4x4. In fact, the largest fields there are 32x32, AND they're still functional with Industries DLC. If you don't have that DLC, there are also prop versions linked to most of the entries on that list.

Unfortunately I don't own the Industries DLC yet, but I'm waiting for the next Steam sale. So far I've found a promising set on the workshop, but only for eyecandy. I'll probably leave building farms for later.

The neighbourhood I previously showed is now completed:


Overview with new roads to prepare for suburban expansion:


Does anyone know if there are any rural or highway-style avenues, i.e. there's no sidewalk? Something like this.

[rickmastfan67]

Unfortunately I don't own the Industries DLC yet, but I'm waiting for the next Steam sale. So far I've found a promising set on the workshop, but only for eyecandy. I'll probably leave building farms for later.

It's on sale @ Humble Bundle for 50% right now.  Which is the same price as the lowest ever sale on Steam.
https://isthereanydeal.com/waitlist/#/page:game/info?plain=citiesskylinesindustries

That is if you don't want to wait.

[Ned Weasel]

The neighbourhood I previously showed is now completed:

I love how nicely detailed that is!

Does anyone know if there are any rural or highway-style avenues, i.e. there's no sidewalk? Something like this.

The Network Extensions mod has a four-lane, undivided "National Road" with no sidewalks.  Personally, though, I've stopped using that mod, because it has a few quirks I don't like.  With "vanilla" roads, the closest thing you can get is a divided highway, with the two roadways spaced as closely together as you can get them.  I wish they had a divided highway with a Jersey Barrier, but no such luck, although maybe there's a mod that does.

Speaking of "vanilla" roads, one thing I like to do now is make "parkway"-style roads by using highways and placing pedestrian paths right alongside them, and then trying to keep my signalized intersections spaced reasonably apart.

[paulthemapguy]

Yup - me too.  I used to love drawing road maps of my own creations, both large and small scale, starting at an early age.  SimCity came much later, but couldn't come close to the old pen and paper.  I still sometimes feel like sitting down for some map drawing, but rarely ever get around to it.

I have a very similar experience.  I have been drawing designs for roadways, subdivisions, and towns since I was about 6 years old.  SimCity wasn't as good as simply drawing things on paper.  Cities:Skylines is the only thing that has come close; it went further into detail with some things but still didn't have enough detail for certain other things (waterway geometry, interchange geometry, and a couple other things).  Overall, the game has come out as my top preference the last couple years.  I've started drawing out freeway signage and subway system maps on paper based on my C:S cities, which has been a good amount of additional fun. 

[vtk]

Does anyone know if there are any rural or highway-style avenues, i.e. there's no sidewalk? Something like this.

You can use Network Skins to change the paved sidewalks to gravel or dirt where desired

[riiga]

It's on sale @ Humble Bundle for 50% right now.  Which is the same price as the lowest ever sale on Steam. [...] That is if you don't want to wait.

Thanks! I'll just wait for the Steam sale though as I don't want to sign up for an account on yet another site just to buy some DLC.

I love how nicely detailed that is!

Thank you!

You can use Network Skins to change the paved sidewalks to gravel or dirt where desired

Thanks for the tip!



Some more progress on my city. Another new residential area modelled after those of 50s and 60s here. Apartments:




The lowrise homes aren't fully grown yet:


From above:


Overview:

[fmendes]

Has anyone tried doing a dual dual roadway configuration (3-3-3-3) on a highway if its Express lanes or truck lanes ive done it in past cities but it was basically one big continuous interchange due to the complextity of the traffic routes and tight ROW that i had to work with to fit this through my downtown if u want to check it out go to my instagram https://www.instagram.com/porkchopftc/ has anyone else ever done a major (3-3-3-3) configuration in CS

[andrepoiy]

If anybody here is interested in drawing fictional maps, but perhaps online, then I have the site for you: OpenGeoFiction.

It uses OpenStreetMap architecture.

Here's a link: https://opengeofiction.net/

[vtk]

There's a whole other thread for OGF already. I think the previous wave of AARoads Forum users have all abandoned our OGF countries. Most of what I did has apparently been erased, but a few of the roads in one corner of what was my country remain: https://opengeofiction.net/#map=13/-29.0464/32.0765

[CoreySamson]

Has anyone tried doing a dual dual roadway configuration (3-3-3-3) on a highway if its Express lanes or truck lanes ive done it in past cities but it was basically one big continuous interchange due to the complextity of the traffic routes and tight ROW that i had to work with to fit this through my downtown if u want to check it out go to my instagram https://www.instagram.com/porkchopftc/ has anyone else ever done a major (3-3-3-3) configuration in CS

I've built some interchanges with the design (sorta like the I-10/I-45 junction in Houston), but I haven't really built any longer truck lanes aside from a one-way system to my freight train hub. I have some ideas for one in my new city I'm building, though.

[jakeroot]

Has anyone tried doing a dual dual roadway configuration (3-3-3-3) on a highway if its Express lanes or truck lanes ive done it in past cities but it was basically one big continuous interchange due to the complextity of the traffic routes and tight ROW that i had to work with to fit this through my downtown if u want to check it out go to my instagram https://www.instagram.com/porkchopftc/ has anyone else ever done a major (3-3-3-3) configuration in CS

I use dual dual carriageways at larger interchanges. You can see a small segment of this in an image I posted a few pages back:

[Ned Weasel]

Has anyone tried doing a dual dual roadway configuration (3-3-3-3) on a highway if its Express lanes or truck lanes ive done it in past cities but it was basically one big continuous interchange due to the complextity of the traffic routes and tight ROW that i had to work with to fit this through my downtown if u want to check it out go to my instagram https://www.instagram.com/porkchopftc/ has anyone else ever done a major (3-3-3-3) configuration in CS

I did, but I could never get traffic volumes to come close to justify it, and I kind of got bored with it.

[fmendes]

Has anyone tried doing a dual dual roadway configuration (3-3-3-3) on a highway if its Express lanes or truck lanes ive done it in past cities but it was basically one big continuous interchange due to the complextity of the traffic routes and tight ROW that i had to work with to fit this through my downtown if u want to check it out go to my instagram https://www.instagram.com/porkchopftc/ has anyone else ever done a major (3-3-3-3) configuration in CS

I did, but I could never get traffic volumes to come close to justify it, and I kind of got bored with it.

what i found to make the traffic volume go up is to have two major parts of the city a ways away and across the highway from one of those parts put a large industrial area i was able to get a large amount of traffic on my highway with only 60000 people in my city by playing with the locations of my districts and i found a balance

[fmendes]

Has anyone tried doing a dual dual roadway configuration (3-3-3-3) on a highway if its Express lanes or truck lanes ive done it in past cities but it was basically one big continuous interchange due to the complextity of the traffic routes and tight ROW that i had to work with to fit this through my downtown if u want to check it out go to my instagram https://www.instagram.com/porkchopftc/ has anyone else ever done a major (3-3-3-3) configuration in CS

I use dual dual carriageways at larger interchanges. You can see a small segment of this in an image I posted a few pages back:

yeah the thing about it is as with real life it creates a bottle neck at he end of the system and i have to extend them past the demand point where almost 50% of the traffic exits which in my city is the Westbrook gardens interchange which is the one shown in my Instagram it ties 3 highways the Westbrook expressway which is my main artery the crosstown expressway which handles traffic between the Westbrook expressway and west tpke and the interchange also contains a stack interchange wedged in there connecting another expressway which i have yet to name so its there is a lot of demand in this area and being that im on Xbox with this map i was limited to 4 lanes wide so i had to go with a (4-3-3-4) configuration to handle all of the traffic

[jakeroot]

yeah the thing about it is as with real life it creates a bottle neck at he end of the system and i have to extend them past the demand point where almost 50% of the traffic exits which in my city is the Westbrook gardens interchange which is the one shown in my Instagram it ties 3 highways the Westbrook expressway which is my main artery the crosstown expressway which handles traffic between the Westbrook expressway and west tpke and the interchange also contains a stack interchange wedged in there connecting another expressway which i have yet to name so its there is a lot of demand in this area and being that im on Xbox with this map i was limited to 4 lanes wide so i had to go with a (4-3-3-4) configuration to handle all of the traffic

Good god, I nearly ran out of breath reading that.

Honestly, I can't comment on the console versions. I've only played on PC where, with mods, the game is fundamentally unrelated to the "stock" game. I personally don't have traffic issues except in downtown cores where signals tend to "step" on each other and where I need to work on coordination.

[fmendes]

yeah the thing about it is as with real life it creates a bottle neck at he end of the system and i have to extend them past the demand point where almost 50% of the traffic exits which in my city is the Westbrook gardens interchange which is the one shown in my Instagram it ties 3 highways the Westbrook expressway which is my main artery the crosstown expressway which handles traffic between the Westbrook expressway and west tpke and the interchange also contains a stack interchange wedged in there connecting another expressway which i have yet to name so its there is a lot of demand in this area and being that im on Xbox with this map i was limited to 4 lanes wide so i had to go with a (4-3-3-4) configuration to handle all of the traffic

Good god, I nearly ran out of breath reading that.

Honestly, I can't comment on the console versions. I've only played on PC where, with mods, the game is fundamentally unrelated to the "stock" game. I personally don't have traffic issues except in downtown cores where signals tend to "step" on each other and where I need to work on coordination.

im sorry it was so long lol but the game i have noticed handles differently on pc with mods considering i have both the traffic rlly does handle different tho

[fmendes]

ok guys lets see some detailed spaghetti junctions

[Ned Weasel]

Does anyone else think it would be amazing if the makers of Cities: Skylines built game-version replicas of real cities and then sold them as DLC?  Mostly so, you know, you could redesign the transportation network, or just impose whatever fantasy you want on said city?  Personally, I'd be very willing to pay to download Muskogee, Oklahoma and Breezewood, Pennsylvania.    (I kind of have doubts as to how feasible this would be, though.  Whatever fees people would be willing to pay to download these might not recoup the massive amount of labor hours it would take for game-makers to build all the cities people might want, especially when you get to places so obscure that they would only appeal to roadgeeks.)

[andrepoiy]

The game "canvas" itself is really small too if you want it 1:1, and it doesn't really work out.

Also, has anyone attempted to make a collector/express freeway in C:S (like Highway 401 in Toronto)? I have a feeling that in C:S, no one would use the express lanes since they always calculate that the shortest route, and changing to express lanes and changing back to exit adds distance.

[Roadgeekteen]

Deathcare and garbage in this game suck... I put tons of incinerators and crematoriums and it still doesn't work. I had to download a mod getting rid of them. Otherwise, the game is great.

[JoePCool14]

Does anyone else think it would be amazing if the makers of Cities: Skylines built game-version replicas of real cities and then sold them as DLC?  Mostly so, you know, you could redesign the transportation network, or just impose whatever fantasy you want on said city?  Personally, I'd be very willing to pay to download Muskogee, Oklahoma and Breezewood, Pennsylvania.    (I kind of have doubts as to how feasible this would be, though.  Whatever fees people would be willing to pay to download these might not recoup the massive amount of labor hours it would take for game-makers to build all the cities people might want, especially when you get to places so obscure that they would only appeal to roadgeeks.)

I'm sure someone could build Breezewood. I don't think that would be too difficult.

[vdeane]

Deathcare and garbage in this game suck... I put tons of incinerators and crematoriums and it still doesn't work. I had to download a mod getting rid of them. Otherwise, the game is great.

That's probably a consequence of the game being agent-based.  SimCity 4 was very simple with respect to garbage (and everything else)... the game would simply calculate how much garbage should be generated based on the number of RCI buildings, adjust down based on the number of recycling centers (I forget if any ordinances affected it), and then compare with landfill/incinerator capacity.  Any excess would then be placed on the map randomly as pollution.  None of the traffic shown in the game was real, just an approximate rendering of the statistics the game actually used.  This is made obvious by the fact that there's a setting to turn off the variable speed automata and have the cars move at the same speed regardless of what speed the game was running or even when paused (and before Rush Hour, that was just how the game worked, no setting available!).  Cities: Skylines doesn't do that.  Garbage is generated specifically by each building, and actual garbage trucks have to go to each and every one to pick it up and deliver it to the landfills/incinerators.  If they get stuck in traffic, the garbage just accumulates.  Deathcare works similarly.  Every car is a specific cim going on a specific trip and you can follow them the whole way.

Short version: it doesn't matter how much capacity you have if you garbage trucks and hearses can't get where they need to go quickly.

[ran4sh]

Also, has anyone attempted to make a collector/express freeway in C:S (like Highway 401 in Toronto)? I have a feeling that in C:S, no one would use the express lanes since they always calculate that the shortest route, and changing to express lanes and changing back to exit adds distance.

I had that thought too, that if you build an express/local freeway there would be no way to incentivize traffic to use the express lanes. So I tried an alternative. Knowing that the concept of local and express also exists in subway/transit systems, I thought of other types of service patterns that are used and could be applied to highways in C:S. The A/B (alternating stop) pattern is another type of transit service pattern and I thought of a way to apply it in C:S. What I ended up doing was building a highway where the inner and outer lanes cross over and switch sides every exit, with occasional ramps to allow traffic to switch to the other set of lanes. This worked out well, I noticed that the traffic would end up getting on whichever set of lanes ended up accessing the exit that they needed.