Examples of city construction cities skyline. Hexagonal city

SimCity, released two years ago, was an unpleasant disappointment. For unknown reasons, the modern continuation of the classic series of urban planning simulators has been simplified to a very primitive level. A lot of strategic and economic elements disappeared, cities were reduced to fixed squares of 2 by 2 kilometers, and frolic was allowed only in pre-modeled landscapes, where future cities were allocated strictly designated places. As part of the marketing campaign, Electronic Arts focused on the socialization of players, but everything was spoiled by the need to constantly connect to the Internet - as a result, we got overloaded servers immediately after release and other technical problems.

As a result, SimCity 2013 was quickly forgotten - first of all, the users themselves lost interest in building virtual cities according to strictly non-variable scenarios. And just recently, two completely logical events happened: firstly, the Maxis studio was dissolved; secondly, Cities: Skylines was released - a correct and congenial continuation of the beloved SimCity from the distant past. Made, however, by completely different people - a small Finnish studio Colossal Order.

⇡ Canon - it is canon

No, seriously - the creators are not even trying to hide the fact that their game is entirely based on the basic mechanics of the original SimCity. At the same time, Skylines is not a blatant clone, but rather a work on the mistakes of other developers; an attempt to prove that in modern realities all the principles from classical economic strategies still work perfectly.

Those who remember, say, SimCity 4 will instantly find their way around here too. We select a region to found a city, then one of the small sectors, build the first roads there and begin settling. Again, it is necessary to maintain a balance between the three development zones: residential areas, commercial sectors and industry. Along the way, you have to take care of the functioning of important city services. We lay water supply and power lines, build power plants, police and fire stations, and take care of the capacity of schools and hospitals. In the process, natural problems arise such as traffic jams, water and land pollution, inaccessibility of parks and entertainment. In general, the concept is entirely consistent with the long-thought-out canon - and that’s great.

Moreover, you quickly notice a lot of improved details. Take the notorious roads. There are 16 types of them in Skylines - from country roads to multi-lane highways. And during construction, you can choose the bend angle, adapting the road to almost any landscape or inventing your own ingenious interchange systems. Bus stops now need to not just be poked into conditionally free places, but to think through the lines of public transport, not forgetting to “loop” the routes.

There are also global improvements to the ideas of the authors of SimCity. In the attempt before last year, they tried to make towns specialization - in one town, roughly speaking, they extract oil, and in the neighboring one - ore. Such a system greatly limited the imagination and design possibilities, so in Skylines the scheme was implemented much smarter and more flexible. Players can independently mark out urban areas (they even have their own names), after which that same industrial specialization appears. This applies, however, not only to industrial zones - the markings are generally relevant for any type of development. For example, it is logical to separate a prestigious residential area from an ordinary one, and divide offices into quarters for medium and large businesses.

Another nice point is the scale. Yes, we start from a small location with the same 4 square kilometers, but quickly enough the game allows you to annex neighboring areas to your territory. As a result, the city can spread over 32 square kilometers (that is, 8 locations). Although it’s still a little disappointing: in total there are 25 locations in the region - how great it would be to build them all up with one giant city (spending 200 hours on this).

⇡ Own details

In general, there is a lot in Skylines that we have been dreaming about since the days of SimCity 4. The Finnish studio really scrupulously approached the issue of completing the original game mechanics - in some ways, small details even prevail over common sense. True, the game has one distinctive feature of projects from the publisher Paradox Interactive - training is kept to a minimum. The organization of certain processes is often completely unclear. In a virtual city, everything may be generally fine, but residents suddenly begin to move out en masse. Or something strange is happening with garbage collection or the work of cemeteries - there is nowhere to dispose of everything unnecessary, despite the free resources available. But the most annoying thing is the construction of roads - you need to be very clever to build an overpass instead of a railway crossing or organize an intersection with the desired intersection angle. Why the game blocks some actions while allowing exactly the same ones in other places will not be reported.

But Colossal Order tried hard with tools for user content. You can create your own buildings, publish them in the Steam community, or import the products of someone else's creativity - in this aspect, of course, you can feel the convenience and versatility of the Unity engine and the Steam workshop. In addition, there is a good editor for the global map of the region with a complete list of all sorts of things for terraforming. Especially meticulous designers can use the Terrain Party service - it allows you to import a real-life terrain map into the game. Although the uploaded PNG file will still have to be either “photoshopped” or polished in the internal Skylines editor. But in any case, this is a much simpler way to recreate places familiar from real life in the game.

Cities: Skylines is truly the SimCity we deserve. But, despite all the advantages, insane attention to detail and polished mechanics, the game has one serious drawback. After some time - after the first six to eight hours - there is basically nothing to do in it. Infinitely scaling the city (and growth is expressed exclusively in linear progression) becomes uninteresting - in any case, we perform approximately the same sequence of actions, and the entire creative aspect rests on drawing patterns of highways and roads. The slightly chaotic city lives its own hectic life, but no important or noteworthy events simply happen there.

In this context, the logic of the creators of the latest SimCity becomes clear - that same socialization was indeed seen as a logical stage in the evolution of the series. Users could have new motivation, and the game had to generate unusual scenarios and stories every time. Even seemingly stupid disasters (volcanoes, giant combat robots or aliens) - they gave at least some sense of the variability of the world in an unrealistically ideal city.

The Finns, together with the Swedish publisher Paradox, unconditionally furnished the stillborn SimCity - this is an ideal work on the mistakes of others. But Cities: Skylines has too little personality and originality, and the city management process itself is frankly mechanical. However, the game will become even better thanks to user-generated content, and there’s probably no point in worrying about the future of the series. Colossal Order made the best city builder of the decade the third time around, and the inevitable sequel will no doubt be even more interesting.

City planning simulators are popular with a certain audience. The recently released SimCity disappointed true fans of the genre, so the place of the most successful game among city planning strategies is completely vacant. Let's look at the gameplay of one of the contenders, namely Cities Skylines.

City construction

To successfully build a full-fledged city, you need to be focused and take your time. The first step is to gradually rebuild residential areas and create jobs to reduce the risk of crime and the formation of crime-ridden areas. Already in the first stages of the game, difficulties may arise, especially for beginners in this genre.

If you decide to save on water purification, then there will be a shortage of drinking water. To solve this problem, water towers should be installed. However, this will create other difficulties, as people will be unhappy with the quality of your water supply and the standard of living in this place will sharply decrease, which will also reduce the influx of new residents.

Population growth

One of the first tasks of the player is to attract a new population. You need to constantly build new houses, as well as create jobs to keep the population busy. To do this, it will be enough to build factories, commercial buildings and other places where people can earn money. You can use almost any number of squares to build buildings; there are no restrictions. The shape and appearance of the building depends on the chosen area.

Example: if you take a small number of squares for the construction of buildings, you will get a small store, and if it is large, then a whole hypermarket with a parking lot and office space.

What is population needed for? As he grows, the player's opportunities increase, but certain worries and difficulties also appear. First of all, you should provide your population with fire safety, as well as establish medical facilities and a police station so that the city has a controlled crime situation. All these buildings cost a lot of money, so sometimes something has to be sacrificed so that people support the mayor’s decisions.

Factors of influence

Gradually, the player begins to pay more attention to various little things, since they have a strong impact on the population of the city. This includes noise from factories, pollution levels, crime rates in the area, and much more. If the negative indicators exceed the positive ones, then the residents of the city or neighborhood will be very dissatisfied.

IMPORTANT! Population growth in the region will be greatly reduced, leading to a significant outflow of money. If this happens very often, then most likely the mayor will not stay in office for long.

In some situations, cash loans can save a player. But if the areas are poorly designed, then it will be easier to start the game session again than to continue to get out of a previously losing situation.

Features of the local economy

If you have never played such games, then it will be very difficult for you to understand the system of earning money, since the nuances of the economy are not described anywhere. There is no learning in the game as a phenomenon. You learn everything in the game yourself, by trial and error. For example, it is not always clear why people do not go to a particular store. Or why in one area everything is in order, but in another there is an acute shortage of labor at the plant, despite the fact that there are many people nearby who need work. It is difficult for a newcomer to realize that in fact the region has very good education, so no one with a diploma wants to work at a factory.

Such a challenge does not harm the game, in some cases even the opposite. The game challenges you and once you solve a difficult problem, you will feel satisfied.

Over time, when individual sections of the city become completely self-sufficient, they can be organized into districts. Now you can set your own rules in them:

Legalize drugs in a certain area of the city.
Turn on the water saving system.
Establish rules for waste recycling.
Prohibit drinking alcohol or cigarettes.

The quarter, which is under manual control, will immediately begin to change. If the player monitored cleanliness and compliance with environmental rules, then the houses will become environmentally friendly. You can ban smoking and install free smoke detectors for everyone. Then reduce taxes. From such manipulations, the area will become prestigious and the population will begin to grow rapidly, because everyone will want to buy real estate there. Prices will rise, and with them the city's income will increase.

Houses in an area that has received elite status will begin to become more elaborate - cottages in a modern style will appear. It looks good, but has no practical significance. If you don’t do landscaping, income won’t fall—only population growth will change. The player will not even notice the arrival of funds from such quarters. However, the game itself does not set specific goals; we simply develop our city.

Buying new land

As soon as the city's population exceeds 10 thousand, the mayor should think about buying new land. The maps in Cities Skylines are not very large, so this aspect of the game is very relevant. Gradually, the main city is turning into a metropolis with a complex system of interactions between districts and various services, so certain changes will have to be made. For example, evict people from their homes, expand roads and highways, and also liquidate unnecessary or harmful factories in order to build parks, etc.

The game constantly provides new tools that significantly expand the player's capabilities. At a certain stage of the game, you can manually set up taxes for any services. In the end, a large hydroelectric power station should be built. The construction itself is very similar to the construction of the cathedral in the game ANNO 1408.

Pollution and garbage

We often encounter this problem in real life, so it simply had to be implemented in the game. Unlike other city planning simulators, in Cities Skylines, garbage and pollution play a very important role. Since there is no training in the game, every novice player faces the problem of pollution.

IMPORTANT! Complexes that remove garbage and clean city streets should be built in advance. Their location should also be planned before the construction of the area. Noise pollution also plays a big role. Highways and noisy highways should be located as far as possible from residential buildings to reduce noise levels.

If it is not possible to place houses further than roads, you need to install noise barriers. Industrial or production buildings should be placed away from areas where people live. Trucks that remove waste are very necessary for a normal life, but they create certain problems on the road.

Water

Managing water resources at the initial stage is quite difficult, especially for beginners. The supply of clean water should be taken care of from the very beginning and as quickly as possible. When laying pipes in a city, two lines should be created: one to supply the city, the other for wastewater.

We are building a water pumping station for the city, which will pump water from local rivers. It should be installed away from the main city so that noise does not disturb residents from relaxing after a long working day.

The second line also goes into the river and nothing depends on us. You pour all the sewage into the river, from which you then take clean water for the city. Therefore, you need to place the pipes correctly here.

IMPORTANT! The drain should be placed downstream, otherwise dirty water will flow back into the city and an epidemic will begin: people will start to leave and complain, which could turn into a real disaster.

Having achieved certain success in the game, you will be able to build a water treatment plant and reduce the level of pollution. If you build only water pumps, you can provide the city with a large amount of water, but the line will be much longer and, accordingly, it will cost more, which is not desirable at an early stage.

At any time, the player can start monitoring his residents. You can bring the camera closer and watch how the little man walks through the park, enters the cinema or goes to work. All people have their own original names, as do factories, shops and gas stations. It is very interesting to observe the functioning of even one small store, because the developers have thought through everything to the smallest detail.

The graphics are not particularly impressive. From a technical point of view, the game does not offer us anything new. Despite this, stylistically the game is very pleasant and looks good. Now, if the developers added modern anti-aliasing, it would be even better. Likewise, the musical accompaniment is not the project’s strong point. The meager list of symphonic melodies begins to get boring already in the first hours of the game. However, you can turn off songs at any time to play your own.

Don't forget that the game is open to user modifications. Craftsmen instantly came up with a bunch of different improvements and useful features that, in their humble opinion, the game lacked.

Advantages of Cities Skylines:

You can play on a really huge and beautiful map.
The districts may have different political life and atmosphere that the player has to reckon with.
The gameplay is balanced: during the game you will not feel discomfort due to unreasonable complexity.
Anyone can create a modification and share it with other players.
The complex economic model will appeal to all lovers of smart strategies.

If the player still has free space on the map, then it is better to leave it for additional entrances to the metropolis, as well as attractions and monuments. The main thing is not to install traffic lights in this area. A two-lane road grid is better than a six-lane road with traffic lights. In the second option, traffic jams are simply guaranteed.

Bottom line

The game is a complete success as a city planning simulator. It’s quite easy to build the city of your dreams, but managing it is much more difficult. Cities Skylines boasts original gameplay ideas, such as division into districts. This innovation makes the game more interesting and varied. The player can even build their own hydroelectric power station, something that was previously impossible to do.

Cities Skylines will be relevant for a long time, including thanks to user mods that will prolong audience interest for another six months/year. Despite the fact that the game has a very meager number of interesting and catchy musical compositions, Cities Skylines is one of the best strategy simulations for building and managing a city.

Guides and tips for the game Cities: Skylines

Cities: Skylines Guide - A Beginner's Guide

Like any city-building sim, Cities: Skylines can feel like an insurmountable mountain thanks to all the conditions you need to keep in mind. However, as soon as you master its basics, you will understand the logic of the phased construction of your metropolis or town, which is much simpler than trying to immediately understand the complexity of the game.

The basics of Cities: Skylines are largely related to the city's infrastructure, key aspects that need to be dealt with before taking on anything more ambitious, as they will allow you to gradually increase the city's coffers.

Beginner's Guide to Cities: Skylines

Energy
First, you will need energy. From the very beginning you will have only two options - wind turbines or a coal station. The second one is expensive, so it’s worth starting with wind turbines first.

Unlike coal plants, wind turbines do not generate energy constantly. Their power varies from 1 to 8 MW, depending on the wind strength in different places. To achieve maximum efficiency, look at the wind map, marking the darkest ones - these are the best places to install wind turbines.

Ideally, wind turbines should be built in clusters. As soon as you have enough money, switch to the coal station - it will allow you to develop the city more actively.

Water
Managing a city's water resources is not an easy task, but it needs to be addressed as soon as possible. When you lay pipes, they should always go in two lines - one to supply the city with water, the second for wastewater.

To supply the city with water, build a water pump to pump water from the rivers. Install it away from the city to reduce noise levels.

The second line - whether you like it or not - must go into the river. You are literally pouring all your sewage into the river you drink from, so do it downstream or the runoff will end up in your supply system. You can imagine what will come of this.

Later in the game you can add a purification station that will reduce pollution levels by 85%.

If you wish, you can abandon the construction of Water Stations and build water pumping stations near rivers. Although the lines will be longer, you will be able to produce a lot of water for the city.

Garbage and pollution
One of the things that makes Cities: Skylines significantly different from other city building sims is the importance of Trash and Pollution. Inexperienced players can often make mistakes in managing garbage, which can lead to an outflow of residents and bankruptcy of the city.

Solving the problems of garbage and pollution is the responsibility of special complexes, which are very important to plan in advance. Make sure your highways are designed to be far enough away from the city to reduce noise pollution. If this is not possible, use noise barriers. It is also recommended to build industrial buildings away from residential areas, reducing air pollution in the city.

Garbage and land pollution lie on garbage trucks. This is a necessity, but they can have a negative effect on road traffic.

Roads, Transport and Zones
While Energy and Water are key resources for the life of a city, the most important for its development is the design of roads. Roads will not only be a method of transportation, but will also create the structure of your city.

In addition to this, there is a basic method by which zoning should be done. Zoning is simply a way of creating zones in which different types of buildings will develop.

Transport is another important part of the city's infrastructure. When dealing with transport, you have to deal with its various types, right up to the airport. In this regard, when constructing roads, remember that vehicles, including urban ones, will travel along them.

Set aside a large portion of land near the city for the airport, and also leave space for bus stops, train stations and tracks.

Building

Building

Buildings are a more advanced part of Cities: Skylines. They can be divided into three areas: Health, Post-mortem care and Education.

Healthcare is provided to the citizens of your city through the construction of clinics and hospitals. The latter are very expensive, but cover large areas. These facilities will send ambulances to residents or offices to help the sick.

Ambulances can be a problem on narrow roads, so make sure you don't have too many ambulances in certain areas.

Hospitals can bankrupt you, so it's enough to build two or three when the city expands.

A rather interesting and unique type of building in Cities: Skylines is cemeteries and crematoria. Death is a significant aspect of the game, as death actually generates "pollution" in the form of the bodies of the dead.

Unlike Sim City, education is not nearly as important in Cities: Skylines. However, for your city to prosper and develop, you will need the best buildings, and these can only be obtained through education.

Build many primary schools. There may be fewer high schools. In the later stages you will need a university.
The schools will allow the development of the industrial part of the city, while the university will open advanced buildings and structures not only for industry, but also for business.

Cities: Skylines aims to transform its initially miniature city into a vibrant, thriving metropolis. Naturally, for this you will need money. But what is the best way to make money? There are several options to do this, from balancing your zoning to properly adjusting your taxes. If you follow the steps mentioned in this guide, you will soon have more money than you ever imagined.

Balance your zoning

Correct zoning is one of the most important things to do at an early stage. Balancing your commercial and residential zoning is key. Residential areas don't need to be filled with businesses or industry, and your business areas need to have enough space for trucks to deliver goods. As with any busy city center, it's a good idea to have residential areas at the center of your commerce. And in residential areas, install essential items such as groceries and shopping. They can help increase profits and keep people happy.

One of the ways to ensure the ease of movement necessary to keep the roads clear and your residents happy is to build bridges and properly operate public transport. Therefore, citizens from your residential areas can easily travel around the city center and the roads are open for delivery trucks.

Don't expand too much at first

As tempting as it may be, there is no need to quickly expand your city, even when you start making more profit. First, roads cost money to build and maintain. Additionally, you need to be sure that you have enough resources to handle things like law enforcement and necessary services. This gets a lot more difficult as your city gets bigger. It sounds counterintuitive, but a smaller city will attract more residents and keep them there longer.

Investment minimalism

However, this does not mean that you should focus all your resources on creating top-notch infrastructure and services for your residents. Just like in real life, a useful way to make more money for your city is to practice shadow governance at the expense of your citizens.

Check how much money you invest in things like utilities or law enforcement. Once you find the lowest level for investment, stick with it for a while. This brings in a lot of money, so continue to practice the technique as you expand your settlement.

A well-balanced city will also help you take care of some related issues. For example, many job opportunities that provide good commercial and residential zoning result in lower crime rates. This reduces the contribution of money to policing. Also helps boost the city's economy and ultimately provide you with a greater variety of high-paying jobs for residents.

Tax income

Taxes can provide you with significant, long-term income. When you first start the game, the tax level remains quite low. Keep it at this level until you start attracting more and more citizens. Then gradually increase taxes. The happy zone where you can maximize profit without having to survive your residents is between 11% and 13% depending on population.

Speed up

This may seem obvious, but it's worth clarifying anyway. Speed up time. Once you find a happy environment of zoning, industry, taxes and investments, speed up the in-game clock. Time will pass faster and you won't have to wait for long periods to take advantage of the controls.

Cities: Skylines is an economic strategy developed by Colossal Order, the creators of Cities in Motion and Cities in Motion 2. This time, the developers decided not to limit themselves solely to urban transport and challenged such hits as SimCity. The main goal in Cities: Skylines is to build the city of your dreams, although you also need to look after the well-being of your citizens and keep money moving to secure future investments.

A highway, which will be the "backbone" of your city, can help traffic flow; however, you will need to build the right mechanism that will maintain the flow of traffic in the city and on the highway.
Sometimes you will have to relieve traffic from the highway; use and .
The fewer intersections, the better. Try to avoid using traffic lights as they interfere with traffic. Often you can convert a road into a highway.
Roundabouts should not be small. The smaller the circle, the more cars must slow down, which will reduce the speed of traffic.
Use one-way roads whenever possible, especially in industrial areas, as they tend to be filled with trucks. However, remember that company vehicles must be able to easily reach buildings. Sometimes service vehicles cannot reach the building across the street due to poor road systems.
Don't forget to connect the two directions of the highway so that people can travel in the opposite direction without entering the city.
Too many road connections are bad for traffic flow.
Try to separate trucks from passenger vehicles. Together, these types of traffic can clog even a well-designed road system. Create a truck ban area to avoid this.
Build a station for freight trains only in an industrial zone - this will increase the development of the region and save you from some of the traffic. Remember that a good road system should help the infrastructure around the station, so that every time a train arrives, the trucks will head with the cargo to their destination. (One way roads should help here)
Railways can also be overloaded. To avoid this, separate passenger lines from freight lines. In addition, non-stop trains can use the road around the station. When creating intersections, try to create enough space so that a whole train can continue moving without stopping.
Good ideas for intersections can be found in the Steam Workshop. If you still have problems, take a piece of paper and draw the intersection that seems most suitable to you. If you live near a highway or in/near a city, look at the intersections there in person, or using maps online. They will most likely help you

Public transport

The main goal of public transport is to reduce the number of cars by offering an alternative to driving. This is the basis of an effective city.

Start using public transport in your city as early as possible, but keep it simple.
Buses can be a fairly cheap and efficient option, but too many buses on the same route can cause traffic jams.
The metro is the most efficient transport system, but it is also quite expensive. A good mix of bus routes that complement the subway lines will be the most effective solution.
Passenger trains are not particularly useful within the city, but will help increase the flow of tourists into the city. They become effective in large, sprawling cities. But using separate railways for passenger lines can help avoid congestion.
By increasing the budget of a certain transport system, you increase the number of vehicles on each route of this system.
Long routes with more stops will create more traffic.
Stops can be used to increase the happiness level and level of buildings in the city.
Routes will be most effective if they pass through all zoning types except office buildings, as they do not require much traffic.
Passenger traffic is usually directed to the commercial zone, and cargo traffic to the industrial zone and sometimes between industrial and commercial.
Public transport is in high demand in commercial areas, especially in commercial areas.

Note that no service has an infinite range, so you will have to distribute services throughout the city. The information tab (top left corner) will show you which areas of the city are within reach.
Not only do services have a range, but they also rely on roads to get to their destination. Congested roads or poor road systems can reduce the efficiency of services.
Certain buildings, such as landfills and cemeteries, must be completely cleared before being moved or demolished. Garbage or dead bodies should be sent to other places (recycling plant, crematorium, other landfills/cemeteries).
Do not place downstream intakes or a water tower on contaminated land.
Parks and services increase land value by increasing the popularity of the land as well as increasing development in the area.
The optimal cost of covering land with water supply is $440 between two parallel pipes, the coverage areas of which almost do not intersect, guaranteeing water supply to all residents in the area.
Power lines do not need to be built right next to buildings. It is enough to install it in the blue zone, where there is already access to electricity.

Layout

Take advantage of districts and different policies.
Try to separate polluting buildings from residential areas.
The agriculture and forestry industries do not pollute the environment, and you can even use them where there are no natural resources of their type (they just import what they need). You can use them as buffer zones between your industrial and commercial areas. These areas still produce a lot of noise (as do all industrial areas), but a commercial area will be able to survive noise pollution, unlike a residential area.
Walking and Biking Paths: Just because they're in the scenery tab doesn't mean you shouldn't use them. They are actually useful to reduce the amount of traffic. A city dweller who uses walking or cycling to get around has one less car. You can even use elevated walkways just like regular walkways. But unlike regular roads, these can be built at a greater angle than even the smallest road for cars.
Tip for building orientation: Orientation between two perpendicular roads is carried out with the mouse cursor - whichever road the cursor is on, the building will be directed in that direction. For example, if you want to build a shopping center on the corner between a narrow and a wide street facing the wide street, point your mouse at the spot where you want to place the center, and then move the mouse a little towards the wide road.
Roads with trees or sound barriers will reduce noise pollution.
Offices can be used as barriers between commercial and residential areas to reduce noise pollution in residential areas.
Zoning plays an important role in traffic flow. To separate passenger traffic from freight traffic, place the commercial zone in the middle, and residential and industrial on each side of the commercial zone. One can use offices anywhere as they simply create jobs.

DO NOT expand your city too quickly at the beginning, as your budget will run out faster than you know it. It is enough to start with a residential area, electricity, water supply and sewerage.
Save before building the dam, as the result may differ from your expectations. Dams are some of the most expensive objects in the game.
Use the Steam Workshop to find useful mods or read the guide about useful mods.
English speaking forum -
Use to create maps of cities of your choice. Instructions are available online and in Steam guides.
Don't buy anything you don't need yet - most things cost a pretty penny. If you can do without something, you will save more money for when you need it.