Gaming Cities: Skylines

[dbeachy1]

Just noticed that Cities: Skylines is 60% off on Steam today, and the DLC Cities: Skylines - After Dark is 50% off as well in preparation for the Cities Skylines Snowfall DLC
that's being released next Thursday, the 18th. :thumbup:

I love the game, and there are thousands of mods for it as well on the Steam workshop. :tiphat:

 

[Urwumpe]

It is really the better city simulation compared to SimCity 4, but I lack the time for playing it. Well, I still lack the DLC, how good is After Dark?

 

[Quick_Nick]

It is really the better city simulation compared to SimCity 4, but I lack the time for playing it. Well, I still lack the DLC, how good is After Dark?

By most accounts, After Dark does not really add much considering that the day/night cycle was added to the main game for free. After Dark is mostly about leisure-focused commercial buildings but adds a couple of other mechanics that would be nice to have in the base game.

http://www.skylineswiki.com/After_Dark

After Dark includes:
Leisure and Luxury: Nightclubs, restaurants, bowling alleys, and other new leisure areas will become especially active at night
Service with a Smile: New city services will transport criminals from police stations to prisons, while cargo hubs and international airports will allow industry and tourism to expand and thrive
Surf and Turf: Commercial areas on the shoreline can specialize in new beach properties such as fishing tours, marinas, and beach bars
We Get Around: New taxi services help citizens and tourists travel around the city, while new dedicated bus lanes and bike lanes encourage alternate transportation
New Chirps: Because everyone loves Chirper #youknowit #heisadorable

 

[tl8]

There is a new expansion that adds snow and trams. Cost is a bit high for what it has IMHO.

AD is probably worth it. The buildings included do make a difference and the additional tourist and leisure area's are nice to look at.

 

[Tex]

I love this game as well. I've been working on a city during the short break between semesters.

 

[Artlav]

Huh.
So, 26 years later someone finally made a city simulator that is not SimCity?

Did a patent expire or something?

 

[Tex]

No they still make SimCity. It has gone down hill IMO though. I was excited to see this game.

 

[Notebook]

Good program, though like all good programs its....time consuming.

Excellent video, wish I had some time to get back into these things.

N.

 

[tl8]

Someone added a mod that adds stormwater. I haven't got it yet as they say it is a tad hard...

 

[Donamy]

I saw a few pedestrians get run over. :lol:

 

[Hielor]

Huh.
So, 26 years later someone finally made a city simulator that is not SimCity?

Did a patent expire or something?

There have been plenty of city simulators that aren't SimCity--they all just tend to be bad.

 

[Fabri91]

No they still make SimCity. It has gone down hill IMO though. I was excited to see this game.

SimCity 2013 happened, then Cities Skylines basically was everything SC2013 promised it would be:

• (functioning) agent simulation where it made sense
• not ridiculously-small maps
• mod support

In a nutshell, at least, and that at a much better price.

 

[HarvesteR]

Yep. Pretty much. I heard somewhere that the C:S devs themselves at some point said that SimCity's shortcomings was one of their main motivations for making Skylines. Can't say if that's actually true, but it would make sense. Spite can be a powerful force behind software development.

I'm actually playing C:S just these days again (it's in my rotation of favorite games). The newest update added quays and waterfront features, which make building along shorelines a lot of fun. Before, waterfront buildings would just tend to get flooded... Not very good for real estate values. Now, they look awesome.

Also, their mod support and workshop integration is awesome! Tons of very excellent mods to tinker with. That's crucial in a genre where the quantity of content is a large factor in replayability.

And finally, building intersections! You can nerd out for hours doing tunnels and overpasses (much to the detriment of the rest of your city, a lot like real life roadworks, actually.)

Cheers

EDIT:

Protip, launch the game with the --enable-dev-ui parameter and hit Tab once in-game. You can pop a dev console up with several useful tools, including analog gamepad support. That works REALLY well to move the camera smoothly, especially if you have a Steam Controller.

 

[JMW]

Interesting stuff.
But Tex, why does everything zoom around at 90 mph?... boats - cars etc.?
Is that controllable ?

 

[Hielor]

Interesting stuff.
But Tex, why does everything zoom around at 90 mph?... boats - cars etc.?
Is that controllable ?

Sounds like a realistic depiction of an American city, to me...

 

[Zatnikitelman]

My main problem with CS is the non-renewable services (dump, cemeteries) get too full too fast.

 

[Notebook]

Not trying to go off topic, but this is on Steam:
http://www.railwaysims.com/

I remember it back in the 90's? as just A-Train. It was 2D isometric style, think it was on the Amiga. Good for its time, complete time waster.

Just re-installed Skylines, as complex as I remember it...

N.

 

[Hlynkacg]

Sounds like a realistic depiction of an American city, to me...

No, a realistic depiction would be not moving at all due to gridlock. :beathead:

 

[Quick_Nick]

My main problem with CS is the non-renewable services (dump, cemeteries) get too full too fast.

That's what the incinerators and crematoria are for, but I do agree.

There are mods to help alleviate this in various ways. In particular, I think mods for improved service vehicle AI are absolutely essential (e.g. ARIS mods by user Soda).
Additionally, mods that make deaths more distributed over time (the default population model leads to mass die-offs) may help, though they may also give a greater number of deaths overall.

 

[HarvesteR]

No, a realistic depiction would be not moving at all due to gridlock. :beathead:

Which is why GTA:Sao Paulo is computationally impossible. There are just too many agents to move around. Alternatively though, they could just model the cars as static scenery really... It would effectively work out the same. :hotcool:

Ahem, heh, so, Cities:Skylines, yeah.

I tried the rainfall mod yesterday, but it didn't play well with my install... Does anyone know if it's updated to the latest version (1.5 it seems) already?

And man, that assembly error handling... that's some sweet coding there. I just wish it would print out the name of the assembly that failed though.

Cheers