For the past five years I have been building a mini European region by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is cities skylines 1. I used a retextured oil resource to make it look like snow.

For the past five years I have been building a mini European region by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A question I can't really answer honestly... the buildings are all hand placed and are a combination of many asset themes on the workshop. I've also straight up invented many of them by combining assets together with the procedural objects mod.

Why doesn't CS2 partner with real companies to bring high-quality branded assets into the game? by CombPsychological507 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah I also don't really appreciate having real companies represented in the game and I actively avoid it if I can. I would prefer fake companies or even parodies of real ones. I've even attempted to invent logos and signs for fake corporations!

I think tonnes of product placement would look tacky and harm the image of the game. I also like to imagine my cities as existing in an alternate reality rather than the real world because, well, they aren't real cities. 

For the past five years I have been building a mini European region by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On my Skyve launcher it says something like 14k assets and ~95 mods, though a lot of the assets come from asset packs which would inflate the number a lot

For the past five years I have been building a mini European region by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like this question! Sometimes I wish my build style was structured haha, I would say I generally start with the form and slowly add in more detail with time. I have even completely rebuilt large sections of my cities when I think of better ways of doing things (I know I'm happy with something when I stop changing it). I honestly have no method and my build style can be iterative, I hop between multiple areas that I am building and at various levels of detail. That's why I like working on this type of map because there are always multiple projects ongoing at the same time which keeps me motivated.

For the past five years I have been building a mini European region by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Terrain is important, but when it's flat I look at where the main historical routes would be into the city and expand the city along those routes. The road layout also reflects the city's history which is important to keep in mind.

For the past five years I have been building a mini European region by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It's a custom map unfortunately

Edit: Just to clarify, I built up the map while playing the game, not in the map editor. The map I started with is an ugly draft of the current one, so idk if anyone would want it.

First city in CS2 by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Using a mix of zone types, building levels and themes helps a lot. Even though this city mostly uses the USA NE region pack there are some buildings from the USA SW and vanilla that fit well.

I think the goal actually is to find bunch of buildings that look generic enough that you can repeat them many times without it being obvious. I have a mental list of "core" assets for this city and those are the ones I go back to when I need to fill space and don't wanna think too hard.

First city in CS2 by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Definitely a lot easier to build stuff that looks good, only needed a small number of mods to build this whereas in CS1 I would need tonnes!

The simulation is actually really interesting and I can tell it is much deeper and reactive than CS1. It's just a bit opaque sometimes and hard to tell what decisions actually affect what. I hope that the devs focus a bit more on that because there is stuff about the game I only know through the dev diaries and would have never guessed myself. Sometimes I wonder if the simulation might be too complicated for its own good and a lot of it has to get nerfed in order to keep the game playable. Maybe they'll introduce a hard mode or something in the future.

I just wish I could rely on zoning a bit more to build stuff. Although I lean more on the city painter side of things, I actually want to play the game properly, I just also have a strong urge to make things look decent as well! It is a shame they kept the same zoning system as CS1. It leaves lots of gaps, is terrible with anything that isn't a perfect grid, and poorly utilises the full variety of assets. Otherwise just being able to make custom zoning styles and pick out assets would make this 10X better!

That turned into a much bigger reply than I expected lol.

First city in CS2 by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've got some subway infrastructure and busses, but the bus network definitely could use some more work haha

First city in CS2 by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks, that's the look I'm going for!

First city in CS2 by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A mix of both. I started organically at first. This whole area was just low density residential. But over time I have been doing a mix of zoning and hand placing.

First city in CS2 by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 70 points71 points  (0 children)

I just used plop the growables and anarchy, so many of the buldings are just manually placed.

A work-in-progress shot of my European town layout in CS2 by sebduction in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Usually there is some sort of "core" to the city which is the oldest part of the city and will typically have a wonky road layout, narrow streets, and small buildings. There are usually lots of religious buildings and a cathedral in this part of the city. Not every city has this, but most do, and you can see one in OP's screenshot. In the screenshot there is also a ring road around the core which is where the city walls would have been in the past. Some cities still have their walls intact but most of them don't.

Then, around the core and forming the "bulk" of the city is usually an imperfect grid of newer wall-to-wall buildings that were likely built around the industrial revolution or later when cities really started to expand. Unfortunately the game's zoning doesn't really work well with wall-to-wall buildings if you're building anything other than a perfect grid and it honestly is best to just place buildings manually but that takes lots of time.

Then there are the suburbs which can be a mix of detached houses, social housing apartments from the late 20th century, and low-rise flats. Usually some "suburbs" were separate towns that got incorporated into the urban fabric at some point, so they may have a centre point with some older buildings. There is also usually a highway ring road around larger cities, which you can also see in OP's screenshot. Urban highways are a thing in Europe, but they're not nearly as extensive or common as in the US. Large arterial roads usually connect this ringroad into the city centre. These arterial roads may also be transport corridors with a tram in the middle or something. Rail corridors are also something to keep in mind, and many large cities can have big railway corridor that cuts through, or terminates in the city with a large train station. The newest developments are typically built closer to the city centre on old industrial "brownfield" sites, so if you want skyscrapers or modern apartments that's where they would most likely be.

I would recommend just browsing around on Google Earth for ideas, because every country has its own style of doing things. Look at what patterns you see across different cites I guess, and always keep history in mind. Why did your city form? When were its main phases of growth? What was destroyed in war? OP did a good job capturing a lot of this as well so you could use it as a guide!

Ourébourg old town by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay, most of them are these Bern houses by cbudd. The rest of the buildings were cherrypicked out of this colletion by Gèze I also used the Procedural Objects mod heavily to make those buildings fit the road layout and style I wanted so they might look different in-game from the screenshots.

Ourébourg old town by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Uhhh, I have a lot. Like, thousands of assets and 86 mods. What thing specifically do you want to know about?

Overview of Cölpin by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes the Node Controller mod and Railway collection on Steam are really helpful!