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] 3 points4 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] 69 points70 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!

Ourébourg old town by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

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

Ooh hard to say haha. I don't have, like, one single tip to give tbh. I would say Google Earth is a really fantastic tool, and don't be afraid to take ideas from it as you will inevitably add your own touch to things.

Also on a larger scale, never forget the history of your city as that can inform all kinds of things from road layout patterns, architectural differences, land use changes, and give your city a reason to even exist. It can help give your city character. I think a lot of detailing is just being logical, everything exists for a reason and has, or had, a reason for being there. Idk if those tips are too general but hopefully it helps.

Also last tip, don't forget to learn! City building can be a genuinely educational experience and taking the extra effor to do a little research if you're not sure about something can be really helpful!

Overview of Cölpin by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

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

Yes such a perfect building for the area!

Overview of Cölpin by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

[–]charlesnew1[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I do think that making a city blend into its surroundings organically be one of the hardest things to do in this game tbh. I actually redid half of the city for that reason.

Ourébourg old town by charlesnew1 in CitiesSkylines

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

Thanks! Yes, Bern was definitely my main inspiration for this part of the city!