Cities: Skylines II

[eran0004]

No pollution, 1 hospital per 10,000 people and multiple local clinics, helicopters, over budget on health services... and yet this has been going on for weeks (my time, not game time)...

View attachment 1375874

I need more than 8 hospitals to service demand. Something's nuhhered.

Do you see any ambulances being dispatched? Last time I used a hospital with helicopters they didn’t seem to send out any (or at least not nearly as many) ambulances anymore.

 

[RetroJohan]

New trailer for the Road Builder mod

 

[eran0004]

I tried the Road Builder mod and I have mixed feelings about it.

On the plus side it’s great to be able to configure the lanes, for example it will be very useful for creating narrow one-way streets in the old town.

On the negative side it’s not as flexible as I had imagined. You can’t set the widths of each building block freely, so it’s hard to create a road that fits perfectly into the 8 meter grids of the game. There are also some graphical glitches in the intersections, especially on sloped terrain and also in how the sidewalks don’t meet properly.

I will still use it, hopefully it will improve in future versions.

 

[eran0004]

Don't know which mod it is, but one of the mods I've subscribed to have added the feature of creating straight slopes between the start point and end point when you build roads and that has made building on hilly terrain a lot faster, easier and more fun. So I started expanding the road network of my city. Still no private cars on the roads, I guess I need some industry to build the cars before my businesses can start selling them.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Don't know which mod it is

Anarchy V1.7.0

edit:

Latest patch seems to have fixed my whopping healthcare problems.

edit 2: And it's also killed demand. Set taxes to zero, free electricity, masses of employment available, still no residential demand and population stagnant. Hmmm...

 

[MatskiMonk]

Not enough workers is now my blight...

Must have been a rebalance to jobs or something, I was previously struggling to keep unemployment under 10% because I didn't want to just fill the map with industrial... now I have somewhat of an excess of jobs...

But there's still very little residential demand on account of 'unoccupied buildings'. Turned tax to zero to see if I could incentive people to move in, but now I'm nearly 40 mill in a hole!

Perhaps time to abandon the city!

 

[redhed17]

Not enough workers is now my blight...

View attachment 1387486

Must have been a rebalance to jobs or something, I was previously struggling to keep unemployment under 10% because I didn't want to just fill the map with industrial... now I have somewhat of an excess of jobs...

View attachment 1387488

But there's still very little residential demand on account of 'unoccupied buildings'. Turned tax to zero to see if I could incentive people to move in, but now I'm nearly 40 mill in a hole!

Perhaps time to abandon the city!

I had the same problem for all demands bar Office, and after a lot of Googling, I went around the whole map looking for any cells that may have been 'painted' for buildings to spawn on, but the building had not covered all the 'painted' squares because of the shape of the building. Because the whole area had not been covered by a building, the cells seemed to be activating the 'unoccupied' alert, which stops demand.

With a population of 180k at the time, it took a lot of tracking down, and multiple scans of the separate districts over the whole map. Some of them can be tricky to find. Hope that helps. I didn't want to abandon all that I had down, but it was a pita to find all the 'unoccupied' cells.

Since then my city population has increased to over 250k, and I'm glad to see that my PC, which I built last year, seems to be coping quite well with that size of population so far.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I had the same problem for all demands bar Office, and after a lot of Googling, I went around the whole map looking for any cells that may have been 'painted' for buildings to spawn on, but the building had not covered all the 'painted' squares because of the shape of the building. Because the whole area had not been covered by a building, the cells seemed to be activating the 'unoccupied' alert, which stops demand.

With a population of 180k at the time, it took a lot of tracking down, and multiple scans of the separate districts over the whole map. Some of them can be tricky to find. Hope that helps. I didn't want to abandon all that I had down, but it was a pita to find all the 'unoccupied' cells.

Since then my city population has increased to over 250k, and I'm glad to see that my PC, which I built last year, seems to be coping quite well with that size of population so far.

Hmmm...

I mostly tend to use the rectangle tool for zoning, rather than filling or painting, because I generally want buildings at specific sizes, or because I've 'quayed' the roads to get the buildings to spawn in a specific way, it doesn't really leave me with very many zoned-but-unused cells - if any.

I do however have A LOT of unoccupied buildings. I've never actually looked before (it's not on any info views?), so I've just gone through and deleted a couple of hundred, mostly industrial, commercial and office. Based on what I've seen so far between 30 and 50% of my buildings are empty! I think before, when I had high unemployment, I built a lot of non residential stuff... it's almost now like all of the stuff wasn't needed, and now it's empty.

I'm not too bothered, this is only a test city. Still waiting for asset support to really kick off.

 

[eran0004]

Developed most of the land around the harbour now and started expanding up the hills. Added a tram line as well.
Still no private cars on the roads, but I suspect that they may start to spawn when the children grow up and find their own home. I mean, how else do they get a car?

 

[MatskiMonk]

Still no private cars on the roads, but I suspect that they may start to spawn when the children grow up and find their own home. I mean, how else do they get a car?

Any vehicle production/deficit/surplus showing on the production tab? Would be interesting to see it's connected at all in the game workings.

 

[eran0004]

Any vehicle production/deficit/surplus showing on the production tab? Would be interesting to see it's connected at all in the game workings.

The cargo port warehouse is full of vehicles. I think buying vehicles is just like buying other kind of products in the game, it has an impact on the economy simulation but it doesn’t provide the citizens with private cars.

 

[eran0004]

The Anarchy mod has rolled back some features, among them the one with the option to build roads with a straight slope. Apparently some of those features caused some glitches and crashes. That means no more road construction for me for a while, since I need the straight slope option to keep expanding up the hillside.

Instead I've spent some time developing the empty blocks along the roads I've already built and now it finally starts to look like a city!

Below, a rooftop view towards the port.

Below, the 3x2 medium density buildings spliced together in groups of 3.

Below, a lookout viewpoint next to the city's water tower. The street parking will hopefully be used some day.

 

[redhed17]

I started a new map after the economy update, and initially found it difficult to make money, and had to take a loan a couple of times to stay afloat, but after a certain point I was making a bit of money, but there was no demand. I had no deficits in any of the production options, but still no demand for housing, commercial, industrial or offices. 🤔 I looked a bit deeper, and it said I had unoccupied in those areas, so had to go though everywhere there was building to see if the odd coloured cell had not been built on. After many scans over the map I eventually found all the unused cells, and demand started again.

I am now up to 270k, and have connections out of the map, but not much cargo seems to be coming in or out, and not many cims either. Out of that 270k, the Census mod says I have about 10k of homeless, but I only see a few here and there. But with all this, I am raking in the cash, and I don't know how. I don't have the Taxes rammed, and I have seen a few people on YT change taxes, and it affects demand in different areas, but that don't seem to work the same way for me. I have just passed 1billion in the bank as I have been waiting for the money to flip to losing, but nothing changes. I used to have a good idea in CS1 on how it all worked, but this has me baffled.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I've got a suspicion that CO/Paradox are holding back Asset support because they want to charge for a bunch of regional asset packs that are yet to be released. They really need to get a move on with that.

 

[eran0004]

I've got a suspicion that CO/Paradox are holding back Asset support because they want to charge for a bunch of regional asset packs that are yet to be released. They really need to get a move on with that.

I doubt it. I think they are holding back the asset packs until the game is in a state where they can charge for dlc without too much negative feedback. So the packs are waiting for the asset editor, rather than the other way around.

 

[redhed17]

I think they seem to have got the message, from what the creators and makers have been saying after the get together in Finland with PD/CO. They are all under NDA's, so limited on the details they can discuss, but all seem positive. Here's what Colossal Order posted recently about their plans going forward for anyone who may not have seen it.

Hi everyone! It’s been a while since we shared an update, so we wanted to take this opportunity to talk about what we’re currently working on. While we don’t have a timeline to share at this point, we can share our current priorities. At the very top of our list is support for custom assets for the Editor and finalizing the console version of Cities: Skylines II. Two different teams work on these, so we’re able to make progress simultaneously, but for the sake of clarity, let’s take them one by one.

Asset Editor
The Asset Editor has presented us with more challenges than we expected, but we’re making good progress and have been sharing updated builds with the modding beta group, so they can get familiar with the Editor and provide feedback on its functionality. While we have done some initial testing of the importing, saving, and sharing processes, more work is needed before we can release the beta version of the Editor for public use. Two key features need to be finalized before asset support is available: Serialization and Virtual Texturing support for custom assets. Serialization is the process that turns meshes, textures, and asset information into an easily shareable file, similar to the .cok files that are created when saving maps. Virtual Texturing plays a key role in optimization as it reduces GPU memory usage.

Once these are ready, we can finalize the asset side of the Editor and set a timeline for its release. We know you’re itching to have custom assets to help bring your city dreams to life, and we’re equally excited to support the amazing asset creators in our community.

Console
Regarding the console version of Cities: Skylines II, we don't have any news beyond what we shared last time. We continue to work on it and will share an updated release window as soon as we have one.

Hotels & Tourism
We see your frustrations with this issue and want to assure you that it’s the top gameplay issue we are currently investigating. We’re making adjustments to the likelihood of hotels appearing in your commercial areas and going through all the bug reports we have related to tourism. Once we have a fix ready, we’ll share more information, similar to what we did with homelessness.

Detailer’s Patch #2
As promised, we have more detailing features in the works, and the Decorations Menu of patch 1.1.8f1 was only a part of that. Since we’re still working on this content, we won’t reveal the details yet, but we can share that we’re looking at road-related decorations and a line tool for placing props and trees. Our focus with Detailer’s Patch #2 will be on features rather than new assets, so while we expect to have a few new things for you to place, it won’t rival the first installment when it comes to variety.

Bug Fixes & Feedback
Besides the above, we are working on fixing bugs and incorporating your feedback wherever possible. We prioritize bug fixes based on how severely they impact the gameplay experience, so for example crashes are at the top of the list. If you encounter a crash, please share details so we can reproduce the issue and fix it. We also follow discussions in the community to make sure we address the issues that annoy you the most, so we can improve your overall experience. We are grateful for all the bug reports you have shared with us. The information and attached saves help us narrow down the cause and test if our fixes do the trick.

Following the Economy 2.0 patch we received a lot of great feedback on the difficulty of the game. Some of you enjoyed the added challenge while others did not. We understand that using the game options that disable achievements is not the most elegant solution for those of you who enjoy a lot of creative freedom while also wanting to keep some of the challenges in your gameplay experience. We are taking the time in the next months to figure out how we can better provide both fun and challenging experiences for the different types of players we have.

Thank you for all the support, the detailed and constructive feedback, and for being a positive part of our community. While our focus is on the game, we still check in with discussions as often as we can and appreciate everything you share with us. We are committed to making Cities: Skylines II the best game it can possibly be, and we’ll keep working until we get there.

 

[MatskiMonk]

So the packs are waiting for the asset editor, rather than the other way around.

Perhaps, but they don't seem to need the asset editor to work in order to add assets into the game. I'd worry that if asset importing comes before, or at the same time, as the CCPs - they'll likely get poor uptake anyway on top of ill-will already felt by parts of the community already, hence I think they'll delay the release of the asset editor until after the CCPs are released. Hopefully I'm wrong.

I am just impatient for the asset editor to be honest. I've stopped what I was doing with CS1, seems like a waste to put he time into an outgoing game - especially with the effort I was attempting to put into asset creation, and that potentially not being straightforward to get into CS2 - and since I'm struggling with the gameplay side of things this time around I'm not really enjoying CS2 at the moment.

 

[eran0004]

Perhaps, but they don't seem to need the asset editor to work in order to add assets into the game.

It’s more about the optics. It doesn’t look good to start selling dlc before they have delivered on the base game.

I'd worry that if asset importing comes before, or at the same time, as the CCPs - they'll likely get poor uptake anyway on top of ill-will already felt by parts of the community already, hence I think they'll delay the release of the asset editor until after the CCPs are released. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Depends on the quality of the CCPs, I guess. And value vs price. The business model seemed to work pretty well in CS1, so I see no reason why they would now think that competing against player-made assets would be bad.

I am just impatient for the asset editor to be honest. I've stopped what I was doing with CS1, seems like a waste to put he time into an outgoing game - especially with the effort I was attempting to put into asset creation, and that potentially not being straightforward to get into CS2 - and since I'm struggling with the gameplay side of things this time around I'm not really enjoying CS2 at the moment.

I think the strengths of CS2 are also its weaknesses. On one hand, it’s more detailed and powerful but on the other hand that also makes it more complex and time consuming. For the players as well as the developers.

And asset creation will probably require exponentially more effort, with the higher quality of both models and textures. So if I decide to create some assets it will probably be some modernistic stuff with a lot of 90 degree angles and not so much detail. I have a few assets from CS1 that I would like to carry over.

I do enjoy the game, perhaps because my city is growing very slowly. In part because of the island gameplay mechanics and in part because the terrain is kind of challenging, so it’s hard to do any rapid expansions. I’ve got around 6000 in population so far.