Cities Skylines simulation didn’t have an economy to run on, correct. But CS2 allegedly does run on its economy, that’s the entire point, whether or not it does so. Thats is CS2’s big differentiator between itself and CS1. It’s their highlight feature and centerpiece of their marketing prior to release.

Either CS2’s simulation is powered by its economy, or it isn’t. If it is, then it will work fine once they will fix whatever is allegedly broken. If it isn’t, then the development team lied and the odds that they will at some point in time refactor the entire simulation to fundamentally change how it works are slim to none, and we know that because over CS1’s entire lifespan they never bothered to do this for even simple mechanics like snowfall, much less the entire economy simulation.

What you believe is technologically possible is irrelevant, when we have almost a decade of Colossal Order history to inform us on what will happen lol. I think you’re vastly overestimating the value of what you consider your game dev experience when talking about this company.