Checkout frostpunk if you want something more about keeping the city living

I thought the whole point of the sequel was to be an actual game this time.

Have you tried timberborn?

So, not a lot of detail as this is a shit post account, but I mocked up a vector based system to use rather than grids which allows a city builder to run smoother and lighter on ram instead of basically being a giant spread sheet. Each path was a single vector and a data tree ties all the information to a single point on an infinitely divisible grid. It allowed a game to be more complex, and allowed for better road and other building elements.

I gave it away for free, hoping someone, anyone with more time on their hands would use it. Paradox now owns the rights to that system, they aren't using it, but they are likely making sure noone else does.

What's so bad about dropping grids and right angles, why can't a building be a shape other than square? Because it's cheaper to do and easier to mod.

If I ever have the time I'll whip something up in unreal as a demonstration. The original was unfortunately built in unity. The whole point was to allow buildings to follow curved roads.

I get where you're coming from, but in fairness the model can work. Cities Skylines 1 DLCs did mostly add substantial content to the game which over time built it to what it is today. At launch CS1 was a good game, far better than the premium Sim City 2013. I have over 1000hrs in the game so for me I think it was good value; and a lot of people bought the game over the years on heavy discount with a lot of the DLCs bundled.

The downside with this model is when they release half baked games and withhold core game mechanics to engineer DLC. From what they've released of Skylines 2 that doesn't seem to be the case - it seems to be a fully featured city builder with more at launch than CS1 had. Obviously it will depend what the game is actually like and launch and there are obvious hooks for DLC already.

I compare that to a game like Sim City 2013 - that released as a premium game, with a shitty reduced game scope, basic missing features and an always on-line DRM requirement, 1 crappy expansion and then completely abandoned by EA in a crappy state despite selling 2 million copies.

If I had to pick a model I'd pick Paradox's.

No one buys all the DLC. Half if it was very project specific so wouldn't have been required for everyone.

The "full game" in the case of CS1 being 62 DLCs released over a span of eight years, just to put that price tag into perspective.

CS1 is the main reason why I upgraded my PC the last time 😭 ugh now I'll need to start saving up again

Would be nice if devs today would still offer demos so that people can see if the games even run on their system.

The Steam refund policy pretty much serves this purpose nowadays. Since the refund is auto accepted if you have 2h or less in play time and bought the game less than two weeks ago. After that you still have good odds for a refund but you'll have to actually explain why you want one ("game gets too slow toward late game" would be a reason that would very likely get your refund granted)

Nobody forces you to buy DLC either, there is plenty of content in the free updates. Plus there are always sales if you really want a DLC and from historical precedent Paradox offers decent discounts even on recent DLCs and massive discounts on older ones.

Just wait for a sale, you could have bought the base game and the most important dlcs for below 50

Essentially the engine is more modern, the graphics are nicer, and the simulation seems to be better. It is also hopefully a better base for newer mods.

I love CS1 but the engine is 8 years old and PC gamers in particular have been hitting the engines limits in multiple ways for years. There were also some fundamental design decisions which limited the scope of what could be done with the game going forward - it is definitely time for a sequel.

To be fair though, CS1 is going nowhere and has a massive amount of content available for it (including the massive free community content). It will probably take a couple of years before CS2 surpasses it. Although for Console gamers it'll probably quickly surpass what CS1 was and is able to offer.

• vastly improved road tools
• (seemingly) traffic AI comparable or even better than TM:PE
• seasons (!)
• Actually Useful Unique Buildings
• Vastly improved industry handling
• More Zoning, importantly mixed use and degrees of residential
• Better Custom Industries mechanic (not district based, expanding on the new base will allow for more engaging additions through DLC, Updates or Mods)
• Improved Outside interactions (ability to buy/sell electricity for example)
• Ability to create outside connections without mods
• Finer expansion planning via smaller squares (map size aside I think the squares being smaller is a good thing)
• Overhauled city expansion mechanic, you don't have to spam population to unlock new things and you don't automatically unlock everything. Instead you gain points via xp you get through multiple activity sources (you can level up a city solely by building streets for example). The points can then be spent on more advanced buildings of the basic unlocks (highways have to be "bought" using those points after unlocking roads, trains have to be "bought" after unlocking busses, etc.)