Summary
Cities: Skylinesis one of the more popular city builders for fans of management and design, and for good reason. Hosting features as broad as road building and zoning, to mechanics as narrow as pathways, custom parks, and even having control overthe architecture theme of their cities, it’s no surpriseCities: Skylinesgets the player base that it does.
For players just starting, however, the amount of control and impact they have over their city can be more than a little overwhelming. This is especially true if they wish to build a city outside of Sandbox mode, as costs can add up remarkably fast and make it impossible to move on if they don’t turn a profit quickly. Because of this, knowing a few tricks to make their city efficient as early as possible can go a long way to making sure new players can get on their feet.
Updated June 01, 2025 by Rhenn Taguiam:With 2024’s Urban Promenade and Modern Architecture Creator Packs bringing the best creations (so far!) of Cities: Skylines 2’s playerbase to the game experience, fans of the title can finally add a bit more personal jazz to their dream cities. However, fans who want to experience the series in its infancy might want to try out Cities: Skylines.
Thankfully, newcomers to the title can follow some tips and tricks to ensure their overall experience doesn’t become too difficult for them - such as using dirt roads, building a small enough city to support infrastructure, and only pausing the game when building a profit.
Take Advantage Of Simple Roads To Alleviate Traffic
Process
If a road is not important to the city, go for a dirt road instead
Effect
They are great secondary roads as they have less upkeep and can move traffic faster
Players who want to create their dream city might be tempted to just go straight ahead and create concrete roads for their growing cities. This seems like the practical choice, right? Why settle for anything less in a city that will become much larger in the long term? However, players might want to think twice before opting for a concrete road immediately, as dirt roads do have their slate of advantages when used.
At its core, dirt roads cost much less and even have much lower upkeep. They don’t create traffic lights, making them efficient for traffic. Moreover, roads automatically become eligible for upgrades once they populate their immediate area with Service Buildings, giving players the freedom of choice while still giving ample moving areas for their citizens.
Don’t Spend On Something That Isn’t Needed
Place the minimum amount of Service Buildings needed in any given area
This avoids unnecessary expenditure, as the game will notify players about any lack of Services anyway
Players only want the best for their citizens inCities: Skylines, so it’s only natural for them to want citizens to just get to their Residential Zones and relax as everything’s covered. The instinct here is for players to positionmultiple Service Buildingsacross areas to ensure “maximum” coverage, but sometimes “maximum” coverage also implies maximum spending - something that can bankrupt the city quickly.
Players should instead consider putting off placing many Service Buildings across their city. Instead, players should place the bare minimum amount of Service Buildings they need at any given location. They shouldn’t be afraid of any negative effects, as the game will notify them if the Service isn’t reaching certain locations anyway - and it’s only when they receive this prompt that they should start expanding their Services. This will avoid unnecessary costs and maximize Service utilization.
Roads Are Fun Except When They Start Costing The City
Only build roads when there are Zones and Service Buildings to place there
Fewer roads mean less maintenance and traffic risks
Players who want their city to evolve into sprawling utopias as seen in a lot of pop culture media might be tempted to build roads “in advance” throughout theirCities: Skylinesgameplay. If they’re going to be populated with Service Buildings and Zones, might as well prepare them for occupation, right?
However, this can do more harm than good. Players need to remember that roads also cost upkeep to maintain - which means unnecessary roads without any Services and Zones to keep them purposeful might cost the city. If players want tocreate road networks in advance, consider using dirt roads in the meantime to lessen maintenance costs and traffic risks.
Avoid Suddenly Emptying City Coffers
After placing basic Services, don’t pause until the city starts turning a profit
This avoids unnecessary expenditure without the city running to help recoup the losses
Given howCities: Skylinesoffers players the means of pausing their game at any time, it’s tempting to just pause the session while building the rest of the city. However, this can become rather disadvantageous to the city as a whole - especially if players don’t have a lot of ideas about where they’re going with their construction. If players build while the game is paused, it’s easy to spend the entirety of the city’s budget on non-essentials without having the right kind of infrastructure, tax collection, and other credit-building practices to generate profit. This can result not just in loss of income but unnecessary loans.
Instead, players should keep the city running after placing their first Service Buildings and Zones. This way, players can see the city trying to recoup their losses after their initial construction. The sight can also motivate players to pay closer attention to how their city’s budgeting works so they can avoid overspending.
Play according to a theme or a premise
Players can learn from mistakes as they happen and adjust to them, like in real-life
Whereascity simulations likeCities: Skylinesgave players a means to “create” their perfect vision of a city, the real world didn’t have this kind of luxury. Historically, the first cities were born from the consideration that nomadic peoples of the time could settle in a location due to agriculture. It’s only through the evolution of society that other kinds of cities were built, such as those near trade routes or other resources. Such an approach could be perfect for a city-builder’s firstCities: Skylinessettlement.
Beginning with a theme allows players to “recreate” what it was like for small towns to develop into sprawling cities. Perhaps a town near a lake or the ocean can rise to become a coastal city, with players slowly investing in cargo by sea as a major source of income. In this playthrough, players should treat “setbacks” such as lack of resources or major incidents as part of their city’s history, allowing them to understand where exactly they went wrong instead of just starting with the “best” tips without knowing their context.
Roundabouts Become Disastrous When Mismanaged
When building roundabouts, consider using larger roads instead of smaller ones
The larger the roundabout, the less cars have to slow down
It’s always interesting to see a roundabout in a city - seeing all those cars just line up, going in a circle, and going their separate ways depending on what other roads are connected. In turn, one can’t blame a player for wanting an excellent roundabout in their city as well - except roundabouts can become a disaster for players who don’t know how to manage them properly.
For starters, smaller roundabouts force cars to go slower more frequently, making more of them line up in the roundabout instead of moving their separate ways. The smaller the roundabout, the more severe the decrease in traffic flow, increasing the potential of causing traffic jams.
Give Ample Space For Services To Travel
ensure roads around Service Buildings have ample space for vehicles to travel
Services with vehicles can travel around the city, but only if they have a road to travel on
A common misconception when developing a city inCities: Skylinesis that thecoverage area of Service Buildingsdenotes the only area where their vehicles can travel. This isn’t necessarily the case - instead, Services with vehicles can travel the entire scope of the city. It’s just that a coverage area exists for the purposes of leveling up buildings, which helps increase their tax income.
With this logic in mind, players should make sure that Service Buildings with vehicles always have ample roads to travel on so they can reach other areas of the city more efficiently. Service vehicles can’t go to locations with one-way roads, no connecting roads, or with damaged roads.
Consider investing in Trains, the Metro, and Buses
Despite their cost, the speed of these Public Transportation methods makes them optimal for growing cities
Thedevelopment of public transitallowed residents of large cities to reach destinations that would take them too long using conventional means, decreasing the need to use private vehicles. InCities: Skylinesgameplay, using Public Transportation allows players to reduce the time citizens spend on the road. However, their high costs mean players have to decide carefully to make worthwhile investments. Here are three major considerations:
Add Commercial Zones near Residential Zones to encourage walking
This skips the need to drive to locations as needs are already accessible
The existence of different Zones inCities: Skylinescan motivate players to group clusters together so everyone is neatly placed according to categories. However, while this can work in a factory sim, having to manage a population means it’s detrimental for the city-builder to have Residential Zones so far away from a regularly visited location such as Commercial Zones.
Players can simply add Commerical Zones between Residential Zone clusters or even cornerstones within neighborhoods to avoid this predicament. This way, people are encouraged to walk towards these shops instead of taking the car or public transportation. Visually, seeing vibrant commercial buildings coexisting with simpler homes can add a flair of “disorganized realism” to a city.
Space things out when expanding Zones
This gives room for extra transportation methods, walkable roads, and white space with greeneries
Even some of the world’s best cities don’t follow an extremely ordered layout for all of their districts, which adds a layer of developmental realism to their appearances. When applied toCities: Skylinesgameplay on a technical level, this is often associated with spreading out Zone development across vast regions even if it means having “white space” with forests and greeneries between locations.
However, just because areasin the city-building gamearen’t “full” doesn’t mean they’re underdeveloped. For instance, having large “blank” areas in between Zones could be dedicated to bypass zones, railways, and even parks for extra green space. In updates likeParklife, areas for parks and similar recreational locations can add benefits to the overall temperament of citizens.
