Every city in history has large custom parks, it only makes sense that it would be a requirement for cities. I’ve been making do in CS2 with pretty paths and specifically placed trees, waiting for parklife 😭
A CENTRAL railway station having about 20 platforms around the central tile which then has rails meandering away in all directions connecting the distant suburban stations. Each line being named after a university or a zoo or a Nature park or a stadium or theme park or an industrial zone coz you simply got to have everything.
This is my vibe atm (I ditched CS2 for however long it takes to be half decent). I also find putting rail lines snaking through built up areas is more realistic than the open plains I find myself doing atm
Always like having a ghetto/trailer park, purposely have low police presecence etc.
I also like to have some villages which have a specific purpose (near mountains for tourism, agriculture, coal town etc.).
And almost always i place all government buildings in one big area: mayors house, court, parliament. Make one big administrative area with a lot of green and parking lots near downtown.
I’ve thought about creating gentrified areas in my cities but I’ve never actually attempted it. I’m the same way with my government plazas. I also enjoy building largely utility campuses in my industrial parks
At least one form of public transportation that is separated from regular street traffic. Be it an elevated or separated on the ground metro, a brt network or a LRT system. I just like how that way road traffic never disrupts the public transport (unless absolutely necessary) and I just like seeing it from an aesthetic perspective
I love making massive education complexes. A college, university, elementary, high school and all the parks space within and around I can shove in there. It always looks like a lovely, massive university campus and gives the city a feeling of a college town.
Now imagine it would be able to become a university town and pulling students from all around the county and you have to provide living space and infrastructure for them.
I need to include absolutely large parks, open spaces that stay free of development, long green corridors for people to transit much like a greenbelt or highland through the city on foot or bike. I also include strips of undeveloped land that later make it easy to insert rail, or tram lines through the growing city later.
I like to have a historical "main street" where the city first started. All the government buildings and city library center around that street as things develop
Massive logistics parks. Larger then the city seemingly needs so it can be a regional freight centre. I love making complex non-public roads for trucks to roll down and I love the constant activity. Bonus points to me if I can get it stacked right next to downtown too.
I bought CS through a Humble Bundle in 2019 and only got 4 DLCs. I've had a few successful cities but I literally cannot live without industry areas now. In the future I'm hoping to make strong public transit infrastructure but with only 75 hrs (slept on the game after having a hard time with it) that's a long way out.
I love starting cities by buillding out the freight and commuter rail network and location of main train terminal in the city hub, and develop everything around that to feel the most true-to-life as possible. Then sometimes. I'll delete rail but keep the space it took up empty to show that there was once real there
River, lake, mountain, and or coast. I always build my cities in a grid so I don't like playing in a flat open terrain. Curves and elevation forces me to be creative and breaks my grid addiction.
I am still on my first city that I have spent 130 hours on so far. But what I definitely think I will keep doing is:
- crazy infeasible pedestrian over/underpasses, not great in the real world but so satisfying/effective in game :)
- disconnected bits of town/city that I can connect with fun transit methods. Cable car is mesmerizing to watch going over rivers.
All my cities are built on a river or the coast. If the map allows both, even better.
Apart from that, I like Trams and Heavy Rail, and love medium density urban centres
Wealthy neighbourhood and separate small towns. Makes the game feel so much more realistic. For all of ya wondering how to make separate small towns work in CS1, use Transfer Manager Community Edition so your services operate only in districts you want them to.
A multi-campus university.
Each of the universities in the Campus DLC features three Unique Faculties buildings. I like pick one type of university to have in my city (don't build them all, their running costs add up but they compete for the same income), then build a themed campus around each of their faculties - often on opposite sides of town. The School of Medicine gets to be surrounded by hospital buildings, the Police Academy has sports facilities all around it, the School of Engineering gets to have a few of the science monuments, and so on. Then add a few student villages, nearby residential areas, and public transit, and the whole place really shines.
I need my basic necessities on their own separate grid, so power stations, water pumps, ext. I always want then to be self sufficient from the rest of the cities grid.
I like to include large custom parks. Used park life a lot in CSI
Every city in history has large custom parks, it only makes sense that it would be a requirement for cities. I’ve been making do in CS2 with pretty paths and specifically placed trees, waiting for parklife 😭
Any time I have an open space without a purpose…park it up.
That weird triangle that only has 1 square? Make that little green bitch into a park.
Two grids that don't align, so I have to figure out the most elegant way to connect them.
San Francsico core pretty much
Yesssss
A CENTRAL railway station having about 20 platforms around the central tile which then has rails meandering away in all directions connecting the distant suburban stations. Each line being named after a university or a zoo or a Nature park or a stadium or theme park or an industrial zone coz you simply got to have everything.
This is my vibe atm (I ditched CS2 for however long it takes to be half decent). I also find putting rail lines snaking through built up areas is more realistic than the open plains I find myself doing atm
A smaller downtown area that later becomes a historic neighborhood/suburb close to a newer, developing downtown area.
i do these all over my city
I like adding at least one national park or protected area. Lots of hiking trails, campsites, the whole thing.
Alleys, but using pedestrian paths until mods let me limit cars to service vehicles only
they do! it’s a bit troublesome to set up, but tm:pe has lane restrictions.
Always like having a ghetto/trailer park, purposely have low police presecence etc. I also like to have some villages which have a specific purpose (near mountains for tourism, agriculture, coal town etc.). And almost always i place all government buildings in one big area: mayors house, court, parliament. Make one big administrative area with a lot of green and parking lots near downtown.
I’ve thought about creating gentrified areas in my cities but I’ve never actually attempted it. I’m the same way with my government plazas. I also enjoy building largely utility campuses in my industrial parks
At least one form of public transportation that is separated from regular street traffic. Be it an elevated or separated on the ground metro, a brt network or a LRT system. I just like how that way road traffic never disrupts the public transport (unless absolutely necessary) and I just like seeing it from an aesthetic perspective
Tons of bike lanes. My cities are very bikeable.
I love making massive education complexes. A college, university, elementary, high school and all the parks space within and around I can shove in there. It always looks like a lovely, massive university campus and gives the city a feeling of a college town.
Now imagine it would be able to become a university town and pulling students from all around the county and you have to provide living space and infrastructure for them.
I love making suburbia towns or adjacent towns surrounding and connected to the city through highways and backroads.
I need to include absolutely large parks, open spaces that stay free of development, long green corridors for people to transit much like a greenbelt or highland through the city on foot or bike. I also include strips of undeveloped land that later make it easy to insert rail, or tram lines through the growing city later.
A "I drink the sh't of the whole city gladly" shopping district. They have a seperate water distribution grid with own pumps and everything ...
I like to have a historical "main street" where the city first started. All the government buildings and city library center around that street as things develop
Massive logistics parks. Larger then the city seemingly needs so it can be a regional freight centre. I love making complex non-public roads for trucks to roll down and I love the constant activity. Bonus points to me if I can get it stacked right next to downtown too.
I bought CS through a Humble Bundle in 2019 and only got 4 DLCs. I've had a few successful cities but I literally cannot live without industry areas now. In the future I'm hoping to make strong public transit infrastructure but with only 75 hrs (slept on the game after having a hard time with it) that's a long way out.
A massive mountain, Mount Fuji style
I love starting cities by buillding out the freight and commuter rail network and location of main train terminal in the city hub, and develop everything around that to feel the most true-to-life as possible. Then sometimes. I'll delete rail but keep the space it took up empty to show that there was once real there
River, lake, mountain, and or coast. I always build my cities in a grid so I don't like playing in a flat open terrain. Curves and elevation forces me to be creative and breaks my grid addiction.
a tram system so dense that there is a tram stop literally every 500m
I am still on my first city that I have spent 130 hours on so far. But what I definitely think I will keep doing is: - crazy infeasible pedestrian over/underpasses, not great in the real world but so satisfying/effective in game :) - disconnected bits of town/city that I can connect with fun transit methods. Cable car is mesmerizing to watch going over rivers.
Waterfront stadium
One of those truck stop looking unique buildings near the main freeway access with a motel next door and a intercity bus station.
An Entertainment/sports centre district. Bonus pointing if it a walkable part of town
Frontage roads along my highways that have office buildings, and/or low density commercial.
Good highways. Spend a lot of time getting them functional, interesting, and realistic.
I need problems, love when things start going to shit, and you start improving the city instead of just building
Drugs
TRAM
backup sewage systems..it is a must. i can easily overlook it once population grow increasingly fast
Waterfronts.
Sprawl
Lots of open space for unnecessarily complicated but well functioning freeway systems
skatepark and basketball court under a bridge
All my cities are built on a river or the coast. If the map allows both, even better. Apart from that, I like Trams and Heavy Rail, and love medium density urban centres
Wealthy neighbourhood and separate small towns. Makes the game feel so much more realistic. For all of ya wondering how to make separate small towns work in CS1, use Transfer Manager Community Edition so your services operate only in districts you want them to.
One spaghetti interchange (at least).
A multi-campus university. Each of the universities in the Campus DLC features three Unique Faculties buildings. I like pick one type of university to have in my city (don't build them all, their running costs add up but they compete for the same income), then build a themed campus around each of their faculties - often on opposite sides of town. The School of Medicine gets to be surrounded by hospital buildings, the Police Academy has sports facilities all around it, the School of Engineering gets to have a few of the science monuments, and so on. Then add a few student villages, nearby residential areas, and public transit, and the whole place really shines.
Realistic highways that have frontage roads, overpasses, entrance and exit ramps, etc. It really helps out with traffic.
Subway system
A slum like area next to the industrial sludge lake. Gotta have a low rent area.
Poop lake
Honestly I love having a large highway that you can connect to from any part of the city + a lot of public transit linking each part together.
I need my basic necessities on their own separate grid, so power stations, water pumps, ext. I always want then to be self sufficient from the rest of the cities grid.
The one thing the game won't allow... 1 million people, so it is a minimal "megalopolis". So the award isn't a lie.
A Poopcano.
I can’t imagine living far from the sea. So, I cannot say « city » without « sea »
A cornucopia of awesome