It's Christmas time! Meaning I get to play with my Nintendo Switch!
I'm a big fan of Cities Skylines. In this article, I collect a few tips and tricks I learned over the last few years, after many hours spent playing this amazing game.
Road hierarchy
Although not always necessary, it's nice to have some sort of road hierary. To make cities less boring, I do not strictly follow these guidelines, only sometimes.
Residential + commercial zoning
1 length = 10 tiny blocks.
Superblocks (à la Barcelona)
3x3 districts surrounded by 4 or 6 lanes (two or one way). So 30x30 tiny blocks.
Savannah-inspired - Oglethorpe Grid
In real life
Also known as an Oglethorpe ward.
A ward is made of a central park + 4 commercial blocks (the closest to the park) and 4 residential blocks (bigger than commercial, 2 are north, 2 are south). We ignore the lanes in the middle of the residential blocks.
Around a ward are 2 arterial roads (north and south) and 2 collector roads (west and east).
Around the central park are one-way streets that go anticlockwise.
The street that is north of the park is a one-way street that goes west, the one that is south of the park is also one-way, to the east.
Optionnaly, the two streets on either side of the park can be made one-way (towards the park).
In City Skylines
We place in the middle the regular "park with trees". We surround it by a 2-lane one-way street, going anticlockwise. The neighboring streets may optionnally be turned into one-way streets:
- The one above goes west
- The one underneath goes east
- The two streets on either side of the park go towards the park
The whole ward is surrounded by 6 or 4-lane roads (ideally 6-lane roads north and south, 4-lane roads west and east).
XL version
The central park is slightly bigger than the regular park. It's a 2x2 block. You can add a small park in there, plus a couple of pedestrian paths.
The original lanes in the middle of the residential blocks have been added back, as 2-lane roads (both ways).
Combining Superblocks and Savannah wards
Not recommended. It makes massive blocks. But at least I've tried.
Industrial zoning
