Cities: Skylines 2 - Wishlist

[Dalaar]

So assuming that there is a Cities: Skylines 2 in the works somewhere I thought it would be great to have community suggestions and input into what form that it takes. I've read somewhere that there is talk of introducing countries or something but that doesn't especially interest me. It would be great if Colossal / Paradox setup some sort of user voice forum where people could submit suggestions and vote on them to help shape the new game. If anyone knows of such a thing please let me know - I've not been able to find it.
Barring that I thought I might use the forums here to at least submit some of my thoughts. Now some of this might be included in mods available but this is what I would like to see added to the base (un-modded) game.

Roads/Network/Traffic

• Enable PROPER MERGING LANES like those you might find in real life, with various options for lane markings like you might find.
• Customisable road builder available in game, allow the creation of custom roads in game specifying number of lanes in each direction, with each lane being able to be of a different type sidewalk, car, bike, bus, tram and allow the addition of regular props along the way, trees, lights, signs, post boxes, seating. Allow these to be created as presets that you can save to use in your city.
• Improved Traffic AI that lets cars change lanes anywhere and not just on nodes but also makes better use of multi-lane roads instead of queueing up in one lane the whole way.
• Allow trams to return without needing a roundabout!!! In fact can you bring this into the current game also - this is ridiculous.
• Include some basic features from Traffic Manager mod such adding Give Way/Stop/Through, adding and removing stop lights and setting which lanes can turn or go straight (I know that you can add and remove stop lights and stop signs in game currently but the UI for that is awful).
• Include a net picker so piece of network on the map can be selected and then used to lay down more of that network. (Yes I know there is a mod for this - build it into the game! So handy.)
• Include a basic roundabout builder that can select the type of road to be used and size. Roundabouts are fundamental and building them should be part of the base game. Doesn't need all the bells and whistles of the mod as long as it can still be enhanced in a mod.

Infrastructure

• Allow power networks to be created underground similar to water pipes.
• Remove the power zone created around structures and introduce overhead street power lines instead that can then be replaced with underground power networks as a later unlock. More like real life city planning considerations.
• Add data networks to the game so that internet cabling and 3G, 4G 5G towers can be added potentially onto existing building structures. Make data networks improve happiness of people and efficiency of businesses.

Graphics

• Improve the graphics engine to allow even greater detail - Unreal Engine 5 anyone?
  
  The more the game looks like a real city the better!

Assets

• Allow assets to be stretchable to match (to a certain extent) the curve of the road. This might leave the building unchanged but stretch the garden/outdoor (Fencing/hedges) area to stretch bed around the road, creating less gaps between assets, or allow all or part of a structure to flex a certain amount to the curve. This would create more realistic blocks where there is no no-man's land like there is in the game now.
• Introduce the concept of seasons and allow Assets to have different appearances based on seasons, particularly trees & vegetation. Maybe the option to have snow or not on other assets.
• Allow some assets particularly train stations to be placed without being connected to a road or to connect onto an existing train line instead!!!
  Currently if I want a station to line up to a rail network I need to guess where the rail bit of the station will be and create a road in about the right place to put the station then hope that the rail lines up nicely.
• Ability to have more rounded assets and structures
• Find It mod built in.
• Ploppable RICO built in.

Terraforming

• Improve the UI to smooth terrain, perhaps be able to paint an area and then have it smooth it out to the edges or surrounding roads.
• Allow placement of Trees and vegetation on steep slopes
• Be able to paint an area or brush with a combination of vegetation, select a mix of tree, plant or rock assets adjust the % of each and have the game randomly place these assets in the area in the desired concentrations.
• Paintable pavement and other surfaces that can optionally be bordered by roads or structures (rather than plopping down odd shapes to try and fit). Have these surfaces be able to crop the vegetation underneath. (I hate seeing the grass come through an outdoor pool asset - very annoying.)
• More tools to make more natural looking terrain like water courses and cliffs would be nice - I'm not sure how what exactly here, I just know that I find this a challenge.

Audio

• Allow music to be pulled from playlists in Google Play Music or Spotify. Allow the option to insert the in game adds in between these tracks through.
  I grow tired of the ones in game and I find it somewhat objectionable to buy music packs that have a few more songs that I'm not that keen on either.
• MORE in game radio adverts! These are awesome but there needs to be more!
  Can this be modded or become assets that the community can add into the game also?

Other features:

• Asset and mod profiles - allow the game to be started up with different sets of mods and assets available as presets defined by the player to play the game in different styles. Or make these presets shareable also in the community so that people can start with recommended packs from community members.
• Challenge mode - I really enjoyed the community challenges that Biffa put out for biggest city in 30 mins and worst traffic, it would be great if these challenges could somehow be defined and then posted out to the community to attempt with all the appropriate restrictions in place.
• EDIT: Almost forgot 81 tiles in the base game, & perhaps with option to go larger if resources permit.

Anyhow I think there's a few other things that I've though about while playing the game that I've forgotten to include in here. Mostly I just want more/better of the same game - not too dramatically different from the present game, if significant new features are added that take the game in a whole new direction then they need to be done as options so that the people who have come to love this game for what it is can continue to do so.

Finally I would love to hear what others think of this list of mine and especially if you too would like to see a feature list / suggestions site that can take community votes on each feature like the Microsoft User Voice or other software companies use.
What other features would you like to see that I have not thought of or included here?

 

[Magnuus]

I would love to see multiplayer, but I find it unlikely.

To be able to share your town with friends, and also have your city impacted by something out of my control do I find interesting to adapt to.

Multiplayer should of course be optional, but a system like district zoning is something i could imagine. The Mayor gives his friends privileges to build within a given district like a district Mayor, or even more than one district Mayor.

Edit:
Multiplayer was the only reason for why I played SimCity for so long. The game itself was not good enough, but I loved how I could look at my friends' towns and them at mine. DRM and Always online has often been used as an argument against multiplayer, but it should not. Multiplayer is only an excuse for this, not necessarily for multiplayer to work.

Multiplayer could also push sales because sociale games make people ask friends to also buy the game.

 

[Rex Masters]

Me and my Friend have wanted same map, shared resources multiplayer for this and Surviving Mars since they both came out

Being able to build simultaneously would be phenomenal and especially if we are actually pushing 25 tiles per city, multiple cities in a region

Even if you could both unlock stages separately too, so you might be building monuments while your friend has only just got cemeteries

 

[UsmanSyed]

Maybe multiplayer could be added later on in the game or as people have suggested here, work in the same way as it worked in Minecraft.

 

[SysVRx]

*moved from other thread

This is what I would want from Cities II

SCALING

One thing that constantly bothers me with C:S is the incoherent scaling. People (Cims) and vehicles (apart from ships and aircraft) seem to be scaled accordingly. Buildings, on the other hand, are not realistically scaled. A large (4x4) family house has the same footprint as factories and skyscrapers. I want to see a coherent scaling across the board. Also, for a title with the word Skyline, I was hugely disappointed with the way skyscrapers and highrises were implemented. I want to see proper skylines next time.

MAP

Even with 81 tiles, C:S is just not large enough anymore. With a whole new engine (hopefully) we should expect much larger maps than currently. I would like to see at least an 800Km2 map (30x30km).

REGIONS

This could both augment the larger city maps and provide us with a far more interesting economy simulation, where you can trade resources (and manpower) between cities. Examples to follow: Caesar III, Workers & Resources, and Builders of Egypt, etc.

HIGHER LIMITS

Even now the imposed limits on roads, buildings, cims, vehicles, trees, nodes are laughably low and restrict players from building on even 25 titles (modded). I know these limits should correspond to the 9 titles, but why give us the option of 81 tiles then? Gaming systems are far more capable now than in 2014/15 and should be able to handle at least 4 times the current limits. IMO it would be best to simply remove most of them and allow people to tailor the game limits accordingly to their hardware. * Detect hardware and adjust settings?

TRAFFIC SIMULATION

• If the AI from Traffic Manager could be the default setting I would be very happy. Especially if we were provided with the same tools to tailor our road/rail networks.
• Parking - While this is somewhat represented in the game it is flawed and essentially pointless since pocket-cars are a thing. Remove the pocket car and "force" the player to consider parking spaces when they design new districts. This, in turn, makes the concept of carless city centres a viable alternative and would allow us to recreate a Vince-styled city.

MORE AGENTS

This ties in with 4 and 5. I’ve seen mods that increase the number of parked and moving vehicles, but again. I want to see this number raised significantly. Computing power has increased significantly since 2015 and anything less than a major increase would be a disappointment.

MODULAR BUILDINGS

This, in particular, should be focused on airports, harbours and train stations. CO could easily craft some prefabs for the newbies and "lazies" while tender to the very creative players (and in effect provide room for newcomers to expand into). In addition, this would a fantastic thing for the modding and asset creating community. In addition, the already inbuilt editor mechanics could allow us to make custom assets for rapid plopping. There is literally a ton of opportunity for creativity here, and credit to CO for taking some of the first steps in the right direction. It just needs more polish and content. This mechanic could/should also include education, firefighting, policing, healthcare, marina, etc.

ROAD, RAIL, & NETWORKS

• Finer engineering accuracy with 1m increments (or better) - modding has covered this, but it should be part of the base game. The game should also be far more lenient with the placement of objects as long as they don't visually collide with each other. This, in turn, should make it possible for us to create rail over road or double-decker highways.
• More control over what type of junctions we create. Toggle traffic lights was a step in the right direction but I also want to control if there are any pedestrian crossings and if the junction is a cross or T junction.
• Parallel road tools included in the base game.
• Slip-lanes and merge lanes should be a thing.
• Proper roundabouts.
• Automatic road toll. Norway's AutoPASS system should be a logical upgrade to the archaic toll booths. This should tie in nicely with an Era progression system)
• Revamped bridge construction. Give the player far more control over the types of bridges they want to build. Golden Gate, Øresund, Sydney Harbour, Brooklyn. These are just examples of what I want to see. Most importantly they should be scaled correctly as they are truly MASSIVE structures. Combined rail and road bridges and drawbridge would be awesome additions here... Boformer has already demonstrated the latter was possible with the current game, although I don't know if it was feasible to implement?
• Canals. While these already are in-game, their implementation leaves much to be desired. First, I don't get why canals and quays cant be connected seamlessly. Second I really wish we could control the width and depth of canals and perhaps also give us a bit more control over the aesthetics e.i. concrete, brick, marble, steel, etc. It's way too generic.
• Quays. Again already in-game, but too restrictive. I want to be able to change the depth and type of quays. Perhaps even have quay construction as part of the Port mechanics where you can select if ships can dock there (Berthing) and what type of ships. I would also like to be able to make perfectly sharp corners as this is how most quays actually are when you look at maps and photos.

MISC

• NO multiplayer. I don't care for it, I don't see the benefits of it, and most importantly, do not want CO to waste their resources on it. If it has to be included, then do so without DRM and always-online. Let me opt out of it entirely. (This I do have faith in CO not doing after EA's epic failure)
• Fewer DLC's. I do not mind DLC's as long as they provide actual content and value. Mass-transit was a joke with most of the content already modded - and even worse, it was totally inferior to the modded alternatives. Realistically I know the DLC spam will be carried over to new games, but I just feel obligated to state my contempt for that policy and its poor implementation.
• More crafted scenarios. I still remember the scenarios from SimCity 2000 with prebuilt cities - labour intensive but something that could eventually be added.
• Different eras. Start in 1950, 1990, 2010 - you get the picture. Build with art deco or some futuristic stuff. Again, this would be awesome for asset creators.
• PC only, at least for the release since constraining C:S II to what will always be inferior consoles is just not a good idea for longevity. I know this will fall before deaf ears because of the sweet, sweet dosh, but it has to be said.
• More accurate water simulation. This should allow us to make more realistic shorelines and rivers.
• Higher/deeper terrain limits. Just double or triple the current limits so we can have proper Mountains.
• More types of zoning densities and mixed-use zoning. There should be a more gradual increase in building size and height than currently implemented. Having more type of zone densities could be an expedient way of doing it. Another would be to give the players actual district control over how large and tall buildings may grow in certain areas. The current system doesn't cut it.
• Marina. I remember these from Simcity 2000 and I wonder why practically no other game since then (Maybe SC4 did it too, can't recall) have done this. I am especially disappointed with Sunset Harbour as this was the PERFECT chance to implement this to make shorelines far more interesting. Instead, we got a half-baked fishing industry, but I guess some talented modders could turn this into actual marinas?

How about 100 tiles for the basics and then generate the terrain by analyzing a few surrounding tiles?

The game system would be fine at the highest settings, even per current top-end machines.

For reference, the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator, which has been revived in the cloud game, has "ideal specs
Intel i7 9800X, Nvidia RTX 2080, 8GB VRAM, 32GB RAM, 150GB SSD, 50Mbps Network
This is the case.
(Unimportant information, but the scenery data is 2 Peta Byte.)

It would be nice to be able to optionally set an upper limit on the number of objects involved in the simulation speed.

It would be nice if we could specify which CPU/OpenCL/CUDNN (NVIDIA CUDA Deep Neural Network library) would be used for some of the simulations, such as citizen behavior.

Trancelate by DeepL

 

[tks_sanyal]

My 2 cents for suggestions for the next DLC or for the next version of the game:-

Disasters:-

1) Since there are nuclear power plants there could be a nuclear meltdown/explosion of the plant if the plant is not designed/built/maintained properly. Radiation froma an accident in any neighbouring cities can also cause disaster

2) A biological disaster (eg. Covid-19 pandemic or anthrax etc.) in the city or coming from surrounding cities

3) Financial recession disaster i.e., when the economy drops sharply

4) A chemical disaster caused by accidental explosion of chemical weapons


Miscellaneous:-

Buildings & policies to handle the above disasters and to have more control over the city economy

A policy to increase production of certain or all components in case of war in any neighbouring country etc.

 

[SysVRx]

My 2 cents for suggestions for the next DLC or for the next version of the game:-

Disasters:-

1) Since there are nuclear power plants there could be a nuclear meltdown/explosion of the plant if the plant is not designed/built/maintained properly. Radiation froma an accident in any neighbouring cities can also cause disaster

2) A biological disaster (eg. Covid-19 pandemic or anthrax etc.) in the city or coming from surrounding cities

3) Financial recession disaster i.e., when the economy drops sharply

4) A chemical disaster caused by accidental explosion of chemical weapons


Miscellaneous:-

Buildings & policies to handle the above disasters and to have more control over the city economy

A policy to increase production of certain or all components in case of war in any neighbouring country etc.

Agreed.
The specific possible disasters that are not implemented at this time are

volcanic eruption
Nuclear power plant meltdowns
Factory explosion
pandemic
landslide
flood of rivers
flood
Collapsing roads and structures, falling trees (dilapidated)

Just to give effect to all of these disasters.
The game's difficulty level is very high.
It would be nice if we could specify the disasters that occur as an option.

 

[safe-keeper]

Oh look, this thread again.

Other than a more natural zoning system than zones, and thus new buildings, just hugging the streets...

I would like the ability to have partially sunken roads. Right now it's either surface roads, or tunnels. Would be neat to have 'road trenches' and be able to gradually increase the depth of a road, the same way I can gradually increase elevation.

Also a better road-laying system. Let me place 'ghost roads' that don't cost money until I'm happy with the result, and then hit a button to confirm, and pay for, the new roads. Also, instead of laying road types, let me lay roads for then to freely add and modify lanes, driving direction, speed limits, etc. of existing roads.

 

[SysVRx]

Just like the software editions, it would be useful to have a comparison table of features and elements.
Normal Mode, Expert Mode, Ultimate Mode, etc.

 

[michaelquatrale]

well my suggestions for city skylines I to have a future that allows to download and use as Amy assets and mods with out an issues like the game crashing or game related errors or steam related errors and any other problems or errors and get rid out of bounce Lines have unlimited tiles you can buy and take all buildings policies and other content form all dlcs addons expansions packs included them in base game and with out having to make a bundle collection that includes the base game and each dlc addon expansion pack separably indidvualy as part of the set

 

[Dushess]

Also sure still not asked:

• Road events (leading by lane controls like TMPE). Like a car crash and blocked line, you can't drive trough broken car and police inspectors. If it will be not too complicated. Not sure how often, but at least option to have automatic lane avoidance for a segment.
• Pipeline system (gonna displace here). For liquid goods and fueling (by gas): We might have just external pipe that powering our former coal plants, industry complexes and so on. We may have crossfeed at those complexes if by example something processed raw oil and distributes subproducts to nearby factories for next production stage. Will also reduce excessive oil tankers traffic, nobody just gonna waste petroleum on trucks to deliver same petroleum if a nicer option is available...
• Trolleybuses/Trams powerlines attachment points rework. That ugly one edge per junction is meh, better make dynamically changing curve from 2+ segments. Those segments will be connected to hanging cables which linked to nearby poles and streetlights, you know how it can be done. Literally a spider's web, but much less complicated.
• Also important: gradiented sea level. One side must have an option to be at least half meter lower, then easy rivers handling is real.
• Adequate sized buildings overall, no more 3 floors living houses that is 8x7 meters wide, this class must be at least 12x14. + no more same tile space for a house and a factory. Have you seen your factory type as 8x8 m but tall tower somewhere (which named as something large by our meanings)?
• And please.... no hardlocks with simulation's usable space this time, yeah. Just for great builders' dreams, vanilla method of purchashing new tiles (and vanilla's center 65% of map) will be used and unchanged of course, but modders will do it on their own side.

 

[housemarqs]

Highway interchanges: I love how we got mass transit with additional highway lanes but no vanilla highway interchanges. As a PS4 player it is extremely difficult to build nice looking interchanges. It would be nice to see options like turbine, trumpet, and stack interchanges as default options.

 

[Fox_NS_CAN]

A decent 120° Y junction would be nice too.

 

[Keltia_Vikinga]

Oh if CS 2 Id like cadastre infoview & tool - not sure of the english word "registry land" - picture below
and would be nice is from there, we could set colors for each building from painting district to the only one building
I guess it would work a bit different for assets maker

District could be as it is currently on CS, nice system and within all possible stuff we already know, but I hope one better painting solution for the opportunity to zone from big to the smallest size

About colors, we would accept or ban some colors per district - like in real life

would be some gameplay and design matters x)

Zoning RCI is fine on CS , but thats a pity we cant get housing or more far from road

 

[Dushess]

Yeah, also tiny difference for region marking tool: use beacons to mark where is district's edge, grants more precise mapping. Disadvantage is also minor, not paint district but strictly outline it. After: just add/remove a point and move edge as you need.

 

[Keltia_Vikinga]

One more thing I'd like in CS 2 if theres one.... Often, when I play Transport Fever 2, I think that would be great many features from there to be in CS..
- Management part - of course not so focused on transport like here then i dont mean the dying vezhicles but Economy panels are awesome =)
- Stations module adding tracks amongst other tracks, expanding building and stuff same for ship and etc

- Seasons and opportunity to make seasonal events for cims and RCI overall (clearence sale in the streets, special sales days, demonstrations, road diversion because workers working on pipe under or whatever - some events could be in base game and some others in a DLC - may be fun gameplay with traffic happiness, etc x)

- bigger zoom optional

 

[Grease91]

My biggest wish for Cities 2 would be a Node and Sub Node road system, I'll explain,

every road type would have the main connection node that we are all use to, plus a sub node for each lane, so instead of the fairly ugly mess you get when trying to create systems where each lane goes some where else it's can be based from the sub node of that particular lane, maybe implement a similar option to adding lanes to a road in the same way games like transport fever 2 does, where things can snap into place next to adjacent lanes,

Combine that with a USER FRIENDLY road editor, with the options for the usual stuff, number of lanes, direction, types of lane, bus/bike/etc, options grassy center medians, and stack able roads,

also a more flexible grid, I like to build cities that are functioning of geometric art pieces. (for lack of a better description) and having means of placing stuff precisely is important to me, but sometimes the current way the grid works is frustrating, maybe have the option of using the local grid (based off the near by roads) or a global grid.

Heres a very poor visual for my Node/Sub-Node idea,
the red Node on the right is how the current system works when connecting 2 different roads, where as the orange sub nodes on the left could be used in a more variety of ways.

 

[Dushess]

My biggest wish for Cities 2 would be a Node and Sub Node road system

Great idea, normal lane handling for intersections and some special cases is neat. Also possible to have asynchronic roads.
We need this. Also my explaination:

 

[Dushess]

Option of non-square grid for zoning
Like special tool that can select zoned area as currently by mouse, but will use clickable points at corner of every square and on half of it's edges. Click needed points, confirm it and area will be claimed to build selected building type. Not less than half of the square (8x4 m) Buildings must fit best way in relation to road nearby OR to itself positions.

Not only node-bounded lane changing mechanism
Just use also segment center to start switching, it will allow more tight turning at not so long areas if it's possible by traffic rules and common sense. Also will help in smooth changing. We need that because it is very rought and silly.

Working chassic parts for transport
Simpliest ways are enough, just make single bridges (rear and front for buses + trucks) and double levers to frontal bridges (vans). Gonna be just 20-45 polygons more per vehicle (also for modded ones, don't forget please), but gonna be aestetically good and not weird. Only for specific vehicles of course (ability to attach wheels not on invisible rebars but on this. Connectable submeshes), and it is very visible if so. Ain't FPS mode is beautiful thing for normal cities?
Just look on pic below, created new bus model and this frontal bridge is obviously static, there in CS2 still gonna be those situations in tight turns at enought speed and on slopes, so it need to be reworked to not have silly look on new appearance (but NEED to remove that literally falling aside from tiny turns on even very low mass center vehicles, I've seen it even with railroad cars during braking!). p.s. model is on test, textures not needed, so there is just rought _d one...

 

[safe-keeper]

Oh, and a way to organise mods, perhaps into folders or by map. HoI4's launcher finally allowed us to group mods so that players can easily, for example, switch from playing BlackICE and its compatible mods to playing Kaiseirreich with its compatible mods just by going from one preset to another. We need this for Cities Skylines, too.

 

[Xboxgamer22]

I Think you should make a dlc for the cities skylines 2 where you can be able to have diplomatic relations and you should be able to build different cities In different regions and make it part of your own country and be able to do trading with other countries be able to place tariffs maybe even have a war go against other online players