Cities: Skylines 2 finally gets a huge, long-awaited patch to shake up the economy. A radical change which is pleasant and which improves many things.
The urban management game Cities: Skylines 2 has just received a major update. Called Economy 2.0, which promises to revolutionize its economic system. This patch 1.1.5f1 aims to make the game economy more complex and transparent. By introducing profound changes in the management of cities. A radical change to the program?
Cities Skylines is getting a lot better
The update removes government subsidies for all cities. This forces players to manage their finances more carefully. The ‘Taxes and Services’ panel is now accessible from the first development tier, while the ‘Production’ panel is unlocked at the second tier. These changes force players to plan more carefully from the early stages of their city’s development.
One of the most controversial aspects of this update is the temporary increase in the death rate in cities. Colossal Order, the developer, explains that this measure is necessary to avoid “death waves” where large numbers of citizens die simultaneously due to their identical ages. By adjusting when citizens die, the game introduces more variety, but this involves a temporary spike in deaths to stabilize the population in the long term.
New policies on Cities Skylines 2
The patch also introduces the ‘Municipal Services Import’ policy, a new feature allowing players to control the import of services like ambulances, funeral directors, fire trucks, garbage trucks and police. The costs of these imported services are proportional to the city’s population, adding an additional layer of economic management.
Education also benefits from changes: the chances of graduating from high school are increased and adults can now return to school to obtain their diploma. However, the accumulation of waste now includes students, employees, prisoners, occupants and the homeless, making waste management more complex.
Workers from external connections are now exempt from taxes. They are not included in population or workforce overviews. Seek new employment more frequently and are less desirable than resident workers. This reform could be seen as a criticism of the modern labor market, where local workers are preferred.
More realistic rents
The rent calculation system has also been overhauled in Cities Skylines 2. Instead of a virtual owner, rent is now calculated by adding the land value to the zone type, multiplied by the building level, then by the size of the lot, and finally by the space multiplier. This change, although complex, aims to make the rent system more realistic and balanced.