Cities: Skylines - Tips and FAQ

This guide is an ongoing project that lists some answers to questions you may have about Cities: Skylines

Zoning

Zoning is deciding what type of buildings to put along your roads. In early game you can choose residential, commercial, and industrial. Residential needs connections to commercial and industrial so its occupants can shop and work. Industrial needs connections to commercial zones to distribute products, and connections to the highway. Commercial needs access to the highway to buy and sell goods, and access to residential to get shoppers.

Zoning tips

Zoning FAQ

• What is the best ratio for residential to commercial to industrial when I start my game?
  • 5 blocks residential, 2 blocks industrial, 1 block commercial. This ratio only applies early-game.
• How far to make industrial zoning from other zoning?
  • I make industrial district close enough for the pollution to barely touch my commercial zone. For residential areas, you need 2 city blocks to be safe, and maybe some trees in between.

Roads

• Should I use a grid layout in my city?
  • No. Grid layouts leave tons of traffic on a few streets.
• What general road layout type should I make?
  • (type 1) A giant circle for each type of district, with tiny dead-end roads that go into the circle but do not connect to the other side or roads.
  • (type 2) A large bubble shape, with smaller bubbles added to it, creating all three-way intersections

Initial Layout

• What should my first road be?
  • A one-way roundabout in the center of your city, with one-way streets connecting to the highway.
• What should my second road(s) be?
  • A residential district on one "side" of your traffic circle with one way streets connecting that district to the circle. Do the same with a small commercial district, and a medium industrial district. Your main traffic circle will have 4 inputs and 4 outputs.

Intersections

• Three vs Four vs Five way intersections?
  • Try to use a lot of three-way intersections. Four-way intersections can handle less traffic, and 5 way intersections are always a nightmare.
• How close can my intersection be?
  • If there is low traffic expected, you can place intersections 1 city block apart. If it is high traffic, you need 2 or more city blocks between intersections.

Highways

• Should I use highways in my city?
  • Yes. Upgrade your main traffic circle to highway, and create at least 1 highway that goes through your initial city tile in mid-game.
• What type of highway should I use?
  • If you have zoning within 2 blocks of a highway, use the one with raised sides to lower noise pollution.

Intersections

• Roundabout or Intersection?
  • Early game - Roundabouts are easy to make, and they can handle medium traffic.
  • Mid game - Intersections are harder to make, cost more, but they rarely fill up with traffic. The cloverleaf intersection is the best option really.

Public Transit

Bus System

• Should I turn up the budget for buses?
  • Yes! It is cheap to turn up the budget for bus lines and it pays off with reduction of traffic.
• Can I share bus stops with multiple lines?
  • NO! it makes huge traffic jams.
• Lots of buses are grouping up, whats wrong?
  • When buses share stops at the same point, a jam is created. Make sure you do not have any shared bus stops, each stop should only be for 1 bus route. Also, these could be different bus lines, so change the color of each line to see it better.

Metro

• Should I get a Metro?
  • Yes, but once your city occupies 3 tiles.
• How close should I make metro stops?
  • Make 2 in your residential zone, a stop in each industrial zone, and a stop in your 2 biggest commercial zones.

Problems

Land Value

• Land value is dropping, how do I fix it?
  • Figure out the problem associated with the value. Click each service type (fire, police, education, bus, etc) and make sure it has coverage next to it. Make sure you are 2 blocks away from industrial zoning. Make sure you have parks in the area and that the building is nearly turquoise in color. If you are close to a highway, lots of trees can help. If your whole district is dropping in value, you can use policies and the district manager to lower taxes, use high tech housing, etc.