Cities Skylines 2 electricity and water mechanics are pretty involved. We have low-voltage and high-voltage cables now, while usage changes depending on the time of year, and cleaning up bad ground water can take a lot of time. It means getting the basics right in the city-building game is going to be a lot trickier, but with the Cities Skylines 2 release date drawing nearer, there’s one tiny detail, just teased by Colossal Order, that suggests things might actually be more straightforward than I thought. After fussing around with power lines so much in the original CS, there’s a small but absolutely vital tweak in Cities Skylines 2 that I love.
We’ve seen a lot so far, giving us a solid understanding of the Cities Skylines 2 maps, as well as changes to traffic, utilities, services, and housing. But with the latest details about electricity and water seemingly promising a more cerebral, realistic management game, where you need to consider a lot more aspects of city planning, there’s one tweak to cables and pylons that I’ve personally desperately been needing.
I lay out my roads. I judiciously separate my zones. I put in nice, straight water pipes. But then it comes to the electrics, and because you can’t build over some tiles and because pylons have to join, and because of this, that, and everything else, my power lines in Cities Skylines end up knotted, messy, and extremely ugly. I just wish I could bury the whole thing underground.
And that’s where Cities Skylines 2 comes in. Whether it’s high-voltage or low-voltage cables, you can now place the majority of your electrical lines underground where they belong. You still need pylons and the new transformers, but roads come with electrical lines already included, and if you need to add extras and connect up a new building, you can run the whole thing under the dirt.
When I zoom out from my – ahem – ‘sprawling metropolis’ (it’s shabby; I can’t even manage the landfills right) I don’t want to see miles and miles of criss-crossing electricity cables. I want to see happy Cims, peacefully going about their lives, and paying me lots of taxes. So, it’s just another reason to look forward to Cities Skylines 2. It’s those little details that really make a difference.
Check out the full Cities Skylines 2 system requirements, so you know your PC is up to the task once launch day drops. You might also want to try some of the other best strategy games available now.