Deciding what to prioritize in Cities Skylines 2 must be challenging. Since the city-building sequel launched in 2023, Colossal Order has had to fix performance issues, repair and improve fundamental aspects of the simulation such as the economy and building demand, and also mitigate the criticism aimed at the Beach Properties DLC. Almost 12 months since CS2 was released, however, I would like to think the developer can begin to focus on more intricate, micro elements of Cities 2. The new Cities Skylines 2 patch makes some pretty fine changes, but in an attempt to fix one of the game’s most sensitive problems.
Same as many other city-building games, Cities Skylines 2 tries to maintain a sense of realism by allowing for a certain amount of the in-game population to become homeless – based on certain economic or social conditions, the number of homeless people in a city can rise or fall, and there are measures that players can take to try and create better conditions or provide housing for these citizens.
If you’ve played CS2 up until now, you may have found that, despite doing what the game suggests you do to help homeless people either find somewhere new to live or move to a different city, there is still a high number of citizens without a house. The new CS2 patch, and its accompanying, explanatory post from Colossal Order, may well be helpful.
“When citizens lose their homes, either because they cannot afford them or because they get destroyed, they become homeless,” Colossal Order says, describing CS2 in its current form. “If they can afford it, they will leave the city, and if they cannot, they will find temporary shelter in your city’s parks or abandoned buildings. This is where they tended to get stuck, unable to find new homes or leave the city. Patch 1.1.8 contains a series of fixes to make sure those homeless households have a chance to get back on their feet.
“Previously, we had a random check for whether homeless households would look for suitable homes in the city. This has been removed, so with patch 1.1.8 homeless will always try to find a suitable home in the city. But that in itself isn’t enough. It requires homes for them to move into, and that those homes are not filled by newly created households instead of the city’s homeless population. To ensure this, homelessness now affects demand in two ways. It causes fewer new households to spawn while increasing the demand for high density residential housing.”
In other words, after patch 1.1.8, if a lot of people in your city are homeless, the amount of new families or fresh arrivals into your city will decrease, making more housing available for those people who currently do not have a home. The more housing you build, the quicker your homeless citizens will be able to find a new place to live. Homeless people may also choose to leave your city permanently. If you have a large number of public transportation routes such as buses and trains, the people searching for new homes will emigrate from your city quicker.
Colossal Order is also taking inspiration from a number of Cities Skylines 2 mods by introducing an official decorations menu, allowing you to improve the luster of your conurbation by placing statues, swing sets, and other zone-specific items. There are eight categories containing 298 props. As well as pure visual splendor, they can also be used to add greater, more realistic detail – you can, for example, place outdoor silos in farming areas or add air conditioning units to the outsides of buildings.
Colossal Order says it will share more information on patch 1.1.8 in the near future. Until then, alongside CS2 you can try some of the best strategy games, or maybe go bigger with the best 4X games on PC.
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