Cities Skylines 2 money will apparently function quite differently from its city-building game predecessor. We’ve already seen new CS2 services in the form of the internet and enhanced police and health buildings, and the new Cities Skylines 2 landfill tools. But with the Paradox and Colossal Order strategy sim shortly on its way, and the Cities Skylines 2 release date drawing closer, it seems the sequel’s economy will be balanced very, very differently compared to CS1.
In its latest development update, Colossal Order revealed how Cities Skylines 2 services will include not just electricity, water, sewage, and garbage removal, but also the internet. To help manage things, we can now custom draw landfill sites and build extensions and upgrades on service buildings. If you need your police or health services to serve a wider area, you don’t need to build another building – just stick an enhancement on your existing one.
But it seems money in Cities Skylines 2 will also change, as the pseudo strategy game pushes for greater realism and more-detailed management. In the original Cities Skylines, your finances are scaled for ease of reading and simplicity of understanding – most base games open with $70,000 in the bank, and even grand constructions like hospitals cost only $65,000.
In CS2, however, this has seemingly all changed. Paying close attention to the latest gameplay footage, the hypothetical player seems to have more than $35 million in the bank. A fire station costs $178,000 in regular upkeep, while an expansion will run you $240,000.
This similarly affects your city budget. From the same CS2 gameplay, we can see that police and administration costs are around $1,200,000, while electricity is $620,034. Other costs are also in the hundreds of thousands, compared to the original Cities Skylines, where a moderately sized city will require an upkeep budget of maybe $50,000.
In images captured by Reddit user ‘KevinR1990,’ we can also see a potential increase in terms of population figures, with the city from the latest Cities Skylines 2 video containing more than 112,000 people.
So, in one sense, we’re getting a lot more money. However, this is scaled differently, since everything seemingly costs a lot more. It should make Cities Skylines 2 feel more realistic, as you tangle with the kind of giant numbers that you’d expect from actual metropolis management.
As we wait for CS2 to arrive, check the full Cities Skylines 2 system requirements so you know your PC is up to the task. Alternatively, take a tour across the Cities Skylines 2 maps so you can start thinking about where to plant those residential, commercial, and industrial zones.
