HUMBLE CITIES: SKYLINES BUNDLE

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Tier 1 - 1 USD | 1 EUR | 1 GBP | 1.5 CAD | 1.5 AUD | 1.5 NZD | 5 TRY | 50 RUB | 50 PHP

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Tier 2 - BTA (My lowest: $6.34)

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Tier 3 - 18 USD | 16.5 EUR | 14.5 GBP | 25 CAD | 27.5 AUD | 29.5 NZD | 125 TRY | 1300 RUB | 900 PHP

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All-in or nothing for me. Got the base game plus two T3 DLCs from the previous bundle, so it’s really hard to decide. Maybe I will just pass.:joy:

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So that’s 11 out of 26, 108€ worth of DLC for 16.50€. A pretty reasonable price.
I just really wish they’d just go ahead and make a final complete with everything package that didn’t cost 300€ in total.

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I know nothing about the DLC, but Cities Skylines for a dollar is a great deal.

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Dang it! Of course. :sweat_smile: I hope it’ll come back, and soon.

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Can we have games with DLC <= the price of original game again?

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Don’t have to ask me twice. bought it. was just looking at buying dlc for this.

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The only issue is, this is published by Paradox Interactive. That’s not how they monetize content while it’s being released/actively developed, which Cities: Skylines is still receiving at least 1 expansion per year (26 March 2020 - Sunset Harbor), and usually a bunch of new music, buildings, tilesets/art, and creator packs. So we shouldn’t expect a “Complete Edition” anytime soon.

However I think it might be cheaper to own everything, or at least cheaper than you stated (300€). I didn’t want to individually itemize and spend an hour researching this BUT I’M GOING TO DO IT ANYWAY BECAUSE I WILL OBSESSIVELY HUNT DOWN GOOD DEALS FOR MY FRIEND @Fraggles and converting prices, but I think this HB bundle now, + the next Steam summer sale when all the DLC goes to at least -50% off (except newest expansion, expect -20%) means you can just buy the Collection bundle for the items you don’t own to get an extra -9% off…

Cities: Skylines - Sunset Harbor - 11,99€
Cities: Skylines - Content Creator Pack: Modern Japan - 4,99€
Cities: Skylines - Coast to Coast Radio - 3,99€
Cities: Skylines - Content Creator Pack: Modern City Center - 3,74€
Cities: Skylines - Downtown Radio - 2,99€
Cities: Skylines - Campus - HB!
Cities: Skylines - Content Creator Pack: University City - 2,49€
Cities: Skylines - Campus Radio - 1,99€
Cities: Skylines - Deep Focus Radio - HB!
Cities: Skylines - Industries - HB!
Cities: Skylines - Synthetic Dawn Radio - old HB or 1,99€
Cities: Skylines - Parklife - 7,49€
Cities: Skylines - Green Cities - HB!
Cities: Skylines - Mass Transit - HB!
Cities: Skylines - Natural Disasters - HB!
Cities: Skylines - Snowfall - HB!
Cities: Skylines - After Dark - old HB or 5,09€
Cities: Skylines - Content Creator Pack: European Suburbia - HB!
Cities: Skylines - Content Creator Pack: High-Tech Buildings - HB!
Cities: Skylines - Content Creator Pack: Art Deco - HB!
Cities: Skylines - Country Road Radio - 1,99€
Cities: Skylines - All That Jazz - 1,99€
Cities: Skylines - Concerts - HB!
Cities: Skylines - Rock City Radio - 1,99€
Cities: Skylines - Relaxation Station - 1,99€
Cities: Skylines - Deluxe Edition Upgrade Pack - 2,50€

Also own old HB, wait for summer sale:
Total cost 16,50€ + (45,62€) = 62,12€

Do NOT own old HB, wait for summer sale:
Total cost 16,50€ + (52,06€) = 68,56€

And finally my personal recommendation - Expansions only, ignore music and creator packs:
Total cost 16,50€ + (22,36€) = 38,86€
(or save 4,63€ = 34,23€ if you already own After Dark expansion from old HB)

So if you plan on playing a bunch of a great city builder this summer and want to own everything through the most recent expansion Sunset Harbor from this spring, those are your options - all of which are reasonably priced for a AAA simulation game. :poop:

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I was including all future DLC in that estimate too. : )

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Haha, true! Maybe another 5 years of expansions, we don’t know! The current engine is holding up quite well, it seems…but in general they seem to target approximately 45€-90€ entry into one of their franchises using this pricing model for all available content…on sale.

Age of Wonders: Planetfall base game and season pass - 45€ for everything to date
Hearts of Iron IV: Mobilization pack - 58€ for everything to date
Europa Universalis IV: Empire bundle - 76€ for everything (*except 1 song perhaps?)
Stellaris: Ascension pack + Federations expansion - 69€ for everything
Cities: Skylines Collection - we already discussed above…
BATTLETECH: Mercenary collection - 22,49€ for everything

I think that’s covers most of Paradox’s core games still in development. :poop:

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I always found this type of release to be quite mind boggling. You make a game ( any Sim game can be used as an example here ) , which more or less is a shell and then release all stuff which sort of should have had to be in game already as an endless stream of DLC.

I understand it from development perspective, the devs need continues flow of money and including everything into the game on day 1 would push release date years away , but still . Not a fan.

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Thanks, @pegasusz. I MAY get the first tier. :thinking:

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Be warned though, as a Cities Skylines veteran. 8Gb RAM is no longer enough to run this game. With all DLCs installed, except the no longer available European Club Stadiums pack, 12Gb is your bare minimum so having 16Gb or more is essential.

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…but why shouldn’t they be compensated for their work and effort? It took them 2 years to develop, adapt, and expand their core engine from Cities in Motion such that it had the capabilities to support what Cities: Skylines has become, but since then they’ve spent 5 years of their life, half a decade, designing and developing new content.

Here’s the way I see it - they timed their initial release perfectly. It coincided soon after the critical failure of SimCity franchise (which used to dominate the city simulation landscape), and they needed to get a solid foundation delivered to us, the gamers ASAP. And we loved it. The core Cities: Skylines is a great game, no questions and is worth your $1 even today if you show even a passing interest in city builders (or transportation management).

And secondly, for a game we already all love, why not keep adding to it instead of making a new Cities 2 and making us buy that for $30 (the debut price of Cities:Skylines)? You have to remember, this was never a full $60 AAA release - it has never been more than $40 anywhere, and most stores/platforms had it discounted for as cheap as $30 from the beginning. That is incredible value! So, now that more and more extra content has been added to it, literally 2x going on 3x the development costs they sunk into the original game, they focus on selling that newer content for $20-30 of value and reducing the price of the base game to as cheap as $1.

So, again, most people aren’t paying $100s for this method of content release unless they are diehard fanatics of the franchise buying every piece for full price on day 1 of release. And even then, that is okay! Let those fans enjoy their favorite game, there is nothing wrong with letting someone spend their money the way they want to spend it, especially when you can clearly see the love, time, and dedication the devs at Colossal Order have put into Cities: Skylines.

I do think there is a FOMO (fear of missing out) problem with this content release method though. But this is something we need to address ourselves: we need to know our own limitations, have our own budgets, and be responsible enough as gamers to know what is a fair price for any game or DLC or expansion. And also, just be content with what we have. Whether you have 1 game or 1000, just the base game or all DLC, you can still enjoy yourself. We need to focus more on the satisfaction and happiness that gaming (in any form) brings us, not the dissatisfaction and unhappiness that the FOMO dwelling on a lack of DLCs triggers. :poop:

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I’ve spoken about my thoughts on Paradox’s publishing philosophy on several occasions before and wont repeat myself at length. While I largely agree with what you’re saying I still have a personal issue with it due to my compelling desire for completing collections but I can’t say that there’s any wrongdoings going on.

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Well you quoted this

But didint quote this

I mean i get the reasoning behind it .Using ‘mind boggling’ at the beginning of my post was a mistake , so pardon , my English still could use some improving.

It’s just that i’m not a fan of such release scheme . What would i do differently? Maybe try to add few of DLC into one bigger expansion wherefore reducing amount of separate pieces of content or rise the price ( obviously a risky move ) of the base game but improve on the content you get just from the standart edition? But then again , i dont fall under target audience for this game , it looks interesting to me and i would love to try some Sim games some time , but it’s not what majority of my game time was/is composed of.

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That’s exactly what they do already though…? I’ll help explain the setup since you do not seem to be familiar with it – there are 3 broad types of DLC for Cities: Skylines (and most other Paradox games follow a similar pattern).

  1. Music/Soundtracks/Radio packs. These are songs created or licensed for the game and the musicians need to be paid for their work of course. Some people may not care for them, so Paradox tends to not force them into a bundled expansion, instead allowing you to support the artists directly through the purchase of these songs.
    They are also cheap - standardized at $3.99, usually for 16 songs, usually 4 each from 4 different artists, so they should each get about a dollar per purchase which has been the de facto since Apple revolutionized the music world with their iTunes music store offering tracks for $0.99 in 2003 (the first real effort of studios + tech to combat rampant piracy such as Napster that took off in the late 90s and '00s, finally unbundling individual songs from a full priced album). Regardless of how you feel about Apple, that was one of their few strokes of genius to solve a problem that would have resulted in a dying, much smaller musical selection.
  2. Content Creator Packs. These are glorified reskins, created in partnership with a modder. Most people love the content itself but hate the idea of paying for something that traditionally we got for free. I can understand that complaint, but I’m of the mindset that if you dedicate your time to modding one game and creating new content that people want, why shouldn’t that be sold? Usually these content packs come with 10-39 new buildings, upgrades, and/or reskins to build unique looking cities and are usually themed. They are not necessary for your enjoyment of the broader game unless you are specifically looking to build a city that mirrors a unique style…so they have never been and never should become “mandatory”.
    As for price, these are $4.99 each and most of that money goes to the modder, so think of it more like a donation to the modder, not a payment to the dev. It’s not much different than going to their Patreon/Twitch and supporting them there. A good example is Avanya, the creator of the European Suburbia pack. She spent 1000s of hours teaching herself Blender and creating models we want to use…but she makes $76/month off Patreon, and nothing off streaming or YouTube uploads (she’s still too small), so to be sponsored with an official content pack sold by Paradox is a lifeline to someone that can make modding Cities: Skylines into more than a hobby. Personally, I think it’s admirable that Paradox does this for high-quality modders.
  3. Expansions. 5 major, 4 minor, 1 mini - Sunset Harbor, Campus, Industries, Parklife, Green Cities, Mass Transit, Natural Disasters, Snowfall, After Dark, and Concerts. The major expansions focus on adding a new core mechanic to the game (such as natural disasters), while also providing a slew of new, thematic defining buildings. These are major overhauls, and will drastically change your gameplay as @CRV2017 noted, usually resulting in a new city or forking a new save of an old city in my personal experience. And a nice perk is, if you don’t care about winter or snow-themed buildings and don’t want the fantastic new weather system they implemented, don’t buy Snowfall. Or park-stuff, ignore Parklife. Etc. The prices are $14.99 for major, $12.99 for minor, and $6.99 for mini.

Each expansion tries to stay compartmentalized so the only reason you need every single expansion all at once is because you have a FOMO or an addiction to “owning” everything. Simulation games (or any workshop/modded game) are different from other games, and require a different mindset. Unless you are the type that feels the urge every morning to deep dive through the Steam Workshop and download/subscribe to every new mod for every game you own, this is no different. Sure, there are some cool mods out there (free or paid), but we just don’t have time to go test all 28,632 Skyrim mods, just the same way we don’t have time to build 40,353,607 (7^9 the actual number) different cities using every permutation of just expansions and content packs.

The sheer amount of possibilities and combinations added with each expansion in a simulation game are why most simulation games use this piecemeal pricing model - you buy what you will use, ignore the rest. Some gamers only want to build Japanese-themed cities with giant parks, meaning they only need the base game, Modern Japan content pack, and Parklife. Others want a hyperrealistic mass transit system to focus on bus schedules. You’re weird, but I still love you, so go buy Mass Transit expansion and enjoy your life. And interests change, they shift over time, so as they do you add more expansions as you try out new systems, buildings, themes, upgrades, and policies. Each of those new systems took about a year+ of development time and money to create, so even the pricing seems fair for what effectively gives you an entirely new game to explore for a $14.99 price tag.

So, perhaps think of major expansions to simulation games as new $14.99 games themselves, adding an entirely new system to play with, work around, and incorporate into a playstyle (the base game) that you are already hopefully familiar with…a cheap “new” game with controls you already understand. Because isn’t that what every paid game is at the end of the day? A downloadable chunk of entertainment that we trade money+time for enjoyment? If you won’t enjoy it – or won’t enjoy it enough for it’s price – then do what you would do with another game of similar price: wait for it to go on sale, or be bundled.

Disclaimer: I love Cities: Skylines, but I only own 2 major expansions, 1 minor (Industries, Green Cities, After Dark). I want Natural Disasters and Parklife too, but don’t care about Sunset Harbor or Campus or most of the other stuff. I’m willing to wait for the other content I do want because I’ve already played a bunch of the base game, played a bunch more when I bought the old HB, and will play even more if/when I buy Natural Disasters, but I’m not in a rush. :poop:

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So I ended up getting the top tier before they added more DLC to it and I gotta say for $18 it is one massive steal. You get all of the major expansions except the new one (Harbor whatever its called). The only other ones you are missing out on are the radio DLCs, which are completely useless in the sense that they add nothing but, well, music.

If anyone is on the fence about this, I would definitely say pick it up if you can! :slight_smile:

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I am so very tempted to pick this up, the value is certainly there even if it’s still a decent bit of money involved. The reason I stopped playing this game and I’m hesitant to return was because traffic was a damn nightmare, any of you aficionados still playing this game know if they got that sorted?

SS from their store page showing just single lines of cars gridlocking themselves on multi lane roads for no good reason, this annoyed the hell out of me.

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Two of my friends regularly play this game, and make incredible looking cities. They still say the traffic is tough to work with, but a lot has been done to help it flow. You can put street signs down, stop lights and are given upgrade tools to easily adjust road directions. I believe they said they have added more road types since launch, too.

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Yes the AI is a bit dumb. However, there are mods available that make it much better. I don’t quite remember what they are called.

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