Fan mod overhauls the Cities Skylines 2 economy for a real challenge

Industrial area of a city in Cities Skylines 2
Credit: modscities2.com

Industrial area of a city in Cities Skylines 2
Credit: modscities2.com

Keeping an entire city happy is no easy feat. One Cities Skylines 2 fan thinks it could be harder, however, and created an 'Economy Fixer' mod that aims to bring a touch of realism and some extra challenges to the game.

The mod's author, known only as 'TDW', shared their creation on the modcities2 website as a free download. Its description claims that the mod "aims to make the game harder to play", mostly by "balancing out factors of the economy."

The mod's balancing takes many forms, and it even comes with four difficulty settings. Milestone cash rewards, for example, are changed to use static values, a departure from the base game's monetary rewards scaling up as players make progress.

Other highlights include a subsidy rework, with larger cities getting less financial support. A quality-of-life change also adds missing import and export income and expenses to the budget screen, but playing on a higher difficulty will see players making less money from exporting their goods.

Bulldozing is a great way to reorganize a city, but TDW's mod brings some realistic changes to the process. Eviction costs, building size, and land value can make demolition an expensive decision, and an optional 'wait for rubble to be cleared' timer prevents any new buildings from being erected. It's possible that this will be tweaked in future, as players' monthly budgets can quickly balloon when bulldozing costs are factored in.

Beyond the additions and overhauls, a base-game bug was also fixed to prevent cities from making money while their cash flow was trending toward negative.

Read More: Cities Skylines 2 Industries - how to use them efficiently

We've seen other mods offer unique experiences, from totally flat maps to cheat codes and radio stations dedicated to every decade. It's safe to say that Economy Fixer is a great addition for any Cities Skylines 2 players that want a challenge beyond the occasional water pollution or overflowing landfill.