When people start moving into the city you’ve created, they are going to need to travel throughout town. After all, they’ll need to travel to and from work, just like the rest of us. If you’re curious about how Cities: Skylines 2 traffic works, then this guide will help you get some answers.
Cities: Skylines 2 builds upon the success of its predecessor by giving you more control over how your city is built and managed. You’ll find some familiar mechanics such as keeping citizens happy, but you will have new ways of achieving that like providing them with internet services.
The Cities: Skylines 2 traffic system is much more intricate than the previous game, so let’s go ahead and take a look at how it functions.
How does pathfinding work in Cities: Skylines 2?
Pathfinding is how the inhabitants of your city will determine how they will get from one point to another. In Cities: Skylines 2, this is done by calculating a pathfinding cost based on several factors like travel time, travel cost, and the city’s road network.
Pathfinding costs can be broken down into four basic aspects – time, comfort, money, and behavior. Let’s have a closer look at each of these factors.
Time
This is arguably the most important factor in computing pathfinding costs since agents will always prefer using the quickest route to their destination. Highways provide high travel speeds, so it’s a popular route to take even if there are shorter roads available.
Comfort
Comfort is affected by how many turns and intersections you will need to go through during the commute. Parking and public transport stops will also play a factor here.
Money
Factoring money into an agent’s pathfinding cost will take things like parking fees and fuel usage into consideration. For delivery vehicles, the cost of goods they are transporting will also come into play.
Behavior
Behavior takes into account the risks a motorist is willing to take while out on the road. For example, normal citizens and delivery vehicles are less likely to make dangerous decisions while driving while emergency vehicles will need to take risks when they are needed.
The weight of these factors will differ depending on the agent’s age. For example, money will have a bigger impact on teens. Since they usually don’t have much to spend, they will prefer taking cheaper routes.
Once everything has been calculated, the agent will stick with the option that has the lowest pathfinding cost.
Lane usage
Lane usage in Cities: Skylines 2 is much more intuitive. Agents will occupy lanes as efficiently as they can so that you can make the most out of the roads in your city.
The game’s AI will also utilize lanes to avoid traffic jams, circumvent road closures due to accidents, and even give way to emergency vehicles. This gives the flow of traffic a more natural feel in Cities: Skylines 2.
Traffic accidents
The more realistic approach to traffic in Cities: Skylines 2 comes with a bit of bad news to the inhabitants of your city, since they are now prone to road accidents. The chance for a road accident to happen is calculated per road segment based on things like weather and lighting conditions.
Once a particular road segment meets the requirements for an accident to happen, a random vehicle in that segment will be chosen to lose control and be pushed in a random direction. Simple collision physics can result in more vehicles being hit, causing an even bigger accident.
How to use infoviews
Managing the flow of traffic in your metropolis is a big part of the Cities: Skylines 2 experience. To help you keep things in check, you will have access to two different Infoviews – Traffic Infoview and Road Infoview.
Traffic Infoview
The Traffic Infoview gives you a broad overview of how your city’s road network is performing. With this tool, you can spot potential causes for traffic jams and monitor traffic volumes throughout the city.
You can also make note of when rush hours normally occur during the day through the Traffic Infoview.
Road Infoview
With Road Infoview, you can take a look at the information on a single road in your network. You can check on things like the volume of traffic that goes through that particular road and its current condition.
This will help you determine whether or not it is worth it to build additional roads to alleviate traffic in some areas. It will also help you locate your maintenance vehicles as you try to lower the likelihood of road accidents.
And that’s our guide on how traffic works in Cities: Skylines 2. For more help on managing your roads in the city simulator, feel free to check our guides on how to turn off traffic lights and roundabouts.