How do you win Cities: Skylines?

There isn’t the main goal in Cities: Skylines after that you could say “yes I’m winner of this game” but there are some challenges that you can complete. In this article I will show mine favorites!

For the record Cities: Skylines is a sandbox builder strategy game so you must make your own goals.

But for the first, there are some scenarios which you should play. There isn’t much I have approx 5 scenarios from developers. And yes you could download more of them at Steam Workshop. When I wrote this article there were 2015 scenarios. I’ve prepared article where I recommended some of them.

But there are some other ways…

Goal: best efficient city

My big challenge is building the most efficient city. That’s the city that grows and no one has problems with me as mayor. So this goal is when I have all services great (on 101% budget max), no traffic problems and every citizen is happy.

You need to care about education, parks, transport – everything you must be balanced. This game challenge could be called “real life” you must build a pretty city that works. You could slowly redesign your roads, and tunnels to be sure that this works.

And after that, you could set taxes to just 5% or 3% and if you don’t bankrupt you make a good job! When you get this you could add more DLC or change the map to get another challenging environment.

Goal: the biggest city

You could get the achievement when you build a city with 100 000 citizens. But why not set a goal much bigger? Some cities have 1 000 000 citizens and that should be your goal. You need to scale everything which you know about Cities: Skylines because you need to care about your citizens.

In the game are milestones when you grow with your city. When you get this you could have some bonuses like money and new buildings/services. The last one is called “megalopolis” and you could get it when you have a population between 20 000 and 90 000 and it depends on how to map you play. This could be the goal but as I wrote above I make mine goals.

Goal: prettier city

I don’t play Cities Skylines to make the prettier city. But this way is my favorite to watch other players which have one goal to make the most realistic/pretty city.

There are a lot of players on YouTube who make pretty cities. My favorite video creator is Keralis who have 123and 4 Cities Skylines series when he builds so pretty cities. So there you could get some inspiration!

In this way, you need a strong computer because you will need to download a lot of mods or texture packs. And you will spend a lot of time detailing your city. But I think that after you finish you will be in love!

Goal: get all achievements

In the base game are 38 achievements which you should get. Some people say that you win when you get all of them. There are some of the challanges which are in achievements for me:

NameHow get?
Power At Your FingertipsUnlock all city services
DistroyHave more than 10 districts with unique policies
I Want It AllUnlock every single building in the game
MetropolisHave a population of 100,000 in your city
Rolling in DoughEarn 15,000 per week
Happy TownHave more than 95% happiness for 5 years
Tough CityHave the city survive a crime rate more than 40% for more than 2 years
Earthloving CityNo water or ground pollution in a city over 10,000 residents
Safe cityKeep the crime rate under 10% for 4 years straight
Power to the PeopleHave the industry tax rate over 5% higher than residential tax rate for one year

When you bought DLC you could get more achievements. There isn’t a rule that DLC came with some specific number of achievements. But the most achievements came to game with Mass Transit (14) and with Natural Disasters (12).

Goal: build city without orange industry

A challenge that can really mess with your head is to build a city without heavy (orange) industry – that is, with only offices (when they open, of course) or without special industrial zones. I’ve tried myself to see if offices can replace industry and at first glance it looks like it can – can you do it too?

Which DLC buy for more challenges?

The last way when you could make more challenges for you is by adding DLCs and enabling them when you play. So you get more buildings and more task to do there are two DLC that brings to the game new concepts or event with which you must deal!

🥇 Cities: Skylines – Industries

This DLC makes more real industries. In the base game, you make a zone and it’s done. In this DLC you must build a “main building” and after that, you must build production, modification, and yards and you must calculate or optimize your output.

So with this DLC, your game will be more challenging. You could disable old factories with pollution and experiment with this. This is a must-have DLC if you want to change and challenge in Cities Skylines! When I bought this it was a WOW moment.

🥈 Cities: Skylines – Natural Disasters

Second, the most game-changing DLC is Natural Disasters. This DLC makes unexpected events that you will have to deal with such as a tornado or an earthquake. So not only do you care about your inhabitants and their satisfaction, but from time to time you play the hero!

🆕 Cities Skylines – Plazas and Promenades

The next challenge that awaits us, and I find it very interesting, will be to create a city that works without cars. Or maybe if the city can be divided into two halves, a part where there are no cars at all, which will include residential and commercial zones, and then a part where there will be industry.

That’s what’s coming in the new DLC called Plazas and Promenades
I’m looking forward to it and will definitely check it out.

Martin
I'm Martin, the main creator of this site. I love city builders, transport, and war strategy games. So I create this site to share my love with others! Let's make Tycoon games great again!