Best DLC?

[Frazzleberry 21]

What's the best DLC to improve your city in all ways? What do you recommend?

[MarkJohnson]

Well, I couldn't look at your profile to find out what kind of games you like or how much you have played the game.

I find most people recommend the Industrial DLC. It is similar to the Zoned Industry, but you plop the industry buildings, and they can be very large and look a little more realistic.

Major Expansion list:

Mass Transit: Adds new transportation options like trams and buses.
Industries: Introduces industrial zones and related mechanics.
After Dark: Focuses on nightlife and tourism, adding new commercial district specializations.
Parklife: Adds parks and recreational areas.
Snowfall: Includes winter weather and snow-related features.
Green Cities: Focuses on environmental and sustainability initiatives.
Campus: Introduces educational facilities and research institutions.
Sunset Harbor: Adds coastal areas and beachfront developments.
Airports: Introduces dedicated airport areas and transportation systems.
Plazas & Promenades: Enhances urban spaces with new buildings and decorations.
Financial Districts: Adds financial and business-related buildings and mechanics.
Hotels & Retreats: Focuses on tourism and hospitality sectors.
Natural Disasters: Adds various natural disaster scenarios.

Here's the DLC Wiki for more info and videos:
https://skylines.paradoxwikis.com/Downloadable_content

[caseyas435943]

The best DLC is one that adds things to the game you want.

Not the answer you are looking for but it's true.

I could tell you Green Cities it the best mod ever. Another could tell you it's total c*ap.

DLCs are a matter of taste. Do you like what content it adds for you. Not for someone else.

Don't buy what I say. Buy what you think adds things to the game you like. Not what I like.

[caseyas435943]

Originally posted by MarkJohnson:

Well, I couldn't look at your profile to find out what kind of games you like or how much you have played the game.

I find most people recommend the Industrial DLC. It is similar to the Zoned Industry, but you plop the industry buildings, and they can be very large and look a little more realistic.

Major Expansion list:

Mass Transit: Adds new transportation options like trams and buses.
Industries: Introduces industrial zones and related mechanics.
After Dark: Focuses on nightlife and tourism, adding new commercial district specializations.
Parklife: Adds parks and recreational areas.
Snowfall: Includes winter weather and snow-related features.
Green Cities: Focuses on environmental and sustainability initiatives.
Campus: Introduces educational facilities and research institutions.
Sunset Harbor: Adds coastal areas and beachfront developments.
Airports: Introduces dedicated airport areas and transportation systems.
Plazas & Promenades: Enhances urban spaces with new buildings and decorations.
Financial Districts: Adds financial and business-related buildings and mechanics.
Hotels & Retreats: Focuses on tourism and hospitality sectors.
Natural Disasters: Adds various natural disaster scenarios.

Here's the DLC Wiki for more info and videos:
https://skylines.paradoxwikis.com/Downloadable_content

Trams is Snowfall: not Mass Transit.

For what they add I'd say Mass Transit, After Dark and Green Cities.

Airport, Plazas, Finacial, Hotels and Disaster are all trash. If you never got them, you'd never miss them.

Snowfall for trams if you like them. The snow maps are so boring to look at what everything whited out. I try a play a snow map, but I just can't it's boring because of the absence of color.

Harbor you'd never miss. Fishing could have been interesting, but it wasn't. I never use it.

The bottom 5 on your list I would get them if they were free. They add nothing I would ever use in CS.

Industries, Campus and Park are an insane way to make money while eating up tons of space. Those play with only 9 tiles most the DLCs you can't never really use because the eat tons of space.

[mbutton15]

Mass Transit does not add buses either as they are base game. Maybe it does add a few new bus models, can't remember? But it does add ferries, blimps and cable cars (plus road options). Obviously, check the description for full content list!!

I only have Mass Transit and ParkLife for use on my 9 tiles. I make plenty of parks, even in just those 9 tiles. But, yeah, I can see if I had ParkLife, Industries and Campus then space could become an issue trying to use all three. :)

[Mordal™]

Don't begin to know and wouldn't care to guess what sort of game caseyas435943 might be playing, were DLC Industries should be "eating up tons of space".

I play overproducing all four industries for export and all four of them combined take up less than 2% of a 9 tile map and .006 of a 25 tile map such as I usually play. Somehow a little over 1/2 of 1% doesn't seem like a ton of space to me. Especially if you consider that the proceeds from that 1/2% go to totally finance the creation and upkeep of everything else on the map.

I wouldn't even begin to attempt to persuade anyone else to build the way I do as I totally agree with caseyas435943 in that no two players play exactly alike nor should they be expected to. But as for me, the Industries DLC is a Godsend and a must have.

That Said;

Originally posted by caseyas435943:

The best DLC is one that adds things to the game you want.

DLCs are a matter of taste. Do you like what content it adds for you. Not for someone else.

+1👍🏼

[@R+5]

Originally posted by caseyas435943:

The best DLC is one that adds things to the game you want.

Not the answer you are looking for but it's true.

I could tell you Green Cities it the best mod ever. Another could tell you it's total c*ap.

DLCs are a matter of taste. Do you like what content it adds for you. Not for someone else.

Don't buy what I say. Buy what you think adds things to the game you like. Not what I like.

i partially agree with you, in that whichever you value the most, according to your own taste, could be called "subjectively the best one".

but think is possible to make a tier list, from best to worst, in a more objective and concrete way, if the features and options introduced by each dlc were listed, and also the downsides or inconveniences that some may add (like the issues some people commented a long ago related to "wild fires" after using the "disasters" dlc).

i also agree with others that "mass transit" dlc is among the most useful ones to add new transports and interesting paths to look at.

imo, "green cities" is probably one of the worst ones, because it only adds a few buildings that look nice, but not much beyond that (worth of the price tag, even with discount; i would agree i would try this one if it was free, but only then).

[Mordal™]

What's a matter you people? Does no one ever read the documentation any more.
Are we all really that lazy now?

https://skylines.paradoxwikis.com/Cities:_Skylines_Wiki

Literally In Your Face.

[mbutton15]

I think there's also something similar on Discord, but I don't know how to find it!!

[buttawise]

Disasters is the worst one. And a lot of "creator" packs are radically overpriced for what little they add to the game.

Parks, Industries, Campuses, and personally I enjoy the small Finance update mostly because of how the banks work and add value to commercial zones. After that it's personal taste. People seem to enjoy Mass Transit but subways, buses, and trains are all you need in a city the rest is just fluff but I do use trams rarely.

[Challenger™]

The Disasters DLC update didn't fork up the "game" the way the P&P update did. I give P&P the #1 piece of crap vote. Really imo starting with Sunset Harbor and going forward I'd take a total pass. All the DLC's leading up to SH are Player's Choice as I see it.

The hook with DLC's is most all of them really require a companion to work properly. Industries is the top of the line game changing must have for me. I use it to start the game and to pay for Everything in the game. Industries has All most everything I need. Except ..... The on real descent cargo "Shipping" hub. The "Shipping Hub" is in the After Dark DLC. The only thing i the After Dark DLC that I care one damn bit about. The cargo hub matches or complements nothing else in the AD DLC, but there is is.

You'll find that this is the case just about everywhere you look in CS and/or steam. And for this reason I call CS DLC's an all out money grab. And for that same reason I can not recommend that anyone buy any of them. And that said;

I own Industries, After Dark, & Mass Transit. But that's only half the story.

[BickyMonster]

I've got all of the main DLC (expansions) except the latest (Hotels & Resorts), but the amount of experience I have with all of the features they add varies.

Industries is the big one for me. Balancing resources and designing industrial areas to deal with the traffic is a game in itself, and as already mentioned can be used to pay for everything. I like making my generic industry as self-sufficient as possible, minimising imports.

Next are Mass Transit and Green Cities. I use the roads from Mass Transit a lot, and it opens up some really useful mods. I don't always use monorails but the transport hubs can be really good. For me, a large part of the usefulness of Mass Transit is the mods and assets that are dependant on it.

Green Cities is huge and really suits how I like to build. I prefer power generation that doesn't require fuel, and I prefer to process sewage instead of dumping it. I always make communities based around the specialisations that are included with this one.

Next up I'd say Campus and Plazas & Promenades. Campus has some good bonuses and can make additional money, along with the varsity sport feature to play around with, but I like it mainly because I've got good at making great-looking campuses. They tend to be one of the highlights of my cities, and I like spending more time than I normally would beautifying these areas. I've found the bridges from the Bridges & Piers CCP combine well with Campus.

Then it's Plazas & Promenades. There; I said it. I know it had issues when it was first released, but I didn't actually use it until after it was fixed. I'm using it for the first time in my current build and it's directing the development of my city, keeping road traffic to specific channels. With more experience I can see this one becoming a game changer in a similar vein to Mass Transit. I really like Plazas & Promenades.

After Dark is an odd one for me. The Tourism specialisation can be useful but I rarely get much use out it. I love the idea of a Leisure district but I don't like how the area turns out. There's not enough variety for a large leisure area. I always add taxis to my cities but I've no idea how much they actually add. I rarely use bus lanes so those roads don't add much for me, but I'm using bike lanes more and more as my experience grows.

Beyond these, the other expansions have some useful features that can be nice to have, but I'd say they add flavour rather than something substantial.

I've always found Parklife disappointing. Many of the parts don't snap together neatly and I usually end up with a small City Park but nothing else.

The fishing industry from Sunset Harbour is nice to have, even more-so with Industries, but doesn't really add anything on top of that. I've only ever found Trolley Buses annoying to use. Some of the hubs and water treatment buildings get a lot of use in my cities, though I'd be fine without them.

The Winter theme from Snowfall is lovely but I tend to find my cities looking bland as they grow. It's a shame seasons were never added. I always play around with the heating mechanic that gets added. Even on temperate maps it can be a good way to save on electricity by having dedicated heating pipes. The trams are fun to watch but I always struggle to properly integrate them without causing massive traffic issues. I'm hoping running them mainly through pedestrianised areas will finally help me with that.

Natural Disasters has some really interesting assets and services. I like putting Fire Helicopter Depots near my forestry industries and the pumping service is great for those times when I overdo the terraforming. I've found this DLC a good idea with poor execution. There's only so many times I can lose a 30+ hour city to a mega-tsunami before I change things. I've tried a number of mods that claim to give control over the strength of disasters that occur naturally, but in my experience they either don't work or just disable disasters entirely. I haven't used the evacuation system in years.

Financial Districts adds some nice looking buildings but the stock system is too easy to manipulate.

I haven't used Airports much. A "proper" airport takes up far too much space and money but doesn't provide much. I'm considering building a small level 1 airport in my current city, but I think that space would be better used expanding a nearby residential area or tourism district. I can always think of a better use for the land than for an airport.

I bought all of this DLC over a number of years, taking advantage of deals and bundles. I got Snowfall for less than £1 and I've probably spent under £50 on the game in total. If I'd been paying full price, I'd say Industries, Green Cities and Mass Transit were worth it.

I actually created my Steam account to get Cities Skylines.

[Free1]

I've played hundreds of hours and have enjoyed every minute of it. I do have Industries, Parklife, Mass Transit and Green Cities, each of which add to the dynamics of the game.
My advice is to get the hang of the base game and learn to manage things such as road networks and traffic (if you haven't already done so).
Strategic placement of the different zones is equally important. Once you start to experience positive cash flow, you can have a look at YT for DLC use and then decide what you'd like to try.
Check out these vids for inspiration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1syUxBR60WE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf_5PrXlWWo

[Frazzleberry 21]

Originally posted by caseyas435943:

The best DLC is one that adds things to the game you want.

Not the answer you are looking for but it's true.

I could tell you Green Cities it the best mod ever. Another could tell you it's total c*ap.

DLCs are a matter of taste. Do you like what content it adds for you. Not for someone else.

Don't buy what I say. Buy what you think adds things to the game you like. Not what I like.

I'm just asking to see what people like

[FlagDUDE08]

Personally I enjoy After Dark, Mass Transit, Sunset Harbor, Parklife, Industry, and Campus. Snowfall was OK and good for seasonal, but not sure how much I use it.