Wind Turbines Could Make Me a Millionaire in Cities: Skylines 2

Wind Turbines Could Make Me a Millionaire in Cities: Skylines 2

In Cities: Skylines 2, there’s a buzz about a newfound strategy for boosting early game profits, and it revolves around wind farming. These turbines don’t just offer green energy to your city but can also make your bank balance soar.

In the predecessor, Cities: Skylines, managing your initial budget was an art form. With a strict starting capital, careful decisions about infrastructure and services were paramount. It was all too common to invest heavily in intricate road designs, only to realize you’ve left your residents in the dark.

Old hands at the game, like my esteemed friend and master city planner Leenton, have shared their tried-and-true profit-maximization methods. One strategy I’ve learned from him, which I playfully dub “the money well slum,” has been a game-changer.

Slumdog Millionaire

Here’s the strategy: Start with a basic grid layout using dirt roads and densely populate it. Once the tax option becomes available, levy a hefty 13% tax across all zones. Concurrently, you can start shaping your actual city along the highway, eventually absorbing the makeshift town you began with. This method might seem like a cynical take on capitalism, but it boosts your budget without relying on loans.

Another approach, which I often couple with the aforementioned one, is harnessing wind power. If you have the Green Cities DLC, the early-game advantage of wind turbines becomes evident. They’re a cost-effective alternative to coal plants. Rather than spending ₡19,000 on a coal facility, a ₡6,000 investment in a wind turbine can set you on the right path.

Admittedly, the energy yield from turbines is modest, so you might find yourself deploying them more frequently than you would coal plants. However, as you progress, the eco-friendly choice pays off, ensuring a cleaner city with contented residents.

In CS2, players have a bit more breathing room initially. You start with a generous ₡500,000, and basic road infrastructure is relatively inexpensive. But that doesn’t guarantee financial stability. While services have heftier price tags and steeper maintenance costs, it’s all in pursuit of a more authentic city-management experience.

Colossal Order, the developers behind Cities: Skylines, have included wind turbines in the base game, and they’re a game-changer. Not in their electricity generation capacity, but in their economic impact. As city managers, we can now export surplus resources and processed goods, provided we’ve set up the necessary connections. While typically the costs associated with production and upkeep might eclipse the profits, there’s a notable exception.

Power can be added to your export list. While most energy sources might strain your budget, the modest ₡15,000 investment for a wind turbine and its ₡5,000/month maintenance make it a profitable venture, especially early on.

The strategy? Cluster numerous wind turbines, allocate a small residential zone to utilize the generated power, and keep minimal services active to satisfy the needs of a handful of residents. Once you link your power cluster to the external grid, you’ll witness your funds grow.

Profit and Floss

Curious about the profit margins of this exploit? “Deploying sixteen wind turbines can churn out a ₡4,700 profit every hour,” according to the calculations of Spiffing Brit, a YouTuber who showcased this trick. His video amusingly argues that Cities: Skylines 2 is a “perfectly balanced game.”

Interestingly, just by setting up roads and buildings, Spiffing Brit raced to the Busy Town milestone – the game’s seventh stage – in a flash, all while having only a single resident. By this stage, his city was producing an astonishing “1,365MW of electricity, surpassing what a nuclear plant can generate.” This translated to a monthly surplus of ₡3.3 million in electricity alone. In terms of net profit, it stood at approximately ₡60,700 hourly. Fast forward to the Small City milestone, a few stages post Busy Town, and those earnings rocketed to ₡144,390 every hour. Quite impressive for a lone-citizen city.

Now, admittedly, not every player might find this approach appealing, as it means carpeting your landscape with wind turbines. However, if you’re patient enough to let the game run, you’ll soon amass a fortune. Just ensure your sole inhabitant remains content, occasionally douse the sporadic forest fire, and you’re golden.

Moreover, your city becomes an environmental haven, albeit a tad monotonous. Reach the Small City level, and you can start promoting tourism, further boosting your revenues. Quite a neat trick, right? Still, with the game’s development ongoing, the team at Colossal Order might consider adjusting the pricing or maintenance of wind turbines. Fingers crossed they let us retain this green-centric strategy!