10 Tips & Tricks to significantly IMPROVE your Vanilla Cities: Skylines gameplay experience!

Today I show you how you can improve your vanilla Cities: Skylines gameplay experience by quite a bit!
1. BETTER SLOPE CONTROL
2. QUICK REMOVAL OF LANDFILLS & CEMETERYS
3. ROAD DISTANCE TO BUILDINGS
4. PLACING BUILDINGS ON QUAYS
5. ROADS RIGHT NEXT TO QUAYS
6. BRIDGE BUILDING
7. NO MORE BORING OVERPASSES
8. NETWORK HITBOXES
9. SQUARE BUILDINGS + CURVED ROADS = MESS?
10. ODDLY SHAPED CITY SPACES
#citiesskylines #tipsandtricks #vanilla

[@huanglong08]

that metro entrance in front of train station with the 2 tiles usage was a total shock to me

[@carlos_mitosis]

omg same

[@chunyinanimation]

Custom multi-level transit 😀

[@ArchTeryx00]

Yeah, that's a next level trick, isn't it? That can be done with surface or elevated metro lines or tram lines, too!

[@usernameiphone3gkid]

yea i thought you could only do 1 block

[@fatetestarossa2774]

ME TO : )))))))))))

[@crowdozer3592]

"Imperatur was a city builder so powerful, so wise he could create stunning cities purely vanilla. He had such knowledge of the game, he could even place train stations that weren't adjacent to roads." "Is it possible to learn this power?" "Not from a modder."

[@ptterz]

I am absolutely blown away by his talent! 😳🥴

[@HalfMoonHunter]

Haha! Very good Star Wars 3 reference!

[@joshgellock9429]

Well played!

[@bricks_and_cities]

Though it takes more patience, the Vanilla game is still possible. These methods are great examples of that, and they look amazing!

[@imperatur]

Yeah patience is possibly the best tip ever

[@nickertje11]

i always use the two tiles trick for schools so they can be surrounded by houses like a courtyard

[@imperatur]

Very clever!

[@zerrodefex]

Just tried it with parks and it works as well. Always annoyed me that they needed road access and I wanted to stick them into those empty areas that occurred in the middle of my residential zones whenever I didn't have a perfectly 8 space wide rectangular block.

[@KMYash12]

I always saw other people's cities and wondered....why can't my waterfront be like that..? AND NOW I CAN MAKE IT LIKE THAT!!!! thank you such much imperatur you are a true gem for this community!

[@FurryFailure]

Bro, this stuff is actual magic, I recently got into Cities Skylines, and I envy the patience and creativity the community has. If I don't get into Model Railroads in my old age, I can assure my friends I'll be building virtual cities, holy lord.

[@Creatim3D]

I like the 2nd tip, it's like, u want to delete something but it won't let u, just use your God like powers to delete it, (I though u were using a meteor, which would be quite brutal if there was a ceremony at the graveyard.)And the rest are pretty uselfull

[@imperatur]

Hahah true

[@Teodrummer92]

I'm always struggling to get the best result with mods not working, lags, bugs... then I see your videos about the Vanilla game and I'm like... "f**k this sh*t I'm done". xD You're the best Imperatur, I followed you for years and your contents are still so damn amazing. Thanks for all your tips and inspiration.

[@imperatur]

Thanks man! I really appreciate the support:))

[@carstarsarstenstesenn]

I recommend selecting 5-10 mods that you really want and making sure your game still runs well while using them. I always start my cities as vanilla with move it, find it, and road anarchy. as the city grows I can add mods and assets to the build but I'm always careful to not make the game laggy. I like to think of it as Vanilla+

[@noobbuildscities9730]

The no more boring overpass, to get bridge structure, you don't need to remove the bottom road. Use lower terrain tool and lower the soil under the road, while road is there, change road to another road, then change back to desired road. Then smooth or level terrain back in the dirt under the bottom road. You won't see the soil change under the road but game tracks the change.

[@judeni4627]

Does the change bridge structure requires any DLC?

[@noobbuildscities9730]

@@judeni4627 No, it works on any road that has bridge structures.

[@Saknika]

Had a total "surprised Pikachu face" moment when you explained the building distance thing and plopped a metro down in front of another terminal. :O

[@SynthLizard8]

I honestly thought for a second that the 2nd tip was that you could quickly empty a cemetery by dumping the bodies in the landfill 😄

[@addictedfoolgamer1970]

I love these. I got fed up of mods and went back to vanilla. These really help me understand what can be done without mods.

[@imperatur]

Many things but its still much more convenient to have some of the basic mods

[@addictedfoolgamer1970]

@@imperatur I agree. Certainly not against anyone having the option to use them.

[@timowagner1329]

@@addictedfoolgamer1970 I dont want to be that guy, but cities skylines became soo much more when I got used to the first mods. But I can understand why you would not want to use them :)

[@addictedfoolgamer1970]

@@timowagner1329 I dont want to either. there's room for modded and unmodded - it's about preference not a war haha. I had all the common mods, hundreds of additional, they're so damn useful. Just a few went wrong and i lost stuff and lost the will to keep trying. I def miss some of them. But i've so many games to play that Vanilla is enough without looking into mods and keeping them up to date. You can see it in the pure rage people feel when mods that their game hinges on go wrong after updates or DLC. I don't have that anymore, and i 'survive' without mods.

[@TheDegan79]

@@addictedfoolgamer1970 Move it should be integrated into vanilla. It's hands down the most simple game changing mod out there.

[@Sweet05cts]

Ive got 900 hours on console, over 1500 on pc - TODAY I just learned 6 new things I didn't know. Thank you Imperatur!

[@osets2117]

Once again proving your mastery over this game, that multi tiered waterfront looked amazing

[@jo2832]

Sometimes in vanilla I use the monorail track to look like bridge supports looks like a under construction or destroyed bridge you just make a two way monorail track that Is around the length of a 4 way road and line up the pillars at the same height. Just adding to what I said before using the industry's dlc by using the odd shore mining plant and medium size mining crane look gold with it aloa adding a few level one mining site for the excavators. Also adding ore storage sites near it and a road or bridge leading up to it are good too.👍

[@imperatur]

Daaaamn! Didn’t thought about that That looks exactly like american road construction projects!!

[@jo2832]

@@imperatur 😊 thanks!

[@HalfMoonHunter]

Thank you so much Imperatur for still coming with vanilla inspirations and ideas, even after so many years! Thank you for not getting bored about this and feed us with your discoveries! Thank you for still demonstrating that good vision, calculations and thinking can overcome many mods! Thank you for your love to the community! Wish you all the best!!!

[@Jim.Hummel]

You've got nice tips!! I loved the metro station directly in front of the train station. Using the 2 small commercial buildings tied it all together very naturally. Well done!!

[@erikverboom5383]

The one with the train station with the shops in front blew my mind, definitely gonna use that.

[@HilcoKlinkert]

Holy cow, after so many years, still new tricks up your sleeve. Hats off!

[@ronthedon1945]

Now this a quality of life tips & tricks video that I'm satisfied with. I just started playing the game 1 - 2 months ago on console and I have been learning many ways to improve overall, but some videos require you to sit through 30 minutes to an hour which I don't have. This video was only 10 minutes and I have learn a lot of neat stuff especially the fact I can delete the road for bus stations, transits and metros and replace them with paths.

[@ronthedon1945]

My tip would be to not give up on the game early. There's more to learn and improve when building a city. It won't be perfect the first and console isn't as refined as pc with/without mods. Also, if you can't afford the natural diasters dlc I just use incinerator plants and empty out the landfill. It is a long, annoying proccess but it's better than nothing.

[@Myckelin]

0:38 you deserve heaven for this part ❤️🌆

[@imperatur]

Haha 😇😂

[@jas_creates]

Wow! This video is everything! I never knew any of these tips before. Will definitely save this to keep these tips in mind. Thanks for this!

[@davidboulton6980]

The vanilla stuff is so useful for console players, thanks for these use them daily

[@imperatur]

Nicee:)

[@iamnotthemuffinman]

💯

[@gumbyshrimp2606]

These tips and tricks significantly improved my vanilla city!

[@imperatur]

Awesome:))

[@nonenone3548]

Great video as always! Keep up with the good work 🙂

[@imperatur]

Thanks buddy:)

[@Myne1001]

Not really a building trick, more of a decorative & traffic control trick: office zones generate virtually no traffic. They are great as filler buildings in built up areas especially along busy roads with high volumes of traffic. They also of course provide jobs & IT cluster offices generate goods without causing traffic.

[@johndoh6584]

@CityPlannerPlays I would love you to use tip number 8 for Verde Beach downtown waterfront 🥰

[@BruceRichardsonMusic]

These are all REALLY good tips!! Bravo, @Imperatur!!

[@auditguy85]

Great tips & tricks! I'm about to start a new city, so it's very usefull for me! thanks. I'm watching your videos for a while and I'm impressed what you can do with your cities!

[@juan_wavv]

I can not believe that "two tiles away of the road" advice, all this hours of game and i didn't realize you can do that. Incredibly useful, thank you.

[@pluxauag7555]

Use fencing to redesign the tiles next to roads, say curves, forcing the squares as you want them. Fencing is critical for building precision.

[@hackarma2072]

If you could elaborate, I'd be happy to use this trick

[@terrellrogers7645]

I discovered a little hack for added realism, if you want to add school zones around your city (like real life when traffic has to slow down in the morning & afternoon near schools) 1- Create your school 2-Using P&P DLC paint a small district around your school 3-Set your speed policy 4-Now you have a school zone around your school (fun thing if you want to up the ante, if you play with day/night cycle, you can turn off the policy close to sunset and turn it on at sunrise 😝)

[@itok1314]

Does vanilla mean the base game because I have the base game and I do not have any disaster panel available to me.

[@yamabushisama]

Go to option and turn on disasters.

[@thanakrithome4339]

Yes Vanilla is the base game

[@M4urcy]

​@@yamabushisama you need yo buy it first

[@DingoXBX]

6:56 just wow that looks amazing

[@starrwulfe]

I got 5832 assets and 90 mods… but I still use a ton of these vanilla tips in my city. Thanks for the tips over the years!

[@purevsurenbyamba6105]

The biggest reason I like the disasters dlc is that you can destroy a landfill/cemetary with the sinkhole or the collapse feature

[@dryvoutcm]

Holy cow that was actually a very informative video. Thanks!

[@arjanvroom8363]

You're so patient and motivated and really good at detailing im so jealous 😭

[@MellowGirl2000]

I spit my gatorade everywhere while watching the first 10 seconds. The incline thing is just too accurate and the sound effect made it so much better

[@blueeyedbaer]

Fantastic tips! You're the king of vanilla building.

[@imperatur]

I‘m glad to hear that!:D

[@pamatto1784]

Would love to see a walkthrough or list of all your visual mods and settings. Have been trying to use the same theme but a hard time getting the same results. It looks awesome!

[@Jurreruth]

Yesss been struggling with the same

[@jagnes632]

I watch your videos and I am always like vanilla is so easy and no bugs!! But them I think of not being able to use move it and I'm like "NO WAY!" I love your work and wish I could even imagine the cities you build. Thanks for the great content!!

[@ArchTeryx00]

These are excellent techniques *even with mods.* The mods just make placing things a little easier, but it's outstanding that you develop these workarounds for vanilla players (especially console players). You can have a city that you'd swear was modded without needing a single mod - just a few DLCs. Now combine that with the new vanilla assets (like the trams - imagine a tram line at the base of one of those multilevel waterfronts!) and you'd have a city that a player from 2015 wouldn't even recognize any more. You are a builder in an entirely different league.

[@zsoltszegedi8995]

Wow I might start a new save after learning all these tricks! Some of these are game changers, thanks for these!

[@azuarc]

I was expecting this to all be either stuff I knew or detailing-exclusive tips. Surprised to find there were some legit useful things here I didn't know. Pity #9 won't work for growables, especially when Move It exists. Love the 2-tile gap with filler in front; I thought one tile was the limit, like when you downgraded a road. I might play with quays a little more now.

[@ChiSoxEdits]

Number 8 by far my favorite one. This adds so much style and character to your city. Need to get the DLc

[@christopherparisho5844]

A lot of this is great but those of us who play on the console version of the game have limits that PC players don’t. I’m going to try as many of these as I can in my builds. My one request for future videos are used to slow down the presentation just a little bit so that we can both read the words on the screen and watch what you’re doing.

[@nnarum]

I have like 2000 hours, and had no clue. Great stuff!

[@imperatur]

🙏🏻☺️

[@arniexanchez]

5 years of sitting and waiting for a cemetery to be empty to continue a redevelopment, finally over

[@robbertluiken7780]

Have my share of experience in this game, but this blew my mind. A lot of content creators i follow could use these tips and tricks🙈 especially the first 3... Wauw🧡

[@robertbaker4186]

A real professional, you're the best, by a very long way

[@imperatur]

Hehe:)

[@gamer1X12]

the train station segment melted my brain. 1,000 IQ. I never would've discovered that by myself

[@OettesCities]

Ok, I knew 9 of 10, but number 3 is really good, so I have to look, where I can place it... 😁😁😁 And as always, well done mate... 👍👍👍

[@imperatur]

Thanks bro:)

[@thatonefriend500]

I've been playing this game for a long time (console) and still learned some amazing things that I was able to put into my recent build thanks to this video.

[@EliteInExile]

I guess a tip from me would be to continue checking out videos like this. With CS2 so short a time away I'm far too excited to see just what other amazing things we can pull out of tricking the game. My most favorite of all features in the upcoming sequel are vanilla road tool improvements! No more tedious interchange work! They have a dedicated highway type to make those smooth offramps (I hope to see the same for all road types as well especially), proper parallel building with adjustable distances. Roundabouts, and less tedious methods of creating your grid areas! City planning and building will be so so much better. On top of that the services are no longer gonna be dotting my cities with every corner! (Exaggerating, but you get the idea), but you know what, the entire game as it is will be amazing in pure vanilla. Too frickin hyped!!

[@BrunoTorres441]

You can do a Olympic Park on your vanilla serie, and also cream an history saying something like in "due a problem in Paris we will do the Olympic Games of 2024"

[@D4N13L3151NK]

I wish I could double like this one. Quality as usual; but it's nice to so one of these concrete (pun slightly intended) tutorials - in your excellent style - again.

[@3timesdavid190]

You sir are a monster. Nice job as always.

[@thomasmainstone9808]

I made the mistake of buying City Skylines on a sale...on the Epic Games Store. No mods, no steam workshop. But there's something about just having the vanilla game that forces you then to be creative with solutions. I have a lot of custom park designs, and custom interchanges that I've created after hours of tinkering that are unique to my city. I'll admit, hand-placing thousands of trees (I wish I was exaggerating) and other individual assets in parks, backyards, and between districts is probably why my "magnum opus" city has taken the better part of a year to create, but honestly it just makes me all the more prouder of it!

[@starwave8228]

The Quay one @ 6:00 another way you can use that is between grass and the sand & have people walk down the steps onto the beach , i really like the way you used that one, gotta remember that for when i next play C:S

[@daniellxnder]

Even number 1 already blows my mind! Awesome vanilla 'hacks'! 💯 I accidentally discovered number 3 when I downgraded the road in front of my train station from 4 units to 2 units one but didn't know it could still function 2 units away from roads!

[@Simaritan]

Bravo! I've been playing for years and I'm totally gobsmacked with this awesome video wondering YTF I hadn't found all this out before.

[@lordrork5884]

Even for us filthy mod players, some of these are quite useful ideas. The neat looking waterfront with the arched bridge and the path-based park in particular!

[@gp5313]

I would really love to see you building a highway T and making it as much gorgeous as you can!

[@bazzakrak]

Ahhh yes, this is another great video from the master himself. Keep em coming, will enjoy all your vidz sipping from my Noob mug 😘😘

[@imperatur]

Aww thanks buddy❤️

[@bazzakrak]

You are welcome@@imperatur People should also check out this, a littler older video out, the first tip I have used plenty of times myself, the angled metro stops. kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3eQdml6bN-iftU&ab_channel=imperatur

[@dh42157]

Bro been watching other vids and stumbled upon you since a long time and you’re still the best at it

[@arturobandini4078]

Love tip number 3!

[@CardboardArm]

Surely I know all vanilla tricks by now, I thought. These are amazing!

[@memexpert]

Whatever structure that's built over the destroyed cemetery will for sure be haunted by hundreds of ghost cims lmao

[@zerioification]

I'm not sure I understand the second part of no. 8. Same for under the bridge?

[@imperatur]

Yeah but not as much as with the quay

[@Wasbever_14]

These will probably help a lot of people

[@svis6888]

Thanks ! That helps a lot

[@imperatur]

Great :))

[@guy_autordie]

That 2 tiles tricks, extented with the curve road is the best thing i've seen. I was already amazed when I saw the first your 4u road trick to give space to the building when you changed the road to a 2u. I was: "wait!!! .... What???? ... No way!" Still haven't use it. I need more patience for that, said by the guy who watch his city for one hour and do a 10/15min thingy and next, roam around for 45min. X)

[@_RandomPea]

#8...how you stumble on stuff like that is just ridiculous... That looks awesome!

[@FinDeluxe]

One trick to make intercepting grids between non-parallel, tightly-spaced roads cleaner, is to add a fence on one of the roads.

[@bgirlpamsolo]

Hiya do you have a link to anywhere that I could see? I'm having a hard time trying to picture it (soz, I'm autistic!

[@FinDeluxe]

@@bgirlpamsolo sorry, I don't know any video that has it. I'll try to explain it otherwise. Fences come with the parks or industry dlc. You can put a fence next to a road to block a grid from appearing. If you have a straight road, a parallel fence with the road can block the grid from the side of the road it is placed on. This is useful if you are building roads close to each other. If you put two roads next to each other, their grids can overlap. Let's imagine that they are separated by a 6 grid length and are not perfectly aligned. Now one of the parallel roads has a 2 square width grid and the other 3 square width grid. If you put the fence next to one of the roads, it blocks the grid on that side while the remaining one gains a 4 block width grid. Let me know if this clarified at all :D! You can block one road in the dense road network with a fence, and a grid will only appear on the other road.

[@FactFuse_TV]

00:38, Now thats a human rights violation.

[@imperatur]

Hahah

[@IlnickiStudios]

Really clean and effective montage. Hats off to you

[@usernameiphone3gkid]

Ive been waiting for a video like this from you for a while even though i knew a lot of them. I also knew there were going to be a few things i didnt know, which was the case, cause youre a beast bruh sheeeiiitttt

[@knarf2570]

Great stuff even for players with mods. Nice Work - thanks. Especially the metro station in front of the train station was great.

[@andiili]

Did you can make bridges with no pilars by first building The Road you want to turn in to bridge, then make sure that there are no notes in The midle of The Part you want to turn in to bridge, then lower The ground so you can upgade Road to some other Road and it will turn in to bridge. By this tactic you can make realy short bridges in thigth spaces. I realy like using this tactic my self

[@tigonologdring9189]

You play this game how long and _still_ you learn fresh stuff! Brilliant as ever Imperatur...

[@Tibicsoki80]

5 out of 10 are known, but you do it better. Thank You ! God bless from Hungary.

[@jeremylee3502]

Such a hacker! Imperator is a cheat mode all by itself. His Vanilla looks gorgeous af. Mine looks like it was built by my 8y.o. nephew.

[@MrBatiga]

Thank you :) always inspiring videos, i have done highway cover like yours and it looks great

[@佳石まこと]

NO.3 changed my city to be more comfortable. Thank you.

[@davidglenn2739]

You are a freaking wizard! Thank you. I might recommend to slow it down a bit because it looks like you're using some hotkeys and got it down to an art and folks with less experience may get lost. I had to rewind several times to see what you were doing. Maybe I'm just slow... :)

[@calyodelphi124]

Imperatur the effin' GOAT with all of these vanilla C:S tips and tricks! :D These tricks are still handy to have even if you play modded on PC, too!

[@Bambi298_LP]

Mega coole Tricks👍🏻 Kannte ich noch gar nicht. Die muss ich unbedingt umsetzen 😁 Vielen Dank für's zeigen🤝🏻

[@ttvrs1059]

These are some amazing tips! Thank you so much!

[@memexpert]

My jaw literally dropped when seeing the road being built next to the quay

[@justinamerican8200]

7:26 LOL this sound is exactly how you feel when that happens. 🤣

[@darkwoodmovies]

That train station is more beautiful than anything I've ever built in my 7 years of playing this game lol

[@OmikronTitan]

6:26 I was all like... "Okay, that's pretty cool." Then the be honest question of its "coolness" followed immediately. ._.

[@imperatur]

😬

[@KindandDarkOne]

Overcharged Egg would most certainly love these tips :) as do i thank you

[@sureshprajapatiKP]

Bhai aap genius ho is game ke without any mod use wonderful 💡

[@DarKKlusteR]

Thanks for some of the tips. Would you be willing to do like a "How to start your city" video for the end of 2022? Like without unlimited money and what not.

[@Karoti]

The best tips I've ever seen, thank you.

[@CitiesByDiana]

Amazing tips! ❤️

[@imperatur]

Thanks! Love your content as well, so well made:)

[@CitiesByDiana]

@@imperatur ohh thank you so much ❤️

[@MaartenvanHeek]

Hey Imperatur, do you use shortcuts? I always see you click snapping. I didn't play for a while, I prefer to watch others play better now lol. But if I'm building something, I find changing between snap toggles so bothering that I assigned keyboard shortcuts to those, saves a lot of mouse moves! From the top of my head, ctrl-G for grid, ctrl-R for road guidelines, etc. One for each. I think the game only came with a default (tab) to toggle all snapping?

[@Luky-LP]

i love the german memes in your videos

[@imperatur]

Haha nice:D