Welcome to this edition of Paula’s Game Ramblings; you can find the previous Paula’s Game Ramblings here.
You may have heard that Cities: Skylines II has been released, and I’ve been busy building cities. For these ramblings, we are going to do something different. One of the new functions in CS2 is the Lifepath Journal, where you can follow a citizen’s (cim’s) life journey as they grow up and live in your city.
Additionally, following a cim entails adding them to the journal and checking in with them occasionally. Every cim in the city has access to Chirper, Cities: Skylines II version of in-game Twitter. Via Chirper, they can tell you how their life is going and….their complaints about the city.
So I thought it would be fun to follow a random victim, I mean citizen, and see what they get up to in a growing city.
Lifepath Journal in Cities: Skylines II
Alexander Saunders (Alex) is a young boy who lives with his parents, Oscar and Jean Saunders, in Harrington. Harrington is a thriving city in Lakeland, an area of calm water with numerous lakes of similar shapes and many smaller islands. The landscape is flush with plenty of forests; it’s warm in summer and cold in winter.
When we first meet Alex, he has just moved into the city with his parents, who live at 38 Fairview Street.
Alex’s father, Oscar, has a well-paid job at Indie Lizard, a software company; his mother, Jean, is a manager at Kapine, a convenience store. Their home is in a modest apartment block close to the city centre with plenty of parks nearby for Alex to play in with his friends.
During the day, Alex attends the local elementary school; he is a pretty smart boy and does well in school work. Once a year, Alex and his parents travel to the airport to go on holiday to a far-flung place with a hotter climate than their home city.
The Life of a Sim: Alex Has Grown
I left Alex and his family to get on with life for a while as I built up the city. The next time I checked in with Alex, he had grown up and progressed in his education by attending the High School.
After paying attention to the needs of the citizens in Harrigton and expanding the city overall, it was time to visit Alex and his family again.
By now, Alex’s parents are still working. However, Alex decided to further his education by going to university. It is a daily commute across the city to the university on the subway and by bus. Soon after, when I checked on him again, he had announced on Chirper that he had moved house. This time, he was living in a swish upmarket apartment block on the other side of the city and had left the family home. While living in the apartment, Alex visited the local entertainment spot, Yaxu, with his friends for a drink.
Alex Makes a Big Announcement
Shortly after, Alex had big news to impart and chirped that Genesis Morrison had agreed to marry him…aww!.
Unfortunately, we don’t get to see the wedding in the game. However, when I went and checked on Alex again, they had married and were living in the posh area of town where the more expensive houses were.
So, things were going well for our citizen and his wife; they had good jobs and were wealthy. Later, after building some more services for the citizens of Harrington, I looked to see what our family was up to.
Quite a few years have passed, and Alex and his wife now have a family of one: a son they named Stephen. Stephen is at university, and they also have a pet dog named Queenie. Alex is now working at Spasm, an electronics firm and is due to retire soon. It’s safe to say that Alex and his family and the other 85,000 residents in Harrington are living their best lives.
Have you gotten you interested in Cities: Skylines II? Find it here on Steam