Cities in Motion

Overview

Cities in Motion is a transport management simulation developed by Colossal Order and published by Paradox Interactive. It was released on February 22, 2011 for the PC, and a Mac version was released May 20, 2011. The game tasks the player to take charge of the public transport system in a city, and develop it to meet the needs of the city as it grows and develops through the years. Players can also make their own cities with a built in map editor.

A sequel, Cities in Motion 2, is set to be released Q2 2013.

Gameplay

In Cities in Motion, players are placed in charge of a public transport company in one of 4 European cities (with more cities available as DLC). Cities in Motion contains no city building; instead, players have to build their mass transit systems around the city's other infrastructure. However, the city does grow on its own, following the development of the city in real life. The game starts from 1920, although players can pick any year between 1920 to 2020 to start from in sandbox mode.

In addition to managing their routes, players will also have to monitor the economy; when the economy is doing well, people are willing to pay higher ticket prices, employees demand more money, new vehicles cost more, and loans have higher interest rates. Players will also need to observe gas and electricity prices, as both are needed to power their vehicles. Prices fluctuations might turn a once profitable route into an unprofitable one.

Vehicles and Routes

In Cities in Motion, there are 5 main modes of transport, each with different characteristics:

1. Buses: Cheap to build but restricted to roads. Traffic will severely worsen travel times and bus stops will stop cars behind the bus. A balance between location, number of buses/stops, and travel time is required.
2. Trams: More expensive than buses because players have to build the infrastructure (tram rail) but generally faster traveling and quicker loading/unloading than buses. Lines and stops can be placed off road (e.g. through plazas, alleys, parks, etc.).
3. Metro: Very expensive infrastructure and vehicles. Lines can go anywhere including underwater. Very fast load/unload times and stations have the largest catchment areas. Train lines can be below ground (most expensive), at ground level (cheapest), or elevated (middle) and can be switched within a line.
4. Water Bus: Expensive stations and ships, but cheaper than metro when crossing water.
5. Helicopter: Low capacity and expensive but fastest traveling speed and traffic-free (except at helipads). They are only available from 1957 onwards.

In addition, some DLC cities replace trams with new transportation options:

1. Monorail (Tokyo): A fast, cheap elevated rail system that can carry a lot of people. However, there is only a single track, so players have to organize their trains and place passing points.
2. Trolley Buses (New York, St. Petersburg): A slightly more expensive bus system that players have to lay caternary lines for, but is faster and can carry more people. Like trams, lines and stops can be placed off road.

Players have to use these modes of transportation to ferry passengers to their destinations, by planning and setting up routes to their transportation networks. Players have the ability to create new routes and delete old routes, build and assign stops and vehicles to their various routes, and set prices to tickets and wages to their workers. Passengers are smart enough to transfer between stations to get to their destination, so players only need to place stations in each others' catchment area for passengers to find a route to their final destinations. Travel time does not matter to the passengers, but they will get angry if they are left waiting at their stops for too long.

Cities

All cities in Cities in Motion are based on real cities, and grow and expand based on their historical development. Players cannot dictate the development of the city, and if their transport infrastructure conflicts with a scheduled development, they must move it or the game will forcibly remove it. There are 4 different sizes of cities: small, medium, large, and XL.

Cities in Motion shipped with 5 cities, a tutorial city and 4 European cities. Additional DLC cities are also available for purchase, and are not limited to European cities. All cities come with a campaign, where players have to complete quests set by the city's representative to achieve victory. Players can also play the cities in a sandbox mode, where they can build to their heart's content.

The cities in Cities in Motion are:

1. Amsterdam: Available in the base game, a small canal city with lots of bridges and waterways.
2. Berlin: Available in the base game, a large city divided into 2, due both to the river, and historical reasons.
3. Helsinki: Available in the base game, a medium city on a peninsula, with outlying islands.
4. Vienna: Available in the base game, a medium city with a tight historical inner city.
5. Tokyo: The first DLC city made available, a XL city based on the most populous metropolitan area in the world.
6. Munich: A free DLC city, a medium German city named after the monks who founded the city.
7. Cologne: A DLC city.
8. Leipzig: A DLC city.
9. New York: A DLC city.
10. San Francisco: A DLC city.
11. Ulm: A DLC city.
12. Paris: A DLC city.
13. St. Petersburg: A DLC city.

Vehicles List

All vehicles in Cities in Motion has a speed rating and a capacity rating, and are are usually available for purchase for a set time period. It is taken off the market after the date, but players can still use their purchased vehicles after that time period.

Base Vehicles

DLC Vehicles

DLC vehicles from vehicle packs are available regardless of year. Vehicles from city DLCs, however, are not.

Map Editor

Cities in Motion comes with a in-game map editor, where players can build any type of city using one of the city tilesets in the game. Players can terraform terrain, build roads and buildings, and even set up pre-existing transit routes to their city. However, the editor lacks the ability to set up timeline development (like the provided cities) or create customized quests. Transportation options are also limited to the city tileset it is using. There are mods that unlock timeline development in the editor.

Downloadable Content

Cities in Motion comes with many additional DLC, mostly in the form of vehicle packs and additional cities. All DLC vehicle packs add 5 new vehicles (of various types), and these vehicles are available regardless of year. DLC city packs come with 1 or more cities, a new campaign related to the city, and some new vehicles useable both in that city, and any other cities (unless they are tied to a unique transportation option). There is also an additional metro station pack which includes 2 new underground interchange stations for the metro.

System Requirements