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Cities: Skylines 2 brings many updates and quality-of-life features for those avid builders. One is the new Development Tree, which allows players to choose which buildings and bonuses they want to unlock. At first, many would like to unlock the available ones at each level, yet we advise against that. Using your points to get a fantastic building might not be the best, as your city’s needs are constantly changing, especially during the game’s early hours. But don’t fret because here we’ve prepared a guide with the best Development Tree unlocks in Cities: Skylines 2.
The Best Development Tree Unlocks in Cities: Skylines 2
Each time your city levels up, you’ll get a few development points. At first, you’ll get only two, and at later levels, you’ll get four or more per level. This is great and useful but can also be tempting, especially if you want to see those fancy sports parks or tourist attractions. To avoid stalling your game after picking a not-so-ideal choice, here are the ones we recommend:
Hospital
You’ll soon notice most of your citizens complain about the healthcare system, and it’s understandable. Many things can affect them, and if you want to prevent your population from dropping like flies, building a Hospital is in order. You can unlock it in the Healthcare & Deathcare category, which will cost you 2 points.
Small Emergency Shelter
Natural disasters are active since you start the game; buying a DLC is unnecessary. While everything is fine and dandy, and you’ll see your people going to buy their morning coffee and jog at the park, a tornado can change things quickly. We recommend unlocking the Small Emergency Shelter upgrade as soon as possible to protect your citizens from harm. Building one doesn’t cost much; you only need one development point to unlock it in the Fire & Rescue tree of Cities: Skylines 2.
Firewatch Tower
Mother nature is always watching for ways to hinder your city’s progress, and one of those ways is by sending forest fires, or fires in general. While you can tackle them at first with a small fire station, we recommend unlocking the Firewatch Tower to prevent those fires from showing up or to have a faster response time. If the forest is far, your services will eventually take care of the fire. On the other hand, if it’s inside the city, it can be dangerous, so invest your points in the Fire & Rescue tree, as this upgrade only costs one point.
Welfare Office
Digital citizens also have a hard time finding jobs. Even if you clutter your map with Industrial or Commercial zones, you’ll need something for the less fortunate who can’t get a job or have a low income. A Welfare Office is perfect for this as it helps your low-income population and prevents crime. It is important to watch out for this, as people without a job can become criminals and affect the happiness of your city. You can get the building with one development point.
Tram
When you reach levels 5 and 6, you’ll start looking for ways to upgrade and expand your city. Since most things at those levels will become more expensive, you must find a way to generate income quickly, and transportation is the answer. While buses are a fantastic way to begin, we recommend unlocking the Tram system in the Transportation Development Tree of Cities: Skylines 2 to start building it. It looks slick and generates money, and your citizens will love it. So far, it’s one of the best systems in the game. Plus, it only costs two points to unlock.
Solar Power Plant
Provided you nailed the electric part of your city, and your power cables aren’t tangled, you might want to expand that service later to provide other places in your city with more energy. Yes, you can keep building Coal Power Plants, but pollution will affect your citizens. If possible, save four points to unlock the Solar Power Plant. As its name implies, it saves solar energy and sends it to the energy network at night to provide electricity. The bright side? It doesn’t generate any pollution.
Before we wrap up this guide, let’s go over the buildings you must unlock and in which order:
- Hospital
- Small Emergency Shelter
- Firewatch Tower
- Welfare Office
- Tram
- Solar Power Plant
If you want, you can unlock other facilities that fit your starting area better. Yet, we recommend sticking to the abovementioned ones as they’ll make your management time much easier. And if you want to learn more about this system, here’s a video by the developers that shows how this and other mechanics will work.
