So we are all aware of how broken the simulation is in the game - people often describe the game as more of a city builder than a simulation. Whilst it definitely has come a long way since launch, I think the game really needs a specific, but massive, fix to how it handles logistics when it comes to last mile deliveries to our commercial zones.

I've been playing the game for somewhere over 3,200 hours now and what I've noticed is that the game currently works on a 'pull' system where when shops run out of goods to sell, they send out a lorry or van to either an industrial zone, cargo port, or worse, an outside connection. That lorry will have to drive all the way to where it has located the resource it needs just to collect a single load.

Anyone who has ever worked in retail will tell you that this is just not how it works.

I work in a Co-op store (a supermarket chain in the UK for those unaware) and I can promise you, my shop does not own an 18-wheeler, semi-truck, or any other delivery vehicle. We don't send the cashier out to the docks to pick up a fresh cage of produce when we run out. In the real world, we receive our deliveries from a Co-op depot based under an hour's drive on the motorway. Generally speaking, though, stores receive their good from wholesalers. Essentially, a single lorry leaves a warehouse and does a 'milk run,' taking multiple loads from a warehouse/wholesaler and dropping off a number of cages or pallets at shop 1, moving to shop 2 to drop off their load, and rinse and repeat a maybe 3 more times before returning back to the warehouse. The wholesaler/warehouse itself receives deliveries from the manufacturers to distribute to stores. Ultimately one vehicle, multiple stops.

In CS2, those 5 shops all send our their own individual lorries to for 5 separate trips. This is just a logistical disaster and clogs up every single road in our cities and sending them into a traffic death spiral, with ambulances, hearses, and other service vehicles stuck forever in a long line of traffic, no matter how robust your road network is.

My proposal: Wholesaler zones

It was a really promising sign to see Colossal Order introduce the Cargo Storage Yards before their departure, but its kind of a band-aid solution on a Colossal gaping wound. We really need a 'push' system.

It would be amazing if we could get Iceflake's attention on this as they have proven that they listen to the community with all the improvements and communication they have made, and I really think they should do this instead:

• Factory zones to produce and ship goods in bulk to local hubs
• Wholesaler zones to accept bulk shipments and generate consolidated milk run routes.
• Commercial zones should stop spawning in their own lorries and become receivers only.

Here's why I think this is the most compelling fix for the game:

• We want our cities to not only look pretty, but to also mimic real life.
• We want the strategic depth and the mechanical necessity of a warehouse-type zone. Hell, we could probably do away with the current vanilla spawnable warehouses if we had a wholesaler zone.
• You would actually have to plan your supply chain.

TLDR: I work in retail and CS2's logistics are totally wrong. Currently, every shop, no matter how large or small, 'pulls' goods by spawning it's own lorry to drive across the map to collect them. This causes a big traffic death spiral even in the most robust road networks. In real life, shops are receivers of wholesalers that do 'milk runs' (one trip, multiple stops). I'm urging, BEGGING Iceflake to add a 'Wholesalers' zone and change the pull system to a 'push' system.