War Skylines 2 mod for Cities Skylines 2 gets a global map, diplomacy, and 24 military research options

Modder AbeJustAbe has released the first major update for the playtest version of War Skylines II. The mod adds a layer of modern warfare and air defense to Cities: Skylines 2. You can grab it through Paradox Mods.

War Skylines II aims to give players a fully customizable military system with as much freedom as possible. The mod is still in playtest, currently sitting at build v0.1.1.44, so the creator warns of bugs, balance changes, and unfinished systems.

The first version already includes a set of real-world air defense systems, among them the Gepard, Pantsir, Patriot, THAAD, Phalanx C-RAM, and M-SAM. Cities face off against enemy drones, aircraft, and ballistic and hypersonic missiles. Missiles, interceptors, artillery fire, and plane hits and crashes are all handled as physical objects, with effects like flares, chaff, and smoke thrown into the mix.

The biggest addition in this update is a strategic world map with sections for operations, geopolitics, and news. Campaigns can start with a story preset, a dynamic preset, or a purely defensive one, letting players pick a country and city or run an independent city-state instead. A campaign calendar, national flags, military ratings, and fleet deployment have all been added too.

Diplomacy now covers several areas:

• trade and sanctions

• military cooperation

• intelligence and radar data sharing

• peace negotiations

Nations weigh proposals based on relations and how the conflict is going. Regional AI runs its own diplomacy, agreements are signed for a set duration, and breaking them comes with consequences.

News is now split into local, major, and world categories. Events come with illustrated newspaper inserts, response options, and an optional pause. There's also a news archive, breaking bulletins, and expanded diplomatic reports, plus more varied Chirper posts if you have the Custom Chirps mod installed.

The weapons procurement tree is now scrollable and scalable, with 24 functional research command nodes covering administration, intelligence, and military doctrine. Research takes time, progress saves, and duration can be adjusted.

The arsenal has grown with the SkySonic, HALCON SkyKnight, Tunguska, Biho, IRIS-T SLM, NASAMS 3, and Barak-8. The radar branch runs from the Swedish Giraffe AMB up to the TRML-4D. Crews gain experience, stats get saved, and you can set target priorities for each installation.

The visual side got a unified interface styled after military documents, all metal and paper. Explosions are now animated with shockwaves, dust, water spray, and airborne debris particles, and the temporary lighting they cast is brighter too. For performance, the mod adds effect pooling, simplified distant objects, and quality limits.

Combat audio has been reworked, with separate audio settings and siren preview added. Launchers are quieter now, while distant hits and intercepts are louder. Fixes include an issue with transfers to a city treasury with a negative balance, problems with settings and interface initialization, and issues with saving and processing multi-wave attacks.

The creator noted that the update took over a month to build, starting even before the first playtest launched, and that the changelog doesn't cover everything.

The mod already has plans for the future:

• expanded reconnaissance revealing enemy coordinates and targets for offensive operations

• player-controlled ballistic missile strikes, drone attacks, and airstrikes

• an economy and industry overhaul with military production, resources, and a still-unavailable industrial research branch

• deeper diplomacy with alliances and strategic consequences

The mod is under 300MB in size.