This is not another "We need to be able to get more than 9 tiles!" post, but rather some alternative thinking on how we expand our city areas. We always hear of the limitations of the consoles, and I fully understand those limitations. So how can we utilize the same amount of space in those 9 tiles and allow for a bit more customization in our city planning, but still fall inside the limitations of the consoles?
Right now we are stuck with choosing the 9 square tiles that outline our city. Rather than having to choose 9 square tiles, I'd like to see the same mechanics ("painting") used to mark Districts and the later DLC packs (Parks, Industries, Campus) when expanding the city boundaries. I don't know how many square miles/km 9 tiles equals, but if we could paint our city boundaries instead of purchasing 9 huge tiles I believe we could still utilize the same amount of overall space while also adding the ability to customize the city outline we want while building inside the painted area. Comparing to the current model of buying an entire square tile, there are times that I want to be able to use a small portion of a tile, but I don't want to buy the entire tile because we only get 9. Painting your city area would give you the chance to use only the portions of the map that you want. If you don't want to choose the rugged mountain area to build on, you don't have to but we can still paint the area up to the edge of the mountains....if you don't want to choose a tile that is 90% water, but there is a sliver of land you want along the water, you can choose to paint only the land.
We could still have a starting square if needed with our initial highway connection, or maybe we have a much smaller starting area that includes just the highway connection area and we are given a certain allotment of space to paint initially to start your city. Then as you reach certain population milestones, you earn more square miles/km in your "land bank" to paint and expand your city outline. As you paint more space, the space you add/paint is deducted from your bank. At the end of the last milestone, the amount of space you have earned equals the same total area of our current 9 square tiles, but you can use it and paint it in any shape you'd like. I think this gives you so many more options on how and where to build, as well as using more areas of the maps. You could create one large painted area to build your city, or maybe you'd create a few smaller painted areas outside the main city to give the feel of smaller towns/suburbs. Using the pre-built highways and rail lines on the maps would allow you to build several smaller cities that are still connected for transportation and transporting goods, but now we can build them miles apart and have them act as separate entities/towns with their own power, water, etc. Last, I'd also add in the option to erase a painted area....how many times have you changed your mind about the direction of your city? Erasing a painted area would add that space back into your land bank to use elsewhere, and anything that was built in that erased area is destroyed just like un-zoning an area does currently.
Right now we are stuck with choosing the 9 square tiles that outline our city. Rather than having to choose 9 square tiles, I'd like to see the same mechanics ("painting") used to mark Districts and the later DLC packs (Parks, Industries, Campus) when expanding the city boundaries. I don't know how many square miles/km 9 tiles equals, but if we could paint our city boundaries instead of purchasing 9 huge tiles I believe we could still utilize the same amount of overall space while also adding the ability to customize the city outline we want while building inside the painted area. Comparing to the current model of buying an entire square tile, there are times that I want to be able to use a small portion of a tile, but I don't want to buy the entire tile because we only get 9. Painting your city area would give you the chance to use only the portions of the map that you want. If you don't want to choose the rugged mountain area to build on, you don't have to but we can still paint the area up to the edge of the mountains....if you don't want to choose a tile that is 90% water, but there is a sliver of land you want along the water, you can choose to paint only the land.
We could still have a starting square if needed with our initial highway connection, or maybe we have a much smaller starting area that includes just the highway connection area and we are given a certain allotment of space to paint initially to start your city. Then as you reach certain population milestones, you earn more square miles/km in your "land bank" to paint and expand your city outline. As you paint more space, the space you add/paint is deducted from your bank. At the end of the last milestone, the amount of space you have earned equals the same total area of our current 9 square tiles, but you can use it and paint it in any shape you'd like. I think this gives you so many more options on how and where to build, as well as using more areas of the maps. You could create one large painted area to build your city, or maybe you'd create a few smaller painted areas outside the main city to give the feel of smaller towns/suburbs. Using the pre-built highways and rail lines on the maps would allow you to build several smaller cities that are still connected for transportation and transporting goods, but now we can build them miles apart and have them act as separate entities/towns with their own power, water, etc. Last, I'd also add in the option to erase a painted area....how many times have you changed your mind about the direction of your city? Erasing a painted area would add that space back into your land bank to use elsewhere, and anything that was built in that erased area is destroyed just like un-zoning an area does currently.
Upvote
0
