Commercials are so underdeveloped and lack any depth

[Power Sword]

What I would like to actually see:
- being able to pick which type of commercial you want to build: gas stations, clothing stores, groceries, etc.
- having to carefully place them in strategic locations
- being able to see how many customers they get per day and what's their monetary balance

Anything else you think commercials are lacking at the moment?

[Jokom]

Would be cool to build a mall. zone like 15x15 and a mall pops up.

[Power Sword]

Originally posted by Jokom:

Would be cool to build a mall. zone like 15x15 and a mall pops up.

Not only cool but it is NECESSARY. The game was advertised as having "depth". There's no depth in randomly placing blue building without having control over them. I have 3 gas stations next to each other. What do they do? What's the point?

It's just smoke and mirrors, a pretty picture without meaningful mechanics behind it.

[mackster]

You can influence commercial somewhat, by reducing the tax a lot for a certain industry. Then zone and you will get a higher chance of that industry being built. Still a little hit and miss. Dont forget to reset the tax tho once you have what you need

[Bitula]

I wouldn't want the first two, since that would be a different game type. But the third one, yeah I would want that and in general I would like to see much more indicators than currently exist.

[Power Sword]

Originally posted by Bitula:

I wouldn't want the first two, since that would be a different game type. But the third one, yeah I would want that and in general I would like to see much more indicators than currently exist.

You mean a game type where your careful strategy actually matters? Yea, we can't have that in C:S it seems. God forbid.

[Bitula]

No I mean that would break the point of zoning, where you get-what-you-get is a factor in the simulation and a challenge how to handle it. Plopping down individual production buildings at strategic places is more similar to Anno concept, which is different type of game.

[Power Sword]

Originally posted by Bitula:

No I mean that would break the point of zoning, where you get-what-you-get is a factor in the simulation and a challenge how to handle it. Plopping down individual production buildings at strategic places is more similar to Anno concept, which is different type of game.

I understand, but still, stores, gas stations etc are strategically important, and having to ensure that there is enough of either would make the gameplay deeper.

[tycoonmike]

So... Tropico?

But in all seriousness, you're a city planner. What difference does it make to you if some poor schmuck puts up a gas station along a road with ten other options? I agree that asset variety is sorely lacking right now, but criticising a game for doing something that its predecessor (and, frankly, city builders made in its style including the SimCities pre-2013, and no, Societies doesn't count) did is a bit much.

[Max.p]

Right now indeed you created a nice little high income resi, with lovely houses with sea view, on the other side you have gas stations and something that looks like any suburban outlet. That's bad.

[Power Sword]

Originally posted by tycoonmike:

So... Tropico?

But in all seriousness, you're a city planner. What difference does it make to you if some poor schmuck puts up a gas station along a road with ten other options? I agree that asset variety is sorely lacking right now, but criticising a game for doing something that its predecessor (and, frankly, city builders made in its style including the SimCities pre-2013, and no, Societies doesn't count) did is a bit much.

The why do I have to carefully consider locations for hospital, police precincts, fire depts, etc ? ;-)

I do understand your point tho... don't agree with it completely, but you have a point.

[tycoonmike]

Originally posted by Power Sword:

Originally posted by tycoonmike:

So... Tropico?

But in all seriousness, you're a city planner. What difference does it make to you if some poor schmuck puts up a gas station along a road with ten other options? I agree that asset variety is sorely lacking right now, but criticising a game for doing something that its predecessor (and, frankly, city builders made in its style including the SimCities pre-2013, and no, Societies doesn't count) did is a bit much.

The why do I have to carefully consider locations for hospital, police precincts, fire depts, etc ? ;-)

I do understand your point tho... don't agree with it completely, but you have a point.

That isn't the gotcha that you think it is. City governments do that anyways and have direct control over where their utilities are located. Your city/state/province statutes may differ, but eminent domain is what you're referring to.

Now, the ability to dictate what gets built where could very easily be built into the game. You'd need a Planning Permission system. People, companies, and corporations would petition the government (you) for the permission to build in a particular area.

For every. Single. Building. Zoned. Residential, commercial, industrial, and office uses. A click-through required for every. Single. Building.

I can guarantee you that you would get bored out of your mind after 30 minutes of wading through the red tape of the now-better-simulated government bureaucracy. The abstraction helps get rid of a lot of that. The abstraction is necessary to get people actually playing the game.

And thinking on it, if memory serves ploppable zoned buildings are a thing in the dev tools if you want to go *that* nitty-gritty with it.

[Stealthy]

City doesn't dictate what company operates where, where things are sold etc. Only in general planning where stuff gets dedicated to commercial use. Some exceptions are activities needing some form of permission, like gas stations. Those will have a dedicated plot in the general zoning plan. But that's it.

And this game is about planning a city in general level. No need to get involved in details too much. There will be another RICO mod in the future, so plopping people can then plop as much as they want.