I’m over 100 hours into this fantastic game now and I have a few ideas for suggestions so I’m going to start this thread and keep adding to it when I have time.
So without further ado…
AABB Selection Tool
This has to be my biggest want. The ability to drag out an AABB and select multiple buildings and roads. Then the ability to delete or move them all together. Cut, copy and paste would also be amazing.
Blueprints
This would go well with the above. I’d like to be able to store a layout of buildings and roads in a blueprint library then build them from the library. I’d like that library to be accessible across different saves too. As a bonus there could be a website where I could share my blueprints and download blueprints from other players.
I think it would be nice to have a map view of the area with ore deposits and terrain shown. I’d then like the ability to add annotations to the map. I think this would help when planning a city and where production areas could be placed. Perhaps also when double clicking a place on the map the map will close and the game camera will go to the place where I clicked.
Mini map
A much smaller and simpler map shown in the UI. Clicking on the mini map should move the game camera to the location clicked. This will greatly speed up navigation. Ideally the option to minimise and/or hide the mini map entirely would be great.
I’d like the ability to raise, lower and level terrain. Destroy and build cliffsides and tunnel through them. Also being able to remove and possibly then replace ore deposits. Or at least hide the ore deposits if I build a road or building on them as currently the road will be burried by ore and then I can’t view the junctions to manage them.
I don’t think terraforming should be free or easy though. Perhaps expensive and time consuming so it’s only used when really needed.
I would love a way to cancel delivery of resources to a building/group of buildings if I’ve created a new source and district and the iridium is lost on a train somewhere.
Also a way to see where the resources are when in transit would be cool.
I’d like the ability to adjust production controls per district but also the ability to completely disable buildings. It would be great if I could select a whole group of buildings and disable/enable them together. When disabled a building shouldn’t request any resources or consume electricity and jobs. An icon showing which buildings are disabled would then be very useful.
Find resources being delivered
I think it would be useful if there was a button on the building details panel next to each incoming resource. When clicked it could pan the camera to show where that resource is in transit - that could be a truck, train or train storage. Pressing the button again would pan to the next resource in transit. This would be useful to see where resources are coming from and if they are stuck in traffic.
Maybe I should have posted this one sooner as it’s something I really want please.
Power poles are a bit of a bug bear for me they always seem to get in the way of my layouts. So I would love to be able to connect my substations with underground powerlines instead. They could work in the same way as pipes but allow me to connect power networks to sub stations. I think this would make power grids a lot neater and they are realistic too =D
Edit: Extra thought on this one. Perhaps buildings could be directly connected to the power grid with underground cables and then no need for sub stations… Not sure =]
I think it would be really cool for sandbox players to be able to choose from some standard maps instead of having one procedurally generated. There could be a map which is entirely flat open space with lots of resources around the edge aimed at just building the biggest city possible. And also the opposite of this something with real heavy terrain for a challenge. Then a variety of maps which just show off the upcoming biomes and are included because they are beautiful.
Perhaps there could then also be a map editor to allow players to create their own maps and a website where they can be uploaded and shared.
Lock building direction and rotation modifier keys
This is for when using the grid to build. Quite often when dragging a line of buildings I’ll move my mouse in the wrong direction and end up with one out of position. So I think it would be really handy if I could hold a modifier key whilst dragging to lock the direction. So if I start dragging in the x direction I can’t accidentally move my mouse in the y direction and vice versa.
The same goes for building rotation. Sometimes whilst dragging buildings the rotation will change (I think due to nearby roads). If I could hold another modifier key to prevent any rotation that would be helpful.
Please add tips that can be turned on / off but that inform the player of what an upgrade does before they chose it in the tech tree and what benefits it will bring. Also please add a select all categories in a territory so that if you want to export nothing you can clock the one arrow and select self rather than having to do it for every resource
Or a type of automatic power connection to the neighboring building at a distance of e.g. 2 grid areas.
That would be just as realistic as underground power cables.
I’d like a hotkey or a toggle so I can build roads in the opposite direction please. Quite often I want to lay the road from target back to source.
No road/pipe connected icons
Currently if a building is not connected to a road a warning icon is shown to indicate this. However some buildings don’t need roads at all and can be connected via pipes eg water pumps, oxygen producers etc. So I think it would be better for these buildings to show a no road/pipe connected warning and then when either a road or a pipe is connected the icon is removed.
Pipe network warnings
Similar to the ‘not enough power in grid x’ warnings but for pipes. If the supply goes below demand it would be useful to have a warning pop up so I can fix this before it starts causing big problems in my city.
I’d like the ability to adjust production controls per district but also the ability to completely disable buildings. It would be great if I could select a whole group of buildings and disable/enable them together. When disabled a building shouldn’t request any resources or consume electricity and jobs. An icon showing which buildings are disabled would then be very useful.
To me, this is a must. I have played about 20+ hours now. In that 10 hours I have ‘death spiraled’ 2-3 times. Each time I need to fiddle with worker econ sliders, in a vain attempt to get my worker’s needs met. I’d like to say this isn’t a huge deal, but it is. Since the sliders are global, I have districts with buildings that have workers in them, but arn’t useful.
I desperately need the ability to turn off entire districts. This way, when my own hubris causes calamity yet again, I can at least turn off my science, or specific regions making the higher tier goods.
On that note: District Based Housing Advancement
I think this game would benefit from a district toggle which would limit the housing advancement level.
Why is there a problem?
As current, lets assume you need 100 home robots to make all your houses happy. However, your town is only making 50. Who gets those 50? I don’t know and it feels random at best. This leads to a fairly bizarre situation where some homes upgrade (assuming their other needs are met) and others do not. Then, fast forward, those first set of homes do not have their needs filled as the other houses have theirs. They downgrade. This ping pong of upgrade/downgrade cause population loss, as when a home downgrades I think all the people in that building leave your town. While when upgrading, you have to wait for immigration to kick in and fill the vacancy. Repeat this over and over, and eventually your town declines in population leading to an even further decent in total population.
