Only games I personally enjoy are the ones you can mod. I like being able to tweak the game to my own preference. The only exceptions to games I enjoyed without mods is Ultima 7 (while it has some mods, its not intensive) and warlords battlecry 1/2 and 3 (except battlecry 3 does have an expansion style mod that is HUGE). And the Civilization series I can play without mods, even the modern ones. Outside of those...I haven't found much enjoyment in games you can't mod. But every moddable game my enjoyment increases a TON.
With that aside...
Pretty much sold on the game anyways. Been watching a lot of videos, and it isn't just showing things off like some companies do (or worse, those "open beta" (sure, not tricking me) MMOs that only let you play 2-3 days a week (only to generate hype)...every one of those has crashed and burned). I don't see the developers really spending anything on marketing like used cars sales man style gaming that a lot of AAA companies do. Pretty much as far as I can see, all the "marketing" is actually from the players themselves, which I like a lot better than some used cars sales man deciding to switch jobs and market some game.
What I see, is actual gameplay from actual people playing. And everything I have seen, I pretty much already know I'm gonna enjoy this. Some videos try to oversell things, but this is actual let's play kind of things I am watching. I already know I'll enjoy this, so there is no risk (for me) for preordering. Maybe there will be issues in the later game, but I have watched over 7 hours of videos (over 10 hours when I am done with the newest videos today), and I can tell this is exactly my type of game.
I imagine there will be a lot of DLC, but there will be a lot of free content too. And I actually kind of like DLC that CK2 and EU do...because like Skyrim (which is my #1 played game), the developers just abandon the game really quick and let modders fix things. Thats one reason I play MMOs, as long as its running, I see more content. I actually REALLY like all the DLC for CK2. Its like playing a MMO almost, in that I always keep seeing new "updates".
As for my plans...my first "city" will be a bunch of villages (sort of) and large towns in a mountain map. I hope the mountain map is good for a mountain town kind of theme. Otherwise I'll most likely just make my own map. I think they said there will be a map editor, and I actually already have plans for what map I am going to make. That may end up being the very first thing I do.
I want kind of a quiet kind of mountain town network, with a focus on preserving the natural beauty of the map. So there will be a lot of farms in the flatter areas, and a lot of "nature" kind of things to it, as much as the game allows. Except maybe ONE downtown kind of area depending what the map has available, I'll make everything else small and quiet. I'll probably make the bigger town something like a tourist kind of area that a lot rural towns have. So there won't be really much people living there (a few), but mostly commercial stuff that people can go buy cheap made items for more than its worth
And every tourist town has a lot of cops (sherrifs actually), so I'll be sure to have a police station nearby lol