Spent the evening adding a few different things, inter-z-level movement is in, but without collision detections yet. I also added in a handful of texture layers, so now a particular tile can convey 4 different layers of information via texture including, original terrain, any vegetation that exists there, any roads, and any construction. I also made clumps generate as a type, so you have entire clumps of sand and entire clumps of grass, this will eventually be able to be turned into something more varied, where grassland clumps would have mostly grass, with a few hills and possibly a mountain tile, or they could be more plains, where its mostly flat grassland. I'm feeling pretty comfortable with the movement and collection of tiles at this point, so I might start working on the gameplay of the airland management itself before long.
Floating around collecting tiles feels like a freeform tetris, and its actually pretty easy to space out and realize you just spent 10 minutes collecting tiles. I'll probably add in a way for you to cut loose a tile you don't wish to have. One of the things that I need to consider with this is the idea of someone throwing out a tile that is completely encased within their airland. I've thought of just always having loose chunks float to the z level above, which would get rid of most issues. I'm also thinking of having a toggle that the player can turn off their airland's stickiness, so that when managing their affairs, passing clumps will bounce off rather than collect on the perimeter.