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[Kagus]

So I was recently playing the demo to "Children of the Nile: Enhanced Edition" when it crashed and wiped about five hours of work.  What intrigued me the most was that I immediately felt the urge to start it up again and start from scratch, even though it was past midnight.

I figured it would probably be best to leave it alone, and instead play one of the City-building games I actually own tomorrow.

There's one slight hitch with this...  All the ones I have use that nutty system where you have service people rigidly following the streets, utterly incapable of choosing their own direction, unless they're hauling a wheelbarrow full of fish or are enrolled in the military.

What I liked about CoTN was that the people could walk around on their own.  You didn't even need streets at all, they could just walk between the buildings most of the time (I say most because there were a few times when the pathfinding would freak out and I'd be stuck with a couple royal servants trying to walk through the wall of a shop.  They were out there for weeks man...).

Because of this, I was able to build my city using a grid of streets measured out to contain a 6x6 area inside of which I could place whatever I wanted.  This not only kept the city organized and uncluttered, it also looked pretty damn sharp and even did an alright job of accommodating temporary construction stockpiles (place a brickyard and a couple bricklayer huts in the middle 2x2 for the duration of the construction, and replace it with a pretty garden afterwards.  Or don't).  Attempting a grid plan in something like Zeus or Caesar would result in hairbrained civilians wandering around and being useless.


I was wondering if any of you fortress enthusiasts could point me in the direction of a citybuilder that has this kind of free movement, or would otherwise encourage sensible city layouts.  Or at least is very elegant about those nutty streetwalkers.

I have certain reservations about anything in the SimCity franchise, but if someone can vouch for an individual's merit I would be game to give it a go.  Same goes for similar games.


In conclusion, I would like to dedicate a tiny portion of this post simply to honor the glory of Beasts and Bumpkins, a true gem which could arguably fall into this category.  Majesty also receives an honorable mention, but it's not firmly enough entrenched in this genre to get the full wallop.  Still a grand game though.

[Broose]

Wait, there are city building games where those little people walking around actually matter?

[Neonivek]

Wait, there are city building games where those little people walking around actually matter?

Off the top of my head... Afterlife also made those little people matter.

Though mind you this isn't a solution to Kagus' problem in fact it relies a LOT more on road management then every other city maker in existance. (Hell requires long winding roads while heaven is all about getting them to paradise as fast as possible)

I always wanted to play it but I never found a copy.

[Aqizzar]

Tropico is far and away the best example of what you're talking about.  City layout does matter, because people have to walk from their homes to work to shops to clinics to whatever, and you don't want them to spend all their time walking, especially if the environment is crappy.  And you do build roads, but they serve to speed up and direct traffic.  Beyond that, people walk all over the island as they please, even going on aimless strolls for fun.

Really, it was a great game.

I always wanted to play it but I never found a copy.

Oh god yes.  I first saw an ad for Afterlife when I was a kid, and spent years trying to hunt down a copy.  Finally found an ISO (not supposed to talk about that, I know), and I can barely stand to play it, it's so slow.

[Jakkarra]

i believe tropico 2 is out soon Izzy.

i have nothing else to add at this point.

[Deon]

Tropico 2 was out long time ago and it's a different game.

I would like to dedicate a tiny portion of this post simply to honor the glory of Beasts and Bumpkins, a true gem which could arguably fall into this category

Oh god Yes! I don't know why, but I loved this game.

[Croquantes]

Of the City Building Series (Caesar, Pharoah, Cleopatra, Zeus), the last one released was Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom. I personally think it's the best in the series, and the least painful to get into. I tried replaying Caesar II a few days back, it's hard!

[Jakkarra]

ah, i have pharoah. pretty fun...

[Ampersand]

Well, 0 A.D. just went open source. It's kind of like a cross between War Craft and the Total War series by the looks of it, with hints of city building in there. The most recent gameplay video I can find is from 2007, but even then it looked excellent. I posted about trying to build it from source a couple days ago, but I failed.

Trying again, though. Hopefully this time I've got the proper libraries.

[Koja]

Settlers (ooold game) was fun, and had a twinge of that.

[Detrevni|inverteD]

Beasts and Bumpkins was one of my favourite games of all time.

[Duke 2.0]

 For some reason I liked 1602 AD. I really dunno why. Nice to see the marketplaces send out carts to pick up resources, but I never felt there was efficient enough of a transportation system.

[MarineElite]

Stronghold 1&2 have people very important the only problems I found with the game is that buildings are instantly built, Other than that they are pretty fun Medieval games.

People in it have to do there job for resources instead of just getting them. (ex: Lumberjack chops a tree down, cuts into planks, and puts in stockpile before you can use it.)

[Muz]

Lol, you guys mentioned most of my favorites. I'd toss in Knights and Merchants. One of the first city building games I enjoyed, lots of combat and a lot of city planning too.

[Sergius]

In Settlers 4, the peasants actually wear out the ground where they walk, making a path between the buildings they go (mostly the only people walking are the carriers, I don't remember if the actual workshop owners went out to get their goods or they just waited for the carriers). In fact, after a large amount of traffic, the worn-out paths made by these carriers would start to get automatically paved, which would result in faster walk times.

Something like this happened in the earlier (1 and 2) games, except you needed to make the actual road, but after it had been used so many times, it would become paved and carriers would go faster. Although in this game carriers pretty much lived in those road sections forever (along with the optional donkey) doing the equivalent of a fire brigade between posts.