I already posted my thoughts about the "how" to announce/roll-out a C:S2. This post will be focused on the "what" (content) I'd love to see in a C:S2.
1) Zoning. I understand that mixed-use may simple be a bridge too far, and thus I would like to see a new offerings of the current zoning types. Adding a Medium Residential and Medium Commercial would be nice, as would adding a Light Industrial and splitting Office zoning into a Suburb (Light) and Urban (Heavy). Visually, the medium zonings would top out height rise between the Light and Heavy of their respective zones, while the Light Industrial would have 1/5th the pollution but also be limited in the jobs provided and products created. The Suburb Office, on the other hand, would keep office buildings in that 1-4 story range with fewer jobs, designed to fit nicely into Light Residential neighborhoods.
2) Roads. I hope they improve the road network in the base game. I would love to see three main (not including highway) types of road: Road, Avenue, and Boulevard. A road is your basic (either parking, grass, tree, or bike) lined road. An avenue would include an island in the middle of the road splitting the lanes of traffic, as in the current game. A Boulevard would, similar to the avenue, have a divider between the lanes of traffic but would be hard-programmed to ONLY create intersections (and allow traffic to cross the divider) when meeting another boulevard or an avenue. These roads are becoming more common in America as more light rails are constructed, with the concept being it allows for right-hand turns into/out of neighborhoods but doesn't disrupt the light rail. Finally, having a built-in option in game to toggle zoning on or off would be fantastic.
3) Supply chains. I hope that in the next game there are 5-10 supply chains built in. Think Forestry, Farming, Mining, Oil, and to a lesser degree fishing. I hope this is expanded by splitting mining into two: Ore Mining and Minerals Mining (maybe even a third, Coal). Likewise, Farming could be split to include Ranching, Farming, Growing (think cotton). Thus, a "farming" resource could be zoned an industrial "Farm" and would produce low levels of Ranch, Farm, and Grown goods - or made an industrial district specializing in Ranching with much higher output. From there, it would be nice if in the district tab you could assign industrial districts with preferred locations for their goods: Either other (normal) districts, to other industrial districts (e.g., from specialized to normal), or for export (using the most efficient means available). This would help us direct and control traffic flow and road usage better. The game could start out without the industrial districts, and offer them as a follow-up DLC as well.
4) Schools. The "range" of schools, should be (if possible) updated to instead of being a rough circle instead include X miles of roadway. Thus, in a rural area with only a few long roads weaving among hills, one school might cover 4x the diameter as a school in the city. Additionally, introducing a "School Bus Depot" should automatically increase the range of schools by double (although not increase the number of students). Finally, it would be nice to see a new "Technical School" introduced, along with a new level of education that branches off after "Well Educated". This would be the education needed for jobs in advanced industries, as well as specialty commercial like Tourism and Nightlife. It would have its own base tech school, and then also (again, in a DLC) a dedicated user-built campus (although much smaller and with decidedly different buildings than campus areas have today).
5) Specialty Districts. First, there should be more specialty districts. For commercial alone, there should be a "Retail" district, that requires lots of goods deliveries but also needs lots of less-educated workers/tech school workers, and a "Finance" district (retail banking, insurance sales, etc) that requires higher educated workers but doesn't attract tourists. For Office, there should also be a "Professional" district, that requires only highly (and some tech school) workers that does banking, investing, legal, and architecture.
6) Transit. First, streetcars should be able to stop and reverse themselves at a station much like subways do. Second, subways (and monorails) should require hub/maintenance buildings connected to the line in order for cars to spawn. Third, it would be great if Cable Cars could run as actual transit lines, with the user controlling how many cars are on the line at a time. In mountainous or river-filled cities these can be exceptional systems of transportation, and better control (and knowledge) of how many are using them could really help. Finally, the introduction of a base-game T-junction and Parallel-junction subway stop is still highly necessary.
7) Services. It would be incredible if Avenues and Boulevards (if #2 is followed) came with build in water/sewage lines. Better yet would be an option to include water/sewage services (and even electrical) with the road (for an additional cost). It would drastically simplify some of the mind-numbing parts of the game that add little visual/gameplay value.
8) Parks. Adding (maybe in a DLC with the currently existing park districts) a "Sports Complex" would be great. Baseball, Basketball, Football (American), Football (World), Pump Track (cycling), Skate complex, Tennis, as well as a central hub, bleachers, jungle gym (for kids), bathrooms, and food stands would be the basic offerings. This could be paired with "youth sports" related policies and other features that drove traffic.
9) Additional district styles. It would be fantastic if, included in the game (or in a purpose built DLC) were additional zone styles. For purposes of this post, I will assume that C:S2 will include an American, Asian, and European base themes. These would go deeper as district styles (of all four zone types, and maybe even service buildings like fire/police/medical/school. I can think of a few styles that would be incredible to have: Brownstone (classical Brooklyn), Victorian (classical London), Flats (classical Parisian), Pueblo (classical SW-American), Mission (classical Florida), Gothic (classical Berlin) and then one from Africa, India, and Asia. This would allow for the player to create the classic "Korea-town" or "Little-Havana" or "New-Cairo" that are commonly found in cities in America.
10) Time and Weather. Finally, the big one. If possible, it would be incredible if the basic game would allow for certain styles to change the weather depending upon the time of year. Thus, a Boreal-themed map would be covered in snow (and requiring heating/snow plowing) from December through March. Likewise, for five days of the week traffic patterns would be more focused on getting people to Office/Industrial zoning (work), while the weekends would see increased demand for commercial and parks. The days would last much longer in-game, but the money-making feature would follow suit. This would create more dynamic traffic management, requiring the player to plan out where different zones are to encourage a steadier flow of traffic.
Just my 2 cents.
