Consumer Goods seem like an arbitrary extra step and useless in its own merit

[Optimizt]

I mean I agree with you that they've gone upkeep crazy, but to me, the unnecessary upkeep is amenities, not consumer goods. If anything, Amenities and Consumer goods should be rolled together and then can have the stacking bonus. I don't see the need for more than one local resource to keep up with, and housing makes more sense than amenities.

While I can see the argument here, I think keeping consumer goods, amenities, and housing separate is good for flavor and a sense that these are real "planets." Consumer goods are your spacePhone 9001, fancy cappuccino pods, copies of Crusader Kings 3, etc. Things that are disposable, consumable, or have a limited lifetime and are easily transferable between planets. Amenities are theaters, temples, shopping malls, amusement parks, etc.; actual planetary infrastructure that keeps pops from jumping off the nearest cliff. I enjoy the flavor and mechanical distinction.

However, in practice, amenities are often just byproducts of slamming down a few commercial zones for trade value and calling it a day, which doesn't feel as "SimCity" in execution as I had hoped.

 

[Eled the Worm Tamer]

While I can see the argument here, I think keeping consumer goods, amenities, and housing separate is good for flavor and a sense that these are real "planets." Consumer goods are your spacePhone 9001, fancy cappuccino pods, copies of Crusader Kings 3, etc. Things that are disposable, consumable, or have a limited lifetime and are easily transferable between planets. Amenities are theaters, temples, shopping malls, amusement parks, etc.; actual planetary infrastructure that keeps pops from jumping off the nearest cliff. I enjoy the flavor and mechanical distinction.

However, in practice, amenities are often just byproducts of slamming down a few commercial zones for trade value and calling it a day, which doesn't feel as "SimCity" in execution as I had hoped.

which neatly brings us to my refrain in 2.2, the ideas are good, but the numbers or presenation are not.

 

[AlanC9]

Yeah, I don't think I've built any commericial zones in my current game. Haven't even considered them since I never go more than two or three points into negative amenities, and I'm getting my energy otherwise.. These numbers need a rebalance.