Ensuring there's footprint space for future tiles

[Walter Raleigh]

Am new to this game.

One thing I'm having difficulty with is future-planning the footprints of tiles that have not yet been unlocked, when not using the snapping roads to grid option.

So, for example, the Small Park, which is not available at the beginning of the game, has an 8x9 footprint. If I'm using freeform road-building, and leave an empty space to place a Small Park in at a future time, how can I be absolutely sure that it will fit into that space when it's later unlocked?

One possible method I was thinking would be this:

1) Save game
2) Use zoning to create a placeholder footprint - zoning costs nothing.
3) Place roads around it.
4) De-zone the zoning.
5) Make a new save game.
6) Exit to menu and turn on the mod for everything unlocked.
7) Reload game and check that the tiles (e.g. Small Park) will fit into the space okay.
8) If they do, then exit to menu, turn off the mod and reload the previous save.

Is there a better/easier way of doing it?

 

[Walter Raleigh]

I suppose that would be ideal is the possibility to lay down placeholder tiles that are just empty tiles with a footprint. So there would be, in one of the buildings tabs, blank tiles for all the different footprint sizes in the game, e.g. 4x6, 5x5, 5x7 and so on.

Are there any mods that do this? If not, how easy would it be to create such a mod?

 

[Walter Raleigh]

I've just been messing around with the Asset Editor and think I've been able to create a blank footprint with no stats, which does what I was hoping. I was wondering if anyone had already created a set of blank footprints for the game, but I can't find anything.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

The template footprint I created in the Asset Editor was using the park template, which created a blank tile. The problem is, since it's a park, it needs the population of 1,300 (or whatever it is) to unlock parks, whereas I need it from the start of the game. So I created a building one with the coal power station as the base template, since its available from the start, but I haven't figured out how to erase the power station graphics yet, so that I have a visually blank tile. Am watching youtube videos to try to figure this out...

 

[metacritical]

why do you need it from the start of the game? the start of the game is where i badly design a town simply to get my population growing. once i have enough money i always just bulldoze the starter town anyway. i also bulldoze the space away when i want to add a park etc. it's not like it matters if you bulldoze a few houses to add a park.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Well, if I leave a space for something and it later turns out the tile doesn't fit in it, then it could require a lot of demolishing and wrecking of my town-planning.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Actually, it might not be that big a problem if I can't remove the power station graphics, since I could just delete the tile as soon as I've built the surrounding roads.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Well, it might not be the most elegant way to do it, but the power station footprint template appears to be doing what I was hoping.

To create a new footprint template size I can just adjust the parameters from my saved power station footprint template and save it again.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

It would be a good feature of the game to have the ability to place "ghost" or virtual buildings, roads and so on and it would also help negate the annoyance of the game not having an Undo button.

In the virtual mode you'd be able to place buildings, and their footprints would appear on the map. Then later one would click on the virtual building and there'd be an option to purchase and it would then place the building there for real.

 

[Promethian]

The best looking cities I've made have been the result of me tearing down what I built to make it better. Its not like its difficult to make a profitable city.

 

[zulu354]

I'd like to see zoneable parks for cases like this, wich grow on their own.

Workaround for this I don't have. I just tear down buildings, wich are in the way.