I have several issues with current city growth system, and the whole building up broughts, and need for X adiecent tiles to be city to level up and stuff. What i do not like:

- All cities are optimal in the same shape which is a pancake. That gives optimal number of high level districs, so all cities look the same.

- It reduces the importance of starting location, since we are forced to just cover whole land, or choose terrain with most empty space.

- This favors big regions, and the round one. The long one are not so good.

- Any obstacle on terrain, lake, unpassable mountain and ruins mess up city leveling.

- You can't exacly specialize your city as forest city, or river one, or coastside. All just growth in all direction.



So here is a idea:

- At Age I you have avaiable building "street broughts" like now. However this does not level up districts in any way. And this cost -10 hapiness.

- From Age II (and each next) you have avaiable a new building "dense district" which could be build only on city tiles (the one in center), and as such are surrounded by village tiles (beyond walls). This one levels up city tile and gives it +1 IDS and +1 star. (could be buffed with additional buildings) Cost no happiness, but counts as expansion. (and you still need food somehow) Cost depends of level (from 1to2 cheaper than from 2to3 ...)



Setting apart:

- Tier I FIDS buildings are currently too good (should not have +% value).

- Workers are initially too effective (should give +2 FIDS not +4 as now)

(but both topis ware discussed )



I think it have several advantages:

- Is quite simple.

- Gives interesting choices of either spending your expansion for wider city, and more tiles, and possibly more FIDS from tiles (in most cases it will be more effective to brought streets, even more at the begining which makes sense). Or just build your cities up in shape of tower.

- There is more freedom in shaping your city. And it could fallow the good location, this is how cities develop.

- There would be motivacion to reach new ages.

- That would be good production dump, representing "investing in city development" without creating pleanty of buildings giving minor buffs, and building whatever gives some buffs.

- There could be interesting tradeoff with food transporting. Since leveling up districts never gives you food. But each calls for 4 food (2 pop).

- Since densing districts couse no unhappiness (why would you complain for marble house?) we can get more serious with it. Setting possible sources of happiness so building more than 10 brought streets is problematic could be more fair.



(optional) To level up district city tile must be surrounded by desired level number os city tiles. So to build levl 2 districts we need 2 brought street first. But they could be any level. We can have a 1 tower of level 6 surrounded by just normal districts.



So something to consider.

I like the idea of choosing to level your districts (by an upgrade that is available under certain circumstances), rather than it automatically happening.



Helps promote wide (more land) vs tall (higher level districts)

Some even more radical change:



To be honest i do not care about this whole leveling up district idea. It is not fun for me (just okeish)

What i like:

- specializing your city

- making cities atractive visual

- shaping cities like in simcity. Coastlike, river, forest...



And just plain leveling up districts does not serve it. Just another thing which will hapen eventually.



So here is another idea:



1. On citytiles (one within the city walls) could be build districts, a bit similar to extractors. So the citytiles become another resource.

2. Guild districts cost no happiness or upkeep (use city tiles as resource) but give small bonus to something, could be FIDS, could be something else. But on each citytile you can build only one. LIke +2 industry on that tile.

3. In later eras you can research technology which buffs your guild districts even more (on empire scale), or research special districts which do fancy stuff (like faster unit production or xp bonus)

4. They have no levels. (but can be buffed with techs or buildings) But you can build multiply times same district on different tiles.

5. Could be changed in future for another specializacion tile, but each time you need to build it for normal price (a bit similar to ES planet improvment).

6. Each District have distinguish look. So research district have some sparky things, while official district have some nice towers, or food production have some floating gardens.



Something to consider.