Help me find a city builder that isn't Rimworld

[Grampy_Bone]

Feel like playing one of these and trying to find a reason not to play Rimworld yet again. I tried Per Aspera but it just bored me watching progress bars. Tried Surviving the Aftermath but something was off about it, couldn't quite get into it, like the resource model was too convoluted or something. I like games where you have to build an efficient town but also murder things. If the only challenge is resources or random disasters, pass.

 

[Catacombs]

Dwarf Fortress

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Dwarves are gay

 

[thesecret1]

Try Rise to Ruins: https://store.steampowered.com/app/328080/Rise_to_Ruins/. It's a city builder where you are under assault by an enemy wave each night which gets stronger over time, as the opponent builds his base. You absolutely do need to tacticize in terms of town layout and efficiency after a certain point in the game, and there's a fair number of things that can end up fucking you. As the name suggest, the game will usually end in you getting crushed either due to your mismanagement (it's very easy to run out of food during winter, for example), falling prey to increasingly dangerous enemy types (those flame dudes that attack your towers from afar as such pieces of shit), or your own inattentiveness/lack of foresight.

 

[Quilty]

I will never cease pushing the original Tropico on people. Never!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Settlers 3.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Did you try They are Billions?

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Did you try They are Billions?

Yeah, it was too short and repetitive.

 

[Kalin]

Caesar and Caesar II.

 

[Sinilevä]

Knights and Merchants.

 

[JRIz]

The Anno games of course (1404 is very nice).

 

[Grampy_Bone]

I remember playing Knights and Merchants and hating it.

Somehow I have never heard of Anno so I will check it out.

 

[Joggerino]

No one mentioned Banished but you probably played it already.

 

[Technomancer]

Black and White 2 lol. Kicking shit up with your monster was fun, and so was launching a tornado on your own swarming city.

 

[KazikluBey]

Patrician 3. Trading, city building, ship battles, and sieges.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Tropico is really good, and they basically released an impreoved version every 2 years.

Soviet Republic also looks promising, I just haven't played it yet.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I tried Per Aspera but it just bored me watching progress bars.

Is it really called Per Asperga?

 

[tindrli]

Try King of Dragon Pass

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Started playing Anno 2205 but it seemed kinda like a fancy facebook game. Switched to Anno 1800 and got more interested.

Reminds me of Factorio actually, with the complex production chains and the need to ship raw materials around. Learning curve is odd though.

All your citizens need fish and shirts to be happy or their production and income lowers. I did not have quite enough shirts to satisfy demand, and the game uses equitable distribution, so either everyone has enough shirts or no one does. So my production was depressed and there was no way out of it--the more sheep farms and shirt factories I made, the more workers I needed to produce the goods, who in turn demanded more shirts that I didn't have. Demand could never be satisfied.

In the end I just had to import like 10 shirts and that magically filled the need for the whole island (??). My income skyrocketed and shirt production pegged to max almost instantly. Yay, shirts for everyone guys, we finally have all the shirts.

Another thing that annoys me is unless I am missing something there's no way to transfer population between islands, which means if you want better workers at secondary islands you either need the whole production chain set up there or to ship goods around. The problem is while you can ask AI traders to sell you stuff based on a simple if-then logic, you can't do the same with your own traders. You can only set them to deliver specific goods in specific quantities forever. It's tedious to balance because consumption is so hard to judge and your storehouses just fill up to max and you have tons of ships doing nothing. But buying advanced products from the AI is hit or miss, they seem to suck at producing stuff.

 

[Burning Bridges]

All people I know who liked Anno were retards.

 

[Seigneur Locklear]

Might wanna toss a glance at Cultures 1 or 2. It's a fun little game, going into sim territory where you can assign professions to your characters, their mates etc etc.
At the first glance, it looks deceivingly simple but there's a lot of micromanaging depth to it and it's very aesthetically pleasing.

 

[Dickie]

There's Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation if you like games with ASS in the name.

Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation is a colony simulation game with tactical combat that takes place in the midst of a demon apocalypse. The gates of hell have opened and unleashed relentless demons into the world -- but you can fight back! Guide a group of survivors through the mayhem -- hiding from hellspawn and building a sanctuary. Survive by gathering resources, crafting equipment, defending your base and sending teams to scavenge for supplies. Research human technologies and practice the dark arts to find a way and send the demons back to hell.

 

[Ironmonk]

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/amazing-cultivation-simulator.136097/

 

[Grampy_Bone]

There's Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation if you like games with ASS in the name.

Played it, wasn't impressed. Combat sucked. The one thing people overlook about Rimworld is the amazing tactical combat system and damage modelling, since it started out development as a tactics game first.

 

[Dickie]

Played it, wasn't impressed. Combat sucked.

Yeah, the combat was a real killer to me, too. I kept hoping they'd make it better. Oh, well, thought I'd toss it out there.