Railroads.

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

In the case of railroads, their exclusion from the game immediately made me think of all the Real History effects of railroads: increased productivity and a quantum leap in communications, leading to increased mobility of populations (mass tourism), massive increase in size of armies (increased supplies) and massive growth of cities (food supply no longer dependent on nearby sources or water-borne transportation). And, sure enough, NONE of those things are in the game either, making the late game (post-railroad) Eras merely a More Of The Same experience rather than a Revolution in Human Affairs represented by the industrial/railroad revolution...

I've mentioned this before on another thread but I thought of a brand new district, a Tourist Resort. The first building would be a railroad station and from there you could set a path for your freight trains to connect to another city with another railroad station and it acts like a domestic trade route. Later on those same routes could be used for tourism purposes and can turn into passenger trains.
A hotel can then be built in that district and a choice of another third tier building: Theme Park (tourism and amenities), Casino (tourism and gold) etc.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

I've mentioned this before on another thread but I thought of a brand new district, a Tourist Resort. The first building would be a railroad station and from there you could set a path for your freight trains to connect to another city with another railroad station and it acts like a domestic trade route. Later on those same routes could be used for tourism purposes and can turn into passenger trains.
A hotel can then be built in that district and a choice of another third tier building: Theme Park (tourism and amenities), Casino (tourism and gold) etc.

A very interesting idea, and one with some very definite historical roots. Both in America and in Europe early railroads 'targeted' Destinations for the new (railroad-inspired) class of Middle Class Tourists. For example, many American cities had railroad-sponsored or built Tourist spots nearby - too far to reach by carriage, but an easy couple of hours by train. Among these were Atlantic City and northern New Jersey's Poconos Mountains resort areas to New York City, and in Europe, many of the 'Spa Towns' like Baden-Baden or Wiesbaden - places that had been Hot Springs Baths for centuries - got railroad connections very quickly. The first hotels at Glacier and Grand Canyon National Parks were built by railroads, with connections so that the railroad companies could, essentially, sell you a 'package' to go to the park, stay at the park, and spend all your money at the park to the railroad.

That means the Tourist District should almost be required to be established next to or on top of a tile with an Attraction: a tile of a National Park, a Seaside Resort, or perhaps just a tile with Breathtaking character. In turn, with a railroad connection, the Tourist site would generate Amenity and Gold, and possibly even some Culture.
Possible Buildings for the Tourist Site would be:
Railroad Station (basic requirement - automatic when site is completed)
Grand Hotel - generates Gold and Amenity
Amusement/Nature Park - generates Amenity and Culture
Casino - generates Gold

Or the type of high level' building could depend on the type of 'attraction' at the site: National Park, Seaside Resort, or 'sight seeing' (Breathtaking attractiveness)

I could even see a Atomic Era Wonder of a 'Disneyland-like' Amusement Park being 'attached' to such a Tourist Site - or a Las Vegas-like (Monte Carlo, Atlantic City, etc) Gambling Mecca Wonder. These things would generate massive amounts of Gold, Civ-wide Amenity, and possibly even some Culture...

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

That means the Tourist District should almost be required to be established next to or on top of a tile with an Attraction: a tile of a National Park, a Seaside Resort, or perhaps just a tile with Breathtaking character. In turn, with a railroad connection, the Tourist site would generate Amenity and Gold, and possibly even some Culture.
Possible Buildings for the Tourist Site would be:
Railroad Station (basic requirement - automatic when site is completed)
Grand Hotel - generates Gold and Amenity
Amusement/Nature Park - generates Amenity and Culture
Casino - generates Gold

I was thinking it would get base tourism based on the appeal of the tile and then more as you add on the buildings and of course the district and station would have to unlock at the steam power tech. This made the most since and is an easy way of also introducing railroads because a railroad station wouldn't make sense in any other district, and the city center is already crowded, and an improvement wouldn't make sense.
Also once you get the (Grand) hotel building, freight routes can become passenger routes producing tourism. I also thought you could do the same thing in harbors with a new kind of passenger cruise ships once you get seaports.

 

[Phrozen]

A very interesting idea, and one with some very definite historical roots. Both in America and in Europe early railroads 'targeted' Destinations for the new (railroad-inspired) class of Middle Class Tourists. For example, many American cities had railroad-sponsored or built Tourist spots nearby - too far to reach by carriage, but an easy couple of hours by train. Among these were Atlantic City and northern New Jersey's Poconos Mountains resort areas to New York City, and in Europe, many of the 'Spa Towns' like Baden-Baden or Wiesbaden - places that had been Hot Springs Baths for centuries - got railroad connections very quickly. The first hotels at Glacier and Grand Canyon National Parks were built by railroads, with connections so that the railroad companies could, essentially, sell you a 'package' to go to the park, stay at the park, and spend all your money at the park to the railroad.

That means the Tourist District should almost be required to be established next to or on top of a tile with an Attraction: a tile of a National Park, a Seaside Resort, or perhaps just a tile with Breathtaking character. In turn, with a railroad connection, the Tourist site would generate Amenity and Gold, and possibly even some Culture.
Possible Buildings for the Tourist Site would be:
Railroad Station (basic requirement - automatic when site is completed)
Grand Hotel - generates Gold and Amenity
Amusement/Nature Park - generates Amenity and Culture
Casino - generates Gold

Or the type of high level' building could depend on the type of 'attraction' at the site: National Park, Seaside Resort, or 'sight seeing' (Breathtaking attractiveness)

I could even see a Atomic Era Wonder of a 'Disneyland-like' Amusement Park being 'attached' to such a Tourist Site - or a Las Vegas-like (Monte Carlo, Atlantic City, etc) Gambling Mecca Wonder. These things would generate massive amounts of Gold, Civ-wide Amenity, and possibly even some Culture...

Coney Island would be Modern or even Late Industrial. Though the Water Park is supposed to represent the pleasure piers like Blackpool, Galveston, Atlantic City, etc.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

I was thinking it would get base tourism based on the appeal of the tile and then more as you add on the buildings and of course the district and station would have to unlock at the steam power tech. This made the most since and is an easy way of also introducing railroads because a railroad station wouldn't make sense in any other district, and the city center is already crowded, and an improvement wouldn't make sense.
Also once you get the (Grand) hotel building, freight routes can become passenger routes producing tourism. I also thought you could do the same thing in harbors with a new kind of passenger cruise ships once you get seaports.

There has been quite a bit of discussion on making Railroads unique by tying them, not to an Improved Road mechanic, but to a Railroad District. Building such a District would automatically allow you to build a railroad of any length to one other city, and the District could include Passenger Terminal, Freight Yard, and Container Terminal buildings to increase Gold from Trade, Amenity from personal travel, and adjacency bonuses to Industrial, Commercial, and even Harbor and Aerodrome Districts (the Container Terminal). I thought of the Tourist District as a District that could 'extend' the railroad in a non-intercity direction and provide a Tourism and Amenity and possibly Cultural component to the Railroad.

Based on the Tech Tree, I assume that the game's Industrial Era actually covers from about 1750 CE to just before the end of the 19th century. That would make Railroads a development of the last half/third of the Industrial Era, so Steam Power is about right for the start of the ability to build Railroads or Railroad Districts, and since the first Railroad connections to the National Parks ('Tourist Districts') started in the early twentieth century (1908 - 1910) the Tourist District could be a Modern Era 'addition' to the system.

Coney Island would be Modern or even Late Industrial. Though the Water Park is supposed to represent the pleasure piers like Blackpool, Galveston, Atlantic City, etc.

The 'pleasure piers' all really took off with the advent of cheap intercity travel by rail in the late 19th century. I would put Coney Island, as you say, at very late Industrial or early Modern Era. Hard to say which since the game's Tech Tree is not accurate or consistent in the Techs it assigns to either - 'Steel' became a major industrial process in the 1860s (Bessemer, Open Hearth processes), about the time the breechloading Rifle came into general use, but the game puts Steel in the Modern Era, at the time of Flight which comes before Combustion - making you wonder what the heck they are supposed to be powering the flying machines with, rubber bands?

What is really bemusing is that right now we have the Seaside Resort as a 'tourist' destination, and the National Parks, but all the other historical tourist destinations, some of them preceding both Parks and Seaside by centuries, are missing. I would love to see Hot Springs as a Tourist/Amenity Resource on the map, since, among others, the German tribe near the Rhine River living where Wiesbaden is now were running the 'Waters of the Matti' (the name of the tribe) as a tourist destination for the Romans across the river in the huge legionary camp at Maintiacum (modern Mainz) in the first century CE, or about 1800 years before the Seaside Resorts or National Parks! Bath in England, of course, is another example of a 'Tourist Spot' that long predates anything we have in the game.

 

[Phrozen]

There needs to be more tourism related buildings, improvements, terrain, and Great People. We still need a ski chalet, theme parks, fairgrounds, hot springs, etc. Heck you should have a choice with archaeological sites to harvest the artifact for the culture in a museum or turn it into a tourist destination and get bonus gold.

 

[RealAntithesis]

No more districts please - free terrain space is already becoming cramped as it is with all the districts and wonders removing a decent portion of workable tiles (not to mention making the map very cluttered and 'busy'). Railways should be implementable without being too complicated.

An engineer can be tasked to build a railway between two city centres - just like the current mechanic with caravans and creating roads.

When completed, railway stations will be built at either end (or maybe make these a prerequisite before the engineer can start building). Railways cost maintenance (maybe 1 gold per tile) but provide movement benefits. Railway stations can also provide some production.

 

[kiwipeso]

Ok someone needs to mod this like, yesterday

There is a brothel in the loaded districts mod. Best thing is that the mod is very stable.

 

[Rup]

It has now been confirmed in GS. No need to revive this thread.