– I’m not really seeing what you’re aiming to contribute here… nobody here is complaining about realism or the simulation/time scale not making sense. My own post was just a list of simple-to-implement suggestions to make map generation more varied and uniquely challenging and thus to make the game more replayable and interesting.
At the internal abstract scale the game is designed to function at (and at which I feel it feel it functions well and is enjoyably balanced), I would nevertheless enjoy having the option to have long, thin maps, as even the large maps currently feel a bit too restricted, while at the same time, feel like they lack focus, as the landscape and town distribution feels too evenly spread for my taste.
I’m saying nothing about how realistic or not the scale is. I’m simply considering what would make the game feel more fun. Transport Tycoon had almost a complete disregard for realism, and that didn’t stop it being fantastic back in the day. I feel Train Fever could easily feel as fun, if only there was a bit more variation.
It really doesn’t bother me in the slightest how far a horse walks in a day. Call them days, call them minutes… it’s just a game design abstraction so that it doesn’t literally take 150 years to play a single game 😛