Again, it isn’t clear why I need an office complex near the pet store for the world to have conceived of the job pet groomer, but here we are.

Businesses built nearby office buildings unlock new jobs, but it’s not clear how close constitutes “nearby.” It is clearly further than the “next to” standard used when construction impacts adjacent property values. Without speed control, year 13 would require hours of investment.Įxpanding the town involves a cycle of assigning citizens, research, construction, and discovering new jobs. This superficially slows progress and is a continuous drain on your financial resources. Often research does nothing more than gate new construction options. The mechanic doesn’t add much to the game, except waiting for meters to fill each time your town’s residents use the casino. These are paid for with both money and Research Points that are accrued when citizens use the towns various businesses. When your citizens “master” jobs, you get access to new research opportunities. As if that weren’t enough, the game makes matters worse by charging money for every attempt. Even having the stats doesn’t ensure success in a feature that seemingly exists only to frustrate the player, an assignment can fail - leaving the citizen in their previous occupation. Assigning work is only possible if a character has the right stats for the job.

In what is 2018’s most unintentionally-dystopian game of the year, the “development company” building the town explicitly assigns jobs to every resident. I don't doubt your town COULD look like this.

Venture Towns