# Randomly sized cities

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/randomly-sized-cities/5004>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [February 8, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/randomly-sized-cities/5004 "2014-02-08T03:59:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![FunsizeNinja123](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/funsizeninja123/32/118_2.png) [@FunsizeNinja123](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/FunsizeNinja123)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/randomly-sized-cities/5004/1 "2014-02-08T03:59:04Z")

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Well I’ve been thinking for a while about Cata, and I thought why aren’t there different sized cities? I wanna be holed up in a small village/town/grouping of houses, walk down the road a few miles, then reach the giant ass city full of stuff.

So, nay or yay to this?

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**Author:** ![Inquisitor\_Dust](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/inquisitor_dust/32/119_2.png) [@Inquisitor\_Dust](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Inquisitor_Dust)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 4:37am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/randomly-sized-cities/5004/2 "2014-02-08T04:37:23Z")

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Uh… I think size is randomly generated? At least sometimes. I was on size 6 and I found a tiny “town” with only 6 buildings.

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**Author:** ![Rivet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/rivet/32/11_2.png) [@Rivet](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Rivet)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/randomly-sized-cities/5004/3 "2014-02-08T04:44:39Z")

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Yep, there’s a bit of ‘noise’ in the city size algorithm that varies them a bit in either direction (bigger\<-\>smaller) at random.

It’s why we get those nice little towns that Inquisitor Dust mentioned, and the occasional mega-city even on default settings.

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**Author:** ![FunsizeNinja123](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/funsizeninja123/32/118_2.png) [@FunsizeNinja123](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/FunsizeNinja123)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/randomly-sized-cities/5004/4 "2014-02-08T16:45:38Z")

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Hmm… I thought city size was spawned at the size at the actual number of city size in world gen, not random.

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**Author:** ![HunterAlpha1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@HunterAlpha1](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/HunterAlpha1)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/randomly-sized-cities/5004/5 "2014-02-08T17:12:11Z")

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yeah it’s mostly random, with two exceptions i’ve seen so far:

size 1 will only spawn special buildings(labs, military outposts, strange temples, etc.) meaning no towns at all.

max size(currently 16 i think) will spawn all city, so you probably won’t see any farms, labs etc.

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**Author:** ![Binky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f04885/32.png) [@Binky](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Binky)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/randomly-sized-cities/5004/6 "2014-02-08T17:18:32Z")

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Although there may be a bit of variance, I think there could do with being a more extreme one so you get more distinct villages, towns and cities. Perhaps then the city size option could turn into a ‘cap’ instead?

Obviously a radial model (like in real life) would be great, but not too necessary at this stage.

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**Author:** ![Rivet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/rivet/32/11_2.png) [@Rivet](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Rivet)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/randomly-sized-cities/5004/7 "2014-02-08T19:45:37Z")

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> [@FunsizeNinja123](#):
>
> Hmm… I thought city size was spawned at the size at the actual number of city size in world gen, not random.

It’s both.

The number you select at worldgen determines the median city size, and each one is generated around that size, with a chance of being a bit larger or smaller.