[asalahli]

Not the person you replied to, but like them, I too liked to draw imaginary maps when I was a kid, mainly of medieval towns. I also tend to like the world-building aspects of strategy games, arguably more than the actual strategy parts.

Cities: Skylines have been in my wishlist since shortly after it came out but I never got around to playing it until about a month ago, and... didn't like it at all. It felt too "micro-manage-y" (for the lack of a better word) while also having the pressure of the ticking time.

Needless to say, I was very disappointed after looking forward to it for ~10 years.

[botanrice]

I actually had the same experience as you (own it, played it only a bit for similar reasons), but FWIW I believe there is a sandbox mode to just play around in.

Another chill medieval town building game is Manor Lords. It has some management but overal is laid back.

[asalahli]

I should check that out. Thank you

[dhosek]

Oh you just reminded me of the joy of making maps for D&D. I only ever played two or three times, but I had notebooks full of detailed maps of dungeons, cities, whole continents.