I think I see some SimCity 4 in my future, then.

It sounds like Skylines isn't entirely dependent on the cloud save function... however it baffles me that Paradox might not even consider releasing a Game of the Year/Complete Edition of the game on GOG sometime in the future. Sure they'll make the bulk of their sales on Steam and yes the modding/workshop aspect will entice people to keep playing the game for a long time but I'd be happy playing Skylines in it's vanilla version.

...and also I'd rather have a DRM free version of the game. ;)

Oh you misunderstood me, that doesn't only apply to this particular game. In fact I'm yet to encounter a game on Steam with cloud save functionality which would work differently and I'm not sure if they even can work differently.

Yeah, I asked them in the AMA and they didn't seem to want to say anything positive, so I wouldn't count on it.

Cities Skylines would have been the perfect DRM-free game. There's no MP and there's no online requirement. The old Simcities, even Simcity 2000 have managed to have user made mods and content uploaded on various Simcity websites and hubs like Simtropolis without relying on steam workshop. Simtropolis has thousands upon thousands of user made content for SC4. Skylines saves are local and located in Appdata folder not online or anything like that which I don't see a problem either. Very annoying that Paradox is hugging that steam leg. Probably would quote that it's too troublesome to remove those features for a DRM-free version that results in so little sales.

I just found out about Skylines, but the Steam/DRM requirement is an automatic deal-breaker, no matter what. However, it did inspire me to look over here and, lo and behold, I see it on sale for $7.99. I'm happy and I see myself playing this long after it's out of support, just like I did with the previous versions.

Alright, let's see where to start with. No, it's not. Tropico series is awesome, love them, but you will easily see for yourself that it's not a city building/management game per se. It's a really good game (though the 4 is better if you ask me), but not what you are looking for. This is completely biased, but I would say that: Hell yes is is.
It's pre-renderized 3D building looks as shiny as back in 2004. However, it won't be as satisfying as looking and moving your camera around your city, something you can do on Cities: Skylines.
On SimCity 4 defense I may say that Cities: Skylines looks a bit cartoony, like SimCity (5). I doubt it will come here, so my best advice is to eat your pride and get in on Steam or to just stop torturing yourself trying to compare a game all city building simulators lovers are praising all over the internet as the replacement for SimCity 4 with the already mentioned.
I'll say something I expect doesn't hurt anyone feelings, but it's a truth no one can deny:

We'll all die. Sooner or later, but we will die. No matter what are your believes about afterlife, I doubt you will be able to play Cities: Skylines wherever you think you'll go.
So, will you play it, have fun with it and forget about using a DRM system you hate or will you deny yourself the possibility of playing it because of that hoping that it may come to GOG in an unknown future?

I hate DRM, I will always prefer GOG versions, BUT I will probably buy this once it goes on sale.
The reason?
I want to play it. Simply as that.
No reason to forbid myself doing something that I want and is completely legal.

Thanks!

Exactly. Steam cloud & workshop features aren't tied deeply into most games, those features are mostly taken care of by the steam client itself. It's disappointing so many publishers won't spare a slight effort to put out a DRM-free version until they want to squeeze some money out of it years later.

Tropico 4 is not a citybuilding/management game? What is it, then? Sure, it's more of a 'Town-bulding' game, but aside from scope, there's little difference...

Sufficiently different in a way. In Tropico, everything is plopped. Old Simcities and Skylines, RCI (Residential, Commercial and Industry) is grown off demand. Road structure and traffic takes a much higher emphasis. And what grows out of the city is depending on how well your amnesties, ordinances, taxes are set. You might not always get what you want. Tropico is kinda like playing with Lego until u build something you like with things like approval, money, world powers and rebels to hinder your way. Simcity-like games are like growing plants, you provide the sunlight and fertilizer. That said I love both.

I see, I just get the feeling Paradox won't budge on selling the game on GOG or any other distributor because they need to maintain online connectivity to make the workshop/modding components work.

Aww man. :(

You don't really need the silly steam workshop or online functionality to get mods:
http://community.simtropolis.com/files/category/2-buildings-bat/?dosort=1&sort_key=file_downloads&sort_order=desc

Mods have been available for Simcity since the late 90s. I've been in the Simcity community since the Internet kinda became mainstream in the 90s, so I should know about that. Back then the custom content for Simcity 2000 were called SCURKS.

And Skylines as well:
http://community.simtropolis.com/files/category/25-buildings/

It's Paradox's epic bullshit about being too troublesome to maintain stuff like patches and mods outside steam.

Speaking of SimCity, is there a reason why SimCity 3000 still isn't on GOG? It seems odd we only have SimCity 2000 and SimCity 4. How does SimCity 3000 compare to SimCity 4?

How does we don't have the rights to the jazz soundtrack sound on the plausibility scale?