Med vs High Density I

[DOXXP29 5]

Curious observation: I recently opened a few cities that hadn't been played in some time. At some point, I checked the zones in data view and noticed that I had all my industrial zoned medium density. This was interesting, because they had pretty much the same density as all my other cities that were zoned high density. (Didn't matter the type...ID, HT or IM). I rezoned and noticed no change, which didn't surprise me, because I hadn't seen any cities with more density than what I already had. My question: What IS the difference between high and medium density when it comes to industrial lots? Is there any? I know the stage limit in I is stage 3, so I know the buidings are limited in size. Just wondering if I've been wasting money all along by zoning high density I if it really doesn't matter. (No demand caps or anything that would inhibit growth as far as I can see. And yeah, I have freight rail and mass transit all over.)

[Bones1 96]

High density (and water) allows the stage 3 lots to appear. Most of the lots 4x4 and larger are stage 3, although many of the stage 3 lots have the same buildings on them as the lower stages. So, you may only be missing a few buildings (like Dead Forest Paper), but you're missing out on a whole bunch of different lot configurations.