Tilemap data vs node-per-tile

Godot Version

4.3

Question

Hey. In games where tilemaps are central to the games logic, I usually rely on writing values to tile positions within tilemap layers, and controlling access via some tilemap manager.

I have a new requirement, where each tile should display a UI component. I think it’s time to move to creating a node for every tile to accommodate for this.

I am keen to hear peoples thoughts with these approaches. One immediate unknown for me: is it possible to store node tree paths on tiles for constant time lookup (for easily updating UI elements reacting to events like mouse clicks).