Realistic Farm Patterns

[Drederick_Tatum 0]

Those interested in developing more realistic farming communities might be interested in the following link:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3

It is a series of satellite photos of farming patterns in different areas around the world.  So, for example, the U.S. Old Northwest is large squares, the Midwest is center-pivot (circular farms), Europe is small, irregular fields, etc.  There are lots of ways to create realism!

[infoscott 0]

In the Missouri Ozarks there are a combination of factors. The topsoil is very thin and not very rich, and the land is hilly, so in many places the farms follow the contours of the earth. But at the same time, the surveying and property (sub)dividing follows a grid system, and because of easements and other factors many of the roads follow a grid where the original property lines are. Because arable land is at a premium, the farmers will plow and plant right up to the road shoulder.

The net result is you'll often get one to three sides of your plot that are griddy, and the remaining boundries are jagged. In some flatter places you'll get 40 to a couple hundred acre fields, and in others you'll get from hobby farms down to oversize garden plots. Much also depends on the effort involved in clearing fields of large rocks and stumps.

I've seen a lot of beautiful rural CJ shots that would work in New England but would be a fairy tale in the Midwest. It really takes a local to appreciate these drab (and often shabby) farm fields and even drabber white oak forests.

Still, there's no place like home....

[GaBoR 7]

Great Link, very interesting patterns, some will be very difficult to imitate in SC4, but I'll give it a try!!!

[soldyne 111]

very interesting. I dont think the round shapes will be easy. I tend to do a more irregular, random pattern myself. at first I thought the pics were a close up of some kind of crystal!

[ACEfanatic 7]

Originally posted by: soldyne very interesting. I dont think the round shapes will be easy.quote>

Actually...

That took about 10 minutes.

I'll give a day or so for you guys to figure it out.

-ACE

[Cagedcrado 0]

you built square farms and round them out with dezone. No Idea how this could help a farm, other than to be able to put up something else in the left over space.

[luker91 0]

it sure does look cool but other than that it doesnt make much difference

[Shinnie02 17]

lol they do look like crystals lol. pretty interesting

[Drederick_Tatum 0]

Those round farms would look great using the desert terrain mod, so it would appear that the circles were really center-pivot-irrigated and the rest of the terrain was really dry.