Auckland & Greater Region - New Zealand

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

AUCKLAND & GREATER REGION - NEW ZEALAND

Hi there everyone I have been asked to start a CJ by my buddies in Jacky's Kabin - even though I don't reckon that I am good enough at Simcity yet - I have only been playing this game for 6 weeks - please be kind.

Welcome to the Hauraki Region, handmade by myself, after only playing the game for 2 weeks.  The region was made in just one evening, drawn by hand and from memory, is not super accurate of the real Auckland region but is definately recognisable.  Yep those are real extinct volcanos, great fun to erupt in God mode BTW.

Shall we then...

The dark blue tile is the central area of Auckland - or a representation of it....  this is my first attempt at terraforming - I raised the land up from the sea (in accordance with Maori legend... the North Island is a fish that Maui fished up out of his boat... the South Island.)  The central area shows a representation of Auckland's many volcanic cones .... quite fun to erupt in God mode...   

The land is drawn from memory and by hand - no fancy map downloads.  It is not meant to be super accurate but meant to be recognisable.

A shot showing a little more terraforming and the beginnings of the city suburbs in the top left corner - Western Springs.

The tidal estuary on the right is the Tamaki River and the Manukau Harbour is the body of water to the left of the narrow isthmus.

I grew up on the first small light blue water square to the right of the isthmus.

Sir Dove-Myer Robinson (Robbie) was mayor of Auckland from 1959-1965 and again from 1968-1980.  He is remembered as one of Auckland more progressive mayors, he was responsible for the discontinuation of raw sewerage being pumped directly into the inner Waitemata Harbour and the building of Auckland's modern sewerage system in the 1960's.  He wanted to build a subway but it was deemed too expensive by the more narrow minded councillors ... 40 years later Auckland is now paying the price of gridlock - and major traffic problems.  He wanted the following enscribed on his head stone ... "I TRIED".

A closer view of Mt Wellington - (centre),  a large volcanic cone not far (just across the river) from where I grew up.  It's nickname is the "steam pudding".  The main crater is on the other side to the NW and the lava flowed over a collapsed rim to the northwest and around in an anticlockwise direction.  Auckland's main north/south motorway, which travels to the left hand side of the mountain,  crosses its ancient lava flow.  

[fledder200 5]

Great region and a good start!

I'll be here waiting for a new update!

Greets Fledder

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

The next update.

View looking south east.  The upper left shows the collapsed crater of Mt Wellington.  The bottom right is the downtown / port area of Auckland where I will start to build.  I do not intend to recreate Auckland exactly, but will borrow names and places from it.

View looking south east with the eastern suburbs and waterfront in the lower bottom, the Tamaki River (tidal estuary) is on the left, the small volcanic Browns Island  in the left corner stands gurdian to the river entrance.

View now back looking north west, Manukau Harbour in the foreground - which leads westwards out through the Manukau Heads to the Tasman Sea.  Mt Eden is the medium cone in the top left corner, the smaller One Tree Hill is slightly to the lower right.  Mt Roskill stands on the lower harbour edge.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Was that update fast enough for you Fledder? 

Thank for being my first official replier....

More photos to come...

As I have been raving on about Auckland's volcano's I thought I better give you a map of the volcanic field.

If you are interested in reading the article that accompanies this picture here is the link.

http://www.gns.cri.nz/what/earthact/volcanoes/nzvolcanoes/aucklandprint.htm

[fledder200 5]

wow that was realy fast!! LOL

never knew there were so many vulcanos in New-Sealand...great pic's tough!!

greets Fledder

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Fledder: If you think that was fast then take a look at these....

New Zealand is riding high on the Pacific and Tasman tectonic plates, it makes for interesting geological underpants.  Means we have lots of earthquakes and lots of volcanos.  The mountain in the middle of the North Island that we ski on (Mt Ruapehu) is an active volcano... last erupted in 1996 and 1998 .... completely ruined the ski season.

(17 Sept 2007 - Author's note the following pictures were originally PNG's which have now been converted to JPEGs...  they may not be in the same original order but I have done my best... at least the freaking page will open now...)

Edit: Milk and cookies for my readers.  Enjoy.

   

[fledder200 5]

I love those farms!

i reccon your going to make a big city??

or are you going to keep it small and farmlandish??

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

The real life Auckland (only 150 years old) developed as many out lying farming villages / boroughs that were slowly joined up to their neighbours, by eventual redevelopment of farm land.

It is my understanding that London grew this way, as a lot of other cities in the world did.

I will most likely follow this strategy for developing my tile (large).  Lets see what the next 100 years or so brings...

[WackoJak 0]

Yay! a kiwi journal finally! I admit I have only visited auckland twice, and only for short times, but from what I remember, this is very accurate for a hand-made map!!

I'm from timaru, so a CJ of my home would take up 1 medium city tile! I will continue to watch this!

[jimmymac 0]

A very nice start, much braver than I was at six weeks of play time thats for sure. It took me from the day of release until last week to start a proper city journal, so I would guess around 6 years, lol. I like the hillside community, very nice idea. Will be looking forward to seeing where this goes

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Hey thanks Jimmymac!

I am really suprised ... this CJ has only been up for a couple of hours and you guys are replying already.

I am gonna get a head swell...  well until the real CJ critics turn up.    

I really hope they like those cookies I left out ....  just to make sure I have left  some stroopwaffles in Fledder's CJ  - please share nicely.

[jacqulina 162]

hiya craig hey we all started out as beginners at this fantastic game,but as time went by or as it will go by in your case we progress to learning more about how to manipulate the game to our way of thinking lol,and my friend for the time you have been playing you have started off well,very nice intro and terraforming,nice sketch btw.nice use of treees i would suggest a terrain  mod there are several out ther and tree mods too.nice work on the river.nice little farms and suburb there great start to the building.try to take your time dont rush.your doing well,great pics too 

[Amerikaner 42]

lovely CJ, it has so much interesting info, its actually the first i tottaly read, and didnt skim over, even post that werent update's lol...didnt want to miss any action, your pics are nice...and as i stated in the kabin, your hill work is very good, (much better than mine, as i would of ended up with like house with like 40 stories underneath them lol) i also suggest a terrain mode, check cycledog( something like that) i like what he has...but anyway great job at terraforming and i like the pic that was changed into a sketch...VERY NICE (borat speaking lol)

[Voulpiotis 4]

Hiya Craig!

Sorry for the delay, I'm not so frequent in ST during the exams...

I must say this is the greatest SC work I've ever seen of such a new Sim fan!!!

Just some points:

1)press "G" and remove the gridline

2)If you want, (tiny cheat, not even a cheat) hold Shift-Control-Alt and open the God menu to plant more trees and for free!

Hope to see more and soon!

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Voulp:  Thanks for stopping by!  You obviously have a good eye for my work!

Jacky: Take it slow (actually rhino for me...) ok Miss, LOL  but I have been up all night so I have another update to come.... it is 0454 now...

Luke - Amerikaner:  Cheers buddy thanks for your visit!  You've been to the real Auckland so I guess I will see you back!

Wackojak: Another Mainlander! that makes 2 ST members I know from the South Island..... the other is mqsim from Christchurch.

Jimmymac: Well put it this way sometimes you just have to take a leap into the unknown and hope that people will like what you do.

[granto93 4]

ay carrumba lol...you update more than me, which is alot. that is a good thing though. glad to see you started a CJ, looking forward to seeing some bigger cities. everything is looking great so far just think about downloading alot of STEX buildings, they add a nice touch to the game. always waiting for more!

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Thanks Grant!  The first couple of updates were already done... just copied them from Jacky's Kabin.  The last update is the nights work .... I have been up all night!  0558 in the morning now!

I have the Auckland Sky Tower ready to add at some stage ....  and Alex has given me some links for other Auckland STEX.... stay tuned as they say...

Damn grid lines..... Grrrrrr.

[Voulpiotis 4]

Haha! Gridlines! Just press G.

Great update! You are progressing really FAST.

Hope to see more!

[Cleaner475 150]

very nice updates - good CJ - I like nthe bridge - perhaps some night pics next update - good luck!

[MsD 0]

WOW! Craig, I didn't know until today that you started a CJ. Very nice work. Great job on your region.  I like how you post your drawing and the maps that you went by.  Very cool.

I have bookmarked this so I can find it more easily. Want to keep up with it.

Keep up the great work.

[octaves 4]

Cool, Craig.  Nice growth, the volcanoes are cool.  Tip: convert your pictures to .jpgs, they load faster and they are viewable to people using internet explorer.  (Sometimes .pngs don't show up on IE.)

[Cjah 15]

Now heres an oldschools region...maxis and all simple...but its also very nice...not ugly buildings.. and everything works with the slope...

Very good updates...wonder whats gonna be shown next!

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

It has come to my attention that someone has been eating all the cookies....

Reference - Jacky's Kabin.  Linky.

Luke - Amerikaner:   You are a naughty boy indeed.  Please go back to the naughty chair and think about what you have done.  I shall expect a full written apology.  Man those essays are mounting up.... you are gonna get enrolled in Summer School  if you are not careful....

Cleaner475:  Thanks, I forgot about the day / night thing .... too busy staying up all night to do the update...  next time .... K.

MsD:  Thanks Debs - I am gonna have to stay on top of this one if I am gonna keep up with all the replies ....  I really appreciate you stopping by.

Toaster:  Brad thanks for coming by...      man ...  jpgs, gif, png, photobucket, nightshots, gridlines, STEX, and heck knows what else ....   I am gonna have to go home to Mummy for milk and cookies myself soon....    and Krio has not turned up yet ....

Cjah:  My plugin folder is still pretty vanilla, just the NAM, blue water mod, industry quad, farm job multiplier (x10 at the moment I think) and maybe a couple of others.  My way of playing, is to get a grip with the basics before I get all carried away with lots of extras.  I will add other mods but I am gonna take it pretty slow.  Anyway retro is kinda cool ... don'tcha think?  Make you guys all nostalgic.

[capitol1 1]

woa thats some wickedly steep terrian you got their, try building your cities on mroe flatter land. it looks nicer and it cna be easier to maintain.

[ilikehotdogsalot 307]

wow, your journal looks great for a beginner, i didn't even know about BATS and things when I first started playing, so you're lucky you're getting into everything early keep up the good progress!

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

I actually appreciate every comment and suggestion you guys make.  At least I know that people are looking at my CJ.

Interesting the comments about the hilly terrain in Auckland ...  I really do not live in a flat city, and the roads do just go any which way but loose....  

I think building on a completely flat tile, with perfectly grid style blocks (Los Angeles...style)  would be really boring -  I think the hills add interest and add to the challenge of building.  

This is the tile I gave myself to build on so I have to live with it...   

Voulp has given me that shift +alt+ control - click god mode thing ....  you get all the terraforming tools back for free!  

So I can flatten a bit here and there to keep y'all happy - K!

I will be posting a few more pictures after I have been to bed ... Planning to show you "under the hood"  water, pollution, desirability etc... 

I am on nightshift tonight...  shift finishing real soon ... like .... now.

[jacqulina 162]

wonderfull work craig your doing well my friend,and looking very nice so far and fantastic pics too,and i have a confession lol i nicked a cookie too

[MsD 0]

No update yet! Well fiddle sticks and foo foo. LOL I was hoping for more.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

My dearest Deb:  Patient's patient's patient's.  A boy has to sleep... 

All:  What the hey... help yourselves to the cookies ... please share them nicely.

MINI UPDATE

OK as promised a peek under the hood of this baby... images now jpeg's, Mr Bradders and a bit smaller to make them load faster.

Water Supply - the pump is at the bottom of Mount Wellington, to make use of the aquifier effect of the scoria cone.  The RL Mount Wellingtion has a large water resivour built into the crater - let's hope she doesn't blow again...  might get all steamed up.  (The volcanoes that form from under the sea are far more dangerous - the steam generated by seawater flashing to steam is huge.)

Farming pollution in the Tamaki tidal river is starting to be a problem - as was in the RL version... it drains many streams and creeks from the land.

A Closer look at the Mount Wellington water pump.  That hump in the avenue has caused a few accidents -- the boy racers try to get their cars airborne as they pedal to the metal just before it, and yes in the RL Auckland we really do have a road like that, but not here ... teenagers have been killed on that stretch of road trying that stunt. 

The Mount Eden water towers - again using the natural aquifier found beneath the porous scoria.   An excellent natural filter BTW.

The next to pictures show land value and high wealth desirability - but I can't remember which is which.

OK I am off to fix that pollution problem...

[WackoJak 0]

Oh well I was not aiming for perfection, just a representation....quote>

Dude, this is near to perfect anyway! Your mountain-y (??) suburbs are comparable to that of wellington or dunedin! Some friendly advice, search for cycledogg in the STEX and download his trees, they are FANTASTIC! I would marry them if it weren't morally and ethically wrong.

Also, lovely charts, except for the pollution one, but an accurate representation of drainage in Auckland. Were you planning for that or was it just lucky???

EDIT: yay! all blacks are hammering france!!!

Keep it cool,

Jack