Auckland & Greater Region - New Zealand

[Zelgadis 638]

Wow, those trees do look exactly like cycledogg's trees!

Yes, my computer is too slow. That's because it's 4 years old and it was obsolete when I bought it. (long story) But, I'm very impressed that it's still more than quick enough for most things despite its age.

ISF

[bbfan02 23]

Wow, that beach community looks fantastic! The realism is just great.

-bbfan02-

[allez l'om 1]

i saw the photos and your region is becoming very well!!!!!! Auckland is a very great city!!!!!!

[penguin007 27]

Wow awesome pics!!!! I never knew sim city looked so lifelike!!

Will

[suplado! 23]

great region view....the panorama pic is really cool!! anyway -- the pipe looks dangerous in the night...lol!!

[Shanna 1]

Excellent region view! And great pics of your day at the beach (plop rocks... lol!!!!). It has been amusing!

[anarchy0029 2]

Hey, the castle walls an itself is really tight. I like the layout.

[gabry85 2]

Ahh, here's what I missed from the STEX! You have some talent in BATting, nursinator!

[dedgren 830]

...you talkin' 'bout me?

OK Craig, you got me hooked with page 26. I'm DLing the remaining pages now so I can steal lift copy use duplicate replicate

...'hem...

er, benefit from all the goodies I see on offer here.

This is some really, really nice work!

David

[ky72x 13]

Nice region shot.  The arrow really helped to gauge how far the beach is from other developments.  Those are some great pictures that you took on the trip.  The black and white ones look pretty cool, especially the one with the storm drain.  One thing I noticed about the beach was how close the parking lot was to the water.  Most of the parking lots at beaches that I've been to are actually a little ways away from the ocean.  I think it has to do with the tides, because they are probably a lot higher here in California.

- Kyle

[ilikehotdogsalot 311]

Hi Craig,

First, congratulations on your trixie awards, and new moderator status. I knew you would do very well here when I first saw your posts I haven't visited in a long while, and I'm very impressed by how much you've improved in the game! Your region looks fantastic, and I really enjoyed your castle update. Great beach pictures aswell, hope you had fun Will be looking out for more!

BTW, you get the funniest replies ever.

[Hester 700]

I am always impressed with anything you do.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Oh dear no proper update since Jan 4... tsk tsk...

OK I will do some replies and that might inspire me as to what to do next...

Replies

Voulpiotis:  Well I hope you have not died holding your breath waiting for my update...

Schulmanator:  Boys on the STEX?  Definately growable, but if you saw the state of our loo at times...

Zelgadis: Well those particular trees at that beach have always reminded me of SC.

bbfan02:  That beach is a great safe family beach, because it is sheltered by the seaward island.

allez l'om:  Yes I am quite fond of my hand, no fancy map downloads region.

penguin007:  Lifelike...  it is just the super graphics card I have installed... you would swear the pics were RL. 

suplado!: Yes the pano shot came out ok for an ordinary hand held digital camera and  a simple photostitch program!

Shanna:  Ploppable rocks! 

anarchy0029: The trick with those castle walls is to have absolutely flat building ground.  They are not slope compliant at all.  Levelling with single road tiles is a good way to level.

gabry85:  Actually that drain pipe would make a great bat!

dedgren:  Well you have without realising it had quite a strong influence in my work and development as a SC player. Thanks.

ky72x: Yep at that beach you can virtually park right on it.  It is that close.  Wouldn't work so well if it was an ocean beach.  This one is pretty sheltered.

ilikehotdogsalot:  Hi Dan... thanks for the congrats and all...  the mod thing does cramp my SC playing time... need to schedule some.  Oh and funny is good...  I do funny.

Hester:  Hey. I am an impressive guy.  ( and modest to boot)... 

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Whitewater  (AKA - Big City Tutorial)

Well I have decided to make an update with a difference...  a CJ the other day got me thinking about my original Timbuktu Region and the cities I made when I first started playing the game.

I have not looked at these citys since at least June 2007, at which time I had only been playing the game for about 2 months.  The screen shots are exactly as I left them...  I have changed nothing except that the plugins and mods that have been since added.

This is Whitewater or probably better known to most of you as "Big City Tutorial".

Region Shot


OK so when I opened up the city I got this...  nice... problems already.  (I checked the tax... 9.9%)


OK lets take a closer look at the budget...  what is she whining about it is in the black... just.
North East Quarter.
Wow a landfill...  don't use those anymore.


OK lets take a wee look around... North West Quarter.  Little Maxis Airport...  Pats will have a fit...


South West Quarter.
Hmm not too bad I think from memory this is quite a nice area now, and I am pretty sure this city has a subway but I did not get to checking that.


Busy harbour...  port, ferries and quite a nice bridge... that water mod definately makes an improvement since I was here last.


Mid tile shot.


Hmm... some pretty steep cuts on that hill there...


Yep this looks OK.


OK lets take a peek under the hood of this baby...
Traffic... actually not that bad.  Must have reasonable public transport.


Education... pretty good.


Zones. (and even with the game in turtle the balance is coming up... what was that woman moaning about?)


This guy is popping up every 30 seconds wanting to build a new airport.


Hello!  What have we here?  This is worth a closer look...


Woot!  It is one of my Auckla

[KingTitan 6]

This is gonna be GOOD.....I have been waiting for somebody to rebuild on Timbuktu...

[jacqulina 162]

yes the P word lol,wonderfull progress here my friend and growing well,you been p ing lol

[gabry85 2]

Wow, those cuts are just impossible!

[Shanna 1]

Great work my friend! I like the pic with the ship and the bridge very well!

[bbfan02 23]

Wow, retro update it is! Great job, and I love that apartment building!

-bbfan02-

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Replies

KingTitan: Well I actually have a bit of a soft spot for my first few cities...  the one across the river a bit to the right was my first city after the tutorial cities...  haven't looked at that for a while but it went through some interesting phases, while I was learning about sliders...

jacqulina:  Plop.  There. I said it.  Is zel gonna bust me now?

gabry85:  Indeed... I played the city for a bit last night and those were on the list to fix. 

Shanna:  Yes I liked that pic too.  I quite like watching the ships and ferries chugging back and forth!

bbfan02:  Retro rocks.  I think I am gonna hijack my CJ for a bit and have a snoop around Timbuktu for a while...  I hope abcvs does not mind...

[Schulmanator 5,799]

Way to go retro, dude. I should dig up some of my older vanilla SC4 grid-fests as well!

[politicman 1]

Wow Nice city !!

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Whitewater (AKA - Big City Tutorial)  continued. 

I have now played the city, and fixed some stuff and this is where we are up to...

OK the first job was to deal with the landfill...  Mr NOB to the rescue...  as the land fill shrinks ... dezone it fast!  That last square was really stubborn!

Yay!  Finally... bye bye landfill.  Replaced the Maxis water treatment plants with Mr NOBs.

OK that guy is really persistant so to shut him up we now have a bigger airport....  Sorry Patriots... still Maxis...    That helicopter in the corner is a permanent fixture...  the airport is a crime ridden den of iniquity apparently.

A little fix on those "not so realistic" cuts in the hillside.

Gotta deal with the plops somehow...  Mr NOB "state of the art" naturally.

High tech enclave.

And drumroll please...  (haven't heard from that finance chick for a while...)

Schools and hospitals have had to be upgraded and a new city jail has been built.

[Schulmanator 5,799]

Now that's what I call progress!

[WackoJak 0]

Ahh Craig! I haven't had the time to reply on my own CJ, let alone my favourite (this one, in case you were wondering).

Well, out of ideas, huh? Congratulations for starting the Old-Maxis-Grid-First-Time-Playing-Dig-Up-Fest!

As for your (formerly) maxisland, it looks very good now. The Transit infrastructure is much more realistic.

Oh and watch this.

Funny.

WJ

[jacqulina 162]

yep lol hes gonna bust you,fantastic progress my friend sure is growing well here,great pics too.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

Wackojak, Bwahahaha! Ninetynine RULES. Hehe, "Tadaima~"

Anyways, that city does look much better. I'm going to dl those Metropolis apartments to use myself now!

[gabry85 2]

Yeah, excellent progress! Custom contents rule! Keep it up!  But, how did you erase that landfill?

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Originally posted by: gabry85 Yeah, excellent progress! Custom contents rule! Keep it up!  But, how did you erase that landfill?quote>

 

Ah landfills... the Maxis programmers little joke on SC players...  

Land fills can not be "destroyed"...  I mean I have tried meteors, fire, volcanos, terraforming and basically you are stuck with them...  

...but!   There is hope!

The only way I have found to get rid of them is to build waste to energy plants - NOBs seems to work well, (better than the Maxis ones) and send as much garbage to your neighbour if you can and slowly, with patience the landfill will empty.  As soon as you see a empty square you dezone it.  The last four squares seem to take for ever but eventually with patience the garbage will disappear.  

I am not convinced that cutting off road access helps... some people say it does, but I like to think that the trucks are collecting the gargage from the landfill and taking it to the waste to energy plant or to the neighbour...

NOBs stuff seems to be pretty clean and environmental...  the water treatment plants sort out pollution pretty well and provide plenty of  water in return which is also useful to sell to the neighbours.

[crazyyaya 4]

Neat updates Abcvs. I like the maxis vannila feel with some great and unique custom buildings thrown in. Your city terrian is also nice, I like the bumpy realism. My only suggestion is that you close your menu when taking pictures (I noticed that in a few pictures). The layout of the city looks very realistic aswell. the zones view is interesting aswell. Nice to see you bringing the cj back to the first page.