Urland, a (mostly) rural coastline

[Twenty20 28]

Excellent work, your city is growing nicely, I like the rural areas.

The region view is very beautiful, and the teaser promising...

[jacqulina 162]

hiya bernhard hows you and the family.fantastic teaser my friend cant wait for full one.take care

[art128 4,622]

Nice teaser there Bernhard, I really like the use of the fences and the water.

Arthur.

[Petrovar Ambassador 15]

nice teaser, can't wait for the update!

[Nardo69 51]

Hello to All!  

Yes, it has a while but you know, Ploppable Water in addition with th RRP have decreased my speed from asthmatic turtle to rheumatic slug ... 

As allways before we start: 

@art128(1): Thanks for the compliment my friend! 

@jonpaulosiglos: Thanks for the compliment my friend! 

@NMUSpidey: Thaks for the compliment! Yea, I must confess for me as a railway enthusiast the STR has become one of the most important NAM features at all! 

@jacqulina(1): Yes, it is really hard to be separated with them. And my wife would need me, too, while I am here still looking for work ... 

About the stations - why don't you just try and built one around a railway station? Rather realistic and that quite often does the trick ... 

@Schulmanator: Thanks! Yes, it's off to a start but it won't be a rocket start if you compare the region views... 

@Petrovar Ambassador: Thanks for the compliment! 

@Nardo69: 

@Raysfan16: Well, if this was Maxis water it would be polluted but it's ploppable water. 

Let's just say due to severe environment controls pollution was kept very little 

@Benedict: Now this is a compliment! I hope you'll get some inspirations from this update, too! 

@Twenty20: Thanks for the compliment!

@jacqulina(2): So I guess you'll like the update, too! 

@art128(2): Thanks! I hope you like the update as much as the teaser! 

@Petrovar Ambassador: Thanks and here we are! 

And without further hesitating let's go in medias res:

Update 3: Grafenaubach, Part 1

Let's start with the region view (hasn't grown too much) to make clear where we are.

An overview of the north-eastern part of Grafenaubach (na, not the whole map. There's more to see there, though). 

Grafenaubach is a medium-sized village located in a small river valley in a German low mountain range (Mittelgebirge). It is separated into twa halfs by the river "Breitenbach" (= Wide Creek). During the erection of the local railway line some meander had been cut to make place for the railway line and station.

The railway station consists of a main track with a siding and a freight station. The railway line is a small and not very important local railway line.

Here you can see the regulated Breitenbach. 

I am not too happy with PW here as the water level is way higher than I intended. Let's just say there's a bit flood here ...

Behind the entry signal the village ends.

One remaining meander. The area is protected because a lot of birds and small animals live there.

On the other side there's a small meadow. Even though it has a lot of decent grass and herbs it can only used some weeks a year because it is a bizt swampy and turns rather fast into a big mud.

A small roads leeds to another farm. I recently found out about Simfox's trees and I must say they look gorgeaus ... 

That's it for today!

Have fun! 

Bernhard  

[jacqulina 162]

hiya bernhard,thats a wonderfull job you have done with the plop water,i also love simfoxs trees,they hang perfectly over water.awesome work my friend.hows the family doing.take care.

[art128 4,622]

Beautiful update Bernhard, I really love it ! I really love the river !

[PhilsCafe 8]

Hallo Bernhard! Wie geht's Dir? Alles klar?

Your small, agricultural towns are always stunningly realistic, it looks soo amazing. And I love the prominent role the railway plays in this town.. this is also seen a lot in towns like that.

I'm sorry for my long absences my friend, right now SC4 doesn't really play a big role in my life unfortunately... and that kinda results in a lack of visits in the CJ section . Take care!

- Phil

[Nardo69 51]

Hello To All! 

 

Before we start this update replies and aswers as ususal:

@jacqulina: Thaks for the compliment my friend! 

I hope that my wife and my short one will come here in two weeks and I really look forward to this! 

@art128: Thanks for the compliment! I do hope that you'll love this update too as it is mainly about the river ...  

@PhilsCafe: Hi Phil! Well, except that I am still in search for a job I'm OK. 

About RLS, well, who should know better than me? Kopf hoch und durch, better times wil come (at least that's what I tell myself all the time ...)

Update No. 4: Power to the People ... (Grafenauberg Part 2)

.... because in Simcity nothing works without power.

There are a lot of power plants available but the cleanest and best one has disappeared since Sc2K: The Hydro Power Plant.

Pegasus once made a hydro plant, a high pressure power plant to be exact with a (rather) large gravity dam. Nice, but Simcity in alpine areas is an art for masters. I don't do alpine and I haven't seen a lot of people who can do alpine in Sc4. Even for low range mountain (which are typical for Germany) that wall is hat to use because valleys in low range mountain are usually not that high but wider.

Colyn also made a gravity wall - Thanks kwakelaar for reminding me. It uses PEG's gravity wall as a dependancy and as hydro power plant type it is also a high pressure power plant with a gravity wall. Because of this I haven't used at all and forgot it - Sorry Colyn ....

Brief: I haven't used these power plants since 2005 ...

Recently Pegasus made a second one - a low pressure - or medium pressure power plant.

Still no classic river hydro plant like Iffezheim but way more common than the gravity wall.

And I thnk if I want to see Iffezheim (German Linkie - English Linkie) in SC4 I'll eventually have to win the battle with gmax ...

Well, even though I am still mad about Pegasus due his behaviour at the Prop Pox Crisis I had to have that Baby. And I must say - with some minor drawbacks - rather useful (but still far away from Iffezheim ...)

So I created a nice river on a nice map for a location of that medium size hydro plant and worked a river with ploppable water around:

 

The power plant is located a bit outside of a small village (which is subject to another update). Upstream is a not too big pond.

The ponded river. I would have preferred to use a rather deep PW here but I had only JeroniJs standard 4m PW at hand - well, he couldn't know that a civil engineer wanted to create such a ponded river with differend water depths ...

The downstream side of the hydroplant. Here you can see the three drawbacks IMHO of that modell: 

1. It is designed for rather steep flanges like in high moountains. If you place it on river shores with "normal" SC4 flanges there's a "whole" on the left and the right. You can see it clearly on the left side at the wall. 

2. The power plant is overflown by the water. Normally the water passes below through the turbines, any water that passes like this is wasted energy! This happens only during flood when the flow rate of the river is higher than the maximum throughput of the power plant. With a stable flow rate and rain data analysis this shouldn't happen too often per year ... 

3. Ploppable water behind the power plant doesn't show. Dunno why. 

But I can live with these drawbacks - I cannot do better and until now Pegasus is the only one I know who ever did a hydro power plant ...

The view downstreams reveals the height difference. Unless used in Maxis water (which does look ridiculous IMHO) you really should take care that the height difference is visible!

What's a Power Plant without substation and power lines? Right - ridiculous!

In this direction upstream the "Breitenbach" from the last update will flow into this river. BTW I haven't give it a name ... should do that ASAP. Suggestions Anyone?

And whith another view of the pond I'll close OSITM update Nr. 2.

Have fun! 

Bernhard  

[Livin in Sim 83]

Hallo, Bernhard,

It's wonderful to see you updating again.  I hope things are well with you.  Is there a chance for you to start working soon? It will be good to see your family and with any luck they will be able to join you there in the near future.  That boy is quite the handsome one--reminds me of someone, can't quite say who. 

You've really filled in nicely with the plop water there.  I like how you have fenced alongside it, and it looks good on the region view as well.  What really is the pièce de résistance, though, is the hydro plant.  You've gotten it to look quite natural in a non mountainous area.  Did you use a darker plop water for the lower stream?  That is no small feat to get that looking as nice.  Bernhard, I think if you can do that, you can work with the alpine areas.  I just really think you can...unless you don't find it enjoyable.  This game is nothing if it's not fun.  You know, I find it is really the ideal hobby in these challenging economic times, as it costs very little.  If one chooses plugins carefully, you don't even need a high end system to run it.

But I digress.  I really have enjoyed returning to the peacefulness of your farmland, and your riverside shots.  Yes, SimFox's trees really are the perfect shade of green.  They compliment the other trees and the water.  We were hinting like mad (and blatantly asking) about seasonals, but he has many fine time consuming works.  Is that a new crop on the previous update?  That single track station is quite homey looking.

So this journal is four years old now, correct?  I hope it continues for another long while.

Bye for now.

--Liv

[Raysfan16 5]

Hey, I dunno how I didn't comment on that last update, but that was really nice! I like the STR station and the river.

As for this update, the dam and trees and everything....oh, it seems like everything is right in place. It's perfect!

[art128 4,622]

Beautiful dam there my friend, it looks splendid with your river !

[PhilsCafe 8]

I'm sorry to hear that you're still looking for a job... but I'm sure you'll do fine. I mean a person like you with such expertise

Great job on this update Bernhard, I'm interested in hydraulic engineering and it's fun to see someone finally paying attention to those details . Except from those details, I love the general feel of your region. It inspires me a lot, too bad I don't have time to play the game right now .

Take care my friend! And good luck with your personal stuff!

- Phil

[Nardo69 51]

Hello to All! 

Last update I couldn't show you the village next to the dam as some details weren't as elaborated as I wanted - had to do so some Texture and LE works. Funny thing though you almost don't see them if you don't know where to look for ...  

As always before we start let's do the Answers & Replies:

Livin in Sim:  Hello my friend! Glad you liked it.

Yes, the TPW above and below have different colors. I witnessed this so often - upsteam deap and slow, downstream shallow and fast -  that I just had to do it this way. About the alpine areas, well, yes, maybe I could but me being a child of the German low range mountains in general but especially the Northern Black Forrest I like it that way - hilly, with green valleys and not too high mountains .. 

And yes, you are right, this is the fourth anniversairy - I started Urland some months after Darmok began AVR - geee, times running fast  

About my personal situation: Nothing new ... it's really neither nice nor easy .. and I do miss my short one terribly! 

Raysfan16: Thanks for the compliment my friend! Alsthough perfect, na, I am not that good. Almost perfect, that would fit better ... 

art128:  Thanks for the compliment my friend! I hope you think the same after seeing it's wider surrounding! 

PhilsCafe: Glad you like it my friend. Actually at University I hated it - especially its exams but now so many  years after it fascinates me and I am glad that I received such a thorough education then. 

BTW the river's name is now Leubnach (only suggestion made by simcitler here)

And now let's start

Update No. 5: Grafenaubach - Rodhof or Around the Hydro Dam

Overview over Rodhof, the small village next to the dam. It has no own admisnistration as it is a part of Grafenaubach (see Update Nr. 4). It's by far most well known landmark is the hydro dam, only a few archeologist know that the small church St. Florian is built upon a Roman Villa Rustica. Its famous mosaic has been brought to the Landesmusaum so but some nice small roman sculptured stones can still be found in its walls.

Once Rodhof had a bigger railway stations with semaphores but right after the construction of the dam have been finished the tracks haven't been used much and so except for a siding that serves the local freight shed and factory everything had been removed.

BTW that's a bit my problem with BigHead's station - a nice modell but if you see such a railway station with only one track IRL it means that a "real" railway station has been castrated to a flagstop ... 

Behind the railway station you'll find the winery of the family Graf von Aubach. It's rather special as they don't sell wine - but vinegar. However not the cheap one from the supermarket but 5 star quality that is exported to the bext kitchens all over the world due to its fine arome. And - yes, it's way more expensive than most wines ...

Something special about the Leubnach valley are the edible chestnut trees at the edges of the forrests.

This is a secret the villagers never tell a stranger: These edible chestnut trees are way bigger and tastier than elsewhere in the valley. Though Grandpa Eisenmüller (he's 93 years old by now) always tells the children that 40 years ago when the steam trains were still in service in the valley the chestnuts where much better due to the steam of the coal fired steam engines ...  

This spot really cost me times and nerves. I wanted to have a nice rural restaurant there - preferably a Gascooker one but all that grew there was something like these - yikes!

Then finally I gave in, installed the extra cheat plugin and found out that the Gascooker pubs couldn't grow there - wrong orientation...!  

Anyway the Bos of the Pandora was opened - finally I got what I wanted!

The pub "Schwarzes Rössle" (Black Horse) is rather famous for its wild boar roast with chestnut purree and red cabbage - and now guess where the chestnuts come from ... 

As a typical street village most houses where built along its main road. Especially for the construction of the dam the road has been widened and modernized in the middle of the 1930es (yes, during Nazi Time. There will be more of this in upcoming updates).

I just love this closeup with Khiyana's bus stop

And as a teaser for the next update an overview of Leubnach valley opening just upstream of the dam. 

That's for today! 

Enjoy 

Bernhard 

[art128 4,622]

Lovely update my friend ! Those overviews are looking excellent !

[Nardo69 51]

Hello to All!

Today I'll show not a regular update, just a "construction site report" of my latest layout. Remember the power plant update? Well, I had  another idea how to use that Powerplant in another environment ... 

But before we start:

@art128: Thanks for the compliment my friend!  I hope you'll like todays pictures ex works, too ... 

Now today we don't have a regular update but something thatI call a "Construction site report". It's like a topping out ceremony: All the finishing works haven't began but you see clearly the shape of the building ...

Remember that hydro power plant? Well, it didn't get out of my mind so I used it again in another map in another surrounding:

A barrage with a (double) lock. The river upstream is kanalised for river traffic, downstream layout hasn't began.

The power plant. Behind the powerplant is the channel for the locks.

Upstream the powerplant. To the left are the locks, to the right the power plant.

Do you like that layout? I'll need some time for this to change from construction site to update state ... 

Bernhard

[Nardo69 51]

Hello to All!

No comments?!? Not one single one????

Oh boy ...

Anyway - today we'll go a bit further along the Leubnach and dwell a bit in the not so glorious history there.

Now let's go In Medias Res and start

Update 6: Two river junction

The road on the upper left leads to Rodhof where we have been on Update 5. In the lower left corner you'll see the outskirts of Grafenaubach, to the right the main roads leads to the country (edge of the map, I might change that sometime).

To the left is the river Leubnach. The Breitenbach opens to the Leubnach from the right. It took me quite some times to arrange these rocks in the river so that their location can be regarded logical according to the water flows ...

Both rivers flow from the right to the left. At the corner where the flows they partially egalize themselves which leeds to such a conglomerate of rocks and stones. Please note that I don't regard my maps of being part of areas with high erosion like alpine areas; as such there aren't too much stones in the river beds!

A little bit below the river junction. Goldiva's props aren't only useful for tropical coasts; as you can see for at least some time of the year boats can use the Leubnach.

The Castle Leubenstein.

Originally it has been a roman castellum protecting the road through the Leubnach valley it became a small castle in the 8th and 9th century. As it has been a wooden construction almost nothing of that time has survived. Later in the 13th century the Leubnach became a border between two Grafschaften (shires) so a custom tower with some stables has been errected to collect customs from the merchants that still were using the old roman road.

The tower was destroyed by maroding troops during the Thirty Years' War in 1644 and stayed ruined untill 1934 when the local Gauleiter fell in love with the place and decided to build a "Kraft durch Freude" - Castle for the young Nazis here. The works continued untill late 1938 so little HJ boys stayed here during their school holidays. Right after the campaign against France in 1940 the castle was turned into a hospital for injured soldiers that were badly injured in their face. After the D-Day it was turned into a normal hospital.

In March 1945 American troups where approaching thus the evacuation of the injured soldiers began. Unfortunately a company of young Waffen SS wanted to play hero and blew up the old wooden bridges and began a fight against the American tanks. As a result of this more than 200 injured (mostly German but also some allied) soldiers died when the castle caught fire. In addition to this appr. 30% of Grafenaubach was destroyed by American Artillery as they wereb't able to proceed immediately over the Leubnach.

The battle was completely senseless as it didn't delay the American campaign at all. The price was more than 300 persons killed...

After the war a new concrete bridge was build next to the castle. The castle stayed ruined untill 1953 when it was reconstructed and turned into a youth hostel and internation meeting center for young people.

The green area at the Leubnach and the castle.

I like that closeup. Even though it doesn't show at all the time and effort that was necessary to make it look that naturally ...

Back to the junction of the two main roads. The FAR in combination with the fields made made me some headache but I guess eventually it turned out halfway acceptable ...

The four farms grew like this as I was developing the map step by step. And as you may see I am not aware of a Pedriana unless it is not too often...  

Lover's corner - Liebesecke is the name of the small green area just below the river junction. Easy to reach by car by the road (grass becomes wet and cold due to dew which isn't very romantic even for young persons's hot love ...  ) but sight protected by lots of bushes and old trees it is the perfect place to watch either sunset or sunrise with the one you love!

It took a long time untill I found a solution for that power line (which I wanted to have there!) as I didn't wanted to place a (SAM-) street there and lots woulf have disturbed the wires. So i planted lots of RRP grass there.

A closeup. Under power line you usually don't find trees but bushes and grass, a great for the small maple tree of Simfox.

In such village industry is usually situated at the edge of the village, and sometimes they have one or two additional flagstops.

Now with this 13th piucture my update is finished ...

- wait - did you just say 13th picture?

- yes, why? Are you superstitious?

- Who? Me? Never! But 13 is such an ... ugly number, you know ...

- so what?

- why don't you just add another screenie? 14 is so much nicer as a number as 13 ...

- Okaaaaay ...

As a last picture an update of the flagstop.

Hope you like what you saw in this special month even though I couldn't do as much as I intend.

Enjoy

Bernhard

[PhilsCafe 8]

Wow, Rodhof is soo picturesque... nice work. I love the station and also the surroundings. It's so nice. Great job Bernhard!

The setup with the 'Schleuse' is impressive, very detailed once again. We recently made a field trip to Rheinfelden, they're rebuilding the power plant there... it was very interesting!

And your latest update... amazing. I love the castle! Lovely and detailed countryside once again! I'm REALLY glad to see you back .

Take care!

- Phil

[JanYpe 17]

Very scenic update there, the farmlands and roads along the river look great. And I see you've fallen in love with Simfox's trees as well.

[TmiguelT 10]

wow excellent detail!! Awesome use of all the rural pieces !!! I'll sure come back here again for more of this awesomeness

[jacqulina 162]

oh wow bernhard some very beautifull updates my friend,very detailed and scenic views.

[art128 4,622]

the two last updates are fantastic bernhard, I really love the dam with the lock you done in the first one. Also, great work with the farms in the last update.

Looking forward to more,

Take care,

-Arthur.

[Steamrobin 4]

I am back again here (far to be the first time...) and this time, I put my two cents in to say that this work is real fine art. It gives so many ideas fr my own work and... pleasure for my eyes. Exactly the kind of place I d like to create, instead of being able to live at !

Many thank for all that ^^

[pipishere 3]

Really superb updates!!

[LE0 5]

Very nice work detailing

This is a great CJ

[Nardo69 51]

Hell to All!

It has been a while since the last udate which was also my last OSITM update in June. It's not that I haven't done anything in SC4 - it's just the opposite but I worked on some bigger and urban maps playing with all those new goodies in the last NAMs. Not much has reached a "finished" status (does something like that that exists at all?) so I'm going to show a potpourri of my last months work. Not a real update, I know, but more than a mini update or a construction site report...

Anyway before start Replies and Answers - as usual!

PhilsCafe: Hi Phil!

Yes the lock ... I don't know but the more I'm into waterways and canalized rivers like the Rhine I felt noone made this befoe in Sc4. I don't know why but it is definately a fascinating aspect!

And you know what? I love being back - really missed it! 

JanYpe: Definately yes.

Something I never liked in "old" woods was th density - I mean there are rather loose woods but noit in middle Europe. With Simfoxe's trees I can make now rather dense forrest - way more dense than with ingame trees or even CP's trees. I just love them just because of this aspect!

TmiguelT: You are always welcome! Glad that you like what you saw! 

jacqulina: Hi Jacky!

You know - I REALLY would miss you if you ever started not coming to my little CJ ever ... Hope you like today's "update", too , it's a tad more urban then the previous ones ...

art128: So here I am - not only rural but also rather dense and urban. Hope you like what you see ...

Steamrobin: I said it before and I'll say it again: That's what CJs are for. Inspire and get inspired.

I'lL saw some of your work and it was great.  I do love that you left lurking and posted here! LE0

pipishere: Thanks for the complimements! 

LE0: Thanks for the complimements! 

Okay, as I explained before no really update but way more than a construction report? So why not call this:

PROOF OF LIFE!

Let's start by updating the region map. As you can see there had been a little bit of action lately ... The big map between Leimersheim and Flughafen shall eventually become the capital of the area. But since my concept isn't completed I built around it ...

Let's start with Flughafen (airport). The regional airport is placed at the corner of three maps. I haven't made up my mind if I am going to use custom airport lots or not; untill then the ingame international airports works as a placeholder there.

First time ever that I used the HSR and years since I used monorail. I do like it even though there is a lack of stations and puzzlepieces as you can see.

I needed so+me time to fill that crotch between the two highways and their connection. But now I like that small area! 

Not more presentable here - still months of detailing to do here.

So let's go further to the sole used big map at the moment - Bernhardsruhe - Neustadt. I began it as I couldn't satisfy the I-D / I-M demand on the neighbour maps on the left of it then I got lost there ny playing with all those goodies - especially GLR - from the last NAMs ...

Bernhardsruhe is a mix between my university town Karlsruhe and my prename, Neustadt in this case means "new part of town" stressing that its developement began in the 19th century during indsutrialisation and is by no means an "old" town.

Speaking of long time ElRail over Road is also seldom used by me. But I loved how this industrial area turned out. I showed another angle form here earlier in the "Show Us Your Railway" - thread.

As I explained before the first purpose of Neustadt was to provide tons of I-D and I-M jos. It still does even though a quite lot of I-HT had been added recently. The overall industrial workforce of Neustadt is appr. 110K.

Suburbia.

That's a style of W2W I started years ago with Erdmoebels old 2*1 Berlin style W2W - must have been end of 2004 or beginning of 2005. And the more small W2Ws hit my plugin folder the better it looks IMHO. Sometimes when they cluster together I leave it (like the two corner buildings), mostly I redo the zoning.

A kind of try to make an utopian worker seddlements like they were built in the Twenties. Did I ever mention that I am a big Bauhaus fan?

A centered park surrounded by huge Blocks connected to GLR-in-Ave and GLR-in-Road. The GLR usage in Neustadt is enormous ...

And with all these great Paris and Polish W2Ws I just had to plop a Paris style quarter - of course with lots GLR 

I love that view. (not so much my Co and Cs demand, they still are deep red .... )

This Avenue is the border between grown highrises and plopped W2Ws. I like it.

SG 's Richardson's Department store has become kind of a menace - it literally grows anywhere!

Another quarter, completely Grown. I never saw Mary Hotel growing like this before. There are 11 pieces seen on that picture and some more in the area around ...

I discovered lately that the ped malls under the elavated Railway together with Khiyana's parking lots, bripizza's elevated station  and marrast's old lots are the perfect combination for some really nice urban areas!

My inspirations to these layouts came from pictures of (both East and West) Berlin in the late seventies and early eighties with the last services of steam engines of the Deutsche Reichsbahn.

I never was more satisfied with the layout of an elevated railway line of any kind. What do you think?

The Legal Theater. Member of my plugin folder but never used - don't ask me way. I placed it in some side streets by intention - be it inspired by Batman be it because I saw theaters like this 24 years in West Berlin ...

With the last picture we move on from Neustadt to Kreuzlingen. Remember the lock and the power plant? That's on this map, too, but I'll sjhow you some other imprrom Kreuzlingen.

suburbia. Unlike flat Neustadt Kreuzlingenhas some hills - I'll guess I'll stick to the hilly terrain in the future, just is way more interesting to play with IMHO.

City Park. Don't know why I didn't play with the BSC parks earlier ...

Not much to say here.

The ramp which is used by the road and the tramway to climb up to the upper level of the kanalized river. BTW: If you want to see the lock and the power plant just look behind you ...    

Now let's move on to a small rural map - Hochrot.

Not much to see around here - some houses, some fields - and a water power plant - the old one from *cough*cough*.

But at least some nice places for some nice rural corners ...

With this last shot of Hochrot I'll close this "Proof Of Life" - Hope you liked it!

Have fun and take care!

Bernhard

[art128 4,622]

I like your dense area, you've done it perfectly.. The tram and the aerial train fit really well with the ambiance of the city. Also Neustadt industrial are good !

[Hawkeye9 0]

Wow this CJ is Awsome!!! I especially love your work with the ploppable water, it looks so peacful and very nice!!! I also really like the higher density stuff aswell!!! Great work and i will definatly be back for more!!!

[TmiguelT 10]

wow you took me to a journey through so many building styles... I LOVE IT !!! and the rural side is awesome !! i like the combination of trees that you use. Very well organized city or cities. I gotta give this CJ the SEAL OF AWESOMENESS for being just Awesome.

Keep up the splendid job that you are doing. looking forward to the next update.

[Nardo69 51]

*takes a deep breath*

...

...

...

...

okay.

Here is a new update. Not my best one as I have to warn you. But sometimes fools have to pay for their jokes ... 

But as allways before we start:

art128: Thanks for the compliment! 

Hawkeye9: Thanks for the compliment! 

TmiguelT: Well, I would like to say I'll do my very best but ... Hopy you enjoy today's update a little bit though ...

Update Nr. 8: A Fool, A Joke, Mediocrity And The A-word

Want a fairytale? Well, here's one for you:

Once upon a time there was a old, experienced and long time SimCity player. In years of citybuilding he gathered himself a reputation as rather good Simcity player. He collected Gigabytes of cusrtom content, even changed some of them to fit his specific needs. However he refused to use any custom content for airports because he hated airports. All kind of. He just plopped the ingame airports from time to time for demand cap reasons.

One day a young SimCity player had the idea of making an airport competition over at the German Simforum. From time to time old people tend to be old fools, and so it happend that long time experienced asked as a joke in that airport competition if the ingame airports were allowed, too.

If he just kept his mouth shut! Because sometimes foolishness is punished immediately ...

To the shear terror of that experienced long time Simcity Player that Joke was the approval to take part in the airport competition ...

Well, for those who understand German you can read the (hi-)story here - the others might use a translation service or just enjoy the (other   ) pictures ...

Let's begin with an overview of my region. As you can see I changed the config.bmp and moved the cities more to the center:

Region View

Traffic view

 don't like regions that have an airport on every map. So I placed the region's airport at the corner of three maps in order to have a positive demand cap effekt at least on the two most dense maps - Neustadt and the blank map that shall become the captial of the region. The third map - Flughafen - is a middle map that shall become something like an I-HT center somewhere in the future.

I plopped the international ingame airport on the two developed maps and will do the same on the blank map as I regard them being one huge airport. If I ever puzzle myself an airport there I have at least a little bit of space there ...

I'm not satisfied with it - especially not with Neustadt - but deadline means deadline ...

Overview over the airport area at Flughafen. The amount of empty spaces indicates it - map under construction.

From another angle. The Tram becomes subway in order to cross the GHSR and railway and connects the airport to a mixed commercial / industrial quarter.

Parking lots are behind the airfield. They are connected to the terminal by tramway. The tramway ticket for up to four persons is included in the parking fee - which reduces its expensiveness from "WHAT THE F@&%" to "THEY ARE JUST MAD!"  

I like to use Simgoobers Irrigation kanals for kanalized creeks and I did it here, too. The small kanalized creek runs through the whole map. It runs a bit parallel to the GHSR untill it crosses GHSRm railway line and the parking lot underground ...

The other railway station head. The layout of the avenue made quite some headaches but I regard this as the least evil as I need to cross the GLR only once.

The other railway station head. The layout of the avenue made quite some headaches but I regard this as the least evil as I need to cross the GLR only once.

Again the transit hub. On all lines it handles 15-20.000 Sims per rushhour.

The airport in Neustadt. Lots of empty zones - I plopped the airport on the edge of the map, developed the other areas and now with >600k inhabitants the map brings my old Pentium IV to its limits and beyond them ...

The transit hub. Behind the parking lots ...

you find the convention centre (a bit inspired by the airport Stuttgart-Echterdingen and the convention center Stuttgart).

At the terminal the parking lots can be used for the stadium, too.

OK, that's it. Rather mediocre.

Bye Bye reputation ...

- Thirteen pictures full of mediocre crap? Do you REALLY think you could get away that easy?

- well ... I did something there along the highway, too ...

- then don't held speaches and show it!

- okaaaaay ....

Except for old military airports that are out of use for years it is not a really clever idea to put trees on an airfield ... So I played a bit with the green stripes next to the Highways. Like all highway (Autobahnen) in SW Germany they are generelly not fenced in.

The thing was to keep the sides of the highway clear for guarantee a sufficient visibilty range and not to overdo the bushes and trees behind that green stripe.

That small wood just isn't visibale on picture 8.2. It is found at the intersection of the avenue with the highway. The kanalized creek is the same that we saw at the GHSR line and at airport parking lot.

You can find such trails running parallel to highways and mayor roads rather often in Germany in order to let the farmers do their business on their fields since the highways / mayor roads are most of the time off limits to them.

That's the last one, it is the continuation of the green area at the highways which becomes the border of the agricultural and industrual area here.

That's it for today - hope I haven't made a complete fool out of myself ...

Bernhard (  )