Calder City

[psander5 195]

Replies:

TV-VCR: Thanks!  I'm glad you like Calder City.  I don't think i've ever been bookmarked before!

edmonton_stinks: I just cracked open the BAT for the first time and made my first ever model!  I've now embarked on that epic journey but, as a complete G-max novice, it may be some time (or never) when I get the job complete lol.

I accept your criticism of the tennis centre.  I had considered your points previously, but there isn't a similarly good grass centre court out there.  (I thought abut photoshopping it!)  Similarly, there aren't any seated, secondary hardcourts available either (that look as good as the grass ones anyway), so I've had to compromise.  I think most tennis complexes in real life have multiple surfaces though for non-tournament, public use... that's my justification anyway!

Danlikebooks: Thanks! I'm glad to see you back again.

luker91: That all depends on whether the Calder City Reds win promotion to the Gelderland Premier League and get their new football(soccer) stadium built in time!!  Whitwood Rovers hope not!  I've already chosen the stadiums for the sports park (in fact, they're already built!! I'm just biding my time)

jacqulina: Thank you.  It's good to see you coming back.

psander5: oops, that's me!

SNSA: Thanks very much.  I'm glad you like my very basic presentation! 

Rictiovarus: Ha ha, unfortunately i've never even visited the Netherlands... as much as i'd like to!  I'm as English as you can get!  My country, New Gelderland, is inspired (but not based on) New Zealand, so I chose to use some Dutch names.  I'm glad you like the scenery!

Zarp: Thanks, Thanks! ... much appreciated

Jacqulina: I know, it's a pain!  Thanks again.

lucky7: Thanks, that's the look I was going for!  It's not planning in the real world sense though.  It's a bit more slapdash than that. 

[nihonkaranws 88]

Great work friend. I love the green feeling your cities give me. It looks to be a nice place to live. Keep it up...

[Godzillaman 21]

Go for the Fotheringham & Associates in the upper hight level. The night lights are amazing on it.

Scratch that. Use this.

[anik 14]

I love the Fotheringham and Assoc. one (Bashnya na Naberezhnye - or russian fans, ?a???a ?a ?a???????)

I also like the suggestion of the HK Bank of China Tower suggestion by Godzillaman, but I prefer the Russian one because I think you should put in the Chinese one a little bit later, when your city gets even bigger, so it doesn't look to much of a standalone. Otherwise, GREAT CITY! I'm excited about the games... let's see who wins!!

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Congratulations! It's a really steep learning curve, isn't it?

[Craig91 12]

Region is looking great, very realistic

[SirUnger 13]

I like your CJ, it looks quite realistic. The curvy sunken highways are great. The sport center is a great idea. Looking forward to see more.

[psander5 195]

Update 2!

I'm finally ready to discard the daft 1.(...) update naming system as we take our first trip outside of Calder City proper!  First, heres some region views:

These images are censored!  This is because most of the region (Hamilton County) is to be devoted to the city of Hamilton (the capital of New Gelderland), and also the Odjnvijk disaster... all to come in a future super CJ (perhaps).  I apologise for the detail, my region is quite horizontal and my photobucket account is only basic!  The feature of today's update is higlighted in this satellite view.  Keep scrolling for closer views!

Traffic view:  Not my favourite type of image from the game, but other people seem to like them so...

Welcome to...

View from the east, towards Calder City:

The Imaginatively named East Calder district consists of a large industrial estate, aggriculture, suburbs and the East Calder Nuclear facility.

A healthy mix of industrial types provides jobs for many of the residents of Calder City, and is served by the Eastern Motorway:

The commercial district of this East Calder suburb, bordered by open farmland is suffering thanks to it's neighboring businesses in Calder City:

A closer look at some East Calder homes.  These residents enjoy a leisurely game of Cricket!

Beyond the suburb and the industrial area lies farmlands.  This picture shows farms along the river Calder, and it's main tributary, the East Calder river!

Farms around the hills, and the village of Snaith; the smallest residential area to be served by it's own train station (ill-Tonkso's NAM curve train station)

The Calder City Nuclear Facility:

New Gelderland is one of the biggest users (percentage of output) of nuclear energy in the world, and as a result, the nation is home to the foremost nuclear waste disposal site, and the leading fusion test reactors in the world. (not pictured)

and now for something completely different!...BATs!!!

You may remember that I intend to build an observation tower in Calder City.  After a short time looking, I decided to make my own!!!  I'm a complete novice, so it may take a while.  I intend the tower to be ready for the Commonwealth games (not yet confirmed for Calder City), so a small, temporary monument will take its place for the Gelderland games update.

These pictures are of a (very!) rough scale and proportion mockup of the tower in its intended location. It will be 370m (approx) making it the tallest observation tower in the southern hemisphere (please correct me if you know otherwise!).  There will be no more pictures of this tower's development in this thread until it's completion, so don't worry, this won't become a BAT thread!  I have lots of smaller projects to cut my teeth on.  I intend to do a good job here so if i can't make it look great, i'll look for something else!!

Just a little more!...

The Architecture prize:

Following Godzillaman's suggestion, heres another contender for the Immigration building:

Replies:

nihonkaranws: Thanks very much.  I'm glad you like it!

Godzillaman: Thanks for the suggestion (see above).  I agree about the nightlights!!

anik: I kind of agree.  The BOC tower is very 'significant'!  It might be too soon for it.  I'm not too sure what i'm going to do for the Games yet!  i'll have to have a good, long, hard think about it!

edmonton_stinks: See above! It really is!!!  I'm enjoying it so far though.  I've made a few small props for a rugby leage field/stadium (d'you know rugby league? I expect not, but maybe!).

CraigKingOfIreland: I bet you've heard of rugby! (assuming you are Irish as your name suggests!).  Thanks for the complement!

SirUnger: Thanks!  I like the NAM curved highways too!!

NEXT UPDATE (maybe!):

Next I think i'll show the completed Gelderland Games Sports complex, and the winner of the architecture prize, so it's probably back to Calder City before continuing the tour around the area.

[RushHourFreak 1]

Your CJ is very nice. The suburbs of little Helisinki are very realistic and the CBD is also great. You're great terraformer as I see, the mountains are very realistic and the water bodies are accurate. Looking forward to more.

[Schulmanator 5,787]

Looks like a great update to me. A fine mix of different places. I am eager to see what else you have in store for us.

[SNSA 0]

Wow, what an update! Keep it up psander5!

[luker91 0]

great looking farm towns and observation tower, can't wait for more

[SirUnger 13]

Great update and amazing region shot! The park around the observation tower looks very nice.

Looking forward to see the next update.

[psander5 195]

Update 3

Immigration House: The architecture prize

...And the winner is...

Fotheringham & Associates, The Simfox Building: Immigration House. (find it here)

The building was chosen as the best of the set of ten entrants.  Construction began Immediately and the building was completed in record time.

Here's some more shots:

Showcasing the excellent night lights on this building

This picture shows how the building's height far exceeds most other buildings in the current skyline:  This building was chosen so that it can remain the/one of the tallest in the city for many years to come.  Several more tall buildings are in planning.

The Games Complex:

As promised, here are the stadiums I chose for the Sports complex.  The buildings are currently entering into their latter stages of construction.  All that is left to do is the internal fittings (toilets, kitchens, stores & kiosks etc) before the test events can commence.

Stadium:

Aquatics Centre:

Arena:

Skylon 2008:

As I mentioned in the last update, there will be a temporary monument in the lot for the forthcoming observation tower for the Gelderland Games event.  This is that:

The original Skylon was designed by Hidalgo Moya, Philip Powell and Felix Samuely, for the Festival of Britain 1951. 

The structure was an enormous success for the event, but was sadly  scrapped in 1952 on the orders of Winston Churchill, who saw it a symbol of the preceding Labour Government. 

This version of Skylon, designed by... ME! is different in several ways.  The original structure was clad in aluminium louvres and lit from within.  My version is clad in seamless satin aluminium and will be lit from the outside.  The original tower was suspended 15m from the ground and reached almost 90m in height.  Skylon 2008 is suspended 16m from the ground and reaches 110m in height.

Both the original and the new version are suspended using only nine suspension cables and three supporting 'legs'.

Skylon 2008 features a completely original plaza (not yet complete) at its base, where visitors can stand directly beneath the procarious point of the 16ton suspended 'lozenge'

Skylon will be opened officially during the opening ceremony of the Geldeland Games, where the lights will be switched on for the first time (i've not done the nightlights yet, nor do I know how... just yet!)

The long term future of Skylon 2008, like it's predecessor, is still uncertain.  The structure is designed to be fully dismantleable and can be moved to another location.  This new location is yet to be discussed, but will be decided before the end of it's 3 year stay in its current location.  Skylon could yet be shipped away to another New Gelderland city, or perhaps even to its ancestral home, London's South Bank.

facts taken from the wiki article

A little more?...

Back to more humble matters.  Heres a picture of another of my custom content projects, a pair of Rugby League pitches nestled into an as yet unfeatured suburb directly to the west of the CBD (still in the Calder City limits)

Hopefully that image whets a few appetites for what's coming next, as were probably going to venture out again into the further suburbs.

Replies:

RushHourFreak: Thanks, especially for the terraforming praise!  I've never considered myself a terraformer before.  Little Helsinki is one of my favourite places in Calder City.

Schulmanator: Thanks.  I hope you like this update too!  I've really enjoyed doing these two.  Nice and chunky!

SNSA: Thanks, I know you're on holiday as I write this, which makes me jelous! 

Luker 92: Thanks, I'm glad you like my observation tower... even at this stage in its construction!  I'm pleased with the farms.

SirUnger: Region shot praise is greatfully received! Thanks.  I like to make a good, complete region.  This one still has some way to go but i'm happy so far.  The park is now almost complete! (above)

Thanks for reading (there's a lot of text in this update, sorry)

Comments welcomed.

[anarchy0029 2]

Nice pics going there. You have some great talent of city highlights.

[rusty_777 0]

This is excellent work I must say I am rather impressed. You have great highlights so I agree with anarchy. Your city is beautiful.

Cheers.

[bluemoose 223]

WOW!!

This is amazing. I love european cities. This is the best eurocity ive seen

Sorry about this flashback, but, in the first update, there was a brown railway station, could you tell me where to go?

[Mikeaut1 261]

I love your downtown! Nice mosaic as well, with great building selection.

[USA Patriot 49]

Parts of Calder City are very industrious I see. You got a lot of Maxis buildings, and show them off very well. Great region, and it flows nicely.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

Well, that is a very nice update, and your BATs appear to be coming along quite well! The new immigration building is very nice. Hopefully they don't make you wait for hours and hours like the Japanese government does.

[Mr. Ican'tseemtobuildagoodcity 0]

nice city

look forward to new posts

and a simple question

do you run this on vista

[SirUnger 13]

Great update! Your city develops very good, looking forward to the next update.

[SNSA 0]

Well, it looks like you have done a lot of work while I enjoyed my holiday .

This is awesome, everything is just... WOW!

[spore415 5]

I would like to say,you did a great Job on your cities! a few quick questions however. are you using a terrain mod, and if so which one? and secondly, why aren't you psting, i've ben checking back (i even have your CJ bookmarked!) and nothin new lately. you should consider posting soon, i for one am intrested in what you are gonig to do next!

[jacqulina 162]

thanks my friend,excellent region views and farmland

[ky72x 13]

Great work! The layout of the city is quite good, especially the sunken highways. The custom buildings look nice against the sea of Maxis, and all of the new construction sites are an obvious sign that the city is doing well. I'll be looking forward to see more!

- Kyle

[psander5 195]

Replies:

In response to spore415's post, here's some replies.  I don't have an update ready yet, but i'll hopefully have something up this weekend.

anarchy0029: Thanks.  I'm glad you like how i'm doing things.

rusty_777: Thanks again!  I'm glad you like it.  I hope the festival was good for you!

bluemoose: It's not meant to be European!!  It's actually meant to be based near Australia!  I haven't made any nation maps yet so I haven't released much information about geography yet, but I'm happy you think it looks good!  The train station is Cosham Railway Station by ill Tonkso.

Mikeaut1: Thanks.  I'm glad you like the mosaic!  I've made a few, but that one was my favourite so far.  The downtown is still growing by the way!  I hope it doesn't go down hill for you!

USA Patriot: Thanks.  Industry is easy to ignore in simcity. It's very important.  I've not seen a city like this that doesn't feature large swathes of industry... and my part of the world (northern England) is virtually a patchwork of industrial estates.

NMUSpidey: You'll be glad to know that the queues at the immigration desks are extremely efficient.  No more than 10 minutes wait throughout the department!  Thanks for the nice comments, especially about the BATs!

Mr. Ican'tseemtobuildagoodcity: Thanks.  I don't use Vista.  I've heard it's rubbish! (but getting better)

SirUnger: I'm glad you liked the update, thanks.  The next one will be back in the suburbs.

SNSA: Thanks.  I'm glad you enjoyed your holiday!  I still haven't had one yet!  I'm thinking: camping in Ireland... maybe.

spore415: Thanks.  I'm still deciding on what to show next.  The suburbs don't really have much other than just houses and farms yet... nothing to give them their own identity.  I'll update somehow before the end of the weekend.  I can usually manage one-a-week.

Jacqulina: Thanks.  I'm proud of my region shot so far.  It's still not nearly finished though, and may change much!

ky72x: Thanks.  The city is doing well.  It's the fastest growing city in New Gelderland.  Immigrants are now almost exclusively chosing to live in Calder City to the detriment of the rest of the country.  There are plans to introduce measures to better distribute the population though.  The construction zones are all under fierce competition from international corporations.  Many pundits predict that Calder City could soon surpass some of it's Austrailian neighbours as a major business hub!

[bluemoose 223]

Sorry!

Have you ever seen "A Knight's Tale"? this is what the

Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland!!!!

was wondering if you took inspiration from this movie

Sorry again, still looks nice wherever it is!!

[psander5 195]

Update 4 - Stirling

Stirling (full name Stirling Calder) is a larce suburban centre to the North of Calder City.  The are has its own 'mini downtown' with several mid-rise buildings and commercial centres.  The satellite town also features a large sports facility and it's own regional heliport.

Geographically the town is built on a large plain with surrounding ridges of hills.  There are no remarkable bodies of water.

Stirling is wholly part of the conurbation of Calder City.  Most of it's residents consider themselves as Calder City residents.  Stirling is aso part of Hamilton County, and its residents compete for Hamilton county in the Gelderland Games.

Pictures:

Overview.  Calder City is on the tile immediately to the south

Zooming in to Stirling town centre:

Homes built on a 'fused grid' adjacent to the highway:

A large neighbourhood built on a more relaxed layout:

The sports complex, home to Stirling Football Club and the Stirling Saracens Rugby League Club (both play at Stirling Stadium - currently marked out for a football game).  The complex also contains various other sports pitches open to the public, and is extremely popular.

The Calder City Regional Heliport offers shuttle services throughout central New Gelderland as far as New Rotterdam in the east, and Manchester in the west. From here passengers can also book seats on the shuttle services to the country's various international airports. The heliport is most often used by the business passengers.

Travelling northwest, you come to the town of Hanley; a satellite of the satellite town!

To the East. among wide expanses of farmland you can find the Smith's Ridge wind farm:

That's it for today.  I think i'll go back into the city again for the next update.  There are more office towers on the way!

Reply:

bluemoose:  I've never seen it!  Gelderland is a region in Holland.  I chose it because my nation is inspired by New Zealand, and since Zealand is a region in Holland, it seemed natural that I choose a similar name!  Thanks for the comment.

[crazyarchitect 7]

WOW, this is a really nice city/region, all I can say is a great job on it. My company is even thinking about expanding into these parts with all of the expansion taking place. I'll have to wait until my offices get built in Virgin Shores so I can look at floorplans of buildings architects keep bringing me lol. But anyway, keep up the great work and I love the new Immigration building.