Golden Bay - Land of New Opportunities

[thepianist 0]

Hi all!

Haha this is my first city journal - don't be too harsh on me D:

So here goes...

Demand mods are used (sparingly), NAM, RHW, SAM, as well as Cycledogg's Painted Desert Mod.

:: Golden Bay - Land of New Opportunities ::

The locals still call it J?nw?n, but to the outside world, a literal translation changes it into Golden Bay. Named after the colors of sunset and sunrise when viewed from the many peaks, Golden Bay is a suitable name for the diverse populace that lives there.

Picture showing part of Golden Bay before true development began, circa 1930. The above picture shows the modern location of Sostenuto Hills and Bay Point. North is to the right, and the Pacific is to the East.

Golden Bay is difficult to reach by car, as the mountainous region proved to be a nuisance for the government to connect to the outside world. Slowly, but surely, development occured and it not only became a thriving center of trade with its natural harbor, but also a favorite for tourists to come in and enjoy the breathtaking views of the three elements of nature - sky, earth, and water.

--

1990

Sostenuto Hills was once described by the president of Taiwan as "A sprawl of strip malls, convenience stores, subdivisions, and parking lots."

Map shows Sostenuto's major arteries. Neighborhood map will be up soon.

Located by J?nw?n, the name Sostenuto Hills is an understatement for the twelve plus hills with small valleys between them. Sostenuto Hills was started as a suburb to the nearby town Bay Point in 1987, which has a more accessible waterfront, and therefore, there is nothing truly remarkable about it. By 1990, two contractors built two small communities in the pockets of the hills, totally a population of roughtly 3,100. The first (and main) development centers around Cactus Avenue and Sostenuto Hills Road (Highway 12). It also contains a small elementary school and a public library.

In this artist's rendition of Sostenuto Hills, you see the first development, named Overlook Terraces. The main road winding along the bottom of the picture is Sostenuto Hills Road, while the only traffic light in the town is at the intersection at Cactus Avenue. You can also see the lower portion of Vintage Loop, which encircles almost the whole community. Near the bottom is the town's small industrial center, including a branch of Solario Ltd., which plans to develop a new type of solar panel that could be utilized by cars. Next to the industrial center is the suburb's small train stop with two platforms and a small ticket building. While train tickets cost NT$25 (~0.90 USD), the bus service is slightly cheaper at NT$20 (~0.06 USD cheaper), and therefore gets more ridership. Also, on the far bottom right, you can see Sostenuto Hills Road climb up one of the hills at a 15% grade. Avalon is a short two minute ride up Sostenuto Hills Road.

The second development is called Avalon. There is nothing truly special there except for a small diner called "Quincy's." "Quincy's" is known for its huge servings of breakfast for cheap cheap prices. It's also known that the food there is disgusting. But most truck drivers drop by to grab a bite before going up the Sostenuto Grade, famous for its tight hairpins and the risk of falling off a cliff (the government never got to install guardrails.).

Avalon is your typical subruban community. Mmmm...

Nearby, a small windfarm operated by Golden Gas and Electricity can be found. They provide electricity to both Bay Point, Sostenuto Hills, and other nearby towns and communities.

The windmills near Overlook Terraces.

Meanwhile, the powerlines cut through a forest. For some unknown reason, most of the trees are dead, so the locals harvest the wood to make artifacts to sell to the tourists. (Watch out for termites.)

To be continued (hopefully - semester finals are coming D: )

Best wishes,

Thepianist

EDIT: Clicking the pics will lead to the full resolution ones. (If it doesn't, right click the image and click the option called "View Image."

[rawr APPLES 15]

oo I like! great start, great story. Lookin foward oto the next update!

RAWRRR

[Tomasneto 20]

Nice start guy!! Good job!!

[anarchy0029 2]

beautiful start.

[suplado! 23]

the story is really interesting along with those cool pics...

[art128 4,622]

great start there thepianist , nice region and good city

[Raysfan16 5]

Hey, good start- someone must be bored from studying on those semester finals!

I'd like to see how this plays out, those hills look pretty intimidating!

[Petrovar Ambassador 15]

excellent start! i love the map, the effects and the place as a whole! cant wait for more!

[Schulmanator 5,799]

A fine start indeed. And you have an interesting region. I look forward to more.

[Schulmanator 5,799]

A fine start indeed. And you have an interesting region. I look forward to more.

[Muck308 55]

That's a good looking piece of land!

[Alabaster 0]

Nice start on your region! All those hills are going to make things interesting for you... I'm looking forward to seeing more development.

GL on your finals (I know how those can be.....)!

[SounderBruce 173]

Great start on Golden Bay!

[Follarch 326]

Very nice! I don't see how anyone would be harsh on something like this. (I have seen far worse cities) Yours is a very well done creation so far, and the terrain offers some very interesting options for metro developments in the future. As well as ports!

Very well done, very well done indeed.

[Hawkeye9 0]

Hey, very nice start!!!

Good luck on your first cj!!!

[thepianist 0]

Replies:

rawr APPLES

Haha thanks very much! I'll try my best to keep updates in a timely manner.

Tomasneto

Thanks! (:

anarchy0029

mm - is it really? Hahah thanks!

suplado!

I try my best. (: Thanks!

art128

Thanks! (Photoshop can do wonders to a map. mm...)

Raysfan16

AHAHAH I should be finishing my homework right now hehee...

What are you talking about - hills are awesome! haha - we'll see how it turns out

Petrovar Ambassador

Thank you very much! D

Schulmanator

Thanks! Hmm - something short for today before I turn out a bigger update...

Muck308

Haha thanks!

Alabaster

Mm - but I like interesting things - so yep. Thanks!

ComputerGuy890100

Thanks!

Archean

Ahaha - I see all those great journals on Simtrop, and so I'm like "Oh snaps - can it even reach the bar." I hope this one did. Thanks!

Hawkeye9

Thank you very much!

:: Update 1.5 ::

On both sides of the Sostenuto Grade Road, there are passing lanes so people travelling up or down them don't have to slowly creep behind trucks. Here are two pictures...

This is the top of the plateau before the steep 2 mile winding Sostenuto Grade Highway. The two trucks are heading in the direction of Sostenuto Hills.

The bottom of the Sostenuto Grade Highway looking toward Sostenuto Hills.

I'll make something about Bay Point next time.

Thanks!

Thepianist

[SounderBruce 173]

Great update!

[WillR116 60]

why didnt I see the update, im in america so I didnt see the begining but this is nice for 1.5 updates. I cant wait for the rest.

[rainyday 2]

is that eyecandyy or is it functional?

[thepianist 0]

Originally posted by: rainyday is that eyecandyy or is it functional?quote>

Functional eyecandy.

It's transit enabled, so cars are able to drive on it (and you can UDI it), and cuz I'm tired of waiting for the TLA project, I made a makeshift one of my own - hahaha. Still waiting...

BUT - the cars drive like the regular road since the paths are still the same as the road, so it looks almost as if they're going to have headon collisions. haha

[suplado! 23]

wow -- that road network looks really cool

[thepianist 0]

Replies

ComputerGuy890100

Thanks!

Simsamerica

Hm - I dunno why you cannot see it - Update 1 is the first post and 1.5...is um...I believe the 12th. All images are in JPEG. Thanks, though!

Suplado

Hey, thanks!

.:.:. .:.:. .:.:.

Update 2 - January 12, 2009

Last time you saw Sostenuto Hills in 1990. In 1992, expansion started occurring at a relatively fast rate, boosting the population to 4000 in less than a month. Also, the school system gets relatively more funding than the surrounding areas, resulting in a better quality education.

This aerial picture taken around 1993 shows the two main major thoroghfares of Sostenuto Hills. At the bottom is the Bayshore Highway, hugging the hills at the coast of Golden Bay, and in the center is Sostenuto Hills Road.The two main communities can be seen as well as a small agricultural community further up the road. One can see how the road winds about the mountain.

Once, my friend and I took a trip down to Bay Point. The night before, I stayed at his house to enjoy dinner as well as catch up with times. With busy schedules on both sides and long drives, we haven't seen each other for a month.

In this picture, Sostenuto Hills Elementary can be seen. Most students travel to Bay Point for high school - a fifteen minute drive if there is no traffic. Otherwise, Sostenuto Hills Elementary is known for giving a high quality education and having high standardized test scores. Sostenuto Hills Elementary is located at: 222 Cactus Ave., Sostenuto Hills, Golden Bay Co. OVLK-SH.

My friend lived on Vintage Loop, and since he was most familiar with the roads, he drove. That morning, we passed a few oil drills as we descended toward sea level (Sostenuto Hills is around 200 feet higher than sea level.)

Sostenuto Hills has cheap gas prices with an average of roughly NT$29.9 (~0.97 USD per liter. People drive over 20 km just to come here and save ten dollars a gallon. In the end, they use the same amount of money for the gas coming here and waste at least half an hour.

At the intersection of Sostenuto Hills Road and Bayshore Highway, there appeared to be construction for a new community going on. My friend Xuchen also nearly got hit by a garbage truck as it suddenly pulled into the highway without warning.

The new community seems so small. And the contracters/construction workers leave their equipment lying around. Hmmm... *hijacks a bulldozer* hehehehehe...

We exited Sostenuto Hills and entered into Bay Point.

An aerial view of Bay Point, containing the Old Downtown, the Central Business District, Baypoint Park, the two bridges*, GBG&E Powerlines (cont'd from Sostenuto Hills), and Seaside Heights.

To be continued....

*Bonus: The person who can most accurately estimate the population of Bay Point (as of the date the picture was taken) gets the two bridges in the above pictures named after him/her. Wheee...

--Thepianist (Constructive comments are appreciated

[jacqulina 162]

great start and intro my friend,great first pics there,keep up the good work.

[Kahara 0]

i like this a lot. great terraforming!

[lucky7 73]

Very good start! The terrain looks pretty cool and seems to be challenging, looking forward to more,

lucky7

[Cleaner475 150]

This is a very unique CJ, one of the most I've seen in a while. The terraforming is great and so is the land texture mod you've used. You present your pictures very well, nice information provided to. Good work,

Richard

[thepianist 0]

Just a region view since I haven't shown it the the last update.

Four towns/communities (Population greatest to least):

Bay Point

Sostenuto Hills

Moon Lake

Jade Mountain

(I'll get to replies tomorrow...thanks for the kind comments!)

-Thepianist

[jacqulina 162]

beautifull region you have my friend,excellent work

[Tomasneto 20]

Very nice region!!!

[De Ja Vu 117]

Very well done! Looks like a very nice community!