Mezaton, a fictional/pseudo-CitiesXL City Journal

[Ocram's Razr 964]

First off, I have never laid my hands on the beta. Secondly, I will include features in my city that probably are not in CitiesXL. Third of all, this is my first City Journal; I have played SimCity 4 Deluxe since 2005 but I started playing SimCity in 2000 (with SimCity Classic as part of SimMania and SimCity 2000 demo and eventually the full version before skipping to SimCity 4 Deluxe in 2005). I might make this city when I buy CitiesXL but I do not think that custom maps will be supported in the beggining.

First Settlers

Mezaton was founded on the shores of Zocorro Sound sorrounded by fertile plains ideal for farming. After the farms were set up, wearhouses and a port were built in Mezaton. Soon more efficient forms of farming were discovered and Zocorro Sound became famous for its abundunce in food.

[Metropolis3479 0]

Well, it looks to me as if you could very well make this city,I like the idea!

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Early Expansion

After Mezaton made enough money from exporting food, it turned its interest to the vast forests. As much land there was suitable for farms, there was more land covered with thick, evergreen forests. There were many blue spruce trees as well as a fair amount of pine, cedar, other conifers and a handful of deciduous trees.

With an eye to the future and a key understanding of nature, the people of Mezaton began to sustainably harvest lumber from the forests. A large lumber mill was built to the south of the main city. Shortly afterwards, construction began on a paper mill to process the wood wastes into paper. Ever conscience of the environment (or maybe because they did not want the traditional paper mill stench in their backyards), the paper mill was built to use the least amount of harmful chemicals and to pollute the least amount possible. This unfortunately made the paper mill unprofitable but the lumber mill soon more than made up for that.

With the large profits from selling food and lumber, the city experienced a financial boom and large expansion. Soon wood craftsmen began setting up shop along with small corporations based on producing and exporting wood products. All this business brought many people seeking employment. As the new settlers settled down, they started families. The city government and multiple churches built schools throughout the city. New businesses arrived for supplying the quickly growing city. Office buildings went up in the downtown area and railroads brought food and lumber from around the new region into the city.

Exploration began on the nearby mountains and large deposits of high quality stone were discovered. Oddly, most of the stone was either a shade of blue or green and as a consequence bluestone and greenstone buildings became popular. The blue of the ocean and the green of the land (in addition to the blue and green façades of most of the nicer buildings) gave Mezaton the nickname of “The City of Emeralds and Sapphires,” what the people of Mezaton did not know was that soon that name would take on a more literal meaning.

[Metropolis3479 0]

Even better, it'll be great when we can post pics!

[gianthaiku 5]

be good when monte cristo have a Post your journals to simtropolis button lol

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Treasures from the Mountains

After the Zocorro Railroad Company finished extending the rail lines throughout the farm belt, it built a line to the mountains. A group of traders in the area noticed that many important natives had green and blue jewels. The natives told them that there was a cave with many of these jewels so the traders told the people of Mezaton about this. Soon prospectors came and made a mine and shortly after a minging company sprouted up to0 more efficiently mine these precious, almost flawless emeralds and sapphires.

Wearing emeralds and sapphires came into vogue with the rich and some of the wealthier families decorated their houses with jewels. Because emeralds and sapphires were so abundant, it was far cheaper to use these intead of diamonds and emeralds and sapphires were used in engagement and wedding rings for the poor.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Oh, by the way, I recently got the demo and it is a lot of fun, challenging but fun. CitiesXL appearently does not have precious metals or stones, or lumber. Oh well...

[MTA3479 0]

lol, yea, I think there will be a mod for that. There will be a mod for anythung almost, for a small addtional fee of course.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Here is a picture of the city I built in the demo. It somehow went to hell in a handbasket for no reason (maybe lack of fuel).

Images can be no wider than 800 pixels.

swat

[MTA3479 0]

Wow, yea. Also, the city could only be a certain size, so I think they puposely made it go downhill when you got close. MC wants you to buy the game.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Expansion of Industry to the South

All right, I am going back to the fiction.

The lumbermill and paper mill were situated a far distance south of Mezaton along Maricruz River near Mireia Bay (where Maricruz river ended). A small port was built there to send the lumber and paper to Mezaton and elsewhere. As more people moved to Mezaton, a growing need for local products (due to the high cost of importation) lead to the addition to many heavy and manufacturing industries to pop up around the lumbermill. This led to the incorporation of the area and Marcopolis was born. Most inhabitants were unqualified workers and lived in middle density apartments. The qualified workers lived in low and middle density housing on a nearby hill, away from the pollution. The port was expanded and businesses grew further. Trees were turned into lumber, paper, furniture, toys, charcoal, etc. Local iron wasd turned into steel.

As Marcopolis expanded, more resources were discovered in the (now named) Cascade Mountains. Silver, iron ore, alumina, and a small amount of copper were discovered. Silver smiths set up shop in Mezaton and steel factories were built in Marcopolis. This was all in the early 1910's so technology was not very advanced and coal power plants were the main souce of what little electricity was available. Windmills and water wheels were used as often as possible and scrubbers were required in all smoke stacks to seperate sludge from the smoke and lower poillution as much as possible.

Zocorro Sound was well known for its cleanliness, its pure water from the Spruce River, its good sewage system (that treated the water as much as possible for that time period before dumpiong it into the Sound), and beautiful sorroundings so it was not surprising that tourism boomed in Mezaton.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I just found out something funny:

Mezaton

An alpha-adrenergic agonist used as a mydriatic, nasal decongestant, and cardiotonic agent.

Mezaton is not only a good name for a city but also for medicine. lol

[DCMetro34 577]

Lol, I still love it! Let's hear more, please!

[Valentino 0]

Good City-fiction relate, my friend.

In addition, I am not sure if in Cities Xl will be the chance of technologic evolution.

I mean, It seems that it won't be possible to start the city in a concrete year (like in SimCity, 1900, 1950, 2000), so there will be no evolving technologies.

[Valentino 0]

My city will be called, Principality of Naiscenss

[thepokemaniac 18]

I was never able to get my farms to look that great!

[Simguy228 0]

I have the Cities XL demo now. I think i'll like it better then SC4

[simcitymasterman 0]

yea

[ironicepitome 0]

wow, this is the best one pic cj EVAH

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I like rectangles so I laid out my farm roads in 90 degree angle mode then zoned the farm. If you think that is good, you should see what I will do in Limited Edition!

[Ocram's Razr 964]

UPDATE: My copy of CitiesXL Limited Edition is still in the mail. I received a letter from Monte Cristo apologizing for the delay (I ordered it weeks ago). This gives me the opportunity to upgrade my computer to 8GB RAM with Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit.

[CWLGAMER01 39]

I will be awaiting even more photos of the new city once you install! Good luck!

[Larks2242 251]

Great city looks really nice

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Hope your game arrives soon!   

[Ocram's Razr 964]

All right, I am updating this again to include known CitesXL content, assumed Cites XL 2011 content, proposed CitiesXL 2011 content, alternate history, and my own features (which for all I know could be in CitiesXL 2011).

By the way, I never registered (thus I never played) my game because I got too busy to go through the trouble of sending a ticket to Monte Cristo for the misprint of my manual (did not come with a key/code/serial).

EDIT: I found my serial. It was never printed in the manual because the first Limited Edition sets from the website had the serials emaile. That means that I will install my game tonight and use the map editor to make Port Sealth, Mezaton, and Marcopolis.

Take a guess on what cities I am basing mine off of:

Port Sealth =

Mezaton (based on a suburb that became a city)=

Marcopolis =

Zocorro Sound (part of Samish Sea)=

Lago Maritza =

The Independent State of Columbia (hint it is comprised of 2 real life areas but has a warmer climate) =

Saphire Mountain Ski Resort =

Pacific Shores = 

Mezaton, City of Emeralds and Sapphires

Introduction

In 2009, a method to travel through dimensions was discovered but for 2 years, the dimensions that could be traveled to each had 1 single earth sized planet with vegetation as the only life form. All these planets had 1 moon and 1 star but had odd magnetic fields that made space and high-altitude travel impossible. A select few were given access to 1 planet with 500 usable areas of 10x10km and a special elite few were given rights to play together on premium planets with more features but a limit of 5 regions. All these people were given the task of building and running cities for new settlers.

Mayor Marco built the small village of Playa Zocorro on the first planet. He grew it to the population of 20 thousand and left after the planet became unavailable. Now in 2011, Mayor Marco is given access to his own planet but it comes with a catch, it is already populated with copper-age native humans. Many of these natives are primitive hunter-gatherers but some have rudimentary forms of farming. Fortunately, they are all friendly and are immune to most of our diseases.

Discovery Mayor Marco explored the west coast of a large continent and discovered a beautiful temperate region with warm summers and mild and rainy winters. It had mountains that received a lot of snow in the winter and part of the coast was warm, sunny, frost free and lush with palm trees but the majority of the region was temperate.

Mayor Marco planned to build a beach resort in the southernmost area of the region's coast and ski resorts in the mountains. The natives of the coast agreed to work with Mayor Marco and said that they were glad to move into the new apartments and work as unskilled workers in the hotels once the city was built. There were few natives in the mountains and Mayor Marco promised not to disturb the few natives that resided there in the summer while offering jobs in the proposed ski resorts for them. After placing a village consisting of one utility plant, city hall, 1 shop and the bare minimum of houses for employees in each city (1 beach, 2 mountain), he set off to find land suitable for farming, an industrial port, a capitol, and a modern port to export the food and take in new settlers to the area. He found these all along the beautiful sound called the Samish Sea by the natives. His first deal was with Cheif Si'ahl to build a port and small city on the bay. Chief Si'ahl agreed on two terms, the city be called Port Sealth and that all settlements, holy grounds, hunting grounds, and gathering forests were left untouched. Mayor Marco agreed and even convinced Si'ahl to allow tourists to visit the settlements and for restaurants to buy wild mushrooms, vegetables, and game from the natives.

First Settlers

Mezaton was founded on the shores of Zocorro Sound (part of the Samish Sea) along Marisol Bay in the middle of a forest with small fertile plain suitable for farming. There was also a lake great for fishing fresh water fish (in addition to the saltwater fish of the Sound) named Lago Maritza. Most importantly, there were large fertile plains ideal for farming 30 kilometers to the north. After the farms were set up, warehouses and a port were built in Mezaton (taking only 1 square kilometer and the only thing considered development in the 10x10km area). Soon more efficient (and eco-friendly) forms of farming and fishing were discovered and the Zocorro Sound became famous for its abundance in food. Mezaton itself had a few tourists visiting the native settlement run by Si'ahl.

Early Expansion and Founding of Mezaton

After Port Sealth made enough money from exporting food, it turned its interest to the vast forests. As much land there was suitable for farms, there was more land covered with thick, evergreen forests. There were many blue spruce trees as well as a fair amount of pine, cedar, other conifers and a handful of deciduous trees.

With an eye to the future and a key understanding of nature, the people of Port Sealth began to sustainably harvest lumber from the forests. A large lumber mill was built in a city to the south of the port.  Shortly afterwards, construction began on a paper mill to process the wood wastes into paper. Ever conscience of the environment (or maybe because they did not want the traditional paper mill stench in their backyards), the paper mill was built to use the least amount of harmful chemicals and to pollute the least amount possible. This unfortunately made the paper mill unprofitable in the short term but the lumber mill soon more than made up for that.

With the large profits from selling food and lumber, the city experienced a financial boom and some expansion. Soon wood craftsmen began setting up shop along with small corporations based on producing and exporting wood products. All this business brought many people seeking employment.

More settlers arrived than what could reasonably fit in the allowed area of development so a new city called Mezaton was founded on the other side of the lake. As the new settlers settled down, they started families. The city government and multiple churches built schools throughout the city. New businesses arrived for supplying the quickly growing city. Office buildings went up in the downtown area and railroads brought food and lumber from around the new region into the city and port.

Exploration began on the nearby mountains and large deposits of high quality stone were discovered. Oddly, most of the stone was either a shade of blue or green and as a consequence bluestone and greenstone buildings became popular. The blue of the ocean and lake and the green of the land (in addition to the blue and green façades of most of the nicer buildings) gave Mezaton the nickname of “The City of Emeralds and Sapphires,” what the people of Mezaton did not know was that soon that name would take on a more literal meaning.

Treasures from the Mountains

After the Zocorro Railroad Company finished extending the rail lines throughout the farm belt, it built a line to the mountains. A group of traders in the area noticed that many important natives had green and blue jewels. The natives told them that there was a cave with many of these jewels so the traders told the people of Mezaton about this. Soon prospectors came and made a mine and shortly after a mining company sprouted up to more efficiently mine these precious, almost flawless sapphires in blues and greens. The green sapphires looked so similar to emeralds that they were at first mistaken as them.

Wearing sapphires (in rich blue and/or green) came into vogue with the rich and some of the wealthier families decorated their houses with jewels. Because emeralds and sapphires were so abundant, it was far cheaper to use these instead of diamonds so sapphires were used in engagement and wedding rings for the poor.

EDIT: I needed Microsoft word for spellchecking but I copied and pasted to WordPad then saved it as rtf. Now that I am copying and pasting from an rtf, I should have no trouble.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Sorry for the double posting but I ran out of space. The brown has grown on me.

Expansion of Industry to the South

The lumber mill and paper mill were situated a far distance south of Mezaton along Maricruz River near Mireya Bay (where Maricruz River ended). A small port (with plenty of room for expansion) was built there to send the lumber and paper to Mezaton and elsewhere. As more people moved to Mezaton, a growing need for local products (due to the high cost of importation) lead to the addition to many heavy and manufacturing industries to pop up around the lumber mill. This led to the incorporation of the area and Marcopolis was born. Most inhabitants were unskilled workers and lived in middle density apartments. The skilled workers (and small executive population) lived in low and middle density housing on a nearby hill, away from the pollution. The port was expanded and businesses grew further. Trees were turned into lumber, paper, furniture, toys, charcoal, etc. Local iron was turned into steel. Independent

As Marcopolis expanded, more resources were discovered in the (now named) Cascade Mountains. Silver, iron ore, a lot of alumina (seeing as sapphires are aluminum oxide, it makes sense), and a small amount of copper were discovered. Silver smiths set up shop in Mezaton and steel factories were built in Marcopolis.  Windmills and water wheels were used as often as possible and scrubbers were required in all smoke stacks to separate sludge from the smoke and lower pollution as much as possible. Also, the port was expanded to export en masse to Port Sealth (and Mezaton) and the rest of the world.

Zocorro Sound was well known for its cleanliness, its pure water from the Spruce River, its good sewage system (that treated the water as much as possible before dumping it into the Sound), and beautiful surroundings so it was not surprising that tourism boomed in Mezaton.

The Ski and Beach Resorts

You might think that I was ignoring the resort towns because I have no idea how the GEMs are going to be but you are wrong. Seeing as I made so many other things up, the abilities of the GEMs can be made up also.

Eco-Tourism can only go so far and deals have already been made with the natives so it is time for the completion of the resort towns. Clean mining has been established on Sapphire Mountain but all of the beautiful snowcapped slopes are pristine. Mayor Marco set about the complex tax of laying the ski runs and giving them proper labeling. The second ski resort was easier by comparison because Mayor Marco learned how to make the ski slopes. His new experience and the free resources from Mezaton and Port Sealth (and inflated price of holidays to Mezaton, which was making so much money, did all it could to virtually wire in money to Alpine Resort), allowed him to create the best world class ski resort ever.

The Beach resort was much easier so it did not take as much time to make a 4-7 star beach resort town in Pacific Shores. The natives were actually relieved that Mayor Marco started development because they were worried by the lack of development and communication.

More to come

[Skimbo 304]

Hehe, that's an nice update for this fictional CJ.

If you do not want theese smileys to be shown, do not write this text in microsoft world, us the world pad

[Xidillon 0]

I like the introduction you came up with. Have the full game yet?

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Yes, I have been practicing for the past week.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Updates coming tomorrow... wait it is tomorrow ... after I wake up later today... around noon Pacific Time.

Yay Cities XL 2011!

The current Mezaton has been placed on hold but I am making some supportive cities.

Riverton (agriculture and offices)

Industria (maily Manufacturing Industry with a little Heavy Industry)