Marek Vidanov, Friski

[p_mcgough 0]

LOL! I see what you mean, but numbers are the last thing on my mind right now. :-)

Before last Saturday I had exactly 0 photos and I've been careful not to post without a photo so as not to be too boring [as per the tutorials]. Anyway, I'm hoping now to get over the show-and-tell and get back to documenting the city's growth.

 

BTW I hope that you had a look above the last post, as I've updated all the images to give [hopefully] a better sense of context.

[p_mcgough 0]

The Hyatt Hotel on Avenue 21 May

 

[see below for more about this area of town. It's now under active redevelopment as per the described city brief.]

 

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[Kwakelaar 92]

This is lot better with the text to all the pictures. And you should indeed try and make one update at a time instead of posting every picture seperatly. It is also easier on your viewers.
Hope to see more updates.

[jacqulina 162]

great start

[Nardo69 51]

Nice start! Good european feeling with all those plopped building.

Can't wait to see your countryside

Nardo

[Compromise 1]

Intresting, small updates are fine but please leave more than 5 minutes between updates. Remember to use the edit post button.

[p_mcgough 0]

St Vilem's at the East Gate

 

 

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[Here I've replaced St Vilem's with a more elaborate 19thC construction to better match the scale and period of the district and help define the East Gate by its steeple. There's still a lot of work to do here, with plenty of visible gaps.]

  

 

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The East Gate, with the stautue of Pegasus in Place 20 May, marking the turn in the Great East Road [Gran-Ostrott] toward Ondra Seka and crowned by the impressive dome and marble campanile of St Vilem's. The church commerorates the famous child-martyr, holder of a very special place in the hearts of the Friski.*

 

Constructed under Hapsburg rule as the formal entrance to the city from the rich areas to the east, the avenue and its gateway are the centrepieces of the civic improvements the of later 19thC. Not visible to the south of St Vilem's is the city's principal Financial District, clustered around 21 May Avenue [formerly 22 May Avenue].

 

Although the rigid town planning, squarely based upon Haussmann's contemporary Parisian mob-stoppers, is still visible, the original architecture has not always survived with such fidelity. As 21 May leads south, Stalinist and equally ugly 20-21stC commercial buildings start to appear, respective products of Soviet and then US imperialism.

 

St Vilem's perches on the edge of the rise that was the site of the ancient marek. Apart from some foundations, two ghosts and a few well-stocked wine cellars, no trace of the once formidable fortress remains; swept away by the construction of the New Palace at the end of the 18thC.

 

 

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Jens Damm opens from the New Palace to St Vilim's.

 

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A glimpse of the New Palace, showing its general orientation to the north of St Vilem's, along the avenue Jens Damm.

 

 

* St Vilem was a 13thC child who, when told to go to his room without supper until he was ready to apologise to his sister properly, did just that. Although inevitably paying the ultimate price for his unshakeable conviction that she'd started it, Vilem's quiet sacrifice set the bar impossibly high and has made life a nightmare for endless generations of Friski mothers.

[utora 0]

Wow, you've made a wonderful European city.. I love it, it's beautiful Great update, keep it up!

[Glenni 1,445]

nice!!!!

[Traffic_Jam 0]

Nice update!

[Nardo69 51]

I love your town! All those nice w2w. I see a lot of growables, too ... Must have taken ages to let them grow and mark historic while buldozing the others. But the result is definately worth the effort ...

Just ... one concrete sin - one modern building within these 19th building ... you can find such sins in every town - as an edge for the eye would be nice ...

Anyway: Great update!!!

Nardo

[Compromise 1]

Excellent things about this update which should be kept up: The high quality buildings used and the history included.
 
Passable things about this update which could be improved: Keep up the use of the edit post button.
 
Bad things about this update which should be improved:
 
Overall Rating: A B C D E F

                             ^ C Good update.

Simtropolis Production Evaluation System (SPES) by Compromise.

[p_mcgough 0]

[Thanks for the feedback guys, esp utora. But to the specifics:

 

Nardo69 - Such compliments; wait until you see the rest of Avenue 21 May - it's exactly about what you are talking about. Fitting intrusive modernity into a classical framework. And, yes, growing and pruning to get the right effect is extremely slow going. Marek V has been going for a very long time.

 

Compromise - Ta. I'm filling in the blank posts as I go, if that's what you mean. Glad you like the history etc. Thanks for your comments and please keep the interest up - I'm glad that my posting is improving. ]

 

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A quiet corner of the city, deep on the south side of Lake Kloski. Nothing of historical note - or even ruefully amusing - is associated with the buildings shown in this view.

 

 

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Nabokov [running lower left to right above], a key artery, stretches from Sulik Station, to embrace Constitutions V and XXIII and other major landmarks as it makes its way across the old town. To the east of this picture, Nabokov eventually becomes a diagonal boulevard as it gently angles north to meet Ondra Seky.

 

The branch commuter rail line is clearly visible in the image, framing Marek Vidanov proper from the contiguous sprawl that unites it with Ondra Seky.

 

 

 

[GingerBlokey 30]

This is fantastic I love the regional style of this it is quite original.

[gurrgkud 2]

p_mcgough

 

Thats a lovely european city you have going on there. I myself have never been to Europe, but I can totally get a sense of how it would be just by looking at your amazing CJ.

 

keep it up!

[Jerebannus XVI 7]

How european and how wonderful, i can't wait to see more. awesome update.

[petriknl 15]

Can you tell me where you got that metrostation (as it is one) of the first picture on this second page? Thanks... CJ looks very realistic very cool to see it develop.

[Compromise 1]

Intresting, keep the work up.

[p_mcgough 0]

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The Financial District: Avenue 21 May and environs

 

Jens Damm runs from the New Palace past the Great Eastern and Northern Railway Station and St Vilem's downhill to Place 20 May and Friski's vibrant Financial District.

 

The railway station dates from 1843 and was originally intended as a modern and dramatic place of departure for the monarch when he evacuated his hilltop palace to avoid the heat of summer and transferred to the tranquility of Krist, the famous 'Floating Palace' that grandly embraces the cities around the Mirko [bay], far to the east.

 

Although the mid-summer heat in Marek Vidanov is often indeed oppressive, popular opinion has long suggested baser reasons for the transfer, not least the venerable Old Cheese and Violation of Wild Pigs festivals that were still so much an integral feature of August city life during that century.

 

Nowadays the station has adopted a more prosiac role, serving as a major arrival point for commuters from the gentrified countryside heading lemming-like to their places of work in the Financial District.

 

Tourists will be pleased to note that the Old Cheese Festival continues today, although airconditioned facilities have helped to some extent to make it a slightly less intrusive experience.

 

[The Floating Palace exists and I shall include and display it later on, although it does not strictly fit into the Marek Vidanove remit. There's a lot of Friski!]

 

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/6372/financialsouth27ue.jpg align=baseline>

 

 

[This post is meant to lay out the current state of play in the Financial District, where my next post will focus. Hopefully Nardo will be pleased to see lots of ugly concrete 'sins', that I must work around.

 

This post is not finished.

 

Thanks for visiting. Thanks for your patience.]

[Compromise 1]

Excellent things about this update which should be kept up: The relisticness of the shots in the pictures.
 
Passable things about this update which could be improved: Turn off U Drive it when taking the shots.
 
Bad things about this update which should be improved: N/A
 
Overall Rating: A B C D E F

                            ^ C Good update's still coming.

Simtropolis Production Evaluation System (SPES) by Compromise.

[Nardo69 51]

That's what I meant! Some brutalist sins in concrete!

Great update!!!

Nardo

[p_mcgough 0]

(Loking back half a year later, this following post seems to be about nothing much at all. Maybe showing off? Anyway, I'm not deleting my past, so it remains here. )

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 Sandor Railway Station on the South Side.

 

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Marek Vidanov looking north acros Lake Kloski from the South Side. The Royal Stables are clearly visible centre left in the photo above.

 

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Royal Avenue stretches from the Church of St George, official church of the Royal Family, past the Old Palace to the gates of the New. .To the right is Crux Square, centre of Friski bohemia.

 

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The New Palace looks out across town from the summit of its hill. On the lake, the His Serene Highness' Royal Yacht, the Jorgov,  awaits orders, accompanied as always by an RFN warship, in this case RFS Bolek.

[Deathtoall 28]

nice work with the oldd france like buildings!

[Kwakelaar 92]

A few updates since the last time I had a look here. I am trying to follow your text and the pictures, but you are not making it easy. Maybe a map of the areas you describe could help out? I am long lost in where to look for the old-new-palace or the new-old-old-palace.
What happend to the wild pigs - to much violation?
Nice details and nice updates in general.

[____----____ 37]

there are a lot of great European style cities around and this is no exception

 

Alek

[p_mcgough 0]

{It's been a long while since I've been able to get back here to update Marek V. Too much real work and also the pace of development in Marek V is very slow since I work building to building, so there's not usually a lot to see week-to-week.

 

I also took a month-long deviation to build further on the regional feeder cities, especially Ondra Seky, to ensure commerce and traffic flow remained high enough to support the town. Currently the population stands at around 310k, up almost 100k since last time.

 

Thanks to the increasing quality of the buildings on offer from the building community, it's been possible to greatly increase the proportion of wall-to-wall buildings that actually serve the purpose they're meant to. Result: most of the population growth is hidden. All the same, the filling out of the 'boring' suburbs that every great city has has continued. This is more visible in the latest photos than it had been when I concentrated on the showy parts, but my plan is not to show too much until I have endless acres of terraces stretching realistically and depressingly toward the horizon.

 

Minor point. The lake is meant to be esentially a tamed swamp. Unfortunately, I made my lake far too deep and it's taking ages to fill land in to make the South Side develop in the way I want - as a wannabe 19th century reflection of the old town that lacks its style.

 

And another. I'm hoping that in these images you'll get what I'm trying to do with Marek V. Everything in Sim City is neccesarily regular and also compressed, as if it was a train set in HO scale or something similar. In a real city the avenues could stretch for miles and still maintain their character. Only the formal minority of my layout is straight-edge regular and everything else is as random as possible. Thanks to great buildings, I'm hoping to maintain the sense and regularity that such a fictional city would require, but with a varied architectural palette suitable to a 'real' place. As I've noted before, Marek V is meant to be the best tourist destination you never heard of - therefore it cannot be a homogenous array of magnificent vistas. }

 

 

 

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{If you compare earlier posts, you'll see that the Old Palace was differently configured. I like to try things out, but believe the closed courtyard option is the more realistic. At the time of first poting, it was in the [now non-canon] open config that I liked because it opened up the courtyards toward the original pre-city orientation of roads.

 

The very straight line through the park gardens will be softened shortly. This building is meant to be a fairly mediocre example of the Palladian fashion. As with Buckingham Palace, I like the idea that the city's central feature is actually very ordinary and modest. :-) }

 

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{The Old Palace gates. Of course the Old Palace must always have looked like it does now; not the way it appears in all previous posts!]

 

 

 

 

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St George's; The Chapel Royal

 

The Royal Chapel of St George most demostrates the urbanisation of the city over time. Like the Riky, it once sat in splendid isolation, sited along a parkway west from the Old Palace. For over 100 years now it has been surrounded by development. The 19thC Bishop's Palace just behind it forms a visual backdrop to the classical facade. Later buildings nearby dominate the skyline, but the chuch dome remains a landmark - and of course, the termination of the vista intended for the New Palace on the heights opposite.

 

Despite the unusually high proportion of famous-looking churches that still adorn Marek Vidanov, it would be a mistake to consider the Vidanovs as a particularly god-fearing family. The Bishop's Palace has mostly been a hotbed of political, rather than religious fervour. Just one example: Archbishop Pekar was the Hapsburg appointed regent during that period of Friski history, serving 18 years as Prime Minister. His role, although obviously a neccessary step in controlling the province, did little to endear him - or the church in general - to the people.

 

 

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A view of the city facing south, looking across Sulik Station and St George's. A 19thC railway viaduct, known as the Long Bridge, spans the River Seky at this point.

 

 

 

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{This otherwise random image shows the view east of the Old Palace. In the other pictures posted the scars of recent redesigns are apparent where landscaping is clearly missing. I tend to try out a few ideas for each public space. In this view the layout of this square  at least [although not the short street on the opposite side] is pretty much completed to my satisfaction at last!]

 

 

 

 http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/7674/marekvidanov9nov3481129219684c.jpg align=baseline>

[Kwakelaar 92]

Nice to see a new update of Marek Vidanov, Old Palace have turned out quite nice.

[Nardo69 51]

Nice update! My favourites are that entrance gate to the palace as well as the last picture with the nice plaza!

Even though I am a railwayfan I must criticize that that railwaybridge is a bit too long... a diagonal one would be the as perfect as unavailable solution for that ....

Anyway: It was worth tthe waiting for!

Nardo

[jacqulina 162]

wow what an update love what you are doing,the pics are fantastic too

[p_mcgough 0]

[This is a work-based entry and will contain little new historical information.

Thanks tons to anyone who read/replied to my last posting. Marek V is evolving, hopefully toward increased realism, but it's slow going and not much to see on a daily basis. I'm bulldozing and replacing features in the town centre and, although the changes may seem minor they are hard work [not least that pit-of-the stomach feeling that come with trying something new where it may have worked ok before] if proper relationships and vistas are maintained.

Vistas are vital to the idea of Marek V. Like most beautiful cities, some of the best views are not those along formal avenues. I'm hoping that readers take the time when looking at the pictures to imagine the scope of what the average tourist or Friski would actually see fromn any particular vantage point. The domain area between the Old Palace and the lake is a good illustrator, with spacious, planned views between not only the Palace and its grounds, but also the Cathedral and the Library on one side and down toward the East Gate [now replaced] and St Villems in the West.

Kwakelaar and jacqulina: Ta! Your encouragement is just great!

Nardo69: Your comments about the railway fit definately into the 'constructive' category. I have had issues with that corner of town [mainly because I'm lazy around the shoreline] but agree with your comments on the rail bridge and will use the impetus to resolve it! In other words - the sort of comment I appreciate most!

Also, I'm sure that I've presented too many high level shots recently, but while I move things around like I'm doing, the overview is still what matters most.

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/5380/marekvidanov29may3641130351832.jpg align=baseline>

 

Here's a good example. The square to the west of the Old Palace is 'finished'. Now I work out how the archictechure of the surrouds would relate to it best. The green/gold tone evident in the surrounding architecture hopefully signifies a sense of stylistic unity within the Royal district - visible here and on top of the hill at the New Palace. The Cathedral at the climax of the east road fits this theme, although I admit trouble in making it fit in smoothly.

 

 

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The out-of-scale Pegusis statue has been replaced by the beautifully rendered Menin Gate model, serving here as an early 20thC replacement for whatever orignally appeared.

 

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By demolishing the Cruise ship terminal that previously place-marked the presence of the Royal Yacht, I have created new problems where the fishing port in front of St Brunos used to fit seamlessly!

 

 

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Things that will hopefully be fixed by the next post:

-     The East Road [barely actually used by Sims within the game] will be single roads, surrounded by park and trees

-     Fixing the foreshore in front of St Brunos

-     Resolution of the are around the Cathedral and toward Royal Avenue [the bit formal strip linking the Palaces].}