Blue Hope - The Interactive City Journal II

[Need4Camaro 50]

Blue Hope

The Interactive City Journal

II

 

 

 

What is Blue Hope?

 

Blue Hope is an Interactive City Journal  which allows all participators to ACTIVELY develop within the region, whether it would be a small development or ever growing metropolis. It is fixed upon an ever evolving setting. It takes place on an island isolated somewhere in the East Atlantic. The island at first was occupied by American Troops whom used the island as a secret checkpoint to infiltrate Africa via naval and air forces. The island lost its prestige to America after Iraq was occupied and defeated as it became more expensive to maintain the bases than they were worth. Some soldiers and prisoners of war however were not easily able to leave the confines of Newark and so many survival efforts were put into place by setting up farming centers to sustain a steady supply of food. This became the way of life on this island for many decades until crude oil was discovered on the island during the brink of an oil crisis. The United States made an effort against the natives will to purchase the island and convert it into a state. Although it was a struggle with the country now having a limited supply of resources, they succeeded. However can they stay in control as investors worldwide are building claims on their oil supply? You decide…

 

Who may participate?

 

Blue Hope is open to anyone who has a copy of SC4 and wants to contribute.

 

How it works?

 

Blue Hope is hosted on Windows Live Mesh. It is a beta program hosted by the Windows Live Team. You will be required to download this program at https://www.mesh.com and upon doing so, you will send an email to christforbluehopecj@live.com or post here on the forum for an invite request. You will then receive an invite to share the folder named “FileShare”… Upon sharing this folder, the entire Newark region and its plugins will be downloaded to your PC and the instance you build upon it or make changes, they will occur INSTANTLY to EVERYONE who is participating with Blue Hope. This means you will NOT have to make manual efforts to send the city or plugin files you used to another member, everything is automatic.

 

You will then be able to start.

 

Due to size concerns, The region is divided into three major sectors which will be temporarily connected to provide neighborhood connections. When attached, they all make the island of Newark. It is estimated that the Island of Newark from North to South is 120 miles in length and 140 miles east to west. The region is divided from the east to west. This was done to allow the average PC a feasible load time for the region while retaining the enjoyment of having a large state-like region.

 

West Sector

 

Central Sector

 

East Sector

 

 

Whats Your Goal?

Your goal is to develop upon this island until you can qualify to extract oil, when you can extract oil you will quickly rack up big business and will be capable of developing an urban empire aswell as control a monopoly of the worlds oil supply.

Requirements to Join?

 

Windows XP, Vista, or 7

Microsoft Words and Excel, or Open Office

Photobucket or Image Shack Account

Simtropolis Account

Windows Live Mesh Account

Windows Live Messenger PREFERRED but not necessary

SimCity 4

1 Gig of Ram

At least 1.8 Gigabytes of free Hard disk, 5 Gigabytes preferred

 

 Instructions

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

 

1. Download Windows Live Mesh at https://www.mesh.com
2. Optional, Download Windows Live Messenger here…
3. Add christforbluehopecjlive.com to your Windows Live Messenger. Upon adding, send me a message requesting an invite. Send me a copy of the Install-Code, Development-Code, and Rules-Code to verify that you have properly read all the instructions!
4. OR Send an email to the above email address with the subject title “BHCJ Join Request” with your Simtropolis alias and your Windows Live Mesh account email address. Send me a copy of the Install-Code, Development-Code, and Rules-Code to verify that you have properly read all the instructions!
5. OR Send a private message to Need4Camaro on ST with the subject title “BHCJ Join request” and your Windows Live Mesh account email address. Send me a copy of the Install-Code, Development-Code, and Rules-Code to verify that you have properly read all the instructions!
6. Upon receiving the request in your email address, accept it and follow the steps. Windows Live Mesh will automatically place a shortcut on your DESKTOP to a folder called “FileShare”. Double click this shortcut and select the location you wish to save the “FileShare” folder. I highly recommend the My Documents folder. DO NOT SELECT ANY REMOVABLE STORAGE DEVICES SUCH AS FLASH DRIVES, CD ROMS, OR AUXILLARY HARDDRIVES TO STORE BLUE HOPE ON AS THESE HAVE A TENDENCY OF CHANGING DRIVE LETTERS WHICH WILL NOT BE RECONFIGURED IN THE NEW FILE PATH FOR THE SHORTCUT OR WINDOWS LIVE MESH!
7. You PC will automatically begin downloading the Region, depending on your connection it will probably take anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours. Upon its completion, any changes you now make to the Region, or Plugins will take effect to ANYONE connected to the BHCJ network.
8. You will now need to perform the SC4 Shortcut technique to tell SC4 where to load the region and plugins from… This CAN get alittle tricky so I will divide this into sub steps.

 

a.    Right click your existing SC4 Shortcut on your desktop and select COPY… Right click anywhere on the desktop and select PASTE, HOWEVER; if you do not have a shortcut, locate your SimCity 4.exe or Rushhour.exe and right click it and select “Send to… > Desktop as a Shortcut”

b.    Right click the shortcut on your Desktop, rename the shortcut into BlueHope as this shortcut will only be used to connect to the networked region, and not your regular game files. YOUR regions and plugins will be COMPLETELY unaffected by the region of Newarks

c.     Right click the shortcut on your Desktop and select “Properties” Then select your “Target” field. You should see something similar to this …

"C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe"

Place the cursor at the end of this string, right after the right-most quotation mark and then press the space bar once. After the space, type…

–UserDir: "C:\Documents and Settings\(Your Windows Account)\My Documents\FileShare\BlueHope/"

 

This tells the shortcut when SC4 is loaded, to load the Regions and Plugin files from the “BlueHope” directory which is located in the FileShare directory. The forward slash IS necessary. The red bold text states your windows account name found in your Address bar for your My Documents folder. Be careful NOT to use your Windows Account name you use to login to your PC as they can sometimes differ on the address bar. If you want a accurate directory location, open windows explorer and browse to the FileShare directory and then select BlueHope. Copy everything in your address bar of Windows Explorer and paste it after the –UserDir: string of the shortcut. Make sure you put a forward slash “/” at the end of the string and enclose the address string with quotation marks.

 

Your overall directory string in your Target field should appear in this format

 

"Directory to SimCity 4.exe" -UserDir:"Directory to BlueHope Folder located in Fileshare/"

 

 

This is how MINE is setup, yours will have slight variations in the text however the overall format will remain the same.

 

Click Apply and OK

 

7.     AFTER THE FILESHARE FOLDER HAS FINISHED DOWNLOADING, contact me and give me the file size of your Regions folder. It SHOULD weigh in at 0.98 GB’s or higher. I will then give your account EDITING permissions. You can now open the BlueHope shortcut. Sim City 4 will load and you will now be able to see three regions. Newark East, Newark Central, and Newark West. Your normal regions of course will not be here. From here on, you can now load up any city tile you wish… Now you need to proceed into development instructions.

 

IMPORTANT: DO NOT DELETE THE FILESHARE FOLDER WITHOUT AT FIRST CONTACTING ME AS THIS CAN POSSIBLY LEAD TO THE DELETION OF THE ENTIRE REGION FOR ALL CONTRIBUTORS TO BLUE HOPE!!!

 

 INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS VERIFICATION CODE: INSTA-1

 

DEVELOPMENT INSTRUCTIONS

 

1. Find an area of land you are interested in developing upon.
2. Zoom anywhere between Zoom 3 and 5 and take an image of the desired area in which you would like to develop. You can take multiple photos if the image does not cover the entire area.
3. Open and edit the images. Develop a map key for all infrastructure necessary, and then draw your proposal overlaid onto the images.
4. Host the images on a place such as photobucket or imageshack (do not use tinypic as the images here expire after a period of time).
5. Post the images on the city journal with a “DEVELOPMENT REQUEST” heading before your images begin, and a description describing the development you are trying to create and why you might find it useful in Newark.
6. A Blue Hope council member or myself will review it and approve or deny it. If it is approved, we will ensure that no one else is going to be using the city Parcel that you chose within a reasonable given time. If no one is, then you will be cleared to develop. If however the city parcel will be in use, then a queue will be setup to avoid overwriting cities.
7. Your points will be deducted from your account and you will be given a deed to your development.

 

DEVELOPMENT INSTRUCTIONS CODE: DEVELOPA-1

Rules

 

1. Be respectful to your fellow members and be patient. You might get ideas shot down but there will be good reasons behind them. I am not looking for an overnight metropolis, I am looking for a good development story in which every player contributes into something massive.
2. Do NOT attempt to develop before attaining the appropriate permissions.
3. Do NOT delete the FileShare folder should you be uninterested in continuing BEFORE contacting me as this can lead to a catastrophic affect.
4. You ARE allowed to ad-join developments or projects with other members, HOWEVER; of course you do need to attain permissions first.
5. You ARE allowed to add plugins of your own to the BHCJ network, such as buildings, parks, schools, ect ect, However; please ask permission before doing so.
6. Do NOT update NAM or RHW components without appropriate permissions.
7. Until you are of Mayor status, you are not to change the names of any City Parcels.
8. Follow all zoning codes and restrictions when posted.
9. Do NOT under ANY circumstance reconcile terrain, reset budget properties of any city tile that does not belong to yourself, demolish a city, start a disaster, sabotage someone’s development, or delete a plugin / region / city file. I will be automatically notified of changes made to the Region or Files and who performed them. Doing so WILL lead to an automatic ban, and just for the record there are backups on the reserve and will be promptly put into place before anyone will notice any side affects so these actions will only waste your own time.
10. HAVE FUN!

 

RULES CODE: RULA-101

[Need4Camaro 50]

The Development System

This has been revised from the previous version of Blue Hope and beginning of Blue Hope II.

 

You have two choices to begin about development when you enter Blue Hope.

 

Choice A.) – (NEW) Mayor Mode – In this mode, you will be given TWO city tiles to develop upon in which you will be able to develop anything within these tiles for absolutely no cost on the score side. Any other player that wants to develop within your city will need to pay you or negotiate terms. In this mode, your points WILL NOT be tallied by the amount of property you own, nor will anything INSIDE your property lines be tallied as an expense. You MAY build outside of your property line but it will cost you points and you will need to develop a deed for this property. Anything you develop outside, aside from utilities will only count as monthly expenses; you will NOT receive income from anything outside of your property. Your income will be based on your population and job total throughout your city tiles. As you gain more points, you can purchase more city tiles.

 

Example A.) You have a city and want to create a highway inside of it.

You MAY develop the highway without any permissions.

Example B.) You have a city and want to create a highway BETWEEN your city and another member.

You MUST ask for permission, and have the points to develop it or finance it through a contractor… there will be a fee…

 

Choice B.) – (CLASSIC) Investor Mode – In this mode, you will be given 20,000 points to start with, you will be able to develop anywhere in Newark SO LONG AS you request the appropriate permissions and post your development plans onto the city journal before proceeding with development. This is the CLASSIC Blue Hope Mode in which you will receive points and be billed based on the properties you own. In this mode, you CANNOT purchase city tiles, but you’re allowed to develop within other user’s city tiles with the appropriate permissions. You can also provide for utilities to other cities such as Power, Water, Highways and Infrastructure (even within their city limits) and at a price of your choice. EVERYTHING you build in this mode however will require a deed and all your deeds must be tallied at the end of every month to determine your score.

 

Example A.) You are an investor and want to run a highway between two cities, maybe a Turnpike to collect tolls from commuting traffic.

You are able to build as much as your score will allow you to and your points are given to you based upon the amount of traffic and negotiated terms.

 

Example B.) You are an investor and you desire to develop a highway in a users existing city.

You are required to ask permission from the mayor of that city and negotiate terms before any construction begins regardless of how many points you have.

 

When you sign up onto Blue Hope, I ask that you report to me which mode you desire to participate in.

 

The Level System

The Level System determines what you can and cannot build. Each level allows you to develop more and more until ultimately you can develop anything you desire. Also some levels will serve as checkpoints to allow you a free city tile or utility of your choice as a reward.

Your level is determined by how long you have been participating at Blue Hope. Every month equals a level up. Also level up’s can be purchased on the trade of points as well. They cost 2,000 Points, or you can wait a month as an active contributor. This is pretty much a self explanatory system. Read the chart below to determine what can and cannot be developed.

The Score System

 

The score system determines how many points you have available to spend and use. They are much more important in Investor Mode than in Mayor Mode. In Mayor Mode it depicts how much property you can develop OUTSIDE of your city tiles, or how many city tiles you’re entitled to purchase. You can use the calculator to determine how much a development will cost you in Investor mode, or if you’re outside of your city boundaries. The calculator is located on the Fileshare center. The direct path location is “FileShare\BlueHope\User Files” Your deeds will also be based on the estimates this calculator gives you. Utilities, Tolls, Stations, and Civil buildings in which query different data will need to have their deed replaced at least once every three months. You can replace them sooner if you desire to have a more accurate basis on your points.

 

For Mayor Mode

Every city tile costs 5,000 Points.

You are paid based on your residential, commercial, and industrial population. See the Mayor Mode Calculator on the Fileshare center at “FileShare\BlueHope\User Files” for more details.

For Investor Mode

You cannot buy city tiles.

Your pay is based upon the property you own and at which level you're in

Below is a list of the costs of assets.

Remember, some items do not return income while others do. Not all items that return income are listed here because they have varying factors which are dependent on too many conditions so its best to refer to the BHCJ Calculator to determine how many points you will be acrueing.

 

The Deed System

Blue Hope will return to its conventional way of recording scores and that’s by using deeds. Deeds show your share hold of property and how much income you are entitled to receiving from them. You only need a Deed if you’re playing INVESTOR MODE or you’re developing OUTSIDE your city limits. Deeds are a way of keeping track of your assets and how much you will be receiving from them. All deeds have an expiration period of 3 months of which they must be renewed to reflect new statistics. They can be renewed earlier if desired but 3 months is the max. Below is the template displaying the format for a deed.

 

The "Cost to Purchase, Monthly Profit, and Total Income" field are to be derived from the "Total Expense vs Income" field of your calculator.  An example show below.

Cost to Purchase: 314

Monthly Profit: 48

Total Income: -266

IMPORTANT: Many utilities have a cost to BIULD which is DIFFERENT from the cost to OPERATE. Make sure your cost to BIULD is SILENTLY deducted from your score when you build them!

 

Remember that deeds must be updated at least once every 3 months. If you want to keep a better track of your score, then you may do so by updating your deeds more often. At minimum the score can be taken once every month. If you do not update it once every month then your score will be tallied based upon what your most recent deed portrays.

I have spent alittle time revising this system in effort to give users more options and a simple system in which they can follow.  I truly hope this helps things out as far as understanding and simplicity is concerned.

[Need4Camaro 50]

Plugins and User Buildings

 

Plugins will work and be calculated in much the same way as Maxis SC4 Content. Dense Buildings will be calculated as Dense tiles, ect ect. I do not mind you using plugins but I do ask that you request before doing so. Plugins are to be added into the Fileshare/BlueHope/Plugins directory. As stated in the rules, do not alter or modify the Plugin components or any of the NAM components. If you use a Plugin pack that contains more than 10 ploppables, then a “DAMN” Menu Management lot must be made for it to conserve space. Contact me for assistance on making these, they’re very easy. You can also make your own Highway Signs for your highways or roadways, as well as other supporting misc props for no extra charge to install them.

 

Newark Transportation System

Newark is twisted with roads and rails in which provide commuter and freight services throughout the region. Not all infrastructure however is built to the same grade though...

Roads

Newark State Routes

These routes are funded by the state and are USUALLY general connectivity roads. There are a few in which sustain Limited Access conditions for substantial amounts of distances such as Highway 4 the East/West connector. The 202 Tollway was also fully a Limited Access Highway. Even in limited access form, they do not have to conform to the standards of an Interstate so they can be placed in places where space is confining and won't cost as much to build. Long distance expressways will always carry an 8XX route number whether it be the primary number or cosignment to another number. Interstate N1 for example is also SR 800

Logic

North/South routes are odd numbers with the lowest number starting off in the EAST and highest number starting in the WEST.

East/West routes are even numbers with the lowest number starting off in the SOUTH and highest number starting in the NORTH.

Newark Interstates

 

These are Federal Funded major expressways in Newark. They are always limited access, but they can be cosigned with tollroutes and turnpikes aswell. Interstates MUST be built to strict grades which allow for a pickup lane at every entrance before merging into the mane lanes and every exit with a tight curve must also have a deaccelleration lane. In the rural areas, Interstates are the best way to commute highway traffic but they can be pretty complicated and costly to build in central urban areas. Every Interstate in Newark is cosigned with an 800 Route Number.

Logic

Interstates of Newark do not work like they do in the USA, this time the number represents the order of when they were built. North / South are odd digits and East / West are even digits. So N1 would be the first North/South highway and N3 would be the second North/South highway, while N2 would be the first East/West highway. Spur routes would be depicted by the Interstate it originates from. So a route spurring from N1 to Newark would be I-N101 for example.

Turnpikes and Toll Roads

These routes can be owned by Newark or the user. Because of this, users can have custom heralds which represent the company in which built the highway. Their standards can match that of an Interstate, and they can even carry an Interstate shield should their standards meet.

Turnpikes are a system of tollroads, typically interconnected into their own system.

Tollroads are typically just singular roadways in which toll users but follow no particular system.

Logic

State road tollroads will follow the same system as the Newark State Routes.

The shield a road recieves is determined by the following factors

A.) Who builds and funds it.

B.) The Standards to which that route is built.

Users are allowed to build routes at the cost of their points if its outside of their Mayor Mode city limits... Newark State Routes and Interstates must follow the matching numbering scheme.

Rails

Freight rail was the main method of moving industrial goods to and from the harbor in the city of Newark until Highway 4 became a viable option. Today most of the rail lines in the city of Newark serve as a passenger commuting service. Rails can be purchased or built to serve commuters and / or industries by users.

Current railways in operation

South Shore Rail Line

Owned by: Benedict

Location: The City of Newark

Operation: Passenger Service from East to West Newark with subsequent stations owned by the city of Lantia.

Map: Below

---

Coming Soon

More Maps of the Newark Road and Rail System.

[Benedict 3,119]

I'd love to take part in this, as you have done an amazing and thoughtful job on how to approach true multiplayer SC4, however I'm a mac guy

I appreciate all the fun I had being part of Blue Hope part 1. Good luck.

And I think the region looks amazing - love that mountain range, reminds me of a lobster!

[crazychickensc12 84]

I would love to take part in it but don't think I would have the time to contribute much atm between RL and School hopefully in the summer though!! But seriously this is amazing and I can't wait to see it in action since I missed the original!! Good luck my friend cannot wait to see this turn out!!

[mightygoose 92]

glad to see your baby up and running, glad to know i had a hand in getting it here XD

[Jazzmaster 716]

Fantastic!

This has certainly come a long way since it's very beginning many months ago! Looking forward to seeing how it turns out this time.

[DCMetro34 576]

Wow! Awesome maps!

[lucky7 73]

Oh, wow, you did an outstanding job on this, really well considered. If I had more time I would immediately participate in your great and ambitious project, however, I wish you all the best for this sequel as the first one was really a success.

lucky7

[tostartpressanykey 2]

whoa...

[Need4Camaro 50]

Benedict - Thank you for the great comment, I hope one day we will be able to have you back

crazychickensc12 - If you want to join then by all means join, not too concerned with the level of activity, just looking for fun here.

mightygoose - Yes and thank you VERY much your help is MUCH appreciated and I'm glad we got this running! Hopefully maybe we'll see you in Blue Hope.

Yoshiisland - Yes it has come a LONG way and I can remember the preliminary thread of the amount of people who didn't think I was actually going to even pull Blue Hope 1 off and to see it today even kind of amazes me and it hasnt even started yet LOL.

DCMetro34 - Overall, the region is about 700 Large Tiles, it's divided because it would take too long for the average PC to run, although it still works quite fine for me. In UDI, if all regions could be combined and you could drive into the next city tile, it would take just over an hour to drive the Mustang from the western most point to eastern most point. From the southern to most northern point would be an hour and a half real time. so I guess I made it pretty realistic.

lucky7 - Thank you very much, hopefully we will see you sometime in the future.

tostartpressanykey - hopefully we'll get to see more comments like this LOL.

Sector Connections

Due to load time and memory issues, Newark is divided into 3 Sectors, The West, Central, and East. While connecting Roads, Highways, or Rails between two CITIES will be just as easy as it normally is in SC4, Connecting two sectors must be performed slightly differently and to avoid complications, although its not against the rules, I suggest not developing near the edges of sectors if you intend on connecting to the next sector through the expansion of your city.

 

Sector Connections can be performed via two methods…

 

The first method is the Region Combination method in which the two parcels being connected would be run under a simulated region involving only those two cities, and then the connection would be made between them.

 

The second method involves counting the tiles between the edges of both cities to determine where your neighborhood connection would come out on the other side, and building the connection there

[Need4Camaro 50]

Members

Due to table complications with this forum, Members will be listed in plain text format

Member Name: Need4Camaro

Category: Developer

Level: 0

Companies: None

Points: 10,000

-----

Member Name: Yoshiisland

Category: Pending

Level: 0

Companies: Pending

Points: 10,000

-----

[Need4Camaro 50]

Videos

Touring

E/W Connector, Phase 1

----

E/W Connector, Phase 2 PART 1

E/W Connector, Phase 2 PART 2

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E/W Connector, PHASE 3 PART 1 (Final Phase)

E/W Connector, PHASE 3 PART 2 (Final Phase)

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202 / A2 Tollway ( Now 101 Turnpike )

-------------------

Storyline

Video 1

Video 2 - Part 1

Video 2 - Part 2

----

Video 3 - Part 1

Video 3 - Part 2

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Video 4

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Video 5 - Part 1

Video 5 - Part 2

[citiesxlfan42 27]

Wow! Incredible!

I'd love to join, but with so many big school projects due this week, we'll see about next week.

Also, I'm a little nervous as I'm not the best money handler...

[SounderBruce 173]

This is a very interesting new concept! Unfortunately, I cannot participate because of space limitations on my little netbook (although I have 250 GB, I need that for schoolwork and my CJ) and school.

[PhilsCafe 8]

Wow, you did an amazing job putting up those rules. I don't do mulitplayers anymore, since my spare time is very restricted nowadays. But it's impressive so far, love the region. And the youtube vids very real fun!

[Need4Camaro 50]

citiesxlfan42 - Well I'll definately hope to see you then!

ComputerGuy890100 - Im sorry to hear that but maybe sometime in the future!

PhilsCafe - Thanks man!

----------------

Announcements & News

I've been planning this version of the CJ for alittle over a year, it took atleast 6 months to biuld the mega region and I'm definately hoping all my hardwork will pay off, however even with my excessive planning its coming to my attention that this version MIGHT be alittle on the complicated side for the average user, and because of that I will bring back the Deed system, making the Records template completely optional... The Deeds system will be MUCH easier to manage as it will include a Cost to Biuld, and a Monthly Cost aswell as a Monthly Income. I will require Utilities and Services to be issued a new deed atleast every 3 Real Months. This will keep the preassure off of people and their real life.

Also this will still function just as a normal City Journal aswell, meaning to expect updates and tours from me. My next few updates will focused among developed areas around the Island of Newark that we've never seen in Blue Hope 1.

I MIGHT bring back Blue Hope Jobs for score keepers, it will make things easier on other members if I can find a sufficient few dedicated people but we'll see.

I'm sorry I havent posted anything here yet but videos but I've been bogged with homework and tonight I have to drive down to Florida so I dont really have time to post anything major but be patient and I promise it will be fulfilling

 

 

Next Update: Merdian - The Wetlands of the Central Sector. - Scheduled: Sunday afternoon

I'll give a brief synopsis that Merdian will be a farm based town, in which development is slow and stable, except the farming industry is booming and MOST of the farms located in the Newark urban area will be relocated to Meridian as development of homes, businesses, and Industries focus around Newark. Being that Meridian is in the central island however, they expect the process to nearly reverse and Merdian may become the largest metropolis on the island, but who knows, it might be up to you to determine what it becomes.

Topics to be covered...

--The Coal Power System

--The Farm Lands

--Newarks First Interstate

--Development of Western Lantia

[nathanthemayor 1,261]

Arn't you going to release another pack of highway signs soon?Because I saw your new video,

[Evillions 552]

Wow...That's a large amount of rules and expectations. Anyway, good luck!

[Renedius 25]

great job

[Tysons4 68]

nearly finished dling... can't wait to build

[Need4Camaro 50]

nathanthemayor - Yes, I need to make some minor tweaks but they will be up soon.

Evillions - Actually I think I'm going to make things alot more simple...  I can understand its alot to keep up with and I want a simpler but profitable system....

Renedius - Thanks!

Announcement:

I am undergoing redoing the scoring system. For all those who wish to participate in Blue Hope, you will not need points to develope anything, they will now only determine what level you are at and what you are capable of biulding. You have an OPTION to participate in a ranking system in which you'll be required to keep track of your assets. If you choose NOT to, you will only beable to develop roads, avenues, streets, all levels of zoning, parks, custom biuldings. You will not beable to build any form of rail, highway or utility as they will need to be provided to you.

---

 

 

Update 1: Meridian, the core of Newark

Meridian is dead center in the island, with vast mountain ranges in the west, flat plains in the center and east. It s crisscrossed with rivers and streams and the flat lands provide for excellent irrigation and farmlands. The majority of Newarks Food Supply comes from here. It is estimated as the city of Newark grows into its farming facilities and residential houses overtake them, the facilities will relocate into the outskirts of Merdian where it is much easier, cheaper, and irragable. Currently Meridian is connected to the city of Newark via State Road 45 (Tuckaway Highway), and Interstate N1 / State Road 800

A. The Newark Interstate System

The above signs are the directionals you will see as you travel down Highway 4 East - The East/West Connector. Although by this point, Access Control has officially ended, the remaining mixxed grade seperated interchanges will still be numbered  accordingly. This is about 3 miles east of the Newark International Airport... or for a better view, have a look at the map below...

NOTE: Clicking this image will open a new window...

This is the central Newark Sector... Interstates work much differently than normal state routes as because of their length and the possability of developments appearing between destinations, their exit numbers represent the mile marker and not the actual exit number, which is unlike urban state route expressways. Also all Interstates - or major expressways that are not toll controlled and connect atleast two major cities will have an 800 Series state number. They're typically unsigned or just signed as the Interstate but occasionally you will find a Newark 800 number with them.

Interstate N1 is also cosigned as State Road 800 and begins at State Road 304 and continues north into a complex interchange with State Road 4, but then travels a good 50 miles to Meridian where it crosses  four major rivers and wanders through several hills and mountain ranges. -- There will be more information and photos over N1 in the concurrent update.

Construction still exists developing N1 further northword than Meridian but the Interstate is estimated to be between 110 and 130 miles in length. Interstates must be built to much greater standards than state road expressways and so they typically require more space, or funding. All entrance ramps must have a merge lane before dumping traffic into the expressway. Any exit in which may incur a sharp curve must also have a deacceleration lane. They must also be divided by atleast one tile of median (two is ideal) OR they must have a divider to seperate traffic.

Interstate N1 serves as the major trade route between Newark and Merdian, and eventually further north. The route serves to transport manufacturing good and food from farms. The cities are too far for the average commuter to work between the cities, although not exactly impossible either. There are talks about setting up a rail way system to connect to two cities to give them access to the industrial harbour aswell as connect passengers to the airport...

Now, lets have a look around Merdian.

B. Meridian - The Power Sector

Note: ALL images from this point can be clicked and viewed in a new window.

This is the coal plant of Meridian. It sits about 10 miles outside of the city against the steep western mountains. The power plant is served coal by coal mines dug into the mountain in which extract coal with the purpose to fuel the plant. The railroad also was biult to serve as an extension to the city of Newark but is not yet complete. This section of Meridian also serves to take trash for the entire city. Right now the only means of setting it are land fills but there is a possability of Incinerators and Recyling centers opening to aid with anything excess in the future. This is the section of which Hwy 45 / Tuckaway Highway (which is unmarked in these photos) will enter Meridian. Have a look around with the following photos...

The Power Plant...

The Coal Mines...

Industrial sector in development along with the land field.

Another Industrial Sector...

Proceeding North up Highway 45, coming closer to Merdian, another Industrial complex lies in the wilderness...

Finally entering a residential sector in Meridian.

Moving East.

Bridges connecting Hwy 45 and the railway into Meridian.

C. Various Neighborhoods

Farmlands and Residential Mix off the river.

Interstate N1 entering Meridian.

Farmlands and mixxed Residential Living

The first exit for Meridian on I-N1

Overview of the main sector of Meridian. I-N1 trails along the east side until the northern area where it coasts along the river.

Eventually, this Avenue will cross I-N1 as a divided highway.

The Inner Meridian area.

The denser district of Meridian filled with condomeniums and denser commerce businesses.

D. Downtown

Downtown Meridian is a denser commercial business cluster littered with appartments and dense residential lifestyles.

Riverside Highway.

E. Industry

Moving North into an industrial district.

Several industrial complexes providing manufacturing labor in Meridian.

Overview.

F. Farms

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That Concludes our update for today! I hope you've enjoyed it!

[Renedius 25]

great Farms my friend

[Almighty Nienaber 3]

It. Is. BACK.

any of my crap still laying around?

[Need4Camaro 50]

Renedius - You don't happen to be Jacqueline do you? 

Almighty Nienaber - Everything is just the way it was left in the previous version. And yes we're back better than ever. this will be a serious improvement versus BH1.

[Tysons4 68]

ok so here is what i did...

i crashed in the sc4ne beta...

i read the rules and picked a random island,... you could do the same.

my city has turned around around...

parcel 47...

was not first but was not small

as things grew i realized as long as i make it a place for feet not treads...

you gave me a land the sims call "Ottergod".... but not that yet

it is parcel 47

and if you look at this screen to be exact

you can see where my capitol will be

we will maximize everything till the computer says no more....starting with marinas for the people that come in on foot and work the land from the metropolis matrix to the blue hope they sail

and as they want to move...

 all this land will have an exit...

i need permission to build...

i will always maintain a positive flow

here it is... my futire development

wait wrong region...

i see black lines of residental and commerical... blue line a brige... in the next update

light red rail connecting the rail yard... yellow xs for hig tech... and is for industry...

the dots will be open space....

i hope you can see all my images... blue hope

[Tysons4 68]

anyways need power

[nathanthemayor 1,261]

Oh yeah, and I want to know something else:I saw the nex Hwy 4 video, and I want to know how did you managed to put the highway signs right on the screen(E.G:As if it was a GPS), because I am making a video similar to yours.=)

[Schulmanator 5,787]

An impressive start. I look forward to watching this develop.

[Tysons4 68]

ive got a lot of pics...

here is what has been happening