New Gelderland

[TekindusT 3,809]

I like this power plant BAT (sadly not available anymore...) and I've loved this update! Just a question, where can I find that power substation, I seriously need one for my CJ...

May I suggest you this [link] power lines pack, which will allow you to extend your farms to the road and you'll only waste one tile to put in the pylon. And IMO, they look much more realistic than the Maxis ones...

[penguin007 27]

Awesome update again my friend the huge industrial behemoth surronded by fields looks great as does the railway

Will

[Blazerhawk 162]

Great work. It's good to know someone else uses a power cheat lot for the sake of simplistic realism. Victoria looks like it is coming along very well.

[Benedict 3,119]

The close up of the power plant complete with coal mounds, rail and power lines is incredibly realistic.

[DustyLee23 6]

No problem on that link I know I would have a hard time telling someone where I got something as well. Cool update with the power plant looks so incredibly real. Victoria seems to be coming along nicely. Untill next time happy building.

[kj3400 178]

...That power station is so beautiful...

Also, on a completely unrelated note, we're on the same update.

[Pipcard 20]

You make pretty small towns and rural areas.

[Roger51 381]

Great power station!! If they are looking to clean up the coal power station, they may want to start looking at Clean Coal, or the Carbon Capture Program. This way they can still use coal, but it will be better for the environment and the farms close by

Victoria is coming along nicely, the port area is looking great (what wouldn't be when it is man-made )

I look forward to the next update!

[Follarch 326]

Absolutely am loving how Elden's region is coming along! You've been developing several areas around it but now they're fitting together like puzzle pieces, almost seamlessly. Surrounding each development with farmland is a great way to do so, and you're pulling it off like a pro.

And by the way, Victoria is also looking marvelous! Did Krug journey over here to smash that natural bay perchance? I find it hard to believe Zel would lend him for a bit, although Krug really does love to smash.

[psander5 197]

rewright : Thanks. I'm glad you like it.

TekindusT : Thannks. It is a great BAT. The substation is from this pack. Thanks for the link. I did consider using a ploppable set, but this region flat in precisely zero locations! I'd have to do a lot of levelling to make them look right here. 

penguin007 : Thanks!

crushedcar : Thanks. I use more than just power cheats! i'd do almost anything to cheat my way to the picture I want!

Benedict : Thanks!

malibu_man : Thanks. Yeah, some... like the one above I found for TekindusT are easier to find than others.

kj4300 : Thanks. I noticed that too! I'll race you to 100

Pipcard : Thanks!

Roger51 : Thanks. Carbon capture would be great. We have loads more nuclear BATs though! Man made things are great. I like trees too though

Archean : Thanks! I don't know what happened really. It was all nice and natural one day, then the next it was an industrial wasteland!  

[psander5 197]

Update 23 : Victoria – West Birchfield

Wecome to Victoria!

This is the first official update of the city of Victoria. As mentioned in previous updates, Victoria is New Gelderland's most populous city, and is the country's only true skyscraper jungle... well, of sorts. Think more of Melbourne though than Manhattan. Once the city is nearing completion I'll do a proper update with some vital stats and a broad history, but for now I'm still designing it, so I'll update with lots of 'construction' updates... the kind of thing you're more than used to seeing in this CJ!

So, to kick off Victoria I've completed an entire city tile. This isn't the way I'll always update, but I felt like showing a 'full picture' for once, rather than lots of empty space adjacent to development. I've managed to squeeze three separate updates from this single medium sized tile... which pleases me because I now have a few updates 'in the can', so I can be confident of updating regularly.

Three districts will be covered, the first is a large mid-suburban borough called West Birchfield.

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...West Birchfield is the largest of the three local boroughs, but it's also the most boring! As the name suggests, it's only one portion of a larger borough. The rest is on other tiles, so they won't be seen for a while. West Birchfield is made up of mostly low density homes and industry, but there is a nice feature interchange coming up...

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...The northern part of West Birchfield is industy. Here a major Victoria arterial road (an unnamed 'A' road) heads south west into the city, while the motorway ring road (as of yet not named) runs east-west. Together they bisect the borough. Where the two routes intersect is a high capacity interchange.

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...It's a regular diamond interchange. The ramps join the A road at a pair of roundabouts.

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...Industry south of the interchange is a major source of employment.

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...On the north side there is more industry, but on the A road is also a small selection of commercial businesses, including this distinctive Ikea.

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...West of Ikea, past some homes is another patch of industry. Here the ring road bends north, and the overpass takes you to Nertherton, which is the feature of the next update.

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...West Birchfield is known as much for its suburban style housing as it is for its industry. This pic shows my preferred pattern. It's a non grid, cellular system following the rules of fused grid development. It tries to avoid using streets as 'through roads', forcing sims onto the main roads. It increases commute times, but makes traffic a breeze!

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...Houses, houses, houses... and a roundabout!

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...A passenger rail line cuts through the borough. I love FLUPs!

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...Further along the tracks, as you approach a three-way junction, sims pass these sports fields that belong to the local secondary school (high school).

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...And here is that school, next to a public park...

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...Oooh, green grass!

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...West of the park and the school is another housing estate. This one is adjacent to the A road, so I've added a green buffer. Some of the houses are still suffering from pollution though from across the railway tracks in Olton (coming in update 25). Also in this pic is a roundabout on the A road. Here it splits into two different arterial routes westward and southward. Both are still main roads, and are the key features of Olton.

So that's the end of update 23. For update 24 we'll be in the swallowed up town of Netherton.

[Benedict 3,119]

Now that is a stunning interchange. Bravo.

[Gath22 15]

Amazing! The IKEA, the High School, the non-grid street pattern, it's suburban at it's best!

[mightygoose 92]

i currently love your dumbell, even if the onramps have some pretty sharp corners..

[Roger51 381]

WOW, that RHW interchange is stunning!! I always love your suburbs, and the way you can seamlessly change between residential and industrial

Oh and the 3 lane roundabout is still awesome

[Blazerhawk 162]

This is why absolutely love your cities. Those suburbs look perfect. The un-highligthed areas look good too.

[Follarch 326]

You should have gotten the Best Suburb in a CJ trixie as well, but then again, you're deserving of quite a lot of trixies with the things you show this community.

And I'd like to remind you that I yet again feel like repeating a certain choice of words that end up making praise for your cities. Come now Paul, you really must change your ways or I'll just keep saying the same boring words like 'Amazing!' and 'Fantasticness!'.

[Damastius 5]

This is stunning work. Even the name "Gelderland" fits the best )

[penguin007 27]

Wow great suburbs again there!! The motorway junction also looks very realistic

Will

[TekindusT 3,809]

New Gelderland: "Stunning simtropolians since February 2010".

The planning you've made for this update is plain excellent, I love how you've managed to achieve that smooth RHW interchange with FAR pieces, and the whole neighbourhood is... as it was from Google Earth.

The streets you're using on the last pic are from the SAM? I think I had never seen them before...

[hijodecordoba 74]

oh man, everything looks so pleasant and perfectly arranged. the zones and public spaces couldn't be planed in a better way. the plaza spots and parks give the town a special feeling. absolutely great.

[Jasoncw 11,933]

(Belated) congratulations on your CJ Trixie! I hadn't fully realized that you had a CJ, but I've read through it and I'll be keeping track of it now.

[Empowered One 41]

lol! I live in the province called Gelderland in the Netherlands. You seriously couldn't have thought of a better name. Nice CJ! Can't wait 4 more.

[kakado_to_save 514]

I really like that interchange! the city looks good

[psander5 197]

Benedict : Thanks!

Gath22 : Thanks! I only recently got the Ikea working as a ploppable... no doubt it will be appearing more from now on!

mightygoose : Thanks. Is it a dumbell? I thought it was just a normal diamond... but I know nothing! Yes, the onramps are sharp. The offramps are smooth however! If I were to re-orient the diagonal avenue so it went NW to SE insteadm, then the offramps would be sharp and the onramps would be smooth! I was restricted by my pre-planning though.

Roger51 : Thanks. I guess you have that roundabout yourself now

crushedcar : Thanks! one part of the unhighlighted part is coming up next

Archean : Thanks! I think I'll do a rubbish update soon to give you something else to say

Damastius : Thanks! Gelderland is borrowed straight from the Netherlands, just like the New Zealanders borrowed Zeeland.

penguin007 : Thanks. I'm glad you like it.

TekindusT : Thanks! I think I might quote that tag line sometime I knew someone would ask me about those streets! I found them when I was on a trawl for something else, and I knew when I came across the download link that I should remember where I got it... but I didn't. They're a SAM replacement mod. It replaces one of the red brick texture sets. It's Japanese, and it's by Moonlight, but I can't find a download link for it. The mod is shown on Moonlight's blog here, but I don't think I got the file from there. Sorry. 

hijodecordoba : Thanks! I'm glad you like it.

Jasoncw : Thanks! It's not often I see you in the CJ section Yes, I have a CJ as well as a BAT thread. In fact, the BAT thread exists because of my first CJ! I wanted to make my own things for my cities, so I took the plunge into BATing and caught the bug. When I disappear from BATing it's usually because I'm spending all my time playing the game and working on this CJ, and vice versa. I hope to see you back here

afstandopleren : Thanks! I knew a true Gelderlander would eventually see this I've never been there myself, I just picked the name from the map and took it half way around the world and stuck 'New' to the front!

kakado_to_save : Thanks!

[psander5 197]

Update 24 : Victoria – Netherton

...So this is the second part of the triple update of this city tile in Victoria. This update features the small town centre and surrounding suburbs called Netherton. Netherton was originally an independent satellite town of Victoria, before the city expanded drastically and completely swallowed it up. Netherton is now effectively an inner suburb, but the old high street gives it the feel of a separate town.

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...Netherton highlighted with West Birchfield to the East and Olton to the south. Netherton is built on the south eastern slope of low, gentle hill. It sits against the motorway ring road, and near to major employment bases in the surrounding boroughs.

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...The town centre is based on a cross roads.

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...Homes of Netherton extend to this main A road with businesses, which is technically part of Olton, which features in the next update.

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...To the north of the borough is this development. Lots of suburban homes enclose a small, nature lover's green space.

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...Local residents can feed the ducks at the small pond that lies within the park.

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...Netherton school with its own sports fields. The rugby pitch is lumpy. I did this on purpose! It reminds me of some of the municipal/school sports fields I had to play on as a youngster.

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...A view of the town centre with its north-south and east-west high streets.

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...Another view, this time from the East shows Netherton's underground station. It's on one of the main lines into Victoria's city centre.

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...A view from the North. This picture shows a medium sized supermarket close to the central crossroads. It's the primary convenience store for local residents. The ramp you see takes motorists over the ring road and into West Birchfield (previous update)

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...Back in the normal south view, this is the overpass, with Netherton to the left and West Birchfield to the right.

That's the end of that one. Olton is next.  

[+Guest Member 193110]

Beautiful. Nice work with the overpass.

[TekindusT 3,809]

Nice work with the overpass, with the planning, with the commercial areas, with the green zones... Am I leaving something?

[hijodecordoba 74]

i love to stop by here. great work on the suburbs and with custom content.

[Roger51 381]

Wonderful work!! And yes I have used the roundabouts a lot