The Empire of Chaumont - 'Delightfully Oppressive'

[Darmok 34]

Hey Jarno, great work on those last updates, and I agree with Gurrgkud about the Imperial Tax agency setup, that road bridge you've placed just in front of it gave it even more depth!

Keep it up!

John

[Darmok 34]

Hey Jarno, great work on those last updates, and I agree with Gurrgkud about the Imperial Tax agency setup, that road bridge you've placed just in front of it gave it even more depth!

Keep it up!

John

[Fallon144 1]

yet again amazing my friend

[Fallon144 1]

yet again amazing my friend

[Fallon144 1]

yet again amazing my friend

[jacqulina 162]

that is a fantastic building i love what you have done around it too ansd an awesome pic too

[jacqulina 162]

that is a fantastic building i love what you have done around it too ansd an awesome pic too

[jacqulina 162]

that is a fantastic building i love what you have done around it too ansd an awesome pic too

[sorchin 18]

Wher on earth did you get that Tax Agency building? I have never seen it before. Very original..

[sorchin 18]

Wher on earth did you get that Tax Agency building? I have never seen it before. Very original..

[sorchin 18]

Wher on earth did you get that Tax Agency building? I have never seen it before. Very original..

[owenluby 1]

Wow. That looks awesome!

I like that building and i think i need it!

Good job with the highway tunnel aswell!

[owenluby 1]

Wow. That looks awesome!

I like that building and i think i need it!

Good job with the highway tunnel aswell!

[owenluby 1]

Wow. That looks awesome!

I like that building and i think i need it!

Good job with the highway tunnel aswell!

[bat 6]

Looks very great!

bat

[6underground 11]

ROFL, tax agency. I can only imagine the sentence given to those who evade their taxes!

Looking forward to more Jarno

[Yoman3 5]

^^^^^^^ with 6U.

Well the placement of the building is great with buddybud's over pass right in front.

So where does the TERT Tax Evader Response Team keep the weapons?

[Kwakelaar 92]

Sorry to hear about your problems with playing Simcity4, as many more here I hope this will not be the end of this CJ.

[luigiguy 1]

Great Job

[Jerebannus XVI 7]

lol, imagine the sentence for tax evation

[Dr. Frickenstein 0]

Hey Jarno, I've seen the updates and they're great as well. The tax agency looks like a building that says "Give me your cash!!" Also those "rain pictures" are fantastic. It's great!

[SpecialEddie 3]

Uh oh...all the pictures in the CJ are gone...another victim of imgcity.

[jarnomiedema 52]

Well, it's been a while since I dropped by to say how things are going and what's happening with Chaumont, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to clarify..

As you can see, Chaumont is another victim of IMGcity.net's inactivity.. I hope their problems get solved soon, because they were definitely a lot faster and more reliable than ImageShack, but for some reason I have a feeling I might have to go look for other image hosters.. (If any of you know any good, fast hosters, feel free to let me know..)

Also, I have some news that might come as a shock to some of you: as a result of the plugin cleanup, the thought of 'restarting' Chaumont in a new region has been resuscitated and to be honest, it's been playing around in my mind since the last time I stopped by here.. For the past few days I've been scouring the STEX for possible Chaumont maps and I've been experimenting in the Lot Editor, the BAT and the game itself to see what I could do to make Chaumont even better! 

Well, I have a small result from those experiments to show you..

I was actually planning to show you all a blurred, black and white version of the same image, but I thought that wouldn't be very satisfying of the two weeks you've had to wait between the two updates..

Anyway, I'm sure you've guessed what it is: it's the new and improved version of the castle in the centre of Mont Napoleon, on top of the hill/mountain that gave the city it's name! I've tried my best to make the castle as imposing as possible, to make the Emperor's reign over his poor, miserable little subjects even clearer as they look towards the centre of the city..

There's still a lot to do mind you.. I haven't decided yet which map to build on and I'm still doing quite a bit of research into Vauban fortresses through the excellent website www.fortified-places.com and I'm still wondering exactly how to layout Mont Napoleon to make it an even better City Journal.. 

The bad news is probably that I won't be able to update the 'old Chaumont' as much as I'd like and it's also very likely that by the time I will have really started on the new one that this CJ might see long period of inactivity.. And to put the final nail in the coffin: once I have the new Chaumont up and running, I don't think I'll be showing the updates in this particular thread.. I will most likely start fresh and hope it'll get the same amazing responses I've gotten through this one year..

Yes, one year.. We actually passed that landmark about a week ago!

Thank you all for your wonderful support during that time and I hope to see you around again!

For now, I'm signing off.. But I'll be back, trust me!

You didn't think I'd leave you without replying to your comments though?

Personal replies:

Usnaguy: Thanks, Usnaguy! For your comment and your support!

GMT: Thanks, GMT! That's a great compliment!

Simshady: Haha.. Well, I guess I've had some success.. First of all you think of a system on how you want to arrange your plugin folders.. personally I have everything arranged in four folders: Lots, Mods, Props and Textures. The folders in there are all named after the creators.. (with exception to the Mod folder, which lists the names of the mods) The folders inside the folders with the names of the creators are all named after the lot/prop/texture.. I basically started with the big guys first: Pegasus, Simgoober, Xannepan, Equinox, etc.. And then worked my way through my download folder to see what else I missed.. Occassionally I'd check on the STEX to see if I got things right, or I'd just search for a particular creator and download what I missed and checked to see what I had already downloaded.. Right now I'm just going through all 314 pages of the STEX to see what else I may have missed.. (That takes a bit longer than a few days, so I made sure to put the page in 'favorites' once I decide to do something else..)

There you have it!

Pepsi71Ocean: Thanks, Pepsi! I'm glad to say that when I updated my video drivers the other day I haven't had much problems with SC4 quitting on me.. (Sometimes the game would just randomly restart the computer) In any case, thanks for your comment!

Swesim: Thank you for your comment, Swesim! I don't think I'll get to a tutorial on how to do the Imperial Times, but I'll keep it in mind!

Sunil: Thanks for your sympathy, Sunil!

Crazychickensc12: Thanks for your comment, Crazychickensc12!

Yoder7652: Haha.. Well, as you can see, preparations are already underway!

Fox: Thanks, Fox! Good to see you here! I think your descriptions of 'cowering citizens' and the 'ruthless Tax Squad' is spot on! In any case, thanks for your comment and your support!

SpecialEddie: Haha.. You know what? I had some bad problems with the in-game camera in the early beginning of the game when I wanted to make the 'first' Chaumont (that's never been online) so I switched to the method with Print-Screen, Alt-Tab and paste, but your comment actually made me try Ctrl-Shift-S again.. And guess what? The screenshot up above was taken with the in-game camera! So thanks for bringing it back to my attention and thanks for stopping by to comment! It'll probably be a lot easier to make those updates if I don't have to worry about the game possibly crashing on me!

Gurrgkud: Thanks, Gurrgkud! Always nice to see your comment!

Darmok: Thank you, Darmok! That roadbridge was actually a big pain in the neck to create! You won't believe how many times I've had to demolish the building because something went wrong with Buddybud's walls, the roundabouts or the highways.. But I'm very happy with the way it turned out!

Fallon144: Thank you for your comment!

Jacqulina: Thank you for commenting, Jacqulina! 

Sorchin: That building is actually on the STEX, Sorchin.. I think it's a former post office building in Washington DC.. So if you search for 'post', you're very likely to find it! Thanks for your comment!

Owenluby: Thanks for your comment, Owenluby!

Bat: Thanks, Bat!

6Underground: lol.. Trust me, 6U.. You don't want to know! Thanks for your comment!

Yoman3: Haha.. That's a carefully guarded secret, Yoman3! Thank you for commenting!

Kwakelaar: I think it's probably best to call this an opportunity for a fresh new start, Kwakelaar! Thanks for your support!

Luigiguy: Thanks, Luigiguy!

Jerebannus XVI: Haha.. Yeah, those guys don't kid around, Jeb! In fact, hardly anybody in the Empire kids around now that I think about it.. Thank you for your comment!

Dr. Frickenstein: Haha.. 'Give me your cash'.. It does say that, doesn't it? Very funny, Dr. Frickenstein! Thanks for your comment!

SpecialEddie (2nd comment): Like I said in the introduction, I hope they fix things over at IMGcity soon!

Thank you all for your support! That's it from me for now, so enjoy that teaser picture!

[Simfan34 11]

One Year! Vive l' Chaumont! And please go on. And could New Burgundy join the SCJU?

[Yoman3 5]

Yay one year. I cant wait to see what you do with the new layout. That castle looks great. But will it have those trees?

[bat 6]

The castle looks very realistic!

bat

[gurrgkud 2]

wow that castle is amazing!!

I cant wait to see what you have in store next. you had a terrific CJ here.

Im also trying to find a good map, but no luck either

oh well... GOOD LUCK!!

[panthersimcity4 162]

Wow... I can't wait!! I feel your pain, I used IMGCITy and all of my pics dissapeared, so I reuploaded all of the pics to Imageshack.

[Kwakelaar 92]

I'd say the castle is imposing enough for those poor peasants of Mont Napoleon, they probably have to walk up the hill on their hands and knees and beg by the gate for an audience, and then being slapped in the face by the kitchen maid saying they are not worthy, ahh well one can only speculate.

I hope to see a fresh start on Chaumont some time in the not too far future.

Best of luck and take care.

[jarnomiedema 52]

Thanks for the comments, everybody! Not much today other than this particular image:

These guns, a regular landbased piece of artillery (left) and a naval gun (right) will be used in the new Mont Napoleon on the banks of the Vauban fortress surrounding the city centre.. And they will be used extensively in the custom lots as well..

I plan to update often with a few images to show some of the progress and perhaps I'll show of a bit of my bat work as well.. For the moment, I will not make these available on the STEX, but perhaps that might happen in the future..

Personal Replies:

Simfan34: Thanks for your comment, Simfan34! You can join the SCJU as a member if your CJ is three months old and as an ambassador if your CJ is two months old. What you need to do is go to this website (the SCJU Forums), go to the SCJU Academy and choose to either apply as a member or an ambassador in the appropriate thread.. As the Vice President of the SCJU, I will be monitoring your application (if you fit the two months/three monts rule) and we will see if we can help you out!

Yoman3: Those trees are from Columbus' mod and I have to say that I like them a lot.. So I guess the answer to your question would have to be 'yes'.. You don't like them? In any case, thanks for commenting!

Bat: Thanks for your comment, Bat! Always nice to see you stop by!

Gurggkud: Thanks for the compliments, Gurggkud! It's pretty tough to find a good map, but if I don't have any luck, I might always try that interesting looking 'region editor' that has been released recently.. We'll see.. Thank you for your comment, mate!

Panthersimcity4: Yeah, it's pretty frustrating that whole IMGCity business.. But we'll see how it turns out.. The website is still unreachable, but hopefully they'll be able to get back up to speed.. (I'm not much of a fan of ImageShack..) Thanks for dropping by, Panthersimcity4!

Kwakelaar:  That's absolutely hilarious, Kwakelaar.. I definitely have to work that in to the storyline in the future! Thanks for your continued support!

That's it from me for now everybody.. I hope to get back to you all more often to show off some of my BAT and Lot results.. See you later!