Turry Metro Region to Scale

[Vlad788 13]

Wow this CJ has a bit of everything in it. Outstanding job.

 

-Vlad

 

[Djohaal 121]

Rating-

 

Great work, the region is AMAZING, I am drooling at it

[smartpig 0]

Interesting city, outstanding CJ. I like your writing and presentation style.

I hate to say it, I like the quick and dirty rail map better than the official-looking one. It's interesting to see what kind of usage the various lines are getting. I enjoy all the stats, too.

More, please!

[Dannato 4]

Date:6/12/2004 6:33:45 PM
Author:masher

How come you don't get a lot of coments in this cj?

quote>

As for getting a lot of comments... For all those people out there craving for feedback.  Here's your options:

 

a) Post at the right time, when people see it (which I don't always do)

b) If you are European, post your stuff 6 hours later than you'd usually do. Gets ya more comments.

c) Post a lot in other forums (which I don't, I'm not excessively talkative) and add a link to your CJ in your signature (it took me too long before I realised you can insert html tags)

d) Beg on your knees for comments: reply again and again to your own post lamenting: Pleaaase  comment. I absolutely need your input to go on. - What! 500 views and still just 10 comments?! - I live on the 21st floor and I've been sitting on the window sill and... and so on. (Sorry, I can't swallow my pride.  )

e) Be patient, above all enjoy playing and view posting as a long-term project by the by.

 

Anyway, comments are appreciated, even though I'm not too quick to reply to it or explicitly ask for it.

 

So, any idea where we could go next?  I'm a stranger in my own city, remember  

[JERRY367 2]

Hi,

Shots look great, lets get a closer look, you have put alot of work into that region.

[Catcher_of_Cats 0]

Nice job so far.

[awall 31]

[:0]Wow! I really like your region. This is the best ive seen in along time. Very realistic. Youve managed to create a great estern england style region. Two more things, where did you get the trains from and is louton base on the actual city of Luton? Cool CJ man!

[Dannato 4]

A note on naming - Louton.  Louton is based on the name of two real world airports: one is Luton, north of London, pronounced loo-ton.  Zurich's airport is called Kloten. Klo in Geman means loo in British English (restroom, for you Americans). The layout of the city is modelled upon the city of Kloten (hositng Zurich's unique international airport), rather than London's Luton (Looton ) airport.

 

The trains: DC Metro by Big Red Fish, and Amtrak Metroliner, also by Big Red Fish. Thanks for reminding me:

 

Credits - Big Red Fish for his great choice of train automata.

 

[Dannato 4]

There is something special about breakfast in a train station cafeteria, isn't there? ... Watching all those different kinds of people: commuters, tramps, late partygoers on their way to bed, drunkards, tourists, passers-by, squatters, local yokels, sometimes even an urban celebrity...

How's your cappucino? Oh, I gotta make a quick phone call. I'll be right back... It's time I got myself a cell phone! I'll leave you with the Turry Facts & Figures statistical yearbook, in case you get bored.

Population Facts & Figures (Turry Central Map):

• Population: 252,000
• Wealth distribution: R$: 25%, R$$: 63%, R$$$: 12%
• Total commercial Jobs: 120,000
• Total industrial Jobs: 128,000

Reading figures is so boring. At least they have some colourful graphs...

Hmm... looks like the city's doing fine... but there seems to be one problem:

The environment! Hmm... Now where does that funny smell come from?

Turry also has a minor problem getting rid of of their trash. It isn't as bad as it used to be...

... but someone should do something about it. Dictator-Mayor Dannato obviously doesn't care much...

Sorry to interrupt your statistical studies.

I'm back from the public phone. Bad news: nobody home. Theo's off doing some special report. Theo's a an investigating jounalist, you know. He owes me something. But he won't be back until the week-end. $%&^!. That's gonna be three more expensive nights at the hotel.

The Underground ticket is also valid for buses. So why don't we take a bus over to the Embassy Suites Hotel to see how much they charge for the night? I can't wait to get rid of this suitcase.

Credits - I like Zwannemann's yellow Dutch buses, available at SimCity Central, (when SimCity Central is available). Bus stops from Gshmails Bus Stop Set; HOV bus lanes by Urban Legend.

 

[Dannato 4]

We're crossing Government Square on our way to the East Central Part. The whole area between the Seaule and Limouth Rivers was once fully covered with houses. Then Dannato decided they had to be bulldozed to make way for the National Government building, the so-called White Palace, and Point Park just behind it. Hundreds of residents were evacuated and received no compensation whatsoever. (The mayor don't care, it's only sims. Har har har.)

Here's another view from the satellite image collection I drag around in my suitcase:

You can see the railway leading into West Central Station from the bottom left, the White Palace on the area that looks like a peninsula, and the Embassy Suites Hotel tower in the background, east of Limouth River. I've drawn a pink line showing our short ride. And here 's the hotel.

 Darn! The cheapest they got is

[smartpig 0]

OK, so why did incomes drop off like that, and is it a problem?

[+Guest]

OMG![:0] Another greatest CJ here. Your region is beautiful.
Also, I like your conseption. You're the stranger here - nice.

Since I play SC4, I never had any region fully developed. There is always some reasons why I start new one again and again

P.S. Your CJ is the first one, where I see my Walkways Set in-game. Cewl

[Dannato 4]

Smartpig: I can't explain the drop in avge. income. Maybe it's because Dannato has neglected his pollution and garbage problem for so long, and over the decades R$ kept moving in, R$$$ kept moving out. Also I don't know if the very slow growth has something to do with this. We'll probably look into this issue as the journal evolves.

 

Sorry I'm a bit slow on updates right now, I have some more playing to do.

 

Marrast: thanks for your comment and sorry for forgetting to mention:

Credits to Marrast for his walkways. They're very stylish and useful.

[smartpig 0]

Date: 6/20/2004 9:23:07 AM
Author:

Smartpig: I can't explain the drop in avge. income. Maybe it's because Dannato has neglected his pollution and garbage problem for so long, and over the decades R$ kept moving in, R$$$ kept moving out. Also I don't know if the very slow growth has something to do with this. We'll probably look into this issue as the journal evolves.

I hope so. I think it would be interesting.

I wonder how the mayor rating has reacted as incomes have plummeted. Maybe the city is full of poor but reasonably happy Sims...

[Holy Knight Rivera 0]

wow your region is well developed I give you props man

[Dannato 4]

Well, this is my first day in Turry after 20 years, so I'm not going to stay in a hotel room studying statistics. I want to see how the city  has changed. First, let's go to the top floor of the Embassy Suites to get an overview of the City Centre. Note that we'll be looking south in the next three pictures.

Admins please also note that the following pics are hosted off-site. Along with a donation, this is my contriburion to a hopefully faster Simtropolis experience.

 

After crossing Limouth River and passing by the White Palace, we'll be turning south into City Mall and walk on to Great St. Martin's Church. City Mall is the unoriginal name of the pedestrian street running from Government Square through almost the entire commercial district. It's hard to see from here, as it's mostly hidden behind rather high office buildings.

 

There was once widespread support for preserving the historical buildings in the centre. It all looked like these groups would get a majority in the City Council, but on the day a law was voted to protect historical areas of the city from being destroyed, a surprisingly high number of council members just didn't show up, while many former supporters suddenly voted against the law.

In the following months, some prosecutors, judges and journalists mysteriously disappeared - and so did I. You're probably going to hear more about this infamous story. Today, let's just admire the few historical buildings left in Central Turry.

While City Mall is the prime address for businesses in Turry, wealthy urban residents live near Great St. Martin's Church. It's an expensive neighbourhood with many old buildings on the west bank of Limouth River.

Credits - Great St. Martin's Church, Monschau Large Pink House, Monschau White House by Xannepan. Biblioth

[andrew george 0]

Looks good, developed but not massively over-developed. A crackin' CJ!

[Dannato 4]

Thank you, Andrew George. The area we're seeing now is indeed far from being massively over-developed. Quite the contrary.

Across the River Limouth to the east side again we see important landmarks such as the Great Minster Church and the Fort of Turry, but no more than a few ridiculously small shops have grown so far - despite fountains, plazas, and the somewhat odd placement of the Main Library.

 

Credits of course to Xannepan for his Munsterkerk of Roermond and his timberframe houses and other old European buildings.

I would like to use the Main Library to do some research, but you need a permanent address in Turry to become a member, so I guess that'll have to wait. Instead, let's have a walk through the East side up to the University district.

West of the Univerity is the Urban Planning Department where I used to work. I won't go anywhere near there, some old colleague might recognise me, despite all those years. I need some plastic surgery done, to be on the safe side. Do you see University Hospital on the right? And just below, that greenish golden building? That's Dr. Vu's clinic. They've done some miraculous facial jobs there.

While I'm going in there for some queries, why don't you go to the Urban Planning Department. There used to be a huge aerial image displayed in the entrance hall. Maybe you can track the places where we've been today.

A long and tiring stroll, wasn't it.  What better place to relax than the soft plush seats of a big Cinema House. Now showing: Koda, somthing about two girls and two guys in a Sim Region. More info: https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=52060

And behind the cinema... look carefully -- here's a cheaper place for the next two nights: the Family Inn,

[Dannato 4]

Go West

 

The movie's finished and it's gone dark. I am imagining the view I would have if I could afford one of the top suites of the hotel, looking out to the West.

 

 

West is where we'll be going... yawn... tomorrow morning ... yawn...  
zzz... zzz... zz... beep beep beep. Arrrgh!    Good Morning.

I check out of Embassy Suites, check in at the cheaper Family Inn. Now, the city streets have got me back again. I'll go see an old friend of mine, Pete Mallory. His new digs are in Ashley White. Not too nice a place to live. It's Turry's working-class district, close to its oldest and dirtiest industrial development. Speaking of it, here's a map showing industrial zoning development in the North-West of Central Turry.

Dirty industry is the north-west corner of the map. Once I am mayor, one of my aims will be to further reduce the dirty yellow area, which looks like this:

You can see two oil power plants, two waste-to-energy plants, and a CSX Waste-to-Energy plant. I wonder if this is enough to meet the demands of now 270,000 inhabitants. Anyway, Pete Mallory lives on the right side of the motorway, close to Williams St underground station:

Pete was in prison while I was overseas. He was sentenced to 99 years on absolutely absurd charges of diffamation, breech of several confidentiality agreements, embezzlement, bribery of course, gross negligence, even high treason -- similar charges Dannato's abusive police machinery was after me for.

Pete was released after 14 years in Rainbury's National High-Security Prison, as the prisons were so overcrowded they had to let at least the innocent inmates go.

He's now trying to live as honest a life as he can, though not as honest as before going to jail. (Hey, you gotta survive somehow as an ex-convict!) Good for me, cause I need something he can provide: A new identity and a Helvanian passport. I need that to start a new life here and become mayor of Turry.

[threeswept 12]

This is a terrific region! I like how incredibly metropolitan, yet old worldly, it is! Nice job!

[Dannato 4]

Wow, thank you for the incredibly metropolitan. Old-wordly it certainly is. As for metropolitan, we're getting close, but I think we're not quite there yet.

Statistical Intermezzo - Turry, a den of crime?

By my accounts, you may now have the impression that Helvany -- and more specifically its capital, Turry -- is a hearth of crime and corruption, and a repressive police state. This impression is wrong. If you look beyond the surface, I am sure Turry is by no means worse than the average sim city this size.

There are even some areas not covered by stations, sims live with petty crime without complaining. So in terms of everyday crime, Helvany is by no means a police state. Unless you mess with Mayor Dannato, which is the biggest crime you can commit.

Technical note - Police stations.  Only standard, unmodified police stations are used in Turry to date. I compared the number of police stations in this accurate-scale city to reality (i.e., the number of police stations you'd find on this map in the real world).  I find it more or less realistic for high-density inner city or downtown areas, but for vast low-density or even medium-density areas, Maxis police stations are completely inadequate -- in terms of coverage radius, not capacity.  The absurd demand for prisons suggests Sim Nation was indeed meant to be a police state. But as I showed above, Turry isn't, and never will be.

[Jetty Jockey 186]

Date:6/12/2004 6:33:45 PM
Author:masher

How come you don't get a lot of coments in this cj? man you are talented it looks great your maps are very detailed and stuffed with helpful things to understand your story great job!!

(out of 5)

quote>

Probably because we're all speechless. All I can do is stare in awe.  Marvelous job !

[Dannato 4]

Pete Mallory took me to one of those new restaurants opening in former factory warehouses all over Ashley White. As demand for dirty industry has dropped significantly after taxes were raised to 9.9%, this industrial area is slowly turning into a lively commercial district, as it offers cheap real estate for Cs-

[Dannato 4]

No second opinion? Okay, I'll stop asking you about things I'll have to decide myself. (Uncooperative bunch! Grumble!)

My third day in Turry. Time to inspect the remaining areas of the Central Turry map and detect what could be improved.

Sorry the image quality suffered somewhat after resizing. I'm not going to make it worse adding names. To help with orientation, here's a map showing Zoning and Wards:

First a closer look at an area cut off in the above satellite image, the north-east corner of the map: High Street, on the foot of Turry Hill. It's quite exhausting to walk uphill, so we'll take the bus. The underground doesn't serve this neighbourhood.

South is the ward of Flunders. The Turry Golf Club is located there. On the picture, you can also see one of the two remaining farm fields.

From here, we'll go all the way down to Lakefield, with its the renouned Opera.

The Lakefield waterfront hosts the Bellerive Museum and the Major Arts Museum. To the left, the TV studio, although I think this should be moved to the suburbs to make way for a larger park.

I thought we could take a ferry and cross the lake over to Straiton. Unfortunately, there is no ferry terminal on this side of the lake. (I'll write that down on my To Do list.) So the most convenient thing to do now is to take the U4 underground line to the western part of the city again.

Credits -- Foutain of Youth by jule 78, Parks are from SimCityCentral (not currently available, I think)

[andrew george 0]

Nice update, I get excited when I see Turry pop up at the top of the CJ new posts. Enjoying your work.

[Dannato 4]

Thanks for the props. Here's the second part of the update.

 

Western wards

Most of the area west of Central Turry is a medium-density concrete jungle: Seaule Acres, Stafford Quays and Smithy have very few parks and greenery, except for Fielding Park and Bakerville Green.

In Seaule Acres, a District Administration Building was built near Helvany Square. It's an exact replica of the City Hall in the centre and it's responsible for the area west of Seaule River.

 

(SimCity actually allows you to build two city halls without cheating, If your game is paused, you can plop one from the menu bar, the other one by clicking the link in the news reading City incomplete without a city hall.)

 

Credits - Bandito for St. Aposteln Church; Grampa Al for the CSX Woodlands

 

As growth pressure became unbearable, these high-rise residential buildings were built just west of the M35. The new ward was named Harding.

South of the high-rise is Seaule Acres Cemetary. A closer look will reveal...

... if the two oil power and the waste-to-energy plants in Ashley White are enough for the city's needs. Well, they aren't. The two greenhouses are actually miraculous flower power plants. These cheat lots compensate for the unrealistically low output of conventional power plants in Sim City.

 

Credits -- Flower Power Plant by Doitle; Nexis Grand Cemetary by MrBisonM

 

Utodown is in the south-west corner and therefore missing in the satellite view. Besides the Indoor Sports Centre it's main attraction is a large, flat, vacant area -- part of the Turry Commons, used mainly for walking the dogs. But I think I could make more of it.

Credits - Deadwoods for the Indoor Sports Centre

 

Running around from one end of the city to the other is tiring. I'll have a quiet evening by the lake, throwing pebbles into the water -- or better still, at Dannato's oversized statue.

Tomorrow, I'll be seeing Theo McGinty, the investigative journalist who's responsible for me having to leave the country. What a %)@#!

 

[alexr15 2]

I LOVE this city!!!!!!! I LOVE the story!! Keep up the great work!! How about we see those areas around Lake Turry?

[HighRiser 6]

What a great looking region. It is one of the best that I've seen. Keep up the great work.

[Dannato 4]

Theo McGinty lives in Straiton. His address is 13, Park Crescent. Let's see... 9, 11, 13. Can't be! This modern villa? That's way more than the ordinary middle class home I expected for a journalist. Anyway, I ring, Theo opens the door himself.

Theo is welcoming me in a friendly way, but I can tell he doesn't feel at ease having me here. I'm taking advantage of his bad conscience. Because he made a mistake. A big mistake. He knows it and he's ashamed of it.

Some 25 years ago, after studying political sciences at the University of Turry, I took a job at the Urban Planning Department. I'll make no bones about it: if I was hoping to get a foot in the door in politics it was above all for that lake villa in Goldbrook, the horse-races, ...

... the yacht, that Italian sportscar, my own jet airplane, admittance to the Turry Hill Country Club...

I tried to do my job at the Urban Planning Department best I could, i.e., planning out the city according to Dannato's and his clan's wishes, giving out public contracts to his cousin's construction firm Di Strutto Ltd. -- stuff like that. But instead of rewarding me for my loyalty, Mayor Dannato was taking it all for granted. No promotion, no lucrative appointment to a governering board, nothing! I wasn't even invited to his lavish jet-set parties. What an ungrateful

[Superstar 69]

looking cool, just a suggestion, host your pics off site, this CJ takes forever to load...