Thoughts on port infrastructure/mapping

[jwsteele 77]

Hey all, so I'm essentially making a metropolitan area that is slowly expanding historically. I want to eventually have a massive city, but with roads, railways, and subways that naturally develop (given where industry and transport needs to expand), rather than having it pre-planned off the bat.

The one thing that is throwing me is the port. Given my city's history and location, they should have miles of docks, but I am not really sure how to create infrastructure (rails, zoning, street size and placement) that is accurate, so I've been putting it off. I'm less concerned with making it "pretty", because eventually it will all likely be rezoned to trendy waterfront residences and commercial zones, but I do want to make sure the original infrastructure is authentic to the time period (mid 1800s).

Any thoughts on how to accomplish this, and what should I be doing with freight rail? How many lines?

Also, anybody who wants to talk about this concept in general, I find it fascinating (the SimCities based on natural growth).

[SimCoug 5,972]

I am actually working on something similar. I have found lots of help from old city maps. Try and find a city that matches your geography and timeline and google search old maps. You should be able to find some guidance.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

For lots and seaport stuff, I use the Pegasus CDK package. If your city already exists, then you need to become adroit with the mayor mode civil engineering tools. I make a lot of use of the leveling tool because it can both remove and create land (shore line).

This is one that I am currently working on:

The main port lot is both road and rail enabled. You can have a lot of fun with this.