BTT: Time Machine - currently patrolling 2007

[Benedict 3,119]

Earlier this year (when I was working on the Trixie Element tables) I realized that Simtropolis would be having its 10th birthday, and I wanted to do something to celebrate it.

I always start a new BTT around Christmas... so here's Ben's Top Ten, Time Machine edition.

I am going back through time to sift through the CJ forum. The first one fell on Christmas Day 2003.

Congratulations to Toronto, the first BTT number one on record.

Obviously many CJs don't have images any more, but there's always one from the top ten. This week's image is from San Francisco.

[Caveat: until early in 2005, many CJs were lost in the big purge, so some that you may remember from 2004 will be missing].

Enjoy, and happy 10th anniversary, Simtropolis.

[Halen Of Dania 350]

Wow I wasn't here for any of these (joined in 2010). Nice list thing here benidict!

[Schulmanator 5,812]

Nifty idea. How in the world can you go back and calculate this???!!!

Ho ho ho!!!

[Halen Of Dania 350]

Nifty idea. How in the world can you go back and calculate this???!!!

Ho ho ho!!!

The magic of Christmas of course!

[hotChocolate 95]

So many recreations... It would've been nice following all those cities at once. Alas, I wasn't around at the time - nor was I until 6 years (more exactly, 5 years and 364 days) later.

[RepublicMaster 428]

Ooh Its nice to see some older top tens look forward to more!

[vivapanda 422]

Very nice idea!

[ThomasSimpson 466]

This is going to be very interesting. I wonder when we'll start seeing famous and recognisable CJs turning up?

[TekindusT 3,809]

@ThomasSimpson: Well, these were famous... but way before we knew SC4 existed

[packersfan 666]

I remember following Digby and Edmonton back in the day. Didn't really look at the others. Amazing how long it has been and we've been here the whole time, haha.

[Benedict 3,119]

Hi, Halen Of Dania. I hope that you enjoy this trip through ST CJ history. And I wish Christmas magic was doing all the work for me - my computer doesn't enjoy having 150-200 browser tabs open at a time.

Hi, Schulmania. When I first created the formula I needed it to be robust enough so that if I was unable to run the data (vacation, RLS, interweb issues, ST site issues) I would be able to go back and still have an accurate BTT. So I can use the same formula to run BTT for any period of CJ time, the only inaccuracy would be if posts or CJs are deleted, but I can't do anything about that. It does take a lot longer to do each one, but it isn't hard work (just tedious).

Hi, hotChocolate. Recreations were much more popular early on. New York is perennially fascinating to city builders, but the west coast of the US also gets some love, as does Chicago. City of Edmonton was particularly long-lived (and loved).

Hi, RepublicMaster. There's more for you to enjoy today.

Hi, vivapanda. Thanks!

Hi, ThomasSimpson. Recognisable and famous depends on your perspective - I've been here since early 2003, so for me CJs like Digby, San Francisco, City of Edmonton, and San Diego were pretty big in their day. Digby in particular changed how people presented their CJs in a major way - prior to that most people just posted images of their cities straight from the game, but Digby took added graphics and what I like to call 'branding' to a new level. You could tell just by looking at the images that they were from Digby.

Hi, TekindusT. You are correct - see above.

Hi, packersfan. I had no idea you also joined in 2003 - we've been around a long time - we'll be celebrating our 10th year at ST in 2013.

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I hope you didn't think I'd forget the Time Machine in all the excitement of the Top One Hundreds.

We're going back to New Year's Day 2004, and City of Edmonton jumped up to take the number one slot. This recreation CJ was filled with planning, real-life images and maps of Edmonton, including the original image in the background.

Chicgao, North Valley and Gotland are in.

[Caveat: until early in 2005, many CJs were lost in the big purge, so some that you may remember from 2004 will be missing].

Enjoy, and happy 10th anniversary, Simtropolis.

[SimCoug 5,976]

Its amazing how much CJs have changed since then.

[Forthwall 1,118]

Intresting how recreations were very popular at the time, then again, it was always popular. I'm intrested in seeing the Toronto one, as I've never seen it before. I hope its somewhere on this forum

[Benedict 3,119]

Hi, SimCoug. It is amazing how much things have changed - and it's all thanks to our amazing community. On the other hand, there are some amazing CJs from the past that I think would compete very well in today's environment.

Hi, Forthwall. There certainly have been a ton of recreations in the history of Cjing. Unfortunately, there are no images remaining in the davez's Toronto CJ.

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In the interests of not taking 6 years to complete the Time Machine's journey I have two updates today.

8 January 2004

Another recreation hits number one - that's three in a row - well done to San Diego. Fortunately there are some images in eppisgood's CJ to enjoy.

This is one of those weeks when there were no new or re-entries - doesn't happen very often - I think this has only happened once in three years 2010-2012.

15 January 2004

And yet another recreation tops the chart - this time Chicago. There are no images left in that CJ, so I thought you'd enjoy another one from the previous week's number one.

New Zealand Region and Mountain View are in.

[Caveat: until early in 2005, many CJs were lost in the big purge, so some that you may remember from 2004 will be missing].

Enjoy, and happy 10th anniversary, Simtropolis.

[packersfan 666]

Yeah, getting old on Simtropolis despite my advanced age of 25.

[paeng 2,527]

Wow... that's pretty amazing :-) and will be a cool 'series' to follow!

[Schulmanator 5,812]

You have got to be uber dedicated to dig up this data. I am impressed!

[Benedict 3,119]

Hi, packersfan. Ha, yes, quite the advanced age!

Hi, paeng. Thanks! It's my way of celebrating 10 yrs of the game and 10 yrs of the community.

Hi, Schulmanator. Yeah, it did take quite a bit of my time to compile it (and still more to do).

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Well, our beloved SC4 turned 10 today, so here are two more Time Machine updates

22 January 2004

City of Edmonton returns to number one, and former number one New York returns.

29 January 2004

And in the second update for today, Chicago, is back in the top spot. There are no images left in that CJ, so I thought you'd enjoy another one from City of Edmonton recreation.

Nexis of Genesis and The Republic of Southeast Nowhere are in.

[Caveat: until early in 2005, many CJs were lost in the big purge, so some that you may remember from 2004 will be missing].

Enjoy, and happy 10th anniversary, Simtropolis.

[Schulmanator 5,812]

SC4 is 10 and I am, well, a lot more than 10!

Happy birthday to us!

[SimCoug 5,976]

That is a pretty impressive regional transportation view of Edmonton. Thanks for the time travel Ben.

[TekindusT 3,809]

That time when showing the HUD in a CJ pic was perfectly normal.

[Benedict 3,119]

Hi, Schulmanator. Hope you had a good first week of being 'more than 10'.

Hi, SimCoug. Yes, there was a reason that Edmonton was so popular - it was definitely one of the most extensively mapped out recreations.

Hi, TekindusT. Yes, true! I think the mod to get a nice large region view without the menu buttons was in the future at this point.

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Two more Time Machine visits today...

5 February 2004

Digby is number one for the first time. For those of you who were around at this time, this was one of those amazing CJs that took on a life of its own, and remained popular even after the last update. It showed us what was possible with the vanilla game with patience, and it also set a certain standard for presenting a city's information in a CJ through use of photoshop. I know for me it was a huge influence on my own CJing, particularly the 'Dirty little secret' updates.

Stratburg is in this week.

12 February 2004

And in the second update for today, Digby holds on to the top spot. I managed to capture the last two remaining images from Digby - so enjoy!

Binsur, Columbus and New Zealand Region are in.

[Caveat: until early in 2005, many CJs were lost in the big purge, so some that you may remember from 2004 will be missing].

Enjoy, and happy 10th anniversary, Simtropolis.

[Benedict 3,119]

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Another week, and another trip in Ben's Time Machine back to 2004.

19 February 2004

Digby makes it three in a row at the top.

I used up the two remaining Digby images in the previous update, so for this week the background image is from Binsur.

Neo Toronto, San Diego and San Francisco are in.

26 February 2004

In a week where half the Top ten were replaced, Rochester heads straight to the top! There are no images left from that CJ, so you'll have to enjoy another transit map from City of Edmonton.

Also in this week are Citarthan Vyhin Nor Sanance (really, Hirachi, really?), Nexis of Genesis, Independence City, and Crystal Junction.

[Caveat: until early in 2005, many CJs were lost in the big purge, so some that you may remember from 2004 will be missing].

Enjoy, and happy 10th anniversary, Simtropolis & SC4.

[SimCoug 5,976]

Thanks for digging up these old images! There seems to be a lot of volatility 10 years ago.

[GreekMan 246]

the only bad thing is that some of these great Cjs are lost...can't acess them or the pics dont show... =(

other than that great job so far

[Benedict 3,119]

Replies:

Hi, SimCoug. You bet! It is fun to go back and see what was hot in the past.

Hi, GreekMan. True, many images are gone, however all the CJs in the chart should be accessible - at least they were when I was running the numbers a few months ago.

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Two more week's from 2004, brought to you via Ben's Time Machine.

4 March 2004

River Basin heads straight in at number one! Miraculously, some images still survive after all this time - enjoy.

Preoria is in.

11 March 2004

This week New York is back in at the top. There are no images left from that CJ, so here's something from returning CJ San Diego - I love the water color here.

Also in this week are Toronto and San Francisco.

[Caveat: until early in 2005, many CJs were lost in the big purge, so some that you may remember from 2004 will be missing].

Enjoy, and happy 10th anniversary, Simtropolis & SC4.

[Schulmanator 5,812]

Wow. The great grandparents of today's CJs...

[SimCoug 5,976]

Those trees... How did we survive back then... (or now, for some )

[TekindusT 3,809]

I've just realized of the Salvador Dalí-esque "melting watch" at the top banner. Very cool detail!

[Benedict 3,119]

Replies:

Hi, Schulmanator. That's true - these CJs definitely changed the way we build our cities and present our work today.

Hi, SimCoug. Progress!  Or in the case of those of us *ahem* who play vanilla, stagnation!

 

Hi, TekindusT. Glad you like the banner - I searched high and low for a suitable symbol to give the TM updates their own flavor.

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Here's the rest of March 2004, brought to you via Ben's Time Machine.

18 March 2004

Digby is back at number one. As you know from previous updates there are no further images remaining, so enjoy a bonus one from the previous week's number one. 

Binsur is in.



25 March 2004

Digby retains the crown. Stratburg is in. San Diego provides the background image.



[Caveat: until early in 2005, many CJs were lost in the big purge, so some that you may remember from 2004 will be missing].

Enjoy, and happy 10th anniversary, Simtropolis & SC4.