Apocrypha

[jacqulina 162]

hey thats nice terraforming

[ldvger 19]

Hello folks-

Welcome to page two! 

 

Not much time or energy this evening, so this will be a short update.  I managed to terraform Uplands tonite and am posting (with Tungston's help) a new region view that includes the new terraformed city tile. 

 

Image U04

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//U04.jpg align=baseline>

 

This took me longer than expected, as I had to spend a lot of time reconciling edges between Uplands and the completed city tiles of Upper Glacier Valley and White River Valley.  I'd get one tile looking like I wanted it but it woud mess up another tile.  So, I spent at least an hour, maybe more fine tuning the edges between the tiles.  Anyway, now it looks good, to my eyes, at least. 

 

Working from west to east and north to south, I am hoping to be able to terraform East Uplands and Dog Leg Junction tomorrow or soon after.

 

Lora/LD

[tungston 19]

you know the drill lol Mr. C.

[seeleven 0]

LD, the region is coming along nicely and I know what you mean with the reconciling. I do alot of rivers in my cities so I have to keep jockeying back and forth between cities to get it done.  Keep on keeping on the good job

[ldvger 19]

Hello folks-

Well, this is Update number 5 and it includes 2 newly terraformed regions, East Uplands and Dog Leg Junction.

 

I have recently upgraded my connection from a 56K dial-up modem to a DSL line, so I am hoping to be able to post my own images from here on out.  However, if for some reason I STILL can't post my own images, once again Tungston will post my images for me in the next post. 

 

First, we have the new region view, image U05:

 

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/6090/u057yy.jpg align=baseline>

 

 

Next, we have the newly terraformed city tile of East Uplands, image East Uplands:

 

http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/7610/eastuplandsjan30011297935833kc.jpg align=baseline>

 

 

The last image is of Dog Leg Junction, image Dog Leg:

 

http://img456.imageshack.us/img456/6092/doglegjunctionjan2001129793730.jpg align=baseline>

 

Well, even with DSL, the instructions in the tutorials didn't work.  I don't know what I am doing wrong, but it is frustrating me something awful.  I am at a complete loss.

 

I will email the images to Tungston and hopefully he will post them later, so folks don't have to go off site to see the images in the links above.  I am so sorry...

 

Lora/LD

[tungston 19]

You are making nice progress LD 

 

Mr. C:  thanks again

[choco1 4]

Nice terraforming, I love the mountains, keep it up!

[ldvger 19]

Thank you chocolate, I appreciate the encouragement!

No update tonite, RL catching up to me.

 

Lora/LD

 

Oh and Thank you Mr. Cinatit for editing my images into my posts!

[kjetilab 0]

The terraforming is really nice. Keep it up

[jacqulina 162]

very nice work and coming on very nice

[PhilsCafe 8]

That's a beautiful map indeed, with that river delta. And very nice job on the terraforming. It looks promising.

Keep it up.

- Phil

[ldvger 19]

Hello folks-

Welcome to update 6!  I was a busy girl tonite and terraformed 2 large city tiles, Moose River and Two Rivers, so this will be my biggest update so far, with 11 images to post. 

 

Most of the really challenging terraforming is now done, as the northern areas of the map were the most mountainous.  Making mountains look real...it's been a learning experience.  I don't know how well I did...feedback is appreciated.  But, the more terraforming I do, the more comfortable I am becoming with the God Tools pallet and how to use them. 

 

Tonite is also another experiment in the ongoing process of trying to figure out how to insert my own images directly into my own posts.  Tonite I am posting from MSN, the ISP provider that came bundled with my DSL package, rather than AOL, who had been my only IP for the past ten years.  If I am able to insert my images using MSN as my ISP, I think it safe to assume my AOL was the problem.  However, If I still can't insert my images using MSN, then the problem is probably something in my computer settings.  So, bear with me as I (and other helpful souls) try to figure this out.

 

First, thanks and appreciation to those of you who are following my CJ and making comments.  I noticed tonite that over 650 folks have stopped by to view my CJ and while I have been a bit discouraged by the lack of comments, those of you who DO comment I am vastly grateful to.  I know terraforming is not everyone's cup of tea and because my region is so varied, a lot of the images tend to look pretty much like each other.  I have given thought to actually starting building in some of the city tiles I have finished terraforming, but my brain doesn't work that way, so I am going to risk boring folks with endless images of uninhabited landscapes.  This is a long term project and will move along slowly, especially given my commitments in RL. 

 

So, now tonite's grand experiment in image posting begins.  The first image I want to post is that of the entire region with the newly terraformed city tiles:

 

 

http://img458.imageshack.us/img458/5572/u064lj.jpg align=baseline>

 

Holy $%&^!!  It worked!!!  Look at my map!  Wahoo! 

 

::doing a little victory dance around her computer::

 

So, AOL is blocking me somehow.  Hmmmm.

 

So anyway, comments on the region...

 

For some reason, the trees in Glacier Bay didn't fully render, so that part of the map looks a little bare.  I thought I gave the city tile lots of time to tree itself before saving, but I guess not.

 

This is so exciting (to me!)...on to the next images.  The next 5 are of Moose River, the large city tile at the far northeast corner of my region.

 

This is the Northwest corner of Moose River:

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/6852/nwmr064gz.jpg align=baseline>

 

This is too cool.  Suddenly it is easy as pie to insert my images...I am loving it.

 

Northeast corner of Moose River:

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/9421/nemr066fy.jpg align=baseline>

 

Unbelievable.  Weeks of hair-tearing frustration solved in an instant.  Moose River southeast corner:

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/1074/semr065ry.jpg align=baseline>

 

Moose River southwest corner:

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/3535/swmr069yf.jpg align=baseline>

 

And the last Moose River image, the center of the city tile:

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/6888/cmr069ze.jpg align=baseline>

 

Damn, this is way cool. 

 

Moving now back to the far west of the region, we drop down towards the center of the regions to see the newly terraformed large city tile of Two Rivers.  You may notice a difference between the appearance of the two rivers in this city tile...I raised the landscape one notch and dredged the northern river, then lowered the landscape one notch to return it to it's original height, because I have plans for a future deep-water port  near where the river currently ends.  This northern river is the White River, BTW, and the southern river is the Placid River.  The Placid River is probably going to remain shallow and difficult to navigate.

 

Here is the NW corner of Two Rivers:

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/9566/nwtr065pu.jpg align=baseline>

 

The Northeast corner:

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/4083/netr067ez.jpg align=baseline>

 

The southeast corner:

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/3058/setr062gy.jpg align=baseline>

 

The southwest corner:

 

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/9043/swtr066wo.jpg align=baseline>

 

And the final image, the center of Two Rivers:

 

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/3894/ctr068xx.jpg align=baseline>

 

So cool to be able to post my own images. 

 

So, that is update #6...I hope you enjoy!

 

Lora/LD

 

 

[jacqulina 162]

awesome it turned out well and i dont blame you for being pleased,i love doing terraforming myself

[PhilsCafe 8]

Wow, amazing landscape. You're doing an excellent job. I was wondering though why you've placed the trees on the mountain peaks. They would probably be above forest limit in real life. Excuse my pettiness, this just striked me, living close to the alps. Nevertheless, the mountains look quite natural and I also like the river banks a lot.

It's great that the picture posting works now, btw. About the lack of comments, I think you just have to be a little patient, since this CJ is rather new yet. Keep it up.

- Phil

[ldvger 19]

Hi folks-

No new pics to post tonite...went to the movies with a girlfriend (saw Elizabethtown, excellent, go see it!) and so got home late.

 

Just wanted to respond a bit to viewers.

 

Jaqculina, thanks for your comments, you are very encouraging.  I love terraforming, too (obviously) and have/am still considering abandoning building cities in favor of developing new regions.  I'm a big reader of both RL maps and fantasy novels, and with my background in RL architecture, building landscapes is a natural for me.  Architects are always in search of the perfect building site and truth is, all building sites are perfect.  The skill of the architect is measured (or should be, to my mind), by how well he/she design to the site.  Being a 60's hippie and so a diehard environmentalist, I use SC to create what would be, in RL, nightmare urban planning scenarios, to challenge myself to come up with solutions that are both aesthitic and functional without stepping on the natural environment in which they are built.  Apocrypha is designed to be such a challenge to myself, and one I have chosen to share with folks who might be interested.  One thing I know for sure...when I am finished with the various stages of terraforming my region, I will make the maps available on the STEX to others who may also enjoy challenging terrain. 

 

PhilsCafe, thank you also for visiting my CJ and for your favorable comments.  As for treeing the upper reaches of my landscape, go back about 10 posts.  Tree growth is not actually a function of elevation as much as soil depth and climate.  Granted, both soil and climate change dramatically with gains in elevation above sea level, but there are many areas in the world where trees grow at high elevations...and Alaska, which is the locale of my region, is among them.  If the rivers and ocean areas of my region are at an assumed 0 elevation (sea level), none of my landscape, even that which I have terraformed, is high enough to prohibit tree growth.  I am using the new Snow Mod created by Jeronij and DarkMatter, which is elevation sensitive, and am using it at it's lowest activating level, which means that while my mountains look high, they really aren't.  However, they are steep, due to being in a far nothern locale, and heavily weathered due to a fairly sever climate.  You use The Alps as a basis of comparison, but that's not really a parallel.  The Alps don't start at sea level...the entire western plain of continental Europe rises from the English Channel and Baltic Sea towards the east, so that by the time one reaches the foothills of the Alps, the flat ground elevation is already several thousand feet above sea level.  In the US, Denver is the best example I can think to give.  It is Mile High, but on flat ground...nothing but flat ground all around...high plains.  To the west of Denver, The Rocky Mountains rise like a granite wall almost straight up into the sky, and contain some of the highest mountains in North America...and trees grow almost to the summits of all of the Rocky Mountains.  

 

Anyway.  The mountains in my region are not that high...just far north.  That is why trees grow in the snow.

 

Lora/LD 

[PhilsCafe 8]

Thanks for the explanation. It's odd how one's view is affected by te environment one lives in.

You really did a great job, btw...

- Phil

[ldvger 19]

Hi folks-

Welcome to update 7.  This one was a long and tedious one for me, as I had to do a lot of reconciling between city tiles.  Tonite I terraformed two small city tiles, Overlook and Upper Placid.  Both tiles abut multiple tiles that have already been terraformed and finished, as well as tiles that will be terraformed in the future.  Getting the region map to look right required me to go back into previous tiles and do quite a bit of terraforming in them.  Anyway, it's done for now.

 

Before I post the images, I wanted to respond to PhilCafe's latest post:  Thank you for your kind words and I'm glad my explanation of tree growth/terrain elevation made sense to you.  Years ago I decided I wanted to find a new career, as architecture had burned me out so badly, so I quit my job and went back to school, entering college for the first time in my life at the age of 35.  As a Taurus, an Earth sign, I have always felt deeply connected to the lives of the green, growing things around me, so I decided to change careers and become a Landscape Architect...a sideways move.  But along the way to that goal I got sidetracked by the science of plants and living things, eventually earning myelf a degree in General Biology with emphasis in Botany.  I learned there is a unique branch of botany called Dendrology...the study of trees...and I made up my mind to become a Dendrologist, a tree specialist.  I never achieved that goal (I ran out of money for schooling), but I learned a lot about trees.

 

OK, so now to the images.  First a view of the region, with the newly terraformed city tiles shown fully intergrated:

 

http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/9985/ud072on.jpg align=baseline>

 

The newlyterraformed western region is a small city tile, which I have named Overlook:

 

http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/7633/ol079ff.jpg align=baseline>

 

Last image for this update is the city tile immediatly adjacent to Overlook, which is Upper Placid, being the headwaters of the Placid River:

 

http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/9616/up076hb.jpg align=baseline>

 

So there it is, folks update 7.  I hope you enjoy!

 

Lora/LD

 

 

[____----____ 37]

wow your mountains are coming along wonderfullly i would

love to go camping in your region it looks so cool, I bet there

are some massive bears living in that wilderness.  Keep it up

and don't forget to leave some area to build on

 

Alek

[Compromise 1]

Looks intresting, I like the terroforming.

[MrCinatit 30]

Date: 10/23/2005 6:04:39 AM Author: ldvger

I love terraforming, too (obviously) and have/am still considering abandoning building cities in favor of developing new regions

quote>

 

now THAT sounds very familiar.

i've also found myself terraforming more and more as time goes by, and am always fascinated by the amount of tools the game has to offer. those tools, combined with the many tools found on this site, can lead to a very nice region.

of course, you know i am impressed with the work you have been doing, ldvger. it has been fascinating to watch as your region changes before our eyes.

did want to comment on something you said earlier about being a bit frustrated by the lack of comments. of course this is natural, but do not be put off by it. sometimes it will take a while for journals to catch on - and, things still have been a bit slow lately. heck, i've one myself which is going on for about six months, and just about the same number of pages - but that is the route i have chosen for that jounal, as well.

keep up the great work, ldvger, and as always, i will be lurking around here, looking around if you do not mind.

[cifa 7]

Wow...great region LD!

[cifa 7]

Wow great region LD!

[ldvger 19]

Hello Folks!

Tired tonite, working on a deadline project that has me working way more hours in a day than I am used to.

 

First, thanks to folks who have visited and commented, I appreciate it!  I would have abandoned this CJ weeks ago if not for all of you. 

 

But everyone loves pictures, so lets get to it!  I actually terraformed this region last night but was too tired to post afterwards. 

 

This city tile is Delta, a large city tile, and it will likely develope into the hub of my region, over time.  The Moose River finds the sea in this tile, emptying into an impresive delta system full of sandbars, islands, and many braided channels.  In order to insure futue shipping capabilities, I had to dredge two channels in the delta to enough depth to allow freighters, so that is where I started with the terraforming of this tile.  I raised the entire landscape one notch to reveal the two deepest existing channels, then used the shallow valley tool, set at 1, to deepen them.  I then lowered the landscape back to original and reconciled my edges.  Once the deep river channels were in place, it was just a matter of roughing up the terrain a bit, then adding trees. 

 

Here is a pic of the region with the new city tile finished:

 

http://img469.imageshack.us/img469/3767/u089fs.jpg align=baseline>

 

Focusing on the new tile, here is the NW corner:

 

http://img469.imageshack.us/img469/690/nwud083ae.jpg align=baseline>

 

The NE corner:

 

http://img469.imageshack.us/img469/5633/neud084gr.jpg align=baseline>

 

The picture above shows the confluence of the two major shipping channels and how they integrate with the Moose River and the city tile to the immediate north of Delta.

 

The SE corner:

 

http://img485.imageshack.us/img485/2471/seud086bn.jpg align=baseline>

 

This image shows the extent of the delta...the many snadbars, islands, and braided channels.  I am really looking forward to developing an area centered on a water-oriented lifestyle in this tile!

 

The SW corner:

 

http://img485.imageshack.us/img485/3509/swud086sn.jpg align=baseline>

 

And lastly, the center of the tile:

 

http://img485.imageshack.us/img485/5781/cud085mo.jpg align=baseline>

 

Several folks have posted, warning me to leave free/flat space to build on, and as much as I appreciate the advice, my intent with this CJ is to create a very challenging landscape of tremendous physical beauty...one that demands respect for the ground on which the residents of my future cities will walk.  I am not aiming for skyscrapers, I am hoping to achieve some kind of harmony between humanity and the natural environment.   Within the parameters of the game, I'm not sure how I will do this, or even if I can...but I am going to try.  There are lots of small areas of buildable space in this region and a few large areas...we'll see what happens.

 

I am getting close to the end of this God Mode phase of terraforming.  There are really only 2 large city tiles left that would naturally have any relief to them.  The rest of the region is oceanic or riverine islands, which means they will all be fairly flat.  All I'll have to do is add trees. 

 

Once the God Mode terraforming is done, the Mayor Mode terraforming begins....ploppable water and trees.  I don't have much experience with either, so it should be interesting!

 

Hope you enjoyed this update and will comment/visit again!

 

Lora/LD

[Compromise 1]

Excellent things about this update which should be kept up: Ofcoarse the excellent terroforming.
 
Passable things about this update which could be improved: To please everyone don't abandon development later.
 
Bad things about this update which should be improved: N/A
 
Overall Rating: A B C D E F

                             ^ C+ Good

Simtropolis Production Evaluation System (SPES) by Compromise.

[Micah 16]

Fantastic region!!

[ldvger 19]

Hi all-

Just a short message to let you know I have a big update in progress and to stay tuned.   I terraformed 3 regions last night, all of them large city tiles, but I am behind the eight-ball with a large deadline project in RL, so it is going to be another day or so before I can post the update.  I have not abandoned my CJ!

 

LOra/LD

[Kwakelaar 92]

The region looks fantastic, great work with the terraforming.

[jasperdeman.nl 1]

Wow, great terrain man!

Few things you might want to look at are the trees at the peeks (not very realistic, but just minor downside) and the water. I personally hate default water texture, try downloading one of pegs, they are great!

 

Keep it up!

[Vegeta The Puppet 0]

hello there , great updates you have in this cj , Great pics!!
hope to see more soon...

[ldvger 19]

Hello folks!

And thank you for being patient while RL duties kept be away.  I have the big update I promised in my last post ready to go, but first to answer comments since my last update:

 

Compromise, thank you for the C+ rating, I know you are a hard grader, so I am pleased.  I hope as this CJ moves along, my grade will improve, but if not, I'm not spending time on this to win any contests.  And, I will develope the region according to my own original plan and not cave to folks who may think I should take it in other directions.  Thanx for stopping by and giving me your input!

 

Micah, thanx for stopping by!  I recognize you from Jeronij's CJ Simtropia, which I have been following from day 1.  He is a tremendous inspiration to me.

 

Kwakelaar and Vegeta, thank you for your encouragment and for visiting.  Stay tuned!  I think/hope things are about to get more interesting as I leave the Gode mode terraforming and begin the Mayor mode terraforming. 

 

Jasperdeman, good to see new faces and thank you for visiting.  I appreciate your comments about the trees above the snow line, but scroll back towards the top of the page for an explanation.  This topic is coming up a lot in this CJ, I wonder if there is a way I can pin a response to link folks to?  Anyone (Mr Cinatit?) know if this is possible?

 

Now, on to the pics!

 

First, as always, a look at the region with THREE new large city tiles terraformed (I told you this was a big update!). 

 

http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/5805/u094qf.jpg align=baseline>

 

I had hoped the city names would come through as readable text, but maybe that hope was in vain.  So, I will describe each city's location in the region, hopefully that will help.

 

The first city is Pine Flats, which is at the extreme eastern edge of the region, just north of due east.  Moving counter-clockwise around Pine Flats and starting at the 12 o'clock position, it is abutting Moose River, Dog Leg Junction, Delta, North Trader's Island, and Nelly's Spine. 

 

The northwest corner of Pine Flats:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/706/pfnw092ox.jpg align=baseline>

 

The northeast corner:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/8060/pfne097fm.jpg align=baseline>

 

The southeast corner:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/7444/pfse090gj.jpg align=baseline>

 

The above picture shows the Pine River.  I dredged this river to make sure it was going to be navigable to seafaring vessels, as this area will eventually become an extensions of the major seaport of Delta. 

 

The southwest corner:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/3056/pfsw092jd.jpg align=baseline>

 

This picture shows (almost) where the Pine River meets the Moose River delta.  While these two major rivers don't combine at any place in thier run to the sea, their mouths are close enough to each other to have created a shared delta of fairly extreme complexity.  The body of water at the lower left of the picture is the northern opening of the Tortuous Passage, the deep and twisting waterway between Trader's Island and Nelly's Spine on the mainland, both to the south of Pine Flats.

 

And finally, the center of the city tile:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/8761/pfc092av.jpg align=baseline>

 

Moving on to Butterfly Island, which is immediatly to the south of Two Rivers and at the far western edge of the region. 

 

The northwest corner of the city:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/2401/bfnw090nx.jpg align=baseline>

 

At the far upper left of this picture is the entrance to the White River.  This area was dredged to allow future access into the White River by sea going vessels.  The largest island in the upper left corner of this picture is not actually an island but is a stablized sand bar at the mouth of the Placid River.  The Placid River is not navigable by large water vessels.  The body of water running all the way across the top of the picture from left to right is the North Passage, a deepwater channel that connects Two Rivers to the areas around Delta to the east.

 

The northeast corner:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/4637/bfne099oo.jpg align=baseline>

 

A better and more extended view of the North Passage near the top of the picture above.  I'll be doing more feature naming as I get into greater detail in development, but the small isthmus in the center of the picture that connects the two large islands perhaps explains the naming of this city tile.

 

The southeast corner:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/7042/bfse091lm.jpg align=baseline>

 

At the lower right hand corner of the picture you can see the entrance to the Moose River Archipelago, a complicated system of islands and channels that eventually devolve, further north and east, into the Moose River delta.

 

The southwest corner:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/1144/bfsw096ik.jpg align=baseline>

 

Mostly ocean, which I dredged as deep as the map would allow. 

 

And lastly, for this city tile, the center:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/421/bfc095ad.jpg align=baseline>

 

Now, the last city tile in this update, Meyer's Peak.  When conceptualizing this project, I wanted at least one really major landscape element that would define the geography of the region and decided that Meyer's Peak would be that element.  It is a sleeping volcano that will play a role in the transmogrifying of this region much further down the line.  Terraforming the mountain took quite a bit of time.  I had to build it high enough to be the defining element in the region without making it a geographic anomaly.  I had to connect it to other elements in such a way that seemed reasonable in a RL sense.  I had to weather it to fit into the other landscapes I had already created.  And, it had to have a cratered top.  I will let you decide if I succeeded. 

 

The northwest corner:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/6069/mpnw095lt.jpg align=baseline>

 

That is the Placid River at the top of the picture.  The knees of the big peak can be seen to the right of the picture.  The North Passage, which runs across the bottom of the picture, has not been dredged in this city tile yet.  I was more concerned about getting the Peak right than worrying about the water bodies by the time I got to terraforming this city tile.

 

Meyer's Peak, in the northeast corner of this city tile:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/8438/mpne096gq.jpg align=baseline>

 

Can you see the old lava flows?

 

The southeast corner of the city tile:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/5535/mpse091qf.jpg align=baseline>

 

A good look at the North Passage in the center of the picture, smaller north islands of the Moose River Archipelago at center left, and the Island Passage at the lower right corner. 

 

The southwest corner:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/4954/mpsw093xc.jpg align=baseline>

 

The tail end of Butterfly Island and a substantial part of the northern portion of the Moose River Achipelago.

 

Last pic in the update, central Meyer's Peak:

 

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/9724/mpc097jv.jpg align=baseline>

 

North Passage towards the bottom of the picture, Salty Creek running from the center of the picture almost due north at the base of the mountain, Placid River in the background near the top of the pic.

 

Well, folks, that it for this update.  Next on the list are two small city tiles, Cee Harbor and North Trader's Island, then Nelly's Spine.  The two small city tiles won't need much besides trees and maybe some careful dredging.  Nelly's Spine is one I want to spend some time on, along with it's extension to the south, Whale's Bay.  Real life is going to prevent me from another large update for a couple of weeks, but I hope you will be patient.

 

Lora/LD